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MBA Podcast

Published: July 30, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 302—Strong profile, no GMAT yet. Great numbers, over-represented? 319 GRE, weakest spot.
In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast Graham led things off by discussing the MBA Essay Insights series which wraps up this Wednesday. This season’s series has seen record levels of attendees (600+ each week); our final event brings together MBA admissions leaders from Cornell / Johnson, UCLA / Anderson, Washington / Foster, INSEAD, and London Business School. Signups are here: https://bit.ly/cambaessay  Graham then highlighted the recent survey Clear Admit has developed to understand the media habits of MBA candidates. These anonymous surveys allow us to gather data to really understand the behavior of the MBA applicant community, and we Read more
Published: July 23, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 301—Ex architect, now FAANG recruiting. 335 GRE, Nigerian in London. Super undergrad, one year of work.
In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast Alex and Graham begin by discussing some recent waitlist admissions posts on MBA LiveWire; for those still on waitlists, there is still some hope! Your hosts then discussed the recent updates to the Clear Admit website, which should make the user experience better. The new website also means that all the features that were previously only accessible to Clear Admit+ subscribers are now available to all registered users, for free! This includes the Admissions Academy video series, Clear Admit’s LiveWire Data Dashboard (which allows users to parse the data from MBA LiveWire), and Read more
Published: July 16, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 300—300 Episodes! Military candidate, low GRE. Looking ahead, career switch. Chemical engineer, clean tech
Before pressing play on our 300th podcast episode, take a look back at the Clear Admit podcast recording journey with us as we celebrate this milestone. The first Clear Admit podcast episode aired March 7, 2018, and since then we’ve had 302,000 listeners! The 10 episodes with the most listens thus far are: 7 Hardest MBA Interview Questions and How to Answer Them Admissions Director Q&A with Harvard Business School’s Chad Losee Keith Bevans of Bain & Company Discusses Consulting, Recruiting and More Clear Admit’s 12-Step Program for Read more
Published: July 9, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 299—770 GMAT and 2.9, does that work? Targeting 680 – 700, is that enough? History major, strong work experience.
This week’s show begins with Alex quizzing Graham about his recent trip to San Diego for this year’s GMAC conference, followed by a mention of some limited waitlist movement seen on MBA LiveWire.  Graham and Alex then pivoted to a discussion on the recent supreme court decision that has a large impact on how admissions can consider race in their admissions decisions. Your hosts believe that while this will necessitate some changes to the admissions process, there will still be processes that can be adopted to ensure diverse business school classes that represent all. Graham then highlighted the July Read more
Published: July 2, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 298—LIVE from the GMAC Conference with Yale, Berkeley, Georgetown, and CMU!
Welcome back to another edition of Clear Admit’s weekly MBA admissions podcast. This week’s episode can hardly be described as just ‘another edition’ of the show; that’s because it was recorded live in San Diego, California, at the annual GMAC conference and includes special guest appearances from admissions directors at Carnegie Mellon Tepper, Georgetown McDonough, Berkeley Haas, and Yale SOM! Before bringing on the string of special guests, host Graham Richmond (who did his best without co-host Alex Brown this week) ran down the latest news and notes.  This began with some discussion of continued waitlist movement visible on LiveWire, Read more
Published: June 25, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 297—Test Scores. 2.3 GPA, any chance? 2 years of work experience, is it enough?
As summer heats up, Graham and Alex are back with another episode of WireTaps, and a slightly new format!  After some quick discussion about lingering activity on LiveWire (which is now slowing down as the season gets closer to its end), Graham highlighted our July ‘Essay Insight’ virtual event series. This series, which begins on July 12th, brings MBA admissions officers from top programs to discuss their essays for the upcoming application cycle. This is a very popular series – signups are here: https://bit.ly/cambaessay Graham then mentioned an Adcom Q&A from Michigan Ross; these new Q&As for the Read more
