Episode Transcript
[00:00:16] Speaker A: Welcome to the Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast. I'm Graham Richmond, and this is your Wiretaps for Monday, December 23, 2024. Are you looking for an MBA program where you'll be more than just a number? Vanderbilt business offers a personalized learning to help each student reach their unique career goals. Whether you're looking to switch careers entirely or accelerate the path you're on, the Vanderbilt MBA program will provide you with the individual support you need to propel your career forward. Vanderbilt is currently waiving their $200 application fee for MBA Wiretaps listeners. To learn more about the Vanderbilt MBA program and to claim your application fee waiver, visit business.vanderbilt.edu clearadmit. I'm joined by Alex Brown from Cornwall, England. Alex, how are things this week?
[00:01:01] Speaker B: Very good, thank you, Graeme.
[00:01:03] Speaker A: So is there. Are you expecting anything particular under the tree? I mean, Christmas is around the corner. I mean, have you been good?
[00:01:10] Speaker B: Yeah. Merry Christmas to everybody listening to this. Hopefully you have great holidays if you're celebrating that holiday. And, yeah, I'm really looking forward to a few days of ho, ho, hum. Lots of food, lots of drink, unfortunately, and, yeah, maybe a couple of gifts or two.
[00:01:26] Speaker A: So I gotta ask you a question. Do they have eggnog in the uk? Do you know that drink?
[00:01:30] Speaker B: You know, I. I think they kind of do. It's kind of like, do they celebrate Halloween in the uk? It's gotten ridiculous because the Halloween was a US Holiday, but now, Right. It's all over the place. And I'm sure eggnog's probably the same. It's kind of like Budweiser in Ireland. I think Budweiser is now the most popular drink in Ireland, which is ridiculous since they've got Guinness. So. So the Americanization of everything is definitely at play in some of these things.
[00:01:58] Speaker A: I mean, I cannot get a glass of EG here in Paris. And I was like, I don't know why I had a hankering for. You know, it comes with a little cinnamon on top sometimes. And if it's a good party, there's a little rum in it, too. But that's a whole other story. But I did want to wish. Yeah. So obviously, yeah, Merry Christmas to anyone who's celebrating. And also, I think Hanukkah is around the exact same time. So Happy Hanukkah to those who celebrate Hanukkah. And if you're just benefiting from some time out of the office because of these holidays, we'll enjoy that, too. But speaking of holiday cheer, Alex, we did get our first Phone call or kind of voice memo from someone who news. So Dennis is weaving that in here so we can give it a listen.
[00:02:35] Speaker C: Hey, Alex and Graham calling in from Los Angeles, California. I just got admitted to the full time program at USC Marshall in round one, which I'll be attending in the fall. And I just wanted to take the time to say thank you and just express my sincere gratitude to you both and the work you both put in week in and week out.
The MBA application process consumes a lot of time and energy and money and it can be stressful. So it's, it's been a real treat to have you two to lean on as voices of guidance and, and wisdom throughout the process, whether it's your wiretaps, podcast, online resources or just just scouring Livewire. I was able to do a lot of introspection about my own application and following your advice, was able to improve my GRE score from 318 to 325.
Used your interview advice to put forth a strong application and interview. I think so. Yeah. Thank you so much for all that you do. The hard work doesn't go unnoticed and I wish you and your families a very happy holidays. Thanks.
[00:03:53] Speaker A: Yeah. And I wanted to make a plea. You can still send in your good news. So if you got into a school in the first round this year and you just want to share the news, you don't have to say your name, you can just say that you got into school X and let us know a little bit about that journey and maybe a little bit about what the Clear Admit community means to you. You can do so by just sending an email to infoearadmit.com, attach a little voice memo that you can make on your phone. The iPhone has a really easy way to do that. And you know, if you don't, if you're not a tech person, you can just call 215-568-2590 and leave us a voicemail and we'll turn that into a file that can be dropped into the podcast. So we'll see Alex if others come in. But that's, it was great hearing the, that, that one that we just got. It was fun.
