MBA Wire Taps 304—Aeronautics engineer, 3.0 GPA. Welsh and French, 318 GRE. British military officer, 320 GRE

In this week's MBA Admissions podcast Alex and Graham begin by discussing the upcoming Round 1 deadlines for the 2023-24 season and bid goodbye to the 2022-23 season (with students now showing up on campuses for pre-term). Graham then highlighted several events that Clear Admit is hosting over the next month. These events include a webinar with CMU / Tepper (August 22nd): https://bit.ly./teppermbawebinar, a Clear Admit+ webinar, scheduled for August 28th, a Real Humans webinar which will include alumni and students from top MBA programs (August 30th): https://bit.ly/rhwebinar5 , and our next Essay Insights series which will begin in early September. Graham then highlighted four Adcom Q&As, where we interview admissions directors at UPenn / Wharton, Harvard, Emory Goizueta and Manchester / Alliance.

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

This week's first MBA admissions candidate is an Airforce officer who has already transitioned to the private sector in the aerospace / defence industry. Alex and Graham think they have a very strong profile, all together, except that their GPA is a low, 3.0. In light of this, it might make sense to do Business Fundamentals, MBA Math, or something equivalent, just to show academic preparedness. Their GRE score is a decent 326.

This week's second MBA candidate has an interesting profile which includes being first-gen, part of the LGBTQ+ community, and coming from Wales and France. This led to a discussion about the importance of talking about their “lived experience”, which will likely be unique, in this case. Their academics and work experience appear to be very decent. Alex and Graham also like their goals. They will need to retake the GRE, with good preparation, to target a score that reflects their best effort.

The final MBA candidate this week is also a military candidate, but from the U.K. Their profile appears to be very strong, overall, except for their GRE score of 320. We encourage them to apply in Round 2, and look to really try to push that score up. They look like a strong candidate (with a good GRE) for the very top MBA programs in the world.

This episode was recorded in Highgate Springs, VT 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!