Published: June 18, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 296—Environmental candidate, retaking the GMAT. MBB back office, wanting front office. Nigerian in London, at 32
We’re back this week with another episode of WireTaps, and Alex and Graham get the show started with their usual discussion of activity on LiveWire.  While the LiveWire updates have slowed down as the 2022-23 admissions season comes to its end, there was a little movement on the Chicago Booth waitlist last week. Graham then shifted gears to highlight two events Clear Admit is hosting. The first is a Real Humans event which brings students and alums together to discuss their experiences with candidates. This event includes students and alumni from UPenn / Wharton, NYU / Stern, MIT / Sloan, Read more
Published: June 11, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 295—Asset manager, 760 GMAT. Data scientist, poor GPA. Marketer, Europe vs US
Another week, another Wiretaps!  As usual, this episode begins with Alex and Graham discussing activity on LiveWire which is now slowing down as the 2022-23 admissions season gets closer to its end. Next week, Chicago / Booth will be releasing its decisions for its Booth Scholars program. Graham highlighted two events Clear Admit is hosting: The first is a ‘Real Humans’ event which brings students and alums together to discuss their experiences with candidates. It will be held on June 20 at 12 pm ET, and you can signup here: https://bit.ly/realhumansmba The second is a set of events focused Read more
Published: June 4, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 294—Two-time Olympian, part-time vs full-time. Pilot with a 690 GMAT. Marketing career, 321 GRE
Alex and Graham’s first WireTaps episode for June gets rolling with the usual review of activity on LiveWire, which includes waitlist decisions and final decisions from Rounds 3 and 4. This upcoming week should feature final decisions from UVA / Darden and MIT / Sloan (for their deferred admissions programs) and for Texas / McCombs and London Business School. Alex and Graham then had a brief discussion about the still-vacant admissions director seats at HBS and Stanford GSB admissions. It looks like both programs will head into next season with leaders in interim roles as their searches continue. Graham highlighted Read more
Published: May 28, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 293—Female lawyer, from Nigeria. Blackhawk pilot, 720 GMAT. International student, lower GRE
Happy Memorial Day!  On this episode of WireTaps, Alex and Graham officially open BBQ season with a look at what’s been cooking on LiveWire, including waitlist decisions and final decisions from Rounds 3 and 4. Alex reminds listeners that we also should see final decisions coming out for Georgetown / McDonough, Cornell / Johnson and CMU / Tepper (for its Future Leaders program) in the coming week.  Alex also pointed out that new deadlines and essay topics are starting to be unveiled by the top MBA programs for next season; this led to a discussion regarding Clear Read more
Published: May 21, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 292—Social impact goal. Switching west for east coast. South African, poor GPA
Spring is in full bloom in Cornwall, England and Paris, France, as Alex and Graham check in for the latest episode of WireTaps!  This week’s show begins with a discussion of activity on LiveWire, which includes waitlist decisions (all rounds) and final decisions (from Round 3). This upcoming week, Alex anticipates R3 decisions coming out for UNC / Kenan Flagler, Stanford, Chicago / Booth and Michigan / Ross. Graham highlighted the announcement of a new dean at Cornell / Johnson, Vishal Gaur, who comes in with an illustrious academic pedigree. Graham also commented on a “Friday’s from the Frontline” Read more
Published: May 14, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 291—Law school or MBA? Naval pilot, great numbers. GRE jumps from 302 to 337
Alex and Graham are back with another episode of WireTaps, kicking things off with a rundown of the latest activity on LiveWire – which includes wait list decisions and final decisions from Round 3. Alex mentioned that this upcoming week should feature final decisions coming out for USC / Marshall, IESE, UCLA / Anderson, Oxford / Said, MIT / Sloan, Yale SOM and Washington / Foster. Graham highlighted four Real Humans Alumni stories: an Indiana / Kelley grad at Apple, a Cornell / Johnson grad at Bain, a Foster grad at Accenture and a Stanford grad Read more
Published: May 7, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 290—Wine Guy, 770 GMAT. 322 x4, one more try? Fuqua vs Haas.
