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, July 14, 2025. I'm joined by Alex Brown from Cornwall, England. Alex, what's going on?
[00:00:28] Speaker B: Everything's very good, Graham. We're in the middle of a heat wave.
[00:00:32] Speaker A: Yeah. And even in the US I've seen. Yeah, it's been very hot, really, in a lot of places.
I got to ask you a football question since I know it's your thing. I was in a bar the other day and they were showing a game between Paris Saint Germain and Real Madrid in America.
Do you know what this is about? Some kind of a tournament? It feels like it's like a warm up for the World cup, but these are club teams, so I'm very confused. Have you been following this and is your team in this tournament?
[00:01:00] Speaker B: Yeah, it's the Club World cup, which, you know, it's out of season, it's somewhat prestigious, there's a lot of money involved.
[00:01:08] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:01:09] Speaker B: But yeah, man, city exited earlier than they should have done. We'll leave it at that.
[00:01:15] Speaker A: Okay. Sorry to hear that. But they, yeah, so I think this is like they're warming up. You know, the World cup is in the United States next year. So. And I, and I say that because I only reason I know that is because the GMAC conference for Business School Admissions Officers had to be moved a little bit in terms of the timing because of the World cup happening in America. So be a little bit earlier next year because it's in Philadelphia and I guess the World Cup's in Philly or parts of it.
Have you seen much happening with regards to wait lists or anything? I feel like I've seen some things happening on the wires more related to deferred enrollment and even some maybe Columbia January term things.
Is that what's been happening?
[00:01:55] Speaker B: Yeah, we're seeing a little bit of movement on Colombia side for their January term program, which is the short, shorter version of their two year program.
So. So we're seeing a little bit of that. Not seeing so much movement on the wait list. We are getting toward the middle of July now, but I'm, I'm still convinced that there will be more movement, but didn't see so much last week.
[00:02:20] Speaker A: Yeah, I think there'll be like a late flurry when, you know, preterms actually begin and schools realize that X number of candidates are not able to show. So. Yeah, so if someone's on a summer wait list and you' local to the school that you're hoping to get in.
That's probably the best possible scenario is that they may take people who are nearby who can show up in a hurry. But we'll see. We'll keep everyone posted in terms of looking ahead to the coming cycle. We started off our essay breakdowns kind of series last week. We do these webinars every July that I've been talking about here on the show. And we had our first one last week and that was with, let's see, who was on. It was Cornell and Duke and Tuck and there couple other schools too. I'm completely blanking on. Let's see, Berkeley and Wharton. And it was a really great conversation. And I mean, I just love asking these admissions directors about their essay questions because you really learn where their heads are at, like, why did the team come together and come up with this question? And they gave lots of interesting advice and we talked about AI and so, yeah, so it was just a lot of fun. And we've got those every Wednesday for the next three Wednesdays. So this week at noon Eastern, you can join us. I'll be emceeing the session. This week's is with Georgetown, Michigan, unc, Vanderbilt and Yale.
So definitely sign up for that one. And then there's two more after that. So it's a lot of fun.
[00:03:44] Speaker B: Alex, not to put you on the spot, Graham, but let's get a couple of highlights. What two things did you learn that was maybe a little unexpected?
[00:03:52] Speaker A: Well, so one thing that was unexpected is that Berkeley have this essay that they've had for many years that I love, which is what makes you feel alive and why. And it's just meant to be. It's not meant to be like, oh, accounting. It seems like it's meant to be more like something that you do that you're passionate about that's maybe an outside interest, not necessarily a career oriented thing. Although the representative from Berkeley did say you could write about something professional. But here's what's funny is that it's no longer a writing assignment. They flipped it this year and it's a video.
So, yeah, I mean, that alone is kind of interesting to me. And I asked why and they just sort of. You said that, you know, they thought it'd be interesting to see, to hear from people that it's kind of a personal, you know, essay and that having people respond via video would be interesting for the committee to watch. And, and I think there's a little bit of like, you know, maybe they don't want AI writing it or I don't know, but they, they didn't say that, but it was. It was just interesting and a big change.
[00:04:50] Speaker B: And did you ask them about the use of AI? You mentioned it a little bit earlier. So. So what is the.
The common theme in terms of how schools are treating AI in the admissions process?
[00:05