January 16, 2023

MBA Wire Taps 271—Private Equity to Asset Management. Entrepreneurial ambitions with a Search fund. Fuqua versus Haas and Kenan Flagler, for Investment Banking.

33 minutes

This week’s episode kicks off with a quick discussion around the last of the Round 2 application deadlines for top programs (MIT / Sloan have a deadline this Wednesday). Graham and Alex also touched upon the fact LiveWire is starting to see one or two programs release early interview invites for Round 2, CMU / Tepper seems to be leading the way in this regard. It is also worth noting that Duke / Fuqua has added an extra deadline for this season, while UVA Darden have made their final round 'rolling'; is this a sign of deflated application volumes? Alex also noted that Goldman Sachs has announced a round of lay-offs; they join several leading tech forms that have also announced lay-offs in recent months. Your hosts then discussed the potential implications of a less steady job market in terms of the ROI of the MBA. Graham highlighted the return of the Real Numbers series from Clear Admit, kicking off with looking at tuition costs at the top programs. Graham then reminded listeners about two deferred enrollment events that Clear Admit is hosting on February 1 and February 8. Signups are here: https://bit.ly/defer23

For this week's candidate profile reviews, Alex chose two ApplyWire entries and one DecisionWire entry:

First up, Graham introduces a very solid candidate for top programs: he has a 730 GMAT, 3.67 GPA and solid banking and private equity experience. He is looking to transition from PE to Asset Management, and Alex and Graham like the switch, but hope there’s enough to differentiate his profile from some other very good, but similar, candidates. This week's second candidate has an ambitious goal of establishing a Search Fund straight after the MBA. We discussed some of the implications of that goal, and while we believe they have great work experience to date, we worry their numbers (320/3.2) in combination may hold them back, for now - even if they have completed MBA Math. This week's final candidate is debating admissions offers from Berkeley / Haas, Duke / Fuqua and UNC / Kenan Flagler (all with scholarships of varying amounts). They are looking to do investment banking, and are an international student. We think it boils down to the geographic preferences and IB placements, and lean towards Fuqua in this case.

This episode was recorded in Paris, France and Cornwall, England. It was produced and engineered by the amazingly talented Dennis Crowley in West Philadelphia. Please remember to rate and review this show wherever you listen. Best of luck to everyone applying!

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