Another, week, another episode of WireTaps!  Alex and Graham began the show with the usual discussion around activity on LiveWire, which now includes decision deadlines for the shorter Round 3 application cycle and some deferred enrollment interview invites.  Graham then highlighted three Real Humans Alumni stories, an INSEAD grad at Accenture, a CMU / Tepper grad at Amazon and a UPenn / Wharton grad at Pfizer. Graham also mentioned a recently published admissions tip that covers scholarship negotiation. He then reminded listeners about the MBA admissions event series that Clear Admit is hosting in May, which Read more
Published: April 30, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 289—323 GRE, from Colombia. Health care, no test score. Tuck vs Kellogg
This episode begins with an in-depth review of the 2024 U.S. News full-time MBA rankings, which were released last week after a delay. U.S. News has changed its ranking methodology which caused some shifts in their ranking, but Chicago / Booth did retain the top spot! Alex and Graham share thoughts on the rankings changes, and continue to assert the reality that a tiered ranking system is always better than an ordinal one. Graham noted that 5 of the top MBA programs now have a median GMAT score of 740, which is pretty crazy. Your hosts then speculate that Read more
Published: April 23, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 288—Strong profile, weak GRE. Yale vs Ross for consulting. Haas vs Kellogg for tech.
This episode kicks off with some discussion of a few big news stories in the MBA Admissions world. This included the news of the delay in the release of the U.S. News MBA rankings (and the speculations surrounding the cause of the delay); the acquisition of Poets and Quants by Times Higher Education (THE), and the decisions from McKinsey and Bain to delay the start dates of their new hires. Graham then highlighted three Real Humans Alumni pieces, including a London Business School graduate running Nona Women, a Duke / Fuqua graduate working at Microsoft, and a Read more
Published: April 16, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 287—Chemical Engineer at Big 4. Johnson vs Darden. One year vs Wait
Our latest episode of WireTaps begins with Graham and Alex taking stock of all the latest MBA LiveWire activity and mentioning upcoming deadlines for UNC / Kenan Flagler, Cambridge / Judge, MIT / Sloan and Berkeley / Haas. Graham then highlighted recently published content on Clear Admit, including a piece that compares the GMAT to the GRE; we then discussed whether to take the current GMAT or the newly formatted GMAT. Graham then highlighted seven Real Human’s alumni pieces, offering a variety of perspectives from MBA alumni working in Consulting, Banking, Tech, and Entertainment, from a host Read more
Published: April 9, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 286—Special Guest William Keller Discusses Journey from the Marines Through Admissions
We have a special edition of MBA Wire Taps today as we welcome William Keller, a marine who will start an EMBA program this fall at either the Wharton School or UVA Darden. Keller served eight years in the Marine Corps and is now transitioning to civilian life to pursue a career in consulting. He’s also a longtime listener of the Clear Admit MBA Podcast and we are excited to have him share his experience with the admissions process! In this episode, Keller talks about: Why someone in the military should consider an MBA How a military candidate can connect Read more
Published: April 2, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 285—Haas, Part-time versus Full-time. Older candidate, to start an MBA or not. Ross versus Anderson for big tech
This episode of WireTaps begins with some discussion around the flurry of MBA LiveWire posts (Harvard and Stanford were among the top MBA programs releasing decisions last week). For those of you keeping score at home, MIT / Sloan and Cornell / Johnson are scheduled to release their admissions decisions this week, and, there are a number of Round 3 application deadlines in the coming days. Following all the chatter about deadlines, Graham highlighted two stories we published, one covering how to select your target MBA programs, and the other discussing the importance of scholarship when determining where Read more
Published: March 26, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 283—Brazilian, 710 GMAT. Kenan Flagler ($) versus Darden. Kellogg versus Stern ($)
MBA Admissions ‘March Madness’ continues as this episode kicks off with Alex and Graham discussing the R2 decisions activity on MBA LiveWire: UPenn / Wharton, Berkeley / Haas and several other leading MBA programs released Round 2 decisions last week. This upcoming week will include Northwestern / Kellogg, Harvard and Stanford. Graham highlighted a new “by the numbers” article focusing on GMAT scores at top programs. Stanford leads the way with a median score of 737! Alex and Graham then discussed UVA / Darden’s career report. The school reports a very high median starting salary of $175,000. This Read more
