In this week's MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing the new season of MBA admissions; this upcoming week we have many Round 2 application deadlines, including Harvard, Dartmouth / Tuck, UCLA / Anderson, Emory / Goizueta, Georgetown / McDonough, CMU / Tepper, Rice / Jones, Chicago / Booth, Yale SOM, UVA / Darden, UNC / Kenan Flagler, Washington / Foster, Notre Dame / Mendoza, SMU / Cox, Stanford, Northwestern / Kellogg, Johns Hopkins / Carey, Vanderbilt / Owen, Berkeley / Haas, Duke / Fuqua, Cornell / Johnson, USC / Marshall, IESE, Georgia / Terry and Georgia Tech / Scheller.

Graham highlighted two admissions tips for those finalizing their admissions essays; these essay tips focus on word limits and the optional essay. Graham then discussed a Real Humans post focused on holiday celebrations.

Graham then presented the Class of 2024 career placement reports from Columbia, Northwestern / Kellogg and UPenn / Wharton. This finalizes our reviews of the M7 career reports, and we are seeing the outcomes of a tougher placement market for these top programs.

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 only applying to two programs, Duke / Fuqua and UVA / Darden. They did apply last season to some different programs, and we worry that they may be challenged by applying in Round 2 this season.

This week’s second MBA candidate was a NCAA Div 1 athlete with an outstanding GPA. They now work in their family business, focused on sports. While their GMAT is not outstanding, we wonder if they should target a few programs from a higher tier.

The final MBA candidate is deciding between Washington / Foster, with $66k scholarship and Vanderbilt / Owen with $100k scholarship. They want to pursue a career in consulting or technology.

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!