Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast

In this week's MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing the current state of the MBA admissions season. We continue to see several top MBA programs rolling out their Round 2 interview invites. Next week UPenn / Wharton and INSEAD are scheduled to release their interview invites and we speculate that MIT Sloan will, too. We then briefly discussed our new interview prep tool,  Clear Admit’s MBA Interview simulator  Thus far, we have seen broad adoption of this tool, and we expect word to continue to spread! The MBA interview simulator is trained on Clear Admit’s extensive catalogue of interview resources including our interview archive and interview guides.

Graham noted we are scheduled for our monthly AMA YouTube Livestream later today. Here is Clear Admit’s YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/@ClearAdmitMBA Graham also highlighted MBA webinar events that are on the horizon that Clear Admit is hosting. We are hosting a series for MiM programs which is scheduled for February 24 and 25. Clear Admit is also hosting events with London Business School and Vanderbilt / Owen later this week. On March 19, we are hosting a series of online panel discussions focused on international students who are targeting the top MBA programs in the United States. Finally, we are excited to announce our in-person admissions event, the MBA Fair, to be scheduled in Atlanta, on May 11. Signups for all these events are here: https://www.clearadmit.com/events

Graham then highlighted a recently published article from Clear Admit’s Fridays from the Frontlines series, highlighting a veteran who is at Notre Dame / Mendoza.  Graham then noted three admissions tips which all focus on the interview experience: MBA interview etiquette, questions for the admissions interviewer, and post-interview follow-up.

Graham addressed a recently published Real Humans piece that focuses on Class of 2027 HBS students. Then finally, we discussed this week’s roll out of the Financial Times ranking.

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 a deferred admissions candidate who appears to have a very strong profile but still needs to take the GMAT.

This week’s second MBA applicant is from India, works in finance, and has a perfect 340 on the GRE test.

This week’s final MBA candidate is deciding between Wharton and Sloan with a scholarship.

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 current state of the MBA admissions season. We continue to see several top MBA programs rolling out their Round 2 interview invites. Next week London Business School and Duke / Fuqua are scheduled to release their interview invitations. We then discussed our new interview prep tool,  Clear Admit’s MBA Interview simulator  This simulator is designed to provide a realistic interview experience for the majority of the top MBA programs, and provide detailed feedback. It is trained on Clear Admit’s extensive catalogue of interview resources including its interview archive and interview guides.

Graham highlighted webinar events that are on the horizon that Clear Admit is hosting. The first webinar series of events is for deferred MBA admissions candidates who are currently completing their first degrees. The second event in this series is scheduled for Wednesday, and includes Haas, Stanford, Columbia, Wharton and Darden. The second series is for MiM programs and is scheduled for February 24 and 25. Clear Admit is also hosting events with London Business School and Vanderbilt / Owen this month. Signups for all these events are here: https://www.clearadmit.com/events

Graham then highlighted several recently published articles from Clear Admit. These include a very popular admissions tip that covers the seven hardest MBA interview questions, and a summary of upcoming in-person events hosted by MBA programs. Also covered is Emory / Goizueta’s one-year MBA program pathways and NYU / Stern’s new AI concentration.

Graham addressed two recently published MBA career reports, from INSEAD and Cornell / Johnson.

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 applying next season and has a 655 GMAT score. While they worry that they can’t improve the score, we really encourage them to give it another try, or take the GRE.

This week’s second MBA applicant has a 760 GMAT score that expires in December. They need to target Round 1 next season, to avoid needing to retake the test.

This week’s final MBA candidate is deciding between Columbia and Duke or Ross with scholarship money.

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 current state of the MBA admissions season. We are seeing several top MBA programs continuing to release interview invites for Round 2. Harvard released all their Round 2 interview invites last week. Imperial Business School is scheduled to do the same during this upcoming week. We then discussed our new interview prep tool,  Clear Admit’s MBA Interview simulator.  This simulator is designed to offer a realistic interview experience for the majority of the top MBA programs, and provide detailed feedback. It is trained on Clear Admit’s extensive catalogue of interview resources including our interview archive and interview guides.

Graham highlighted MBA webinar events that are on the horizon that Clear Admit is hosting. The first webinar series of events is for deferred admissions candidates who are currently completing their first degrees. These are scheduled for the next two Wednesdays. The second series is for MiM programs and are scheduled for February 24 and 25. Signups for both these series are here: https://www.clearadmit.com/events

Graham then highlighted the recent roll out of the 2026 US News rankings for online MBA programs. Indiana /  Kelley continues to lead the way. Graham then noted the announcement from Georgetown / McDonough regarding their shortened MBA program for those who have completed a Masters in Management program.

Graham addressed two recently published MBA admissions tips that focus on the interview experience. The first focuses on the five most common MBA admissions interview questions and the second explores some of the more unique b-school interview offerings. Graham then noted a Fridays from the Frontlines piece focused on a student at Duke / Fuqua studying the intersection of climate risk and business.

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 3.87 GPA and works at MBB, and they plan to return - as they are sponsored. They have a 327 GRE score and appear to be a very decent candidate.

This week’s second MBA applicant has a lower GPA of 3.38, but they had to work through university. We think they should target a few more M7 MBA programs.

This week’s final MBA candidate is deciding between a full-ride at Florida / Warrington and a $70k offer from CMU / Tepper.

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 current state of the MBA admissions season. We are seeing several top MBA programs releasing interview invites for Round 2, including Yale SOM, Berkeley / Haas, Northwestern / Kellogg, UNC / Kenan Flagler, Rice / Jones, UVA / Darden, CMU / Tepper, Cornell / Johnson, UCLA / Anderson, Indiana / Kelley and Georgetown / McDonough.

