In this week's MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing the activity on MBA LiveWire.  With most top MBA programs finalizing their incoming classes, we are seeing more MBA programs reducing the size of their wait lists ahead of the beginning of their programs.

We then discussed Clear Admit’s MBA admissions book, authored by Alex, which is freely available on the Clear Admit site: https://www.clearadmit.com/products/admissions-books/ This book will provide MBA candidates a comprehensive understanding of the MBA admissions process, and enable candidates to really determine the best way to present their candidacy. It is also an easy and fast read.

Graham highlighted the upcoming summer application series that Clear Admit is hosting, which began last Wednesday to great success in terms of attendance and content; two MBA programs announced their new MBA admissions essays during this first session. This Wednesday, July 17, is our second session and we will hear and learn from Dartmouth / Tuck, Berkeley / Haas, UNC / Kenan Flagler, Texas / McCombs, and Washington / Foster. Signups are here: https://www.bit.ly/summeressays

Graham noted a recently published admissions tip focused on GMAC’s common letter of recommendation. For candidates applying to multiple programs, they will likely need to use this recommendation format for at least some of those programs. Graham then mentioned a unique full tuition scholarship offered by HEC Paris.

Graham then shared tidbits from four recently published Adcom Q&As, from Columbia, CMU / Tepper, Washington / Foster and Florida / Warrington.

For this week, for the candidate profile review portion of the show, Alex selected three ApplyWire entries.

This week’s first MBA admissions candidate is a military candidate who has worked in cyber warfare, and has a masters degree in computer science. They are looking to use the MBA to transition into the finance sector and investment banking.

This week’s second MBA candidate is also from the military, and is applying for their MBA after also considering going to law school. They also have a super GRE of 333, and very interesting experiences in the military in special operations.

The final MBA candidate for this week is originally from Tajikistan, and she’s worked and been educated in several countries including Russia and Germany. We think adcom will really like her profile, but may have concerns with potentially weaker quant skills, and fuzzy post-MBA goals.

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!