In this week's MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing the upcoming Round 1 deadlines for this new season, which kicks off with Cambridge / Judge this week.

Graham then highlighted several events that Clear Admit is hosting over the next month. Later today, we are hosting our monthly CA+ webinar, that is open to all registered members of the Clear Admit community. This webinar will cover preparation for the forthcoming Round 1 application deadlines. We also have a Real Humans webinar, on August 30th, which includes alumni and students from Chicago / Booth, NYU / Stern, Yale SOM and Berkeley / Haas. Signups are here: https://bit.ly/rhwebinar5.  Graham then highlighted three Adcom Q&As, where we interview admissions directors at CMU / Tepper, Oxford / Said and London Business School.

We then had a discussion on Emory / Goizueta’s new Masters in Management program, which offers graduating seniors a direct pathway to their graduate management studies. We are seeing this trend develop, as Goizueta follows Chicago / Booth with this move. Graham also noted the recently published admissions tips on when to apply (Round 1 versus Round 2) and the value of nurturing advocates in the MBA admissions process.

As usual, for the candidate profile review portion of the show, Alex selected three ApplyWire entries:

This week’s first MBA admissions candidate is from Peru, and has an outstanding GMAT score of 770. They also appear to have very strong work experience, both in Peru and now in the United States. Their goals make sense. One weaker spot might be their extra-curricular activities, but we still think they are a very strong candidate, overall.

This week’s second MBA candidate also has very strong numbers, with a 750 GMAT score and  3.85 Engineering and Math degree. They work in tech, and outside of work they do several activities which include music and tax preparation. All around, they appear to also be a strong candidate.

The final MBA candidate is a former professional ballerina who has now gone on to establish a strong marketing career. Their one weak spot is a GRE score of 300. We are really hoping they wait until Round 2, and prep hard to get a GRE score that better reflects their academic potential. With a strong GRE score, they would be a very compelling candidate for top programs.

This episode was recorded in Philadelphia, PA 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!