[00:04:36] Speaker B: That was absolutely brilliant. And just a little bit, I mean, according to them anyway, we gave them a little bit of advice. It might seem obvious advice to some folks, but nevertheless it's great to see that folks, you know, MBA ambitions sort of help, you know, manifest or whatever. So. No, it's absolutely fantastic.
[00:04:59] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, totally. Now, we did delete all the ones that said we listened to you guys and didn't get in, but that's okay. Well, you know, so other than that, there's been a bunch of news. So we, I think some of our listeners may remember we did a survey right after the US Presidential election where we asked our audience to kind of weigh in on Trump's reelection and just what that means in terms of business school, if it means anything at all. We focused on trying to reach international students to get a sense as to whether there were any concerns about immigration or visas, et cetera. We ran an article summarizing the results of that survey that's up on the site now. You can read that. We also have done a bunch of admissions tips. Again, this is all aimed at people applying in round two. We did this great tip that's called Avoid the comparison Trap. And that's the one where you really shouldn't talk about why you like the school you're applying to in contrast to naming another school that you're applying to. So it's always best to leave any other schools out of the conversation. So there's a whole article about that. We also have an article about how to address gaps in employment that we put up on the site. So if you're someone in that situation, that's must read stuff. And finally, Alex, thanks to you, we have this great kind of primer on test waivers. So a guide to test waivers. So that's up on the site too. Anything you're thinking about, that one in particular.
[00:06:18] Speaker B: Yeah. Don't wave if you can avoid it, certainly when you're applying to M7 top 16 programs. Absolutely.
These schools expect, you know, to be able to assess your whole profile.
So, yeah, I think that that message probably is quite strong in that particular admissions tape. It's quite interesting because we actually ask on Livewire, you know, folks, test score and whether they waived. But unfortunately we've never actually revealed in the display if they've waived. So we're going to fix that.
[00:06:58] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:06:58] Speaker B: And then hopefully we're going to get some interesting data.
[00:07:02] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:07:02] Speaker B: Because we'll be able to back. Yeah. Effectively to back up our assertion that waiving the test when you're targeting the very best schools is not the best idea.
[00:07:11] Speaker A: Right. Totally agree. Yeah. So, so check out that tip if you're curious to learn more. A couple other things and then we can talk about this week's candidates. The first is that we got an admissions director Q and A from Bruce Delmonico at Yale som. So Bruce has, is an industry Veteran. He's been in that role for a long time. We've actually had him on the podcast. And so this. This is kind of annual response to our set of questions that we've had all the admissions directors at top schools answer. But I wanted to read you a quote from him. He gave some good advice around Yale's essay process, and I think this is good because people applying in round two should know this. So he said, as you may know, Alex, Yale has kind of three choices, and you just pick one when you're writing the essay. So they have three different questions, and you choose the one you want. So he says, regardless of what topic you choose, the most important aspect of the essay to us is that you describe in detail the behaviors that demonstrate support for that topic. We care most about how you've approached this thing that matters deeply to you. Remember, the goal is not to stand out or be unique. The goal is to be genuine and sincere. We find that the most compelling essays are the ones that share what is truly most important to you. So use that as your guide in choosing what to write about. Don't try to guess what we're looking for or what you think we want to hear. I would also note that you do not need to connect your essay to the MBA degree. You don't need to explain how the topic you choose supports why you wanted to get an mba, either in general or at Yale. We ask those questions elsewhere in the application process, so don't spend your limited words on those areas here. And of course, as always, remember to proofread. So that's the skinny from Bruce on how to write Yale's essay.
[00:08:59] Speaker B: That was really good. But I want to know how you qualify me, Graham, if you're calling Bruce a veteran. And Bruce was in a class that I taught for GMAT with the new entering folks into the industry. So I'm like a veteran on steroids or something.
