This week's episode kicks off with a quick rundown of the recent interview invite activity on MBA LiveWire. Many programs are starting to release their Round 2 invites; last week included releases from Harvard, Michigan / Ross and Duke / Fuqua, while programs like Stanford continue to “trickle” out their decisions. Interview prep for Round 2 candidates is now critical, and we recently released a new podcast that focuses on the UPenn / Wharton TBD interview.
Beyond interview-related news, Graham highlighted the recently published 2023 online MBA rankings from U.S. News. The results were mostly consistent with last year, but your hosts wondered why Ross languishes outside the top ten. Alex and Graham also discussed the latest employment report from Texas / McCombs. Like many top programs, the school is seeing a small contraction in tech recruiting. It is also interesting to note that about 70% of McCombs grads stay in Texas immediately after their MBA. Graham then discussed an article on the state of the Finance industry as it relates to MBA opportunities. Alex highlighted the importance of not just focusing on percentages, when looking at the strength of alumni networks in key sectors like Venture Capital. Graham also highlighted a Real Humans piece on UVA / Darden. Finally, Graham mentinoed several events that Clear Admit is hosting, including the second deferred enrolment program event this Wednesday, https://bit.ly/defer23 (which includes Harvard), an event we are hosting with current students at top programs, https://bit.ly/rhstudentslive and an AMA with Irvine / Merage https://bit.ly/meragelivechat
As usual, this episode features three real candidate profiles - two from ApplyWire entries and one from a DecisionWire entry:
This week's first candidate is likely from an over-represented applicant population, and Alex and Graham wonder if applying in Round 2 and 3 this season will give them their best set of options. They are working in operations at a hedge fund, in India. Their counting stats are decent (710 / 3.81) but the GMAT doesn’t really stand out. They also are not heavily involved in current outside activities (despite having been more active in college). Alex and Graham are hoping for the best, but worry that they may need to think about reapplying in the next season, targeting Round 1. This week's second candidate has a very interesting profile with decent numbers. They work in sales in the technology space, so we are hoping there’s enough there to warrant access to top programs. The final candidate for this episode is weighing offers from Northwestern / Kellogg (1 year program), Berkeley / Haas, and Michigan / Ross (with a scholarship). They want to transition to consulting, and Alex makes a strong case for Ross in this instance.
This episode was recorded in Paris, France and Cornwall, England. It was produced and engineered by Dennis Crowley in West Philadelphia. Thanks for tuning in, and best of luck to all awaiting admissions decisions!
