MBA Wire Taps 324—South African with tech experience. Canada-based finance career.

November 27, 2023 00:34:19
MBA Wire Taps 324—South African with tech experience. Canada-based finance career.
Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast
MBA Wire Taps 324—South African with tech experience. Canada-based finance career.

Nov 27 2023 | 00:34:19

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Hosted By

Graham Richmond Alex Brown

Show Notes

As usual, this week's MBA Admissions podcast begins with a rundown of all the latest news regarding application deadlines, interview releases, and decisions. While a few interview invites may remain, and a few candidates are still interviewing, we are moving to the stage of waiting for decision releases; this upcoming week Chicago / Booth and London Business School are scheduled to release Round 1 decisions.

Graham highlighted three upcoming admissions events: on Wednesday, November 29, at 12 pm ET, Clear Admit is hosting an event for Masters in Management programs. Schools participating in this event include Chicago / Booth, Michigan / Ross, and CMU / Tepper. The following Wednesday (same time), Clear Admit’s second event for Masters in Management programs will include Northwestern / Kellogg, Georgetown / McDonough and Notre Dame / Mendoza. Signup for these events here: https://bit.ly/clearadmitmim On Thursday, November 30th, Clear Admit is hosting an admissions event with seven leading MBA programs, which will share key tips on how to optimize candidates’ MBA admissions opportunities. These seven programs are Berkeley / Haas, Cornell / Johnson, Duke / Fuqua, Michigan / Ross, NYU / Stern, Yale SOM and UVA / Darden. Signups for this event are here: https://bit.ly/catoptips

Graham also mentioned a recent article that Clear Admit published for its Sustainability series, from Michigan / Ross. He then noted a Real Humans article from Johns Hopkins / Carey. We then discussed an Admissions Tip about how to convince schools you 'mean business' by demonstrating the research you've done and ensuring it comes to light in your MBA application essays.

Finally, we discussed two employment reports, from Yale SOM and Cornell / Johnson. Despite a slowdown in technology and consulting hiring, both programs have pretty fantastic numbers across the board in terms of the careers their candidates are able to move into.  This is very much in line with other top MBA programs we've profiled on recent episodes.

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

This week’s first MBA admissions candidate is from South Africa, and has a good combination of a strong GPA and 730 GMAT. Their work experience, via a rotational program in tech, looks very decent. They are also quite involved in activities outside of work. They are targeting the very elite M7 programs, but we do think they have a strong overall profile.

This week’s second MBA candidate is originally from East Asia, but now lives and works in Canada, from where they did their undergraduate degree. Their GPA is slightly lower than average, but Canada has less grade inflation. Their GRE score is 326, which is decent. They are targeting top 16 programs, which do look within reach.

This episode was recorded in Cornwall, England and Paris, France. It was produced and engineered in Philadelphia, USA by Dennis Crowley. Please remember to rate and review this podcast wherever you listen and to 'stay safe everybody'!