[00:09:15] Speaker A: Yeah, that's a good point. But I mean, you know, I remember when Bruce started working at Yale, too. So I guess that we're just. Now we're. Yeah, we're just a couple of old guys, you know? Yeah. I like to think of us as, like. I don't know if you ever watched the Muppet show, but there's those two guys in the balcony. I don't know if you remember that show. Kind of critique everything, but. But anyway, yeah, BR is a great guy. Bruce and I share a love of baseball. So whenever your favorite sport. Alex. But whenever Bruce and I are together in a city, if There's a ball game, we'll go and catch it. So we've been. We've tried to do that at a couple of GMAC conferences. I remember went to Fenway with him at some point. So, anyway, that's the advice from Yale as you head into round two. We also connected with a bunch of students at INSEAD as part of our Real Human series. And I'm just going to share one quote. We talked with Jin, who's from South Korea, but actually went to the International University of Applied Sciences in Germany, where she got a bachelor's in aviation. She's worked for six years at Qatar Airways in Doha. So very much a global citizen. Jen, if you think about living in South Korea, Germany, just Qatar, it's really impressive. So she's now at insead, and we asked her, what's one part of the application that you would have skipped if you could have and what helped you get through it in the end? And she said, I had an experience with the GRE exam after I was initially unsatisfied with my GMAT score. In hindsight, I believe it's crucial to stick with one standardized test that you feel comfortable with, even though some schools accept both GMAT and gre. I started with the gmat, switched to the gre, and then reverted back to the gmat. And this indecision consumed valuable time. Focusing on one exam allows you to concentrate on mastering the format and the types of questions. So that was kind of interesting to hear.
[00:10:59] Speaker B: No, we've never had that bit of guidance before, but it makes a lot of sense.
[00:11:03] Speaker A: Yeah. And I know, I mean, I hear what she's saying because I think there is this tendency to be like, oh, I didn't do well on the, you know, one test, I'm going to take the other. But there's this learning curve that she's correctly pointing out. And so I think, yeah, she sounds like she lost some time and ended up just buckling down and taking the GMAT again and got her score up, obviously high enough to get herself into one of the best schools. So she's at INSEAD now and having a good time there. So you can check out her profile. And I think there are four students that we profiled, so you can check those all out on the site if you're interested. In insead, we have some career stats, Alex, Keeping with our tradition, the last couple weeks here, we got career stats from the Boston schools, so Harvard Business School and MIT Sloan. So I'll give you the numbers and you can weigh in and then we'll get into our candidates for the week. But so let's start with Harvard Business school. They had 1,015 students in the class that just graduated. 70% of them were seeking employment. That number's down a little bit. It was 73% last year. And when you think about the 30% that weren't seeking employment, just so you know, they did tell you what, they gave us some stats on that. And it's basically 50, 50 between people who were sponsored, so they're going back to their employer or people who are starting a company.
So of the 70% that we're searching, 85% received an offer of employment and 77% had accepted an offer. And those stats are within three months of graduation. The base salary is $175,000. I feel like a broken record there, because I think that's like what a lot of the schools have been reporting, at least at the top end. And that's the same base salary that HBS reported last year. The bonus was $30,000 for those receiving. And in case you're curious, about half of the class got a bonus.
Let's talk about the industries and regions. So here are the industries, and I always find this one so fascinating with HBS. So financial services, 39%, consulting, 18%, technology, 16%, healthcare, 6%, manufacturing, 5%, and nonprofit government, 5%. And those numbers are somewhat similar, but there were a couple of changes. So in financial services, 39%, that's up a little bit. It was 35% last year. But the big one, one that changed is consulting. It was 25% last year. It's only 18% this year. So those are the kind of industries. And then the last thing for HBS is just where people landed. We had 49% landing in the Northeast. That's down a little bit from 54% last year. 17% went out to the West Coast. That's virtually unchanged. It was 16% last year, 6% to the southwest. Same for the Midwest, 5% to the south, 5% to the mid Atlantic, and 12% headed overseas to work internationally. No big changes there other than that slight tick down from the Northeast. So, Alex, what do you make of Harvard's stats here?
[00:14:00] Speaker B: I mean, obviously, they're very good stats. They don't really stand out versus other M7 programs, which I find a bit curious.
