Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast

In this week's MBA admissions podcast we began by discussing the Round 3 activity on LiveWire; interview invites and final decisions continue to roll out for this shortened application round; next week UPenn / Wharton, Northwestern / Kellogg, IESE, MIT / Sloan, Yale SOM, Minnesota / Carlson, Columbia, Washington / Foster, UCLA / Anderson and Washington / Olin are scheduled to release final decisions.

Graham noted a new Clear Admit promotion, where for every new entry we receive on DecisionWire, that maps out a candidate’s entire application journey, Clear Admit will donate $10 to the Forte Foundation.

Graham then highlighted Clear Admit’s MBA admissions fair in Boston, on Wednesday. This event includes panel discussions, one of which is focused on Consulting hiring and is led by Bain. Twenty-four of the top 25 U.S.-based MBA programs are planning to attend, along with London Business School. Signups for this event are here: https://bit.ly/mbafair2025

The remainder of Application Overview events series will then be hosted, virtually, on May 20 and 21. Signups for those events are here: https://bit.ly/appoverview25

Graham noted two articles recently published on Clear Admit. The first covers the broad topic regarding what you can do with an MBA, looking at post MBA careers. The second article is a deep-dive research piece that examines placement statistics of the top MBA programs, for those seeking an MBA for their entrepreneurial ambitions. It’s no surprise that Harvard and Stanford top the list of programs that future entrepreneurs join.

Graham highlighted three Real Humans alumni spotlights, alums from HEC / Paris who established a Search Fund, Washington / Olin working at Applied Materials, and Ohio State / Fisher working at Bank of America.

Finally, Graham discussed a forthcoming podcast featuring the leader of career services at Georgetown / McDonough.

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 is an engineer who is now working in the renewable energy space. They have a 3.57 GPA and need to retake the GRE.

This week’s second MBA candidate is from Canada, and is also an engineer, working in Toronto. They have nine years of experience, and a 337 GRE.

The final MBA candidate is deciding between Cornell / Johnson, UVA / Darden and Michigan / Ross, and is seeking a career in investment banking.

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 Round 3 activity on LiveWire; interview invites and final decisions continue to roll out for this shortened application cycle; next week Emory / Goizueta, Berkeley / Haas and Duke / Fuqua are scheduled to release final decisions.

Graham noted a new Clear Admit survey, where we are trying to understand the issues and concerns that international students may have, with regards to coming to the United States for an MBA. The survey link is here: https://bit.ly/mba25usa

Graham highlighted Clear Admit’s Application Overview May series of events that begin this week on Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday’s event includes Dartmouth / Tuck, Duke / Fuqua, INSEAD, London Business School and Michigan / Ross. The remainder of events in this series will be hosted on May 20 and 21. Signups are here: https://bit.ly/appoverview25 Sandwiched in the middle of this series is Clear Admit’s MBA admissions fair in Boston, on May 14th. This event includes panel discussions, one of which is focused on Consulting hiring and is led by Bain. Twenty-four of the top 25 U.S.-based MBA programs are planning to attend, along with London Business School. Signups for this event are here: https://bit.ly/mbafair2025

Graham noted three articles recently published on Clear Admit. The first details the best laptops for MBAs as they plan to begin their program. The second article is part of Clear Admit’s Real Numbers series and looks at the percentage of MBA students who go into Consulting after business school. The final article is a deep-dive research piece that examines placement statistics of the top US MBA programs, by geography. This helps us understand the regional nature of many of the leading MBA programs.

Graham highlighted five Real Humans alumni spotlights, alums from Michigan / Ross working at PepsiCo, Emory / Goizueta working at Accenture, IESE working at BCG, Irvine / Merage working at Disney, and Columbia working at their own company, Small Bear.

Finally, Graham discussed a recently published podcast episode about careers and impressive growth at SMU Cox with Shelly Heinrich.

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 695 GMAT score and a strong GPA. They are working in Australia and received their undergraduate degree from New Zealand.

This week’s second MBA candidate is from India and has 8 years of work experience. They are targeting a 330 on the GRE and have extensive experience building online communities.

The final MBA candidate is deciding between Chicago / Booth and Berkeley / Haas. They are seeking a career in tech.

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 Round 3 activity on LiveWire; interview invites continue to roll out for this shortened application round; next week several schools are scheduled to release final decisions.

Graham noted Clear Admit’s Application Overview May series of events. These online events will be hosted on May 6 and 7, and May 20 and 21. Signups are here: https://bit.ly/appoverview25 Already, we have hundreds of signups for each event! Sandwiched in the middle of this series is Clear Admit’s MBA Fair in Boston, on May 14th. This event includes panel discussions, one of which is focused on Consulting hiring and is led by Bain. Twenty-four of the top 25 U.S.-based MBA programs are planning to attend, along with London Business School. Signups for this event are here: https://bit.ly/mbafair2025

Graham noted two finance-related articles that were recently published on Clear Admit. The first looks at the number and percentage of students who go into finance from each of the top programs. The second article does a deeper dive into buy-side finance and elite finance careers. Graham then noted an admissions tip, focused on pre-MBA coursework, which may be necessary for those with less traditional undergraduate degrees, or those who need to “repair” their transcript.