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Episode Transcript

[00:00:14] Speaker A: Welcome to the clear. Admit MBA Admissions Podcast. I'm Graham Richmond, and this is your wiretaps for Monday, November 27, 2023. For more than 100 years, Emory University's Guiseueta Business School has been a training ground for principal leaders and a laboratory for powerful insights. Whether you're looking to accelerate your career or make a career pivot, Emory's one year and two year full time MBA programs prepare you for a lifetime of career confidence. Learn more about Emory's top 20 MBA with top five career outcomes, offering world class academics and small by design classes delivered in a dynamic global city. More at Emory biz slash clearadmit. I'm joined by Alex Brown from Cornwall, England. Alex, how are things going? [00:01:03] Speaker B: Very good. Thank you, Graham. [00:01:05] Speaker A: So I just want to say I hope everyone tuning in had a lovely Thanksgiving if you celebrate and that the return to reality at work here on a Monday is at least somewhat eased by the comfort of this podcast. So I don't know if people tune in religiously on Monday mornings, but that's when we tend to drop these episodes. But Alex, give us an update. When are people going to start getting into Round one programs? What's the news here? And what can people expect this coming week? [00:01:33] Speaker B: We've had a little bit of activity on Livewire over the last week or two in Seat oh, yeah, that's true. And a couple of others. But, yeah, this week is going to be quite a good week to really ease us into what we then call decision week. So this week, later in the week, booth and London Business School are releasing round one decision, and then the following weeks, it'll be several schools. So, yeah, this week we'll see a lot more activity, I think. [00:02:04] Speaker A: And I did see on Livewire some of those INSEAD acceptances, and I think I also saw some NYU Stern acceptances. So, yeah, there are some schools trickling things out, but, yeah, it's going to start to come fast and furious, I guess, starting later this week. [00:02:16] Speaker B: I mean, we love Stern, but I still can't figure out their process for releasing decisions. Whether it's interview invites or final decisions, it's always a mystery. So for those that are listening and saying, well, you never talk about when Stern are releasing decisions. It's like, literally, we would have no idea. [00:02:34] Speaker A: It's a bit yeah, but they're not alone. I mean, I think there's some other schools that follow this kind yeah. More kind of trickle them out approach. [00:02:45] Speaker B: Yeah, I think Stern does take it to an extreme. I mean, again, fantastic program. Lots of great people there, but they stretch it out. I mean, not stretch it out, but it's quite mysterious how that process works. [00:02:59] Speaker A: Yeah, agreed. So this is actually an exciting week, not only for some admissions decisions coming at the end of the week, but on November 29, which is this Wednesday. We've got an event at noon Eastern with some masters in Management programs. I've been plugging this the last couple of weeks. So we're going to sit down with what? Chicago Booth, Michigan. Ross and Carnegie Mellon tepper to talk about their masters in management. And we've got the following week, actually. So that's Wednesday at noon. So the following week on December 6, we're going to do it again that time with Duke, Emory, Georgetown, Kellogg, and Notre Dame. So kind of two weeks in a row. Some masters in management stuff. If you are a very young professional or someone who's literally just finishing college, these events are for you. You just go to clearadmit MIM? So all lowercase all one word. And the other thing is, if that wasn't enough, on Thursday of this week at 07:00 p.m.. Eastern, mike on our team is going to sit down and host a panel of leading MBA programs. So he's going to sit down with admissions directors from Berkeley, Cornell, Duke, Michigan, NYU, Stern, UVA, Darden, and Yale. Som. And we have this great set of questions that he's going to be peppering them with, all about different elements of the admissions process and tips. So if you're applying in round two to any of the schools that I just mentioned for their kind of traditional MBA programs, this is definitely an event to catch. And that's also available. You can sign up ATIPs all lowercase all one word. [00:04:39] Speaker B: So for that event, you said hass Johnson, Duke, Ross Stern, Yale. Am I missing one? Yeah. [00:04:46] Speaker A: UVA darden. Yeah. [00:04:48] Speaker B: Oh, darden. [00:04:49] Speaker A: Yeah. So, I mean, seven really great schools, and the questions I got a peek at the questions that they're going to be asked, and there's some really good ones in there because it starts with kind of mike's going to ask them some general questions about essays, recommendations, all the pieces of the application process. But then there are some kind of audience submitted questions that are a bit deeper dive stuff, so it should be fun. So, yeah, join us for that. And it's a rare thing we're doing something in the evening us time. So it'll be I guess it'd be like 04:00 p.m. If you're in California, but 07:00 p.m. On the East Coast and 06:00 p.m. In Chicago and stuff. So should be fun. [00:05:23] Speaker B: So they time that. So you out host it. [00:05:25] Speaker A: Greg they did, yeah. I'll be hopefully sleeping at that time, but at any event, should be fun. And then