And what's interesting to me is the, the 85% number. How does that compare to last season, Graham, in terms of 85% have offers in hand, of which 77% have accepted offers. Do we know how that compares?
[00:14:27] Speaker A: I think it's actually pretty similar. There was a little bit of, you know, it was, I remember it was a bit of a news item last year because it was unusual because schools had been above that 90% threshold for a little while. But HBS explained that, you know, they have so many folks that are, you know, doing kind of, I guess, non traditional job searches or, you know, starting search funds or, you know, thinking about starting a company but not sure yet. And so they, I think it's just, yeah, it's a little bit par for the course for them, but so it's similar.
[00:14:54] Speaker B: So. So yeah, I mean if you've got similar stats to last season, I think you're doing very well in this market.
And yeah, I think, you know, obviously the other interesting stat is the percent that are seeking jobs. Right. So they'll have a higher percentage that are either starting their own or sponsored and returned to their company.
So. So, you know, I assume that's again a similar stat from, from last season. Yeah, so, yeah, overall very good, but certainly doesn't stand out relative to, you know, other M7 programs would be my quick assessment.
[00:15:35] Speaker A: Well, next week we'll talk about Stanford's numbers that have just come in too. So we'll have a little bit of a comparison from the very top of the heap. The one thing that does. Yeah, yeah, that's true.
Oh absolutely, yeah. And they're in the same market so it's, you know, should be pretty apples to apples to some extent. One thing I would call attention to is that big financial services number 39%. And the reason that that number is big, it's not like Harvard sending a ton of people into investment banking. It's because Harv and a couple of other schools really rule the roost when it comes to private equity and venture capital. So they are sending a lot of people in that direction and that's why that number is quite large. So that's just something to note because it's a little different from a lot of the other schools at the top of the pile here. But let's talk about mit.
[00:16:32] Speaker B: So just to summarize that point though, Graham, so you've got Harvard and Stanford and then Wharton sort of sending a disproportionate number into buy side.
[00:16:42] Speaker A: Right.
[00:16:44] Speaker B: Relative to other top programs and then the rest of the top programs through to let's say top 16, maybe even to top 20.
Sending into investment banking as their sort of primary financial services sort of go to industry.
[00:17:03] Speaker A: Right.
[00:17:03] Speaker B: And then when you're outside of that bounds, you know, top 20, top 30, then it's going to be more commercial type banking rather than investment banking and so forth. So there's definitely a tiered structure and what the very top schools can do to the rest of the M7 top 16 versus then the rest of what we would still qualify as really good MBA programs.
[00:17:33] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. And there's a great article on our site that our colleague Elliot put together that details specifically financial services placements across all the top 16 or top 20 schools. I can't remember, but it's got lots of data on what happens.
Let's turn our. Yeah, no, no, no. I actually remember you did a ton of research on this for something I think it was. Oh, for the book, for the admissions book that we wrote. Yeah. So looking across the river over in Cambridge at mit, because some people may not know this but Harvard Business School is actually in Boston, even though harv campuses in Cambridge, but the business school is in Boston. So we crossed the river over to MIT. 418 students. So a much smaller student body than Harvard's thousand or so 69% looking for work. So very similar to what we heard from hbs and the same deal. The people who were not looking for work were starting their own companies, sponsored some of them were also continuing their studies so heading off to other additional graduate study. It could be a joint degree program, et cetera. 85% received an offer within three months. So that's also similar. And where is it? 77% accepted. So those numbers are almost, I think they're identical to hbs. So now one thing that MIT did is they actually included a number of where the offers stand now because we're more than three months out now, we're actually getting closer to six months. And so they said that it's currently up to 88.9%. So let's call it 89% of students at the near six month mark had received an offer. So they just wanted to point out that that continues to go up. The median salary is $169,550. So we could call it 170 if we're being generous. Also about $5,000 less than HBS on the consulting side in terms of placements here. Consulting was 32.1%. That's down just a little bit from 33.7 last year. Financial services 25%. That's up quite a bit. It was 19.9% last year. They sent 19% of their graduating students into technology.
