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Posts by Alex Brown

About
Alex is a co host for Clear Admit's Wire Taps podcast. He has spent 30 years in the MBA admissions industry, and authored the book: Becoming a Clear Admit: The Definitive Guide to MBA Admissions Alex also teaches digital marketing through executive education programs for London Business School, Imperial College Business School and Columbia Business School.
Published: June 23, 2024
MBA Wire Taps 360—735 GMAT, from Brazil. Australian MBB. Weatherhead vs Marshall wait list
Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing the MBA application deadlines and decision releases for this season. For this upcoming week, we will see decision releases from Harvard and UPenn / Wharton for their deferred admissions programs; we are also still seeing some activity around wait lists at a few MBA programs. Graham highlighted the upcoming summer application series that Clear Admit hosts, which begins on Wednesday, July 10, and will include the majority of the top MBA programs. Signups are here: https://www.bit.ly/summeressays Graham then highlighted two recently published Read more
Published: June 16, 2024
MBA Wire Taps 358—Reapplicant, entrepreneur. Military, retaking GMAT. Navy to Renewable Energy
Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we kicked things off with our usual rundown of the latest admissions news.  We are still seeing some activity around wait lists at few MBA programs. We then discussed the delayed roll-out of the Harvard MBA admissions essay for this upcoming season. It looks like HBS is planning to change their more traditional essay prompt, and there appears to be much anticipation about this change.  All will be unveiled later this month… Graham highlighted the upcoming summer application essay series that Clear Admit hosts, which begins on Wednesday, Read more
Published: June 9, 2024
MBA Wire Taps 356—INSEAD or bust. Liberal Arts to Product Management. Doctor to Solar Energy
Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began by running down all of the latest b-school admissions news. We are still seeing quite a lot of activity around waitlists at a number of MBA programs. Graham highlighted the upcoming summer application series that Clear Admit hosts, which begins on Wednesday, July 10, and will include the majority of the top MBA programs. Signups have recently opened and are here: https://www.bit.ly/summeressays Graham then highlighted a recently published Clear Admit admissions tip, which focuses on how to build your ideal list of target Read more
Published: June 2, 2024
MBA Wire Taps 355—10 years of experience. Online or Executive MBA. Back to India.
Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast This week’s MBA Admissions podcast began with our usual rundown of the latest MBA application news for this season. This week, a few top MBA programs are releasing final decisions for Rounds 3 and 4, including London Business School, CMU / Tepper and Texas / McCombs; there is also still some waitlist activity being reported on LiveWire. Graham highlighted two recently published Clear Admit admissions tips; the first looked at the impact of volunteer activities in an MBA application, the second focused on choosing between MBA programs. Graham then noted two Read more
Published: May 26, 2024
MBA Wire Taps 354—Low GPA, LATAM. Low GPA, strong GMAT. London Business School vs Fuqua.
Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began with a quick report from Graham on how Clear Admit’s first ever in-person event for applicants went in Chicago; spoiler alert: it was a great success!  Alex then followed with an update on the latest MBA application decision releases for this season: this week, a few top MBA programs are releasing final decisions for Rounds 3 and 4, including Cornell / Johnson and Georgetown / McDonough; Harvard and UPenn / Wharton are releasing interview invites for their deferred admissions rounds. Graham highlighted the final spring Read more
Published: May 19, 2024
MBA Wire Taps 353—Income equality issues. Big tech or consulting. Columbia vs Stern.
Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing the latest MBA application deadlines and interview releases as the 2023-24 admissions season draws to a close. This week, a few top MBA programs are releasing final decisions for Round 3, including Stanford and Chicago / Booth. Graham highlighted the Spring Online Webinar series that Clear Admit is hosting. The second event in the series is on Wednesday, and includes Dartmouth / Tuck, Yale SOM, UVA / Darden, and UNC / Kenan / Flagler. Signups are here: https://www.bit.ly/caspringwebinars Graham then highlighted a Read more
Published: May 12, 2024
MBA Wire Taps 352—Stanford or bust? First round targets. Anderson vs Marshall.
Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began with a discussion of our BIG event in Chicago on Wednesday May 15th; please join us if you can, by signing up here: https://www.bit.ly/cachicagofair  We then turned to a discussion of the week ahead; several programs are releasing final decisions for Round 3, including UPenn / Wharton, USC / Marshall, MIT / Sloan, Yale SOM, Oxford / Said, UCLA / Anderson and Washington / Foster. Graham then highlighted the Spring Online Webinar series that Clear Admit is hosting. The second event in the series is Read more
Published: May 5, 2024
MBA Wire Taps 351—720 GMAT, Executive MBA. 326 GRE, is it enough? Marshall vs Tepper
Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began with our usual discussion around application deadlines, interview releases, and decisions for this season. This week, Round 3 and 4 continue with several application notifications; several programs are also releasing final decisions for Round 3, including Northwestern / Kellogg, Emory / Goizueta, CMU / Tepper, Duke / Fuqua and INSEAD. Graham highlighted the Spring Online Webinar series that Clear Admit is hosting. The first event is on Wednesday, May 8th, and includes Berkeley / Haas, Duke / Fuqua, Emory / Goizueta, Georgetown / McDonough and Read more
Published: April 28, 2024
MBA Wire Taps 350—332 GRE, India Engineer. Overcoming 2.4 GPA. Johnson vs Darden
Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing the latest application deadlines and decision releases for this season. This week Round 3 and 4 continue with several application deadlines; some programs are also releasing final decisions for Round 3, including UVA / Darden, Georgetown / McDonough, Dartmouth / Tuck, Berkeley / Haas, Texas / McCombs and Michigan / Ross. Graham highlighted the May 15th event we are hosting in Chicago, which will be Clear Admit’s first in-person MBA candidate event. Signups are here: https://www.bit.ly/cachicagofair Graham also noted the Application Overview Read more
Published: April 21, 2024
MBA Wire Taps 349—330 GRE, Paralegal. 319 GRE, Venture Capital. Tuck vs Duke vs Ross
Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we kick things off with our usual discussion of the latest MBA application deadlines and interview releases. This week, Round 3 continues with several application deadlines, including deferred admissions deadlines for Harvard (2+2) and UPenn / Wharton. Graham then highlighted the May 15th event we are hosting in Chicago, which will be Clear Admit’s first in-person MBA candidate event (with 20 leading business schools!); signups are here: https://www.bit.ly/cachicagofair Graham also noted the Spring Online Webinar series that Clear Admit is hosting over the course of May, Read more
Published: April 14, 2024
MBA Wire Taps 348—326 GRE, is that enough? Taking a break, before MBA. Kellogg, Fuqua or IESE?
Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing the MBA application deadlines and interview releases for this season. This week Round 3 continues with several application deadlines, and UPenn / Wharton and Duke / Fuqua are scheduled to release interview invite decisions. Graham started with a story of his random meeting with a podcast listener (and current Wharton student), who he met at a car rental agency. Graham then highlighted the May 15th event we are hosting in Chicago, which will be Clear Admit’s first in-person MBA candidate event. Signups are Read more
Published: April 7, 2024
MBA Wire Taps 347—319 GRE, reapplying. Targeting Duke / Fuqua. Anderson vs Kenan Flagler
Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing all the latest MBA application deadline and decision release news for this season. Last week, MIT / Sloan released its Round 2 final decisions. Cornell / Johnson also released some of their final decisions. This week Round 3 continues with several application deadlines. Graham promoted the MBA applicant survey we now have in the field. We are trying to encourage as high a response rate as we can get. The survey is at https://www.bit.ly/caspringsurvey Graham also noted the May 15th event we Read more
Published: March 31, 2024
MBA Wire Taps 346—334 GRE, private equity. Lawyer to consulting. McCombs vs Haas
Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began with our usual rundown of MBA application deadlines and decision releases for this season. Last week we saw several top MBA programs release their final Round 2 decisions. This week, MIT / Sloan and Cornell / Johnson are among those releasing decisions. There are also several Round 3 application deadlines. Graham highlighted the new Spring survey that Clear Admit is running, to get a better sense of how MBA candidates select their target programs. Answering this survey really helps Clear Admit better understand Read more
Published: March 24, 2024
MBA Wire Taps 345—730 GMAT, retake ? Super 3.96 GPA. Fuqua vs Tuck
Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing the MBA application deadlines and decision notifications for this season. Interview invites for Round 2 are now coming to an end as schools have shifted into handing out admissions decisions. Speaking of which, UPenn / Wharton, Yale SOM, Harvard, London Business School, Stanford, Northwestern / Kellogg, and Washington / Foster are releasing their final Round 2 results next week.  Best of luck to everyone awaiting word! Graham highlighted the new Spring survey that Clear Admit is running, to get a better Read more
