Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast Clear Admit

Recorded live at the Clear Admit MBA Fair, admissions directors from top business schools share their insights on key questions prospective MBA students often need answering in this special episode of the Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast. The episode features Eddie Asbie from Cornell Johnson, Dana Fernandez from Harvard Business School, Matthew Ganderson from Michigan Ross, and Lindsay Lloyd from NYU Stern.

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 MBA programs.

Graham then noted three Real Humans Alumni pieces; an MBA alum from Chicago / Booth who now works at BCG, an alum from Goizueta / Emory who now works at Bank of America and an alum from UC Irvine / Merage who now works at Amazon. Finally, Graham highlighted a Friday’s from the Frontlines article from a student who is taking part in 'Stern Solutions', an experiential learning program from NYU / Stern.

For this week, for the candidate profile review portion of the show, Alex selected three ApplyWire entries:

This week’s first MBA admissions candidate is only targeting INSEAD. They have a very strong GMAT of 705, a decent GPA and nearly 10 years of experience in the Fintech space. They are currently working in South Korea.

This week’s second MBA candidate also has a GMAT of 705, and is a product manager coming from a liberal arts background. They are from the Midwest of the United States.

The final MBA candidate for this week is from Nigeria and has trained to be a medical doctor. After one year of being a physician, they switched to lead a Solar company. They also have a high test score, a 333 for the GRE.

This episode was recorded in Paris, France and Cornwall, England. It was produced and engineered by the fabulous Dennis Crowley in Philadelphia, USA. Thanks to all of you who’ve been joining us and please remember to rate and review this show wherever you listen!

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 Real Humans Alumni pieces; an MBA alum from IESE who is now an entrepreneur, and an alum from Northwestern / Kellogg who now works at BCG. Graham also discussed a report from the Kellogg Climate conference, as well as a feature on a Dartmouth / Tuck MBA creating a startup while in business school. We then discussed a Real Humans piece from UCLA / Anderson, which features six MBA students from the program.

For this week, for the candidate profile review portion of the show, Alex selected three ApplyWire entries:

This week’s first MBA admissions candidate is from India and now works in Canada. They have 10 years of work experience, which places them at the high end of the spectrum for traditional full-time MBA programs. Should they target one-year MBA programs?  How high should they aim?

This week’s second MBA candidate has developed a VC-backed startup over the last several years. They also have a STEM PhD. They are looking at online/hybrid or executive MBA programs, so they can continue with their startup, while studying for their MBA.

The final MBA candidate for this week is originally from India, but studied in the United States for their undergraduate degree, and then went into banking in the U.S. They then moved back to India for a Fintech startup. This is a rather unorthodox move for an MBA admissions candidate. They also have very good numbers.

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 online webinar that Clear Admit is hosting this Wednesday at 12 pm ET, which will feature CMU / Tepper, Columbia, UPenn / Wharton, INSEAD and London Business School. Signups are here: https://www.bit.ly/caspringwebinars

Graham then mentioned a recently published Clear Admit admissions tip, regarding background checks on admitted candidates, before moving on to discuss three 'Real Humans Alumni' pieces, an MBA alum from Duke / Fuqua who works at Pfizer, an MBA from Columbia who works in AI for Amazon, and an MBA alum from Chicago / Booth who works at Xbox.

We then discussed the MBA Class of 2023 career report from UCLA / Anderson. This report is quite late in the cycle, but highlights the many strengths of the Anderson MBA program, especially if you are interested in being on the West Coast after business school. Finally, we discussed a U.S. Department of Energy competition won by MBA students from Duke / Fuqua. The winning concept related to how to manage power generation when the renewable inputs are variable.

For this week, for the candidate profile review portion of the show, Alex selected two ApplyWire entries and one DecisionWire entry:

This week’s first MBA admissions candidate appears to have a very strong professional career, and is from Latin America. While their GMAT is decent (710), their GPA is the weak point. We discussed strategies to mitigate the lighter GPA.

This week’s second MBA candidate also has a modest GPA of 3.0. They have a super GMAT (695 on the new version of the test) and appear to have done well in their marketing career, despite navigating a layoff.

The final MBA candidate for this week is deciding between Duke / Fuqua and London Business School. These are two quite different options, and we discussed those differences. They want to be in the United States in the longer term, post MBA.

This episode was recorded in Paris, France and Cornwall, England. It was produced and engineered by the fabulous Dennis Crowley in Philadelphia, USA. Thanks to all of you who’ve been joining us and please remember to rate and review this show wherever you listen!

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 recently published Clear Admit article that highlights the benefits of posting an entry to MBA ApplyWire. This is Clear Admit’s tool that allows candidates to share their profile and list of target MBA programs, and then get feedback from the Clear Admit MBA community. Some of these profiles are then discussed on this Wire Taps podcast.

Graham then noted one Real Humans Alumni piece, an MBA alum from Cornell / Johnson who works at Amazon. Finally, we discussed a Friday’s From the Frontline piece which focused on a Duke / Fuqua MBA student who discussed his long pathway to the realization that an MBA was a good next step.

For this week, for the candidate profile review portion of the show, Alex selected two ApplyWire entries and one DecisionWire entry:

This week’s first MBA admissions candidate has a strong passion for focusing on income inequality issues, and how an MBA can help them develop their skills to further impact this issue. They also have decent numbers, and may well be a strong MBA candidate.

This week’s second MBA candidate is from India, and appears to have an impressive professional background, evolving from accountancy to product management in tech, with a focus on social impact. They should target the first rounds.

The final MBA candidate for this week is deciding between NYU / Stern, to which they have already paid a deposit, and Columbia, where they have only recently been admitted. In the long run, they want to be on the west coast.

This episode was recorded in Chicago, Illinois and Cornwall, England. It was produced and engineered by the fabulous Dennis Crowley in Philadelphia, USA. Thanks to all of you who’ve been joining us and please remember to rate and review this show wherever you listen!

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 on Wednesday, May 22th. Signups are here: https://www.bit.ly/caspringwebinars

Graham then mentioned a recently published admissions tip that focuses on pre-MBA additional coursework; this might be useful for candidates who have very little quantitative studies in their undergraduate studies, or for candidates who need to address below par grades.

Graham then noted four Real Humans Alumni pieces, alums from: Berkeley / Haas who works at Pepsi, IMD who works at Amazon, Notre Dame / Mendoza who works at Microsoft, and Stanford who works at Myc0Works.

For the candidate profile review portion of the show this week, Alex selected two ApplyWire entries and one DecisionWire entry:

This week’s first MBA admissions candidate is targeting Stanford. They have a very interesting background in EdTech, they also have their own YouTube channel with a significant number of followers, as a content creator. We worry that only targeting Stanford can be risky, but they do appear to have an attractive profile.

This week’s second MBA candidate is from India, and also has French citizenship. They have strong numbers, and appear to have done well in their career, to date. They want to target the top programs, and we encourage them to include those programs in the first round.

The final MBA candidate for this week is deciding between UCLA / Anderson and USC / Marshall, with substantial scholarships. They are seeking buy-side finance roles, and wonder if one of these options will be good enough, or should they reapply to higher-tier programs next season.

This episode was recorded in Paris, France and Cornwall, England. It was produced and engineered by the fabulous Dennis Crowley in Philadelphia, USA. Thanks to all of you who’ve been joining us and please remember to rate and review this show wherever you listen!