the other stuff. Alex we've got, again, lots of great content on the website. We ran an admissions tip about how you can show a school that you mean business, no pun intended. And it's basically just about how to go about conducting research and sharing that research in your essays and materials to be kind of convincing when it comes to just genuinely sharing that enthusiasm you have for a given program's offerings. So you can check that out. And there are a bunch of videos that accompany that admissions tip on the website from our Admissions Academy. So good stuff there. And then you'll be pleased to hear, Alex, that we did another sustainability series post. This week's guest for sustainability stuff was Michigan Ross. And so we asked them, like, well, what can students do who are interested in sustainability to kind of learn more about this stuff in business school? And they responded I'll just read this out. They responded, number one, students have the opportunity to enroll in the Herb Institute, a three year joint MBA Ms program in collaboration with our School for the Environment. And that's the if you're all in, you can do a three year program. It then goes on to say, let's see. Number two MBA students can pursue the environmental, social and governance concentration in the standard two year time frame. This program, launched in the fall of 23, was developed in partnership with student leaders and faculty. Out of 57 total credits, students acquire twelve credits through a collection of classes within Ross and the School for Environment and Sustainability. So that's the second thing. And then they said there's a third path. They said, number three, all students have 25 to 30 elective credits available to them and they are encouraged to take classes tied to sustainability so that they gain a new perspective. So lots going on at Ross in sustainability. [00:07:17] Speaker B: So that new program you talked about that's just been launched. [00:07:21] Speaker A: Yeah, just this fall. [00:07:22] Speaker B: Yeah. Perfect. And they have a school for environment. The environment and sustainability. [00:07:29] Speaker A: Yeah, that's correct. [00:07:31] Speaker B: A whole area of the university dedicated to this. Is that common across major universities? [00:07:39] Speaker A: I mean, I think it's increasingly common. I know. Yeah. There are several top MBA programs that happen to be part of universities that offer that stuff as well. Yeah. So it's not that uncommon. I want to say Yale comes to mind. There are other schools out there. Definitely. [00:07:55] Speaker B: I think all this is fantastic. Yeah, absolutely. [00:07:58] Speaker A: And timely. So we couldn't have launched this series at a better time. The last thing well, I got a couple more things, actually. So, number one, we did a real humans about Johns Hopkins Carry School of Business and we caught up with one of the students we talked to was this guy named Ashish who's from and, you know, we always asked him, like, what's one thing you would absolutely do again as part of your admissions process? And he said, I spent a significant amount of time revising my essays and had multiple people give me feedback. I think this not only made my narrative more compelling, but also helped me to develop a deeper understanding of the rationale of my own interest in business. So, again, this underlining the fact that always helps to get some feedback from a third party when you're replying to these schools, get somebody to read your materials and give you their thoughts. [00:08:43] Speaker B: Yeah, but also, Graham, I think it brings up another point. The utility of the MBA application process, beyond simply getting admitted to the programs you want to go to, that introspection that you have to go through to put together great essays, I think is useful just to really know where you are in your career and what you want to do and plan to do. I think that's a really interesting point. [00:09:12] Speaker A: Yeah, definitely. And I think we hear that time and time again on these panels that I am see where the schools are saying like, hey, it's not just about getting in, it's about doing this reflection so that you can figure out what you want. So I totally agree with that. So, yeah, there are four or five students that we talked to from Johns Hopkins. So check that out. That's a kind of newer MBA program, but obviously pretty strong in life sciences. I mean, this guy Ashish is actually in medical school and the MBA at the same time. So pretty interesting stuff. You can read on the website. We do have two new employment reports that we shared on the website as well. So we have Cornell and Yale who published the results from the graduating class of, what is it? 23. Right. So Alex, I'll just give you the numbers. Curious to get your take. So over at Cornell, 93% of those students seeking employment had offers within three months of graduation. That's down a tick from 97%. For the class of 22, the average starting salary was $163,000. That's up from 155. And then we get into the kind of industry placements. So for Cornell, we've got 42% going into consulting, that's actually up from 30%. Financial services is the next biggest category. 