That's down from 24% last year. They sent 6.8% into health care, pharma and biotech, and then another 4.5% into auto and aerospace. So those are the main kind of areas that people went to work in. In terms of the regional placements, 47.5% of Sloan grads landed in the Northeast. That's up a little bit. It's up about 3% from last year. 19% went out to the West Coast. That's down about 4 or 5%. 10% to the south. That's doubled. It was 5% last year, 8.6% to the mid Atlantic, a little bit higher than last year. 5.4 to the Southwest, and 2.7 to the Midwest. Those numbers are not. There's no big dramatic changes there. International, they sent 5% of the student body overseas. That's up a tick from 3%. So there you have it. What do you make of Sloan's numbers? And especially vis a vis HBS? Yeah.
[00:20:45] Speaker B: How does that 169 number compare to last year?
[00:20:49] Speaker A: I think it's actually similar.
I can bring it up while we're chatting, but I'm almost certain that it's the same. I feel like that's a little lower.
[00:20:57] Speaker B: Than I was expecting, quite honestly. Relative again, to other topics. Top M7 programs. But that might be typical of Sloan in terms of the diversity of the career paths they're looking at. But we are definitely seeing a trend amongst all top programs. An increasing volume of folks going into financial services. And this is, in my mind, a direct result of the changing marketplace for careers at this point. Right. So both Harvard and Sloan support that. And the one. The programs that we've highlighted in the last couple of weeks have all seen increases in folks going into financial services.
[00:21:42] Speaker A: Yeah. So I just pulled it up. The median salary last year at Sohn was 170 on the nose. So, I mean, like.
[00:21:47] Speaker B: So just down a tick. Tiny. Tiny.
[00:21:49] Speaker A: Yeah. So very similar. And you're absolutely right. Yeah. There's been this shift a little bit away from consulting towards financial services and away from tech as well. And you see that in these.
[00:21:58] Speaker B: And that's driven by the marketplace. I don't think that's driven by the desire of students going into these programs.
[00:22:05] Speaker A: Correct. Yeah, totally. So it is what it is. But I think, you know, look, these numbers are still, like, pretty amazing and off the charts. If you think about the amount that people are earning on average when they graduate from these. From these programs.
[00:22:17] Speaker B: It's crazy. We were having A pension conversation before we started, Graham, about my financial resources. I wish I had a couple hundred seventy grand years go get going along. That would really, really be quite, quite good. So yeah, obviously we're talking about extraordinary numbers in the first place.
[00:22:34] Speaker A: So are you asking for a raise on the podcast right here, like live? No, but yeah, yeah, so we'll see and next week we'll talk about. I know, we'll talk next week about Stanford and maybe Ross as well, I think has just come out. So we'll get some more of this data.
Let's talk about this week's candidates. Obviously, if you do want to reach out to Elliot, to. Sorry, to Alex or me or Elliot on our team, Anyone, just write infoearadmit.com, use the subject line wiretaps and we will get you a note back. I love seeing those notes and we had one recently from a candidate that we, we can't really talk about because they wanted to remain anonymous and but they asked some great questions and we always try to provide answers. So send us a note if you're so inclined and don't forget to also send us your audio clips. We'd love to get more of those. Alex. Anything else before we talk about this week's candidates?
[00:23:18] Speaker B: Let's kick on.
[00:23:19] Speaker A: All right, so this is WireTaps candidate number one.
Our first candidate this week has 12 schools on the target list and the schools are Columbia, Dartmouth, Duke, Georgetown, Harvard, Michigan, mit, Kellogg, nyu, Chicago, Wharton and UT Austin. So who's who of kind of top programs, they want to start school in the fall of 25. This candidate is a registered nurse. So very unusual kind of work experience for an MBA candidate. They would love to pivot into consulting. They've got some of the usual suspects on the list like Bain, BCG and McKinsey. Their GRE score is a 326, GPA from undergrad is a 3.5. They've got three years of work experience. They're located currently in Colorado. They would love to land in Chicago or New York after business school. This candidate indicates they're a 25 year old female. They identify as LGBTQ.
