In this week's MBA Admissions podcast we began by noting that the Round 2 admissions process continues with a few key deadlines remaining at MIT / Sloan, NYU / Stern, and INSEAD and many applicants who applied to programs with early-January deadlines turning their attention towards admissions interviews.  DecisionWire also remains popular, as Round 1 MBA candidates start making decisions as to which MBA program they will enroll.

Clear Admit is hosting a Real Humans admissions event, scheduled for January 24. This event will bring together students from a variety of top MBA programs, including Dartmouth / Tuck, NYU / Stern, Georgetown / McDonough and Washington / Foster, ready to answer questions from MBA aspirants. Signups for this event are here: https://bit.ly/carealhumans

Graham highlighted two recently published admissions tips which focus on application data forms, and resume versus application-based interviews; we are now moving to the interview preparation phase of Round 2.

Graham also mentioned two Real Humans pieces that were recently published, covering students from MIT / Sloan and CEIBS.

We then discussed the recently released Employment Report for the Chicago / Booth Class of 2023. With an average starting salary of $180,000, their report looks very robust. Interestingly, they saw a slight uptick in placements on the west coast, and in tech.

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 South East Asia, and works in consulting. Their GMAT is 710, and this appears to be the weakest aspect of their overall profile. We really like their work experience and their extra-curricular activities, as well as the fact that they completed their undergraduate degree in the US.

This week’s second MBA candidate is a first-generation immigrant to the United States. They pursued a double major in Engineering, and their GPA is a 3.22. They were also quite busy in outside activities during their undergraduate studies. They have a GMAT of 720, so their numbers combination is not outstanding. They also appear to have interesting work experience, with a focus on entrepreneurship.

The final MBA candidate for this week has some terrific options to consider, which include Harvard, Northwestern / Kellogg and Michigan / Ross. Some financial awards also make the options to consider less clear cut.

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!