Published: March 19, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 282—Fighter pilot, low GPA. Carlson versus Bocconi. Tepper versus Ross, online MBA.
This week’s episode tackles ‘March Madness’ – of the MBA admissions variety – as more and more top MBA programs are releasing their final decisions for Round 2. UPenn / Wharton is one of the many programs scheduled to release their decisions this upcoming week. Graham highlighted a recently published admissions tip that focuses on navigating the wait list. He then highlighted two alumni Real Humans pieces, for HBS and Deloitte, and NYU / Stern and Carlyle. The latter alumna discussed the importance of patience and persistence when recruiting outside of the traditional career paths of consulting Read more
Published: March 12, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 281—Army ranger, modest GRE. Fire service, now undergrad. Aerospace engineer.
This episode begins with Alex and Graham’s usual discussion of all the activity on MBA LiveWire, where candidates are sharing news from the leading MBA programs that are starting to release decisions for Round 2. Last week this included Duke / Fuqua and CMU / Tepper, and this upcoming week should see decision releases from UVA / Darden, Dartmouth / Tuck, Michigan / Ross and others. Round 3 application deadlines are also beginning. Graham highlighted the big news out of GMAC; they are launching a new format for the GMAT in late 2023, called ‘GMAT Focus Edition’. While there isn’t Read more
Published: March 5, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 280—Difficult personal story. 770 GMAT, off to MBB. Product manager at fintech unicorn.
Welcome back to another jam-packed episode of the Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast!  This week’s show kicks off with some discussion the activity on MBA LiveWire, where a few interview invites continue to trickle out, but that part of the season is slowing to make way for news of admissions decisions. Speaking of decisions, this week, Duke / Fuqua, CMU / Tepper and Oxford / Said will be releasing admissions results – with other schools following suit over the course of several ‘decision weeks’ this month. Beyond school updates, Graham highlighted an admissions tip that Clear Admit published on the Read more
Published: February 26, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 279—Pakistani failed entrepreneur. Architect with sustainability focus. Military with nuclear experience.
This episode kicks off with a discussion of all of the interview invites popping up on MBA LiveWire (and a focus on MIT / Sloan).  While all of the big ‘single release interview invitation’ schools have now passed, programs that follow more of a rolling invite process will still be releasing a few invites in the week or two ahead. In other news, Graham highlighted a recently released podcast episode which focused on GMAC’s new Business Fundamentals program. This program helps candidates prepare for their MBA experience, much like MBA Math and HBS CORe. Graham also highlighted Clear Admit’s Read more
Published: February 19, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 278—Media and Entertainment, from HYP. Sustainability guy seeks asset mgmt. M&A lawyer from India
This episode of the Clear Admit podcast kicks off with a discussion about the flurry of activity on MBA LiveWire, which includes a good volume of interview invites (UPenn / Wharton added to the numbers this week), as well as a few waitlist admits. Alex and Graham then had a decent discussion regarding the Financial Times’s 2023 MBA Global rankings. Three basic themes were discussed: Columbia’s first #1 place, Wharton’s absence, and your hosts’ overall dislike of ordinal rankings (and the additional issues of trying to merge global programs into a single ranking). Graham highlighted two pieces from the Read more
Published: February 16, 2023
Episode 275: Prepare for Your MBA with Business Fundamentals from GMAC
Are you ready for the academic rigor of an MBA program? Do you feel confident that you have the skills you need to succeed? This special edition of the Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast shares how GMAC Business Fundamentals, powered by Kaplan, can help you improve your foundational knowledge and skills and strengthen your journey to business school, from application through graduation. Ana Kyper, Sr. Director of GME Prep and Readiness, GMAC Here to dig into the tool and how to best prepare for business school is Ana Kyper, the Senior Director of GME Prep and Readiness at the Read more