35% of Johnson grads going into financial services, that's down a tick from 39% last year. Technology, 11%, that's off from 15% in the prior year. And then rounding out the top five industries, we've got Consumer Packaged Goods at 4%, basically unchanged from last year, and then Healthcare, Medical Services and Pharma at 3%. That wasn't in the top five last year. It was manufacturing that took the fifth spot last year, but also at 3%. So those are the kind of industries and then, Alex, one last thing with Johnson is the regional placement. So 52% of these folks seeking work landed in the Northeast, 15% out west, 9% in the Midwest, 7% MidAtlantic, 7% south and 7% Southwest. And the only thing to note there is the Northeast number is up a tick. It was only 50% last year, it's 52 this year. And the West Coast is down a little bit, as is the Midwest. So, yeah, what do you make of these numbers out of Johnson? [00:11:32] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, they're quite consistent, aren't they, with other programs that we're seeing in terms of their employment reports, we're still puzzled with how strong consulting numbers are in terms of they're being reported and so forth. Johnson, I think we know by reputation is very strong in financial services, investment banking and so on and so forth. So they have a slightly larger proportion in that category, even if it's just dropped a little bit this year. And yeah, the sort of regional focus doesn't surprise me. I mean, those folks going to the West Coast from Johnson, I would hazard a guess a portion of those came from the West Coast. So if you're going to go to Johnson, you're not going to Johnson necessarily to then want to go out to the West Coast. I think people target Johnson more so because they want to be in the again, you know, sort of that sort of New York area with financial services and so on and so forth. So, yeah, the numbers don't surprise me at all. [00:12:38] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, one thing interesting about Cornell is they're nicely distanced, know it's not too far to get to New York, Philadelphia or Boston, even though they're remote and it's this close knit kind of environment, but they're not far from any of those three cities. I mean, it's drivable. So the other thing I would just add on them is that you're right, that financial services number, even though it's off a little bit from last year, it's 35%, which is pretty big. I mean, we don't see that at a lot of the schools. So they obviously have a strength there. So anyway, let's move on though, and talk about Yale. So Yale again reporting on their class of 23 numbers. They reported that 92% of their grads had offers within three months. That's down as well, a little bit from 96%, which is kind of what we saw with Johnson. Their average starting salary is $175,000, so up from 160 last year. Consulting held pretty strong at 44.1%. Out of Yale, it was 46% last year. Finance, 22.2%. That's actually up just a hair. It was like 1% lower last year. Technology is at 10%. That's actually up a little bit for Yale. It was 7.6% the year prior. And then they have another category. And this is what makes Yale a little bit more complicated, which is retail ecommerce, and that number is at six and a half percent, unchanged. So I often wonder about how much of that ecommerce stuff is tech and should it be thrown in with tech to get a better sense of apples to apples comparison. And then healthcare was the fifth largest category at 3.1%. It actually replaced consumer packaged goods. So I guess maybe consumer packaged goods was off a bit. It was 5% last year, but it didn't make the top five here this year, so it must be below or around 3%, if I had to guess. In terms of the regional placements for Yale, we've got 55.1% landing in the Northeast and that's up from 49% last year. West coast, they sent 15% out west, that's down from 20% in the prior year. And then the rest of these categories didn't move too much. Mid Atlantic is close to 10%, very similar to last year. The Southwest 5%, that's actually up a little bit. And then midwest 4.2 south 1.9% So these are pretty similar numbers. But, Alex, what do you make of these Yale figures? [00:15:02] Speaker B: Yeah, again, just very much in line with what we're hearing from other programmes. Yale, many would argue, is in a tier slightly above Johnson that's reflected in the starting salaries coming out. But the profile in terms of consulting versus financial services and tech is not surprising. And the regionalization yeah, so everything sort of is falling into line. We're seeing consistently across top schools. These are all top programs that consulting has held up in terms of jobs offered. It's just when do they actually start these jobs might be a know, is there going to be next season a little bit of a hiccup on the consulting side? [00:15:54] Speaker A: Yeah. And you're referring to the fact that we know I think it was McKinsey or some of these companies are on the record as saying that they made offers to MBA grads, but that the class that they've admitted they've delayed their start date to January. So a lot of these folks who are on this list as being a part of the percentage of people getting consulting jobs despite having graduated last, may not have even started work yet because they're probably slated to start in January. And who knows, maybe it'll be pushed further, I don't know. But, yeah, so the numbers probably look okay this year. And we've said this before, but I'll be curious to see how they look next year. So, yeah, we'll see how this all goes. But, Alex, I don't have anything else other than the candidates that you've picked out. I do want to remind people, if you want to send Alex and know chocolates for the holidays or whatever, you can