In this week's MBA Admissions podcast we kicked things off with a discussion around the fact that we are now starting to see more interview invites for Round 2 candidates, specifically for programs like Columbia, Michigan / Ross, London Business School, Harvard, Chicago / Booth, Yale SOM, Dartmouth / Tuck, UVA / Darden and Northwestern / Kellogg. This upcoming week, UPenn / Wharton will release its Round 2 interview invites.

On Wednesday, this week, Clear Admit is hosting an event for deferred admissions candidates, signups are here: https://bit.ly/defeb24 On February 21, Clear Admit begins its event series for Masters in Management programs, featuring several top programs. Signups are here: https://bit.ly/camimfeb On March 6, Clear Admit will be hosting an AMA with NYU / Stern, signups are here:  https://canyuama

U.S. News released its ranking of online MBA programs. Indiana / Kelley continues to top the list. Michigan / Ross is notably absent from the list, again. Graham then discussed the stars system we have for Clear Admit community members who post comments and like comments on the Clear Admit wires. We are now offering Amazon gift cards to the biggest contributors!

Graham highlighted a recently published admissions tip focused on the seven hardest MBA interview questions. Graham also noted the publication of our Real Numbers series, which last week focused on MBA class sizes and the costs of US MBA programs. He then highlighted a Fridays from the Frontlines piece, which focused on the African American Union at Harvard Business School.

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 was enlisted in the military and exited as a Captain before joining a government agency in the software engineering domain, they are applying next season. They have a strong GPA, as well as a very decent masters degree. We wonder if their 323 GRE score is their best score, or should they retake the test.

This week’s second MBA candidate is also applying next season, and has yet to take the GMAT. They appear to have a very interesting professional background, with a strong focus in the transportation sector in Indonesia. Their long term goal is to return to Indonesia and return to the transportation sector.

The final MBA candidate for this week has several offers from top MBA programs, with many including significant scholarship offers. They are weighing whether Wharton is worth the risk, with no money, versus Haas, with a large scholarship. Their principle goal is VC in Los Angeles.

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!