Their Bachelor's degree, as you might expect, was in nursing and it was from a top two nursing school. And since then they've had, you know, like three years of work experience, they say as a high risk OB registered nurse at a major hospital with leadership roles in various healthcare initiatives and patient care management. They also, it sounds like, have been working as a GP operations specialist at an early stage healthcare tech focused venture capital firm where they say they optimize operational processes and support investment decisions in the healthcare sector. So I think that's probably where they got bit by the MBA bug, right? And they indicate a desire from us. They want to know which M7 or top 15 schools do you think they should realistically target? And they're kind of, you know, because they're interested in consulting in the short term, they're wondering if we have a view there, if that, you know, shapes the list. And you know, they mentioned that they're particularly interested in Kellogg and Booth because they like Chicago, but also, you know, thinking about a career in health care consulting. So, Alex, what do you make of this candidate? Very non traditional and kind of interesting.
[00:25:27] Speaker B: A non traditional candidate, obviously. And that can play both ways, right, as a non traditional candidate, that potentially bringing different conversations to the program, adding diversity in terms of their career and so on and so forth and their life experiences. So, so all from that perspective, it can actually play very well in admissions. They've also got to show how they'll fit in and how getting an MBA really makes sense for their trajectory and so on and so forth. So that's the other side of the coin, as it were, for a non traditional candidate. But like as you point out, some of their career focus to date has probably driven them to this idea of getting an mb and they can probably address that quite eloquently in their narrative. So I'm not as concerned on the side of fitting in.
So hopefully they can show impact and growth and so on and so forth, both as a nurse as well as in this sort of secondary role that they've been pursuing. And their goals make sense. Right? So healthcare consulting, going on the sort of business side of healthcare, coming from the sort of practitioner side and so forth. So I think a lot of that makes a lot of sense. Their numbers are decent, you know, the 3,326gre, 3.5gpa, et cetera.
So that'll give again, give ADCOM a bit more confidence because again, as a non traditional candidate, I think numbers do matter a little bit more so that they can demonstrate that they'll do really well in the curriculum and so forth.
So, yeah, which programs fit this candidate? I mean, as we talked about a little bit before we came on air, maybe I sort of underrepresented, but I, you know, I think Kellogg and Wharton would be their reach schools. And I think Ross and I forget the other program that I included in that sort of target school, but these are schools that really do well, on the sort of the healthcare side because most top school do well on the consulting side. Right. So identify those schools that have a real strong track for health care. And certainly when you're looking at that, top of the heap is generally going to be Wharton and Kellogg and then it's going to be Fuqua and Ross and so on and so forth. So, yeah, I think there's a lot of opportunity for this type of candidate, Graham.
[00:28:00] Speaker A: Yeah, and I think they can, you know, they have 12 schools here, they can pare that down easily to probably, you know, six schools or something. They've got the numbers are good enough, the work a solid, they have this business gig on the side which I think, as you say, will make it such that they don't have trouble kind of fitting in. And I could not agree with you more. Go to the best school you can get into that's noted for kind of healthcare. And Wharton, as you say, has the healthcare management major that you have to declare in advance. I would certainly encourage this candidate to learn about that. Kellogg, Duke, Tuck as well at Dartmouth is quite good in healthcare. So those are the schools I would kind of start with and as you said, Michigan as well. So yeah, I think this is a good, potentially really strong candidate. The one thing we didn't get any data on that I'd love to know more about is just do they have any outside activities and interests beyond. I know they're working part time doing some kind of VC help, but it'd be interesting to know if they have any fun hobbies or things that just differentiate them further and that would map to involvement in an MBA program outside of the classroom. But otherwise I think this person's in.
[00:29:04] Speaker B: Good shape and not necessarily only differentiating them further, but again, sort of augmenting and supporting their narrative.
So generally top programs like folks that do well at work and also like folks that have activities outside of work that sort of show a little bit more about who they are and what they're passionate about and so on and so forth. So yeah, as you say, it'd be good to get a bit more of an indication on that aspect.
