Alex and Graham are in a celebratory mood as this episode marks the 100th time our hosts have recorded an edition of Wire Taps! To mark the occasion, this show includes audio clips from some of the Wire Taps faithful, facts and figures about the Wire Taps journey to date, and a medley of classic Alex/Graham banter (tucked into the end of the episode). Of course, our hosts still make time to review a great group of candidates, including a woman in NYC with healthcare experience looking to boost her GMAT, an EdTech professional wondering about the impact of applying with one's partner/spouse, and an Indian male IT engineer hoping to hone in on the right set of target programs. A HUGE thanks to all of our listeners who have been joining us week in and week out for Wire Taps, to everyone who sent along audio clips for inclusion in this week's episode, and to the incredible Dennis Crowley who worked tirelessly to produce this episode! As usual, Wire Taps is recorded in Paris, France and Cornwall, England and produced in Philadelphia, PA. Please remember to rate and review this podcast wherever you listen!

What is MBA student life like—really? Our special guest, Ryan Price (BYU Marriott MBA candidate), joins Graham Richmond to explore the ins and outs of the b-school experience, from admissions to career support and more. Ryan is the host and founder of the podcast, MBA Secrets, a show that features interviews with current MBA students at schools across the globe. His mission is to provide current and aspiring MBA candidates with the perspectives of the students who are actually DOING business school every day. This episode was recorded in Salt Lake City, Utah and Paris, France. It was produced by Dennis Crowley in West Philadelphia. Please remember to rate and review this podcast wherever you listen!

Happy Memorial Day! Alex and Graham celebrate the 99th episode of WireTaps and ask for listeners urgent help in co-crafting episode #100. Our hosts also dig into some really interesting candidacies including a German candidate with 10+ years of experience and two kids who is wondering if she's too old for top schools and if European MBAs will carry the same weight as those in the USA. Alex and Graham also explore a stellar candidate from the PR/communications domain with a possible quantitative weakness. The third featured candidate of this episode presents a bit of a quandary about low GPAs, high GREs, and optional essays that explain such things. This episode was recorded in Paris, France and Cornwall, England. It was produced by the always incredible Dennis Crowley in West Philadelphia. Please remember to rate and review the show, and to send audio clips to celebrate the 100th episode of WireTaps to [email protected].

Help us celebrate the forthcoming 100th podcast episode of Wire Taps! Alex & Graham want to hear from listeners & featured applicants about how Wire Taps has helped you during the admissions process. So get out your phone, open up the voice memos or voice recorder app, and record a clip of no more than 30 seconds. Then email your clip to [email protected] using the subject line 'WireTaps100'. Tune in for all the details on how you could add to our milestone episode!

Alex and Graham reflect on the news of Rod Garcia's retirement from the MIT Sloan admissions office after 33 years, suggesting his role in the industry merits the 'Mount Rushmore treatment'; you will be missed Rod! Our hosts also review the profiles of an Indian candidate with an unusual background in government and a US Army infantry officer who worked his way into Army Finance. Finally, Alex and Graham debate a tough choice an admitted student is facing between Indiana Kelley and University of Washington Foster with scholarship dollars and geography very much in play. This episode also unveils news of a series of exclusive Essay Workshops that Clear Admit will be hosting in July with the likes of Wharton, Berkeley, MIT, Yale, Duke, Dartmouth, Cornell, Michigan, UCLA, Tepper, UNC, UT Austin and more. Sign up is now open at clearadmit.com! Our show is recorded each and every week in Paris, France and Cornwall, England. It is produced by Dennis Crowley in West Philadelphia, USA, and our generous sponsor is the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University: www.cmu.edu/tepper. Please remember to rate and review this podcast wherever you listen.

This week, Alex and Graham travel to Southeast Asia while touting a review from a listener in Thailand and evaluating a Malaysian applicant who needs a reapplication strategy (and who apparently likes cooking while tuning into WireTaps). They then turn their attention to a consultant in NYC who needs a bit of a confidence boost due to a below-average GPA (and who apparently listens to WireTaps in the shower). Shifting gears, our hosts dig into a dilemma from a candidate with admissions offers from Vanderbilt ($92K), Georgetown ($20K), and Georgia Tech (~$20K). The dilemma? This candidate has an aversion to landing in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic, is drawn to the big-city advantages of Atlanta, has a partner in Nashville, and some warm & fuzzies for the Owen folks they have met. This episode also marks the official kick-off for the 2021-22 application cycle, as HBS announces deadlines and an essay prompt. Finally, if you have an offer to attend business school this fall, please take a moment to complete our admitted students survey: http://bit.ly/MBAadmitsurvey. This episode was recorded in Paris, France and Cornwall, England. It was produced by Dennis Crowley in West Philadelphia. Our sponsor is Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business. Please remember to rate and review this podcast wherever you listen, or to at least tell a friend to tune in!