Graham highlighted three Real Humans alumni spotlights, alums from Berkeley / Haas working at Morgan Stanley, Rice / Jones working at energyRe and Washington / Foster working at Amazon.

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 675 GMAT score and a strong GPA. They are from Peru and working in Chile. They have six years of work experience, which does include a five-month gap.

This week’s second MBA candidate is from Central Asia, now working in Dubai. They have a 330 GRE score, but we are unsure how strong their academic experience has been.

The final MBA candidate has an offer from CMU / Tepper and is on the waitlist at several other top MBA programs. They are debating whether they should take the Tepper option, if not admitted from the waitlists, or reapply 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!

In this week's MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing the Round 3 activity on LiveWire; interview invites are now starting to roll out for this shortened application round. Next week Harvard and UPenn / Wharton have deadlines for their deferred admissions programs.

Graham noted Clear Admit’s Application Overview May series of events. These online events will be hosted on May 6 and 7, and May 20 and 21. Signups are here: https://bit.ly/appoverview25 Sandwiched in the middle of these events is Clear Admit’s MBA admissions fair in Boston, on May 14th. This event includes panel discussions, one of which is focused on Consulting hiring and is led by Bain. Twenty-four of the top 25 U.S.-based MBA programs are planning to attend, along with London Business School. Signups for this event are here: https://bit.ly/mbafair2025

Graham noted a recently published article on Clear Admit that focuses on three alumni from Dartmouth / Tuck who are focusing on areas of social impact. This does help illustrate the broad relevance and impact of a top tier MBA.

Graham highlighted three Real Humans alumni spotlights, alums from Maryland / Smith working at JPMorgan Chase, Harvard working at Disney+, and Yale SOM working at Microsoft.

Finally, we discussed two late-arriving 2024 career reports, from UCLA / Anderson and USC / Marshall. Both programs are showing similar trends that we have seen from other top programs this season. This includes a slight dip in the percentage of those who have offers, that were seeking jobs. Both programs do show some very similar statistics, overall.

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

This week’s first MBA admissions candidate has an undergraduate degree in accounting, a master’s in accounting, and is now pursuing a master’s in finance, part-time, while looking at MBA programs. This led to a discussion on the dangers of being considered a degree-collector.

This week’s second MBA candidate is choosing between UVA / Darden or waiting a year to reapply. They are seeking a career in consulting.

The final MBA candidate is choosing between INSEAD and NYU / Stern’s one-year Tech 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 Round 3 activity on LiveWire; interview invites are now starting to roll out for this shortened application round.

Graham then announced the recent partnership Clear Admit has now established with Leland, which will now become our partner for MBA admissions coaching, test prep, and career counseling.

Graham noted Clear Admit’s Application Overview May series of events. These online events will be hosted on May 6 and 7, and May 20 and 21. Signups are here: https://bit.ly/appoverview25 Sandwiched in the middle of these events is Clear Admit’s MBA admissions fair in Boston, on May 14th. Twenty-four of the top 25 U.S.-based MBA programs are planning to attend, along with London Business School. Signups for this event are here: https://bit.ly/mbafair2025

Graham noted a Clear Admit admissions tip focused on what candidates need to do, if they were not able to secure admissions at the targeted MBA programs. Graham then highlighted two recent articles from Clear Admit that focus on NYU / Stern’s new dean, and UPenn / Wharton’s new AI major. We then discussed the recent publication of 2025 US News’s rankings, which led to a discussion on their overall methodology.

Graham highlighted four Real Humans alumni spotlights, alums from IMD working at Johnson & Johnson, Cornell / Johnson working at Elephant Energy, Vanderbilt / Owen working at Amazon, and London Business School working as an entrepreneur.

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

This week’s first MBA admissions candidate is clearly non-traditional; for that reason, we discussed some of the approaches that non-traditional candidates need to pursue, including a strong focus on “why MBA” and their goals.

This week’s second MBA candidate is choosing between Berkeley / Haas and Northwestern / Kellogg’s MBAi. They want to do product management in tech, in Texas.

The final MBA candidate is choosing between UVA / Darden and NYU / Stern. They have a full-ride scholarship at both and want to purse MBB consulting.

This episode was recorded in Atlanta, Georgia 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 Round 2 activity on LiveWire; Stanford, UPenn / Wharton and MIT / Sloan were among the top MBA programs releasing decisions last week. For this upcoming week, Round 3 admissions deadlines are rolling on, while Oxford / Said and Ohio State / Fisher have decision deadlines.

Graham noted Clear Admit’s Application Overview May series of events. These online events will be hosted on May 6 and 7, and May 20 and 21. Signups are here: https://bit.ly/appoverview25 Sandwiched in the middle of these events is Clear Admit’s MBA admissions fair in Boston, on May 14th. Twenty-four of the top 25 U.S.-based MBA programs are planning to attend. Signups for this event are here: https://bit.ly/mbafair2025

Graham noted a Clear Admit article from the Friday’s-from-the-Frontline series from an LBS MBA student, discussing the EQUALL conference, which is focused on gender equality. Graham also noted a recently published admissions tip that focuses on how to negotiate scholarships with business schools.