[00:29:31] Speaker A: Yeah, totally. But otherwise I want to thank this candidate for sharing her profile and wish her the best of luck as she heads into round two here. A lot of work to do over the holidays, so good luck. Let's turn our attention to WireTaps. Candidate number two.
So this week's second candidate has eight schools on the target list. They're hoping to start in the fall of 25 as well, the schools that this candidate has are Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, Georgia Tech, Indiana Kelly, NYU Stern, UCLA and UT Austin. This person's been an entrepreneur before business school. They mentioned to us that they had started as like an AI engineer, but now they're a startup founder and they're thinking of pivoting to kind of product management at a global tech leader. And they have a kind of a mission or personal goal of making technology more accessible to drive impact and you know, just help in emerging markets. Specifically the GMAT score for this candidate they wrote 751 but I think it's probably a typo. So it was probably meant to be a 750 GPA was a 3.4. They have five years of work experience and this candidate is located in India.
So Alex, you had some dialogue with this candidate or you asked them some questions. So I want to hear what, you know, share those questions because I don't think they responded to you. But it's just stuff that we have to sort of hash out here because I'm kind of curious what you think of them.
[00:30:56] Speaker B: Yeah, I had a monologue with them, let's call it that.
But yeah, I mean quite honestly I think that their professional profile looks really interesting, right, and really on topic for, you know, the trends of today in terms of being an AI engineer, being an entrepreneur, now wanting to pivot into sort of product management at a big tech, etc. I mean they're probably a very viable candidate for that type of opportunity, right? I mean especially if they can show that, that entrepreneurship that they've been doing is been really viable, been impactful, etc. Etc. And then if they can tie this all to their post MBA goals in terms of making sort of tech more accessible, etc. Etc.
In the long run, absolutely fantastic. So, so, so a couple of things that this sort of brings to my mind. I mean obviously The GMAT, if it's 750 is outstanding. I assume they're 3, 4 GPAs, maybe converted from an India based GPA. So it's probably very high sort of ranking. And if it's an engineering focus, which I imagine it is, if they've been doing, you know, AI engineering coming right out of college, then that probably their academic record is really strong too. I wish this candidate had applied in the first round.
I think if this candidate had applied in the first round they would have. They, you know, again, if everything that I've just said is maps out, they'd have a lot of opportunities with these programs and I would suggest that they target maybe some M7, et cetera, which they're not. And maybe that's why they've readjusted their target programs, because they know they're in round two. And the reason why round two is going to be more difficult for them is they're potentially an overrepresented profile. And many of the top schools have already admitted a load of folks with that type of profile out of round one. So that's going to be the challenge for them.
So, yeah, if this was round one, I think it'll be a little bit of a different outcome. Grant?
[00:33:15] Speaker A: Yeah, my questions would be I'd love to know if they went to one of the IITs or something, one of those really great engineering schools in India. I'd also like to know a little bit more about their entrepreneurial pathway. And I think that will. It presents an opportunity because it's cool, but it also presents a challenge because when it comes to recommendations, so if they raised funds or if there's somebody they can go to that can speak to their entrepreneurial acumen, that would be great. But I think. Yeah, I agree with you. I mean, the nice thing here is that they have a range of schools when it comes to admissions difficulty. There's obviously Berkeley on the list, which is a pretty tough school in terms of accessibility acceptance rate. But then they also have schools like Georgia Tech and Indiana Kelly and UT Austin, which are great programs, but don't have the same, you know, kind of super low acceptance rate that you see at like a haas. So, I mean, the list of schools makes sense to me. But yeah, it's going to be. They're going to need to get their act together in round two and put together a strong case. Great recommendations, et cetera, because as you point out, they're going to be overrepresented. Yeah, for sure.
[00:34:15] Speaker B: Absolutely. Wish them best of luck and just wish it was round one.
[00:34:19] Speaker A: Yeah, same. All right, so thanks to them for posting. Let's turn our attention now to WireTaps candidate number three.