This week, Alex and Graham tackle a number of key admissions questions, ranging from the importance of GMAT/GRE 'recency' to potential hurdles candidates may face when coming from 'back office' roles. Along the way, our hosts also counsel an early bird applicant thinking of applying in 2024 and a recently admitted applicant weighing offers from UCLA Anderson (with $100K) vs. UT Austin McCombs (with $30K). Other topics in this jam-packed episode include R3 applications and the state of the waitlist at top schools this season. Two final items of note this week: 1. Take our MBA admit survey here: http://bit.ly/MBAadmitsurvey, and 2. Join us for a conversation with admissions directors from Yale SOM, UNC Kenan Flagler, Duke Fuqua, Cornell Johnson, and Dartmouth Tuck this Wednesday, May 12th. You can sign up here: http://bit.ly/MBAappoverview. Please remember to rate and review this podcast wherever you listen! This episode was recorded in Paris, France and Cornwall, UK. It was mixed and produced by Dennis Crowley in West Philadelphia, USA.

In this week's episode, Graham and Alex ask the eternal MBA admissions question "ED or Not ED?" while offering up advice to a candidate thinking about applying to Columbia and wondering about the timing of his application. Our hosts also offer some advice to a distinguished military candidate with a red flag in the academics domain. Finally, Alex and Graham highlight a debate that took place on the site where a candidate was weighing Berkeley vs. Columbia for Technology or FinTech/Investment Management. In other news, we urge listeners to take our 'MBA admits' survey here: http://bit.ly/MBAadmitsurvey, and for everyone to sign up for our upcoming Application Overview Workshops with admissions directors from 10 leading MBA programs - http://bit.ly/MBAappoverview. Finally, it's no secret that India desperately needs everyone's support right now in the wake of the horrible wave of COVID19 sweeping the country. To help fight COVID-19 and support India, a group of 250+ business school admits and alumni from almost all top business schools have come together to launch a fundraising initiative called “pay-it-forward”. They are urging everyone to donate to any COVID Relief Fund, and in return, they will help the donors with anything related from career planning to MBA applications. Learn more here: https://studentsfightcovid.in/ Thanks for listening, and please remember to tell one person about the Clear Admit podcast! This episode was recorded in Paris, France and Cornwall, England. It was produced by Dennis Crowley in West Philadelphia.

Graham and Alex offer admissions advice to a U.S. Army officer with a sub-3.0 GPA academic background (presenting an opportunity for Graham to explain the 'That Was Then, This Is Now' admissions strategy). Then, a candidate from Africa working in biz dev for a commercial bank needs guidance on school selection for their goals in investment banking. Finally, as the 2020-21 admissions season winds down, one candidate is on the fence about a Park Fellowship, full-tuition scholarship at Cornell Johnson vs. a small scholarship ($20K) at Dartmouth Tuck. Also featured in this episode are details about Clear Admit's upcoming event with Bain & Co. and JP Morgan (bit.ly/CArecruiterpanel), and some forthcoming application overview workshops with admissions directors from Wharton, Columbia, Berkeley, Duke, Yale, UNC, Michigan, Texas, Tuck, and Cornell (bit.ly/MBAappoverview). Sign up now! This episode was recorded in Paris, France and Cornwall, England. It was produced in West Philadelphia by Dennis Crowley. Please remember to rate and review!

Since Round 2 decisions have been delivered, many lucky accepted candidates are facing some tough decisions. On this week's WireTaps podcast, Graham and Alex weigh in on a couple of particularly tough dilemmas, as the candidates wonder: Cornell Johnson or Michigan Ross? Emory Goizueta or UNC Kenan-Flagler? Of course, there are many factors that go into these decisions (including scholarship dollars and industry specializations), so be sure to tune in below for some expert admissions advice. Also this week, Graham and Alex advise an applicant with a background in cyber-defense for the Australian Navy and use the candidate's profile to point out some important strategic advice on the role of outside activities in one's profile. And of course, tune in for some great listener emails and word of an upcoming event featuring Bain & Co and JP Morgan! This episode was recorded in Cornwall, England, and Paris, France. It was produced by the Dennis Crowley in West Philadelphia, USA. Thanks for listening!