always reach out and you can write to us at [email protected] and we'll send you Alex's address so you can send things his way. Always use the subject line wiretaps. But in any event, anything from you, Alex, before we move on? [00:16:51] Speaker B: No, let's kick on. [00:16:52] Speaker A: All right, so we're going to start with wiretaps candidate number one. So our first candidate this week has six schools on the target list, and those schools are Columbia, Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Chicago and Wharton. So pretty competitive group there. They want to start school next fall. They've been working in tech prior to business school and they want to get into consulting. Or maybe in the longer term, there's a family business that they might get involved with. They want to target Bain, BCG and McKinsey in the short term as employers. Their GMAT score is a 730. They have a 3.7 undergraduate GPA and they've been working for just about four years. This candidate is actually located in South Africa and wants to land in the States. And they just wrote on Applywire, that they're looking for feedback on their profile, especially for Harvard, Stanford and Wharton, and that they're just wondering if their GMAT and everything else is kind of sufficient. And they mentioned that they're a white male from South Africa. They worked in a tech firm in a rotational program. I guess they did a year as a data analyst, six months as a product owner, and now they're responsible for a new financial services department, which they've been doing for about six months. And they're responsible for a new product. And they've grown revenues from about 50,000 pounds to 2 million annually. So nice things happening there. They did mention that they studied industrial engineering and finished in the top 10% of their class as an undergraduate. And they also have CFA level one completed. So they do say, as I mentioned earlier, they want to get into management consulting and then in the longer term join their family's technology business. And they do some outside activities, a little bit of charity work. They actually created a finance course at their company, I guess to teach folks have to kind of find out more about that. But in any event, they've got some other things that they do. And I know you left them a comment. I don't know if they've responded yet, but alex, do you want to talk us through what you make of this candidacy? [00:19:04] Speaker B: Yeah. In terms of other activity, bit of charity work, they actually started an organization focused on animal welfare. [00:19:13] Speaker A: That's right, yeah. [00:19:14] Speaker B: And they hold events and raise donations and stuff. So I actually really like that it sort of shows a different sort of side of the personality and what's important than what they're passionate about and so forth. So I really like that. Their numbers are great, aren't they, really? That combination of a three, seven graduating top 10% of their class, getting a 730 GMAT right at the median for the top programs, basically maybe a tad below the median, the very elite. But still, I think that all looks good at work. It looks like they've progressed well through a rotational program. Obviously, that's all got to be backed up by strong wrecks and so on and so forth, but I would assume that will be evident. So I like the work experience. I like the outside of work stuff. I like the numbers. Their goals make sense. They want to get some experience through elite management consulting firms, like a lot of top MBA candidates do, before they then return to the sort of the tech industry. And I think it's their family tech industry that's going to be their long term focus. It's not clear to me if that's where they've started through their rotational program, because that's also in tech. [00:20:49] Speaker A: Yeah, that is a really important question. [00:20:52] Speaker B: Yeah, no, but their plans all make sense. Graham so they're really targeting and their question is, is M seven accessible for them? And I would say on the surface, as long as they execute well. They're from South Africa, so it's not an overrepresented country. So that sort of type of experience is going to be attractive for adcom and so forth. I would think that with strong app execution, they would be viable for the M Seven programs. They've skipped Kellogg. I'm not sure what's wrong with Kellogg. In their eyes, they targeted six of the M Seven. I'd feel a bit lonely if I was Kellogg in their case, but yeah, to me this looks quite solid. M seven, is it? Harvard, Stanford? That's going to be a bit of a challenge. They're going to have to have really shown some real strong impact at work, I think, for the Harvards and the Stanfords. This to me looks Wharton, and certainly the rest of the M Seven seem quite appropriate for this candidate. And if they aren't successful, they'll only had four years of work experience at this point. So it might be that they can regroup and come back next season with a slightly stronger profile possibly and so forth. So I'm not sure that they want to then go for a safety school or whatever. Graham but maybe you'd want to comment on that. [00:22:34] Speaker A: Yeah, no, I tend to agree. They can apply to the best of the best and then see where the chips fall and always come back next cycle. I do want to call attention to a couple of little things. So you mentioned like, oh, is this current tech experience within the family business? Because that might change things. That