So our final candidate this week comes from a decision wire post, and this is a candidate that applied to Berkeley, Duke, esa, Michigan, Stanford and Yale. And they ended up landing on the wait list at Fuqua. They got into esa, Michigan and Yale and they were offered a scholarship at Michigan of $40,000. So right now their status is, you know, they have these three acceptances, right, and they're trying to decide where to go. They had a GRE of 328 and a GPA of 3.5. Nine, they're located in Boston. And that's kind of all they gave us. Now fortunately you asked them some questions to help kind of further refine this and give them advice because they're sort of, you know, not sure where to go across these three schools, ESA, MI and Yale. And they said their post MBA target is energy or sustainability. They're considering renewable energy or rotational development program. Their geographic preferences for both during and post MBA are quote, warmer areas with outdoor activities. So they say my personal preference were the programs that I was not accepted to. I guess that means Stanford and Berkeley and Duke. Cause they're warmer climate spots. So they said they will wait on the Fuqua wait list as a result and they're kind of wondering what they should do. They had some dialogue with you as well about should they be applying in round two to some additional schools. So yeah. What do you make of this? This is kind of an interesting quandary country, right? Because they didn't get into the California schools. They're not in a Duke, so where should they go?
[00:36:11] Speaker B: Yeah, it's quite interesting. I think they're probably the only candidate this year that will be admitted to both all these three programs, right. Esa, Ross and Yale. Because it seems, you know, first blush, it seems like quite a random sort of school selection, right? One in Spain, one in the Midwest and one in the Northeast and so forth. So geographically scattered and so forth. So you know, they want to potentially do their MBA in a warmer climate. So that makes them less excited about Yale, I suppose.
Yeah, and. Yeah, exactly. And Ross and maybe essay come comes to the fore. But quite frankly, I think, you know, for their career goals and so forth, it's got to be a toss up between Ross and Yale and you know, I mean, obviously if they want to build their career in Europe and so forth, that makes ese very viable. But unless they want to build their career in Europe, I'm not sure going to esc for them is. Is. Is is their best choice. And I think they're really going to have to consider Yale versus Ross and Ross gives him a bit of money. And so it's a little bit of a, a debate between those two. Obviously if they get off the waitlist at Fuqua, that would be good. I'm not sure why they were put on the waitlist at Fuqua. So you know, there might be an opportunity. The reason why I'm not sure why it might be an opportunity that Fuqua even offers them a little bit of scholarship if they bring them off the waitlist. Sometimes that will happen.
But, yeah, I would try to remove this notion of wanting a warmer climate from the calculus completely.
[00:38:04] Speaker A: Yeah, I totally agree. I mean, as nice as it would have been for them to have gotten into HAAS or Stanford and be in that climate, it just. Yeah, at this point, what they're going to need to do on the Fuqua wait list is I think they're going to need to demonstrate to Fuqua that they really want to go there. That's always a good thing to do. And I think Fuqua allows you to submit additional information, so. Yeah, making a full court press there. They should attend the welcome weekends for Ross and Yale. I mean, personally, my view is that Yale is. It is for me, the leader here right now. Even though they do have a little bit of scholarship from Ross. I would potentially ask Yale if there's any scholarship that could be provided, see if that does anything. But I just feel like when you think about the international brand of the school and also when you think about sustainability, conservation, climate, I just, I feel like good things are happening at Yale University. And so, yeah, it's a good school. And so they, they should go to both Ross and Yale and sort of get a feel for that and, and see what they think. But, yeah, it's a tough choice and I, I don't know, I mean, it might be a while before they hear from Fuqua too, so that's going to make things challenging as well.
[00:39:16] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. But I couldn't agree with you more.
[00:39:18] Speaker A: Yeah. So I want to thank them for sharing their dilemma. Good luck as they attend those welcome events and try to figure it all out. But Alex, thanks for picking these out, as always. Have a wonderful Christmas holiday and we'll. Are you around next week. We'll do this. You know, despite it being in the middle of the holidays.
[00:39:34] Speaker B: We'll do it again next week.
[00:39:35] Speaker A: Yeah, sounds good.
[00:39:36] Speaker B: All right, very good. Stay safe, everyone. Good luck. Enjoy the holidays.