Graham highlighted three Real Humans alumni spotlights, alums from UPenn / Wharton working at Pfizer, Ohio State / Fisher working at Deloitte, and Chicago / Booth working at Nike.

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

This week’s first MBA admissions candidate is from Brazil, and has an undergraduate degree in civil engineering, and is now working at a bank, focused on data. They have a 710 GMAT score and are targeting next season.

This week’s second MBA candidate is choosing between several top MBA programs, including Chicago / Booth and Northwestern / Kellogg. They want to work in consulting in Chicago, post MBA.

The final MBA candidate also has several choices, but has narrowed down their decision to be between Indiana / Kelley, with a full scholarship, and Michigan / Ross.

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 Round 2 activity on LiveWire; Harvard, Northwestern / Kellogg, Chicago / Booth, Berkeley / Haas, Washington / Foster, UCLA / Anderson, Texas / McCombs and London Business School were among the top MBA programs releasing decisions last week. For this upcoming week, Stanford, UPenn / Wharton, MIT / Sloan and Cornell / Johnson are scheduled to release their final decisions.

Graham highlighted the Spring Survey that Clear Admit conducts each season. These surveys are important to understand the decisions of each applicant-cohort. Here is the link for this season’s survey: https://bit.ly/casurvey25

Graham noted Clear Admit’s Application Overview series of events scheduled for May. These online events will be hosted on May 6 and 7, and May 20 and 21. Signups are here: https://bit.ly/appoverview25 Sandwiched in the middle of these events is Clear Admit’s MBA admissions fair in Boston, on May 14th. Twenty-four of the top 25 U.S.-based MBA programs are planning to attend. Signups for this event are here: https://bit.ly/mbafair2025

Graham noted a Clear Admit article that shines the spotlight on ESADE and their work to become carbon neutral. He then highlighted the first in a series of Clear Admit career trends articles, focused on Class of 2024 consulting placements at leading MBA programs. As we have reported over several episodes this season, consulting placements are generally down across the top MBA programs. However, consulting remains a critical industry for top MBA graduates - with most schools sending a third of their class into the domain. Graham then noted a Fridays-from-the-Frontlines feature that focuses on MBA students from London Business School who traveled to Singapore and explored sustainability efforts.

Graham highlighted four Real Humans alumni spotlights, alums from Duke / Fuqua working at McKinsey, Indiana / Kelley working at Microsoft, Michigan / Ross working at JP Morgan and Columbia working at Netflix.

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 is from the UK and now lives in the US. They have a 675 GMAT score, and a 3.1 GPA undergraduate degree, followed by a 3.8 GPA master’s degree in finance. Their focus is on real estate.

This week’s second MBA candidate is an electrical engineer who also has a master’s degree. They work in the semiconductor industry as a product manager; they also have a 675 GMAT score.

The final MBA candidate is deciding between Dartmouth / Tuck, Duke / Fuqua (with a $40,000 scholarship), and Georgetown / McDonough. They are seeking a consulting career.

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 Round 2 activity on LiveWire; UNC / Kenan Flagler, Yale SOM and Georgetown / McDonough were among the top MBA programs scheduled to release Round 2 decisions last week. For this upcoming week, IESE, Harvard Business School, Northwestern / Kellogg, Columbia, Chicago / Booth, Berkeley / Haas, UCLA / Anderson, Texas / McCombs, Washington / Foster, Boston College / Carroll, Michigan State / Broad, Imperial College and London Business School are releasing their final decisions.

Graham highlighted the Spring Survey that Clear Admit conducts each season. These surveys are important to understand the decisions of each applicant cohort. Here is the link for this season’s survey: https://bit.ly/casurvey25

Graham noted that we have now nearly finalized the line-up for our Application Overview series of virtual events in May. These events will be hosted on May 6 and 7, and May 20 and 21. Signups are here: https://bit.ly/appoverview25 Sandwiched in the middle of these events is Clear Admit’s MBA admissions fair in Boston, on May 14th. Twenty-four of the top 25 U.S.-based MBA programs are planning to attend. Signups for this event are here: https://bit.ly/mbafair2025 May truly kicks off the new season of MBA admissions at Clear Admit!

Graham mentioned a recently published admissions tip that offers a primer on the Executive Assessment test. This article is a result of the queries we are seeing on the Ask Clear Admit AI bot tool. Graham then highlighted a Real Humans alumni spotlight, an alum from NYU / Stern working at PepsiCo.

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

This week’s first MBA admissions candidate is choosing between Dartmouth / Tuck, Duke / Fuqua, and UVA / Darden. They want to work in consulting on the west coast after business school.

This week’s second MBA candidate is choosing between Chicago / Booth’s EMBA program and Cambridge / Judge’s full-time program. They are from Japan and wish to begin a career in the United States.

The final MBA candidate is deciding between Cornell / Johnson, Dartmouth / Tuck, and Michigan / Ross. They want to work in tech in New York City. They have a $100k scholarship offer from Ross, and a $30k offer from Johnson.

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!