would require them to be pretty vigilant about getting very legitimate recommendation letters not from family members, so on, and to just demonstrate that they're excelling, not just because they're the boss's kid or something. So I'm assuming, though, that this work experience is not in the family business, but if it is, they would need to address that. And the other thing I want to just mention is they have aside from the nonprofit they set up to do animal welfare stuff, they did set up like a tourism startup, and they mentioned they're not making much money from it, but they basically help provide accommodation, transportation and different solutions for tourists, presumably those coming to South Africa. And I think that actually could be interesting too, only because you don't do that if you're not kind of proud to sort of show off your country and introduce others to it. And that's a trait that I think would really work well in the NBA community. I can actually still remember there was a South African in my cohort at Wharton. And I still remember because again, this guy that was in school with was a real champion of know, oh, you got to come to South Africa. And also just had a lot of interesting kind of business perspective to share that was a little bit different from the Europeans or the Asians or the Americans in the just. So I think this person does tick some boxes and could be competitive at these very top schools. Their GPA and GMAT are certainly going to keep them in the running. I guess you could say that. That three, seven top 10% of their class is really impressive, especially in an engineering degree. So, yeah, I feel like they tick most of the boxes and as you say, it's going to come down to execution. Can they put together a great application or not? So we shall see. [00:24:28] Speaker B: Best of luck to them. I'll just make one more comment about family business just in case folks are thinking now that actually family business is discriminated. So Graham makes the point that you really need to make sure that the RECs support the fact that you've done well and they need to be independent and not wrecks from family members and so forth. But the advantage of working in a family business is potentially that you get opportunities to do things and to have a level of impact that you might not have ordinarily have gotten in another business. So we do see some really strong candidates coming out of family business simply because they had that additional opportunity to really have that impact. [00:25:18] Speaker A: Yeah, great point. You get to wear more hats. I could not agree more. So yeah, there are definitely upsides to it as well. In any event, thanks to that person for sharing their profile and yeah, wish them the best of luck. They're probably going to be working fast and furious on their applications now as we head off to round two deadlines. So best of luck to them. Let's move on and talk about wiretaps candidate number two. So our second candidate this week is applying to just five schools. They've got Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, NYU and UVA darden on the list. They want to start school next fall and they've been working in financial services and risk management prior to business school. They actually have six years of experience in that domain and they want to pivot into straight up consulting. And so they've got Bain, BCG, Deloitte, and McKinsey on their target list. Their GRE is a 326 and their GPA is a 3.3. This candidate is located in Canada looking to land ideally in New York after business school. And they did share some additional background notes, which I think are of import as we kind of assess their background. So, number one, this candidate's, female, of East Asian origin, attended a top three Canadian university hard double quant major and they feel like their GRE, which is a one and 161 on the Quant, is a little bit low, but they would prefer to focus their time on applications for round two. So they've been working basically at a big five bank in Canada and they've moved up from business analysts to more of a kind of quantitative analysis role. And their fear is that they've kind of gotten pigeonholed. So they want to pivot into consulting after the MBA, and they're happy to emphasize, like, financial services consulting, but they just feel like they need to kind of get a broader perspective and then eventually they see themselves exiting consulting and heading into financial product management or something. So going back to finance, but after that sort of broadening experience. So they're a little bit worried about their low GPA, what they describe as a lower GPA, three three and their not so high quant score, but they're hoping that their work experience and quantitative background, what they studied, will help. So, Alex, what do you make of this person? Should they be worried about? The target school list is kind of a mix of what I would call they have Columbia, which is an M seven, and they've got a bunch of other top 16 type schools on the list, but should be worried about this 326 three. What are your thoughts there? [00:27:51] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, our previous candidate was clearly targeting M seven, whereas this candidate sort of really targeting top 16. They've got one M seven, so that would be their reach. And they're focusing on top 16. They might want to consider, like, Tepper as a potential safety if they do have those additional concerns. Tepa sort of fits