This led to a discussion about our newest product launch, Clear Admit’s MBA Interview simulator.  This simulator is designed to provide a realistic interview experience for twenty top MBA programs, and provide detailed feedback. It is trained on Clear Admit’s extensive catalogue of interview resources including its interview archive and interview guides.

Graham highlighted MBA webinar events that are on the horizon that Clear Admit is hosting. The first webinar looks at the enduring value of the MBA, scheduled for Wednesday. The second series of events is for deferred admissions candidates who are currently completing their first degrees. Signups are here: https://www.clearadmit.com/events

Graham noted two MBA admissions tips. The first focuses on MBA interview invite timelines for Round 2. The second admissions tip examines Wharton’s Team-based Interview approach. Graham then noted a Real Humans piece spotlighting students from Minnesota Carlson.

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 deferred admissions spot at Darden. They are planning to apply to a few M7 programs next season.

This week’s second MBA applicant was admitted to Fuqua, among other programs, in Round 1. They are also looking at several M7 programs in Round 2.

This week’s final MBA candidate has several offers from leading MBA programs. They want to focus on media and entertainment, post MBA. They are deciding between Darden with a scholarship and Columbia.

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 current state of the MBA admissions season. INSEAD and Boston College / Carroll have their Round 3 application deadlines this week. We are also starting to see a few interview invites rolling out for Round 2 for Northwestern / Kellogg and Yale SOM, among other top MBA programs.

Graham highlighted MBA webinar events that are on the horizon that Clear Admit is hosting. The first webinar looks at the enduring value of the MBA, scheduled for January 28th. The second series of events is for deferred admissions candidates who are currently completing their first degrees. Signups for all Clear Admit events are here: https://www.clearadmit.com/events

We then discussed a recently published in-depth article on the value of the MBA, in these extraordinary times.

Graham also noted three MBA admissions tips. The first focuses on MBA admissions interviews by invitation vs. open interviews, the second on resume vs. blind interviews, and the third admissions tip addresses letters of support (as distinguished from letters of recommendation).  Graham then noted a Real Humans piece spotlighting students from the HEC Paris MBA program in the class of 2027.

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 a CPA and is looking to transition from accounting to consulting. They are a first-generation candidate who transferred from community college to a university.

This week’s second MBA applicant has a low GPA, while appearing to have strong work experience. We discussed the importance of taking remedial action, in terms of seeking out additional coursework.

This week’s final MBA candidate has several offers from leading MBA programs. They want to pivot from tech to investment banking. Some of their leading options appear to be Columbia and Cornell / Johnson.

This episode was recorded in Carlsbad, California 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 current state of the MBA admissions season. While many R2 deadlines were last week, there are still deadlines for NYU / Stern, MIT / Sloan, Texas / McCombs, USC / Marshall and Imperial Business School this week.

Graham highlighted MBA webinar events that are on the horizon that Clear Admit is hosting. The first webinar looks at the enduring value of the MBA. The second series of events is for deferred admissions candidates who are currently completing their first degrees. Signups for all Clear Admit are here: https://www.clearadmit.com/events

Graham noted an MBA admissions tip focused on fine-tuning the MBA admissions essays. Graham then noted two Real Humans pieces spotlighting students from Texas / McCombs and Manchester / Alliance. We then discussed the Class of 2025 employment report from Yale SOM.

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 one admit in Round 1 for an M7 program and is targeting four more M7 programs in Round 2.

This week’s second MBA applicant is a consultant from Sydney, Australia. We worry that their slightly lower GMAT score of 655 may harm them for the very top MBA programs.

This week’s final MBA candidate has several offers from leading MBA programs. They want to begin their post MBA journey in investment banking, and we think Cornell / Johnson may be their best current option.

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 current state of the MBA admissions season. Twenty-nine leading MBA programs have an application deadline during this upcoming week!  In fact, the only top schools without deadlines this week are NYU / Stern, MIT / Sloan, Texas / McCombs, USC / Marshall and INSEAD  - and these programs all have deadlines next week or the following week.

Graham highlighted MBA webinar events that are on the horizon that Clear Admit is hosting. The first webinar looks at the enduring value of the MBA. The second series of events is for deferred admissions candidates who are currently completing their first degrees. As always, signups are for our events are here: https://www.clearadmit.com/events

Graham noted a news story recently published on Clear Admit which takes stock of the past year and looks ahead to MBA predictions for 2026. These predictions, from the Clear Admit team, include a shift in the admissions process that focuses more on areas of the process that cannot be impacted by AI, the possibility that the GRE becomes the most popular MBA admissions test, and the notion that b-schools will continue to roll out specialized masters to help young professionals get the tools needed in today's workforce. Graham also noted four MBA admissions tips, focusing on scholarship negotiations, the data forms, optional essays, and how to show an MBA program that you’ve done the research on their offering.

Graham then noted a Real Humans piece spotlighting students from the University of St Gallen MBA in Switzerland. We then discussed two recently published Class of 2025 employment reports from Wharton and Columbia.

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 an interesting background, from Colombia. However, we fear that their 309 GRE score will harm their chances at the very top MBA programs.

This week’s second MBA applicant is an investment banker and has a very strong background. But they have a DUI from their university days. We discussed those implications.

This week’s final MBA candidate has several offers from leading MBA programs. They are seriously weighing the offers between Booth (with $130K scholarship and a dual degree offer) and Harvard.

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!