MBA Applywire

6
December 25, 2024 2:16pm ET
Applying: Duke / Fuqua, Emory / Goizueta, Georgetown / McDonough, Indiana / Kelley, Michigan / Ross, UNC Kenan-Flagler
Intake Year: 2025
Pre-MBA Career: Strategy consulting
Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting, Commercial Banking Companies: Bain , BCG , Deloitte , Ernst & Young , KPMG , McKinsey , PWC , Bank of America , Capital One , Citibank , PNC Bank , Wells Fargo
GRE: 323
GPA: 3.48
Years of Work Experience: 6
12
December 25, 2024 10:52am ET
Applying: Berkeley / Haas, Carnegie Mellon / Tepper, Columbia, Cornell / Johnson, Duke / Fuqua, Indian School of Business, Indiana / Kelley, Michigan / Ross, Northwestern / Kellogg, UCLA Anderson, UT Austin / McCombs, UVA / Darden
Intake Year: 2025
Pre-MBA Career: Supply Chain Management
Post-MBA Target Industry: Other
GMAT: 655
GPA: 3.3
Years of Work Experience: 4.5
Location: India
Post MBA Location: USA
Notes:

Extensive Supply chain experience across Telecom and Aviation industries. Currently working with United Airlines in Supply Chain. Lots of international exposure and experience.
2
December 25, 2024 7:51am ET
Applying: Duke / Fuqua, UVA / Darden
Intake Year: 2025
Pre-MBA Career: Indian Chartered Accountant, Completed Undergrad and Grad in commernce (A and A+ grade)Fund Controlling - PE(Goldman Sachs) and IIF(JP Morgan)
Post-MBA Target Industry: Asset Management, inc. HF Companies: Blackrock , Goldman Sachs , JP Morgan Asset Management
GRE: 320
GPA: A+
Years of Work Experience: 5.5
Location: India
Post MBA Location: US, UK
Notes:

I got waiver from Darden and applying to fuqua with GRE score. Planning to apply to only two schools in current round 2.
Post MBA goal is to transition career from accounting based role to front end asset management roles.
5
December 23, 2024 7:48am ET
Applying: Duke / Fuqua, Emory / Goizueta, Georgia Tech / Scheller, UNC Kenan-Flagler, Vanderbilt / Owen
Intake Year: 2025
Pre-MBA Career: Sports
Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting, Family Business, Other Companies: Accenture , Deloitte
GMAT: 655
GPA: 3.89
Years of Work Experience: 3
Location: South
Notes:

NCAA DI Athlete
Selected for the industry's inaugural women's leadership academy
Variety of volunteer work in and out of my work industry
6
December 23, 2024 12:19am ET
Applying: Cornell / Johnson, Michigan / Ross, MIT Sloan, UCLA Anderson, UT Austin / McCombs, UVA / Darden
Intake Year: 2025
Pre-MBA Career: Construction & RE (2nd Gen Entrepreneur)
Post-MBA Target Industry: Investment Banking, Venture Capital, Private Equity, Asset Management, inc. HF, Family Business Companies: Citibank , Credit Suisse , Morgan Stanley
GRE: 326
GPA: 3.80
Years of Work Experience: 5
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MBA LiveWire

December 28, 2024 4:04pm ET
Interview Invite to Dartmouth / Tuck
Round: Round 2
Received via email on December 22, 2024
GPA: 3.357
GRE: 333
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Target Career: Healthcare
Application Location: California, USA
Note:

Date of app submission: 12/22/2024
December 27, 2024 3:04pm ET
Accepted to Duke / Fuqua
Round: Round 1
Received via phone on December 11, 2024
GPA: 3.0
GMAT: 710
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Target Career: Operations Management
Application Location: New Jersey
December 27, 2024 2:07am ET
Applied to MIT Sloan
Round: Round 1
Received via email
GRE: 340
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
December 27, 2024 12:36am ET
Accepted to Northwestern / Kellogg
Round: Round 1
Received via email on December 10, 2024
GPA: 8.8/10
GRE: 337
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Target Career: Consulting
Application Location: India
Note:

Received 60% scholarship.
December 27, 2024 12:33am ET
Accepted to Yale SOM
Round: Round 1
Received via phone on December 04, 2024
GPA: 8.8/10
GRE: 337
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Target Career: Consulting
Application Location: India
Note:

Received 50% scholarship on 20th December.
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