on the outside of that top 16, I would argue, but it's definitely still a strong program, certainly for the goals that this candidate has. She's originally from East Asia, so I looked that up. I think that means she's from China or sort of in that region. And yet maybe 20 years ago that would have put them in slightly overrepresented bucket. But we're seeing less candidates of China heritage, I guess, applying to top programs in the US. So I'm not as worried about that. So round two should be fine for her. 326 GRE, 33 GPA is lower than our first candidate, right. Which is 730. GMAT three seven GPA, but again, she's targeting top 16, not M seven, as ideal. Her GPA, as you say, out of Canada, probably doesn't have the grade inflation that we generally see in the US. I'm not commenting on South Africa because I'm not as familiar, but our South African candidate was in the top 10% of their class. I don't think three three would put them in the top 10% in this case, but probably it doesn't represent a three three from the US. But 326 is a decent GRE score. Right. It's going to be at average or above the median for these target programs, right? Yeah. The quant is only 161, but it's over that 160 threshold. So I think that should be fine. Their quant work, their work seems to be quite heavily quant focused. I'm not sure. Oh, she had a hard double quant major. [00:30:04] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. [00:30:06] Speaker B: As a student. So I don't think there's going to be any quant concern here. Graham. So I would think. It would be nice to see some extracurriculars to sort of round out the profile. Maybe there's some hobbies and interests that this candidate brings to the table that they didn't include as extracurriculars. So it would be interesting to learn a little bit more about if that is the case. But overall, I think this is a pretty decent profile for top 16 programs. [00:30:41] Speaker A: Yeah, I agree. I think we beat this drum a lot, but I feel like people who say they don't have any extracurriculars, often they're narrowly kind of defining what those are. And so I would encourage her to think about does she have any hobbies or exercise or things that she does regularly besides going to work. And there must be something and that can be listed as something you do, I would say. I have one question for you because I agree there's no great inflation in Canada. I'm not worried about her GPA. As a result, it's a double major GRE, solid, all that stuff. So only question I would have for you is I think if she executes, know, has some outside interests, she'll get into some of these schools on her list. My only question know she wants to work in consulting after business school and then get back into kind of finance related stuff. Should she take a flyer on like a Wharton or another M Seven program, or is this the right list and she should just be happy with that? Chicago is another one that comes to mind, too. But I just was wondering about that because I think she will get into at least one of these programs on the current list. [00:31:43] Speaker B: Yeah, I think that's possible. And Wharton, I think, would be the one because she's heavily focused on schools, I think, in that sort of Northeast. [00:31:52] Speaker A: Yes, she wants to be in New York, right? Yeah. [00:31:55] Speaker B: And she wants to be New York. I mean, Chicago obviously sends plenty of folks to New York, but Wharton might be the one to look at. And Tepper on the other end because I'm a little worried that with six years of experience, she definitely wants to get into school this season, whereas our previous candidate was coming up to four years of experience. [00:32:18] Speaker A: Good point. [00:32:19] Speaker B: At 25, they have a little bit more luxury there to only focus on the elite program. I think they definitely need to make sure that they've got a safety in there. But yeah, why not take a flyer at Wharton? [00:32:37] Speaker A: Yeah, all right. [00:32:38] Speaker B: I mean, they've got Columbia in there. I'm interested to see how because I would be cynical if they had Columbia in there last season because early decision would be over. And we know how notoriously difficult it was to get into Columbia enrolling admissions. Now, Columbia's changed their process, but I've still got a little bit of a legacy cynicism about how tough it might be to get into Colombia in round two. So hopefully we'll get over that after this season. So I guess my point is, I think Columbia could be a bit of a bogey M Seven to target. Maybe it's worth also targeting another, just like you say. And that could be Booth. It could be warm. [00:33:25] Speaker A: Yeah. Okay. Well, I appreciate her sharing her profile again. I think she'll do fine. She needs to execute, but good luck to her. She again, just like our first candidate, gets to work on all these applications for round two. Alex, we're going to stop there. We just did two candidates this week. But it's an abbreviated week with Thanksgiving while we're recording here, and I know you're going to be heading off on some vacation, and I'm going to be taking some time, too. So we'll be back, though, next week, as always, to record another episode. But, yeah, thanks for picking these candidates out, and, yeah, for all the great conversation, as always. [00:33:55] Speaker B: Yeah, brilliant. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving that celebrate. And good luck and stay safe.

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