Published: March 17, 2024
MBA Wire Taps 344—GRE 304, FIT. GRE 326, Education innovator. Attend MBA or wait
Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing the wave of Round 2 MBA application decisions that are forthcoming. Interview invites are now dwindling for Round 2 as we approach the end of Round 2. Georgetown / McDonough, IESE, Emory / Goizueta, Chicago / Booth, Berkeley / Haas, Texas / McCombs, UCLA / Anderson and INSEAD are releasing their final Round 2 decisions this week. Graham highlighted two recently published admissions tips focused on Round 2 waitlists, and financing the MBA. The latter was written by Juno, which operates Read more
Published: March 10, 2024
MBA Wire Taps 343—340 GRE, depression. Teacher with sustainability passion. LBS vs CBS
Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing the MBA application deadlines and interview releases for this season. Interview invites continue for some top MBA programs, but we are getting towards the end of the cycle and closer to Round 2 decisions. UV / Darden, Michigan / Ross, Duke / Fuqua, UNC / Kenan Flagler, and Dartmouth / Tuck are releasing their final Round 2 decisions next week. Graham highlighted a recently published admissions tip focused on the background check process for admitted candidates. He then noted three Real Humans Read more
Published: March 3, 2024
MBA Wire Taps 342—First gen, Naval Officer, One-year vs Two-year MBA. Sloan vs Haas vs Ross
Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing the MBA application deadlines and interview releases for this season. Interview invites continue for some top MBA programs, but we are getting towards the end of the interview window and closer to round 2 ‘decision weeks’. Speaking of decisions, CMU / Tepper is releasing its final Round 2 decisions this week. On Wednesday of this week, Clear Admit will be hosting an AMA live chat with NYU / Stern, signups are here:  https://canyuama Graham highlighted two recently published admissions tips focused on Read more
Published: February 25, 2024
MBA Wire Taps 340—First gen, from Mexico. Auditor, seeking test waiver. Anderson vs Tepper
Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began with our usual rundown of the latest MBA application deadlines and interview releases. Interview invites continue for many top MBA programs. We predicted that MIT / Sloan will have released their interview invites towards the end of last week; Sloan is the last leading MBA program to release interview invites in batch form. On Wednesday, this week, Clear Admit continues its event series for Masters in Management programs, signups are here: https://bit.ly/camimfeb The following Wednesday, March 6, Clear Admit will be hosting an AMA Read more
Published: February 18, 2024
MBA Wire Taps 339—Wharton’s Team-Based Discussion (TBD) Interview
In this special MBA Admissions Wire Taps episode, we focused our entire conversation on Wharton’s team-based discussion interview (Wharton TBD). Wharton released it’s interview invites for Round 2 last week, so we thought it would be appropriate to share our deep understanding of this unique interview process. We discuss the history of the team-based discussion interview, as well as why Wharton has adopted this methodology; it is an attempt to mimic the learning-team experience at Wharton. We highlight some issues with that thinking. We also discuss the topic of this season’s team-based discussion interview, and then detail approaches Read more
Published: February 11, 2024
MBA Wire Taps 338—Army captain, 323 GRE. Indonesian transportation buff. Wharton vs Haas and Scholarship
Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we kicked things off with a discussion around the fact that we are now starting to see more interview invites for Round 2 candidates, specifically for programs like Columbia, Michigan / Ross, London Business School, Harvard, Chicago / Booth, Yale SOM, Dartmouth / Tuck, UVA / Darden and Northwestern / Kellogg. This upcoming week, UPenn / Wharton will release its Round 2 interview invites. On Wednesday, this week, Clear Admit is hosting an event for deferred admissions candidates, signups are here: https://bit.ly/defeb24 On February 21, Clear Read more
Published: February 4, 2024
MBA Wire Taps 336—Army JAG, 740 GMAT. Classical Music buff. Stern vs Kenan Flagler and Scholarship
Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing interview invite news out of Harvard and Duke.  As we get further into the R2 cycle, we are now starting to see more invites for candidates, specifically for aforementioned programs like Harvard and Duke, but also for the likes of Chicago / Booth, Yale SOM, Dartmouth / Tuck, UVA / Darden and Northwestern / Kellogg. This upcoming week, London Business School will release its Round 2 interview invites. Clear Admit is hosting is its monthly Clear Admit+ webinar later today, Monday, February Read more
Published: January 28, 2024
MBA Wire Taps 335—3.66 GPA, test waiver. Military candidate, 750 GMAT. Booth vs Stern full-ride.
Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing the MBA application deadlines and interview releasesfor Round 2. We are now starting to see a few interview invites for Round 2 candidates, specifically for programs like Chicago / Booth, Yale SOM, Dartmouth / Tuck, UVA / Darden and Northwestern / Kellogg. This upcoming week, Duke / Fuqua and Harvard Business School will release their Round 2 interview invites. Clear Admit is hosting is next Clear Admit+ virtual event on Monday, February 5. Alex and Graham will lead this event, and will Read more
Published: January 21, 2024
MBA Wire Taps 334—Vietnamese teacher. Finance candidate, lack of goals. Boston or bust.
Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing the latest news from Round 2 MBA applications. We are now starting to see a few interview invites for Round 2 candidates, specifically for programs like Yale SOM, Dartmouth / Tuck, UVA / Darden and Northwestern / Kellogg.  DecisionWire also remains popular, as Round 1 MBA candidates start making decisions as to which MBA program they will enroll. Clear Admit is hosting a Real Humans admissions event, scheduled for this Wednesday, January 24 at 8 pm ET. This event will bring together students Read more
Published: January 14, 2024
MBA Wire Taps 333—710 GMAT, is it enough? ORM, does it matter? Is Harvard always best?
Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began by noting that the Round 2 admissions process continues with a few key deadlines remaining at MIT / Sloan, NYU / Stern, and INSEAD and many applicants who applied to programs with early-January deadlines turning their attention towards admissions interviews.  DecisionWire also remains popular, as Round 1 MBA candidates start making decisions as to which MBA program they will enroll. Clear Admit is hosting a Real Humans admissions event, scheduled for January 24. This event will bring together students from a variety of top Read more
Published: January 7, 2024
MBA Wire Taps 332—Overcoming a super low GPA? Chemical engineer, to strategy. Columbia vs Kellogg
Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing the flurry of Round 2 MBA application deadlines that dominate the beginning of January. This upcoming week, we see several top business schools have their deadlines.  DecisionWire also remains popular, as Round 1 MBA candidates start making decisions as to which MBA program they will enroll. On Tuesday at 12 pm ET, Clear Admit is hosting an event with CMU / Tepper, which focuses on its Data Analytics masters program. Signups are here: https://bit.ly/cmuanalytics Clear Admit is also hosting a Real Read more

MBA Livewire

December 21, 2024 2:38am ET
Waitlisted at Duke / Fuqua
Round: Round 1
Received via phone on December 10, 2024
GPA: 3.27
GMAT: 760
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Target Career: Finance
Application Location: CA
December 20, 2024 11:16pm ET
Accepted to Babson / Olin
Round: Round 1
Received via email on December 17, 2024
GPA: 3.9
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Target Career: Consulting
Application Location: South Asia
December 20, 2024 7:50pm ET
Accepted to Columbia
Round: Round 1
Received via portal on December 10, 2024
GMAT: 750
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Application Location: India
Note:

$100k scholarship
December 20, 2024 3:21pm ET
Accepted to Yale SOM
Round: Round 1
Received via email December 20, 2024
GPA: 4.0
GMAT: 750
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Note:

100% scholarship
December 20, 2024 3:05pm ET
Accepted to Georgetown / McDonough
Round: Round 1
Received via phone on December 09, 2024
GMAT: 710
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Target Career: Non Profit / Social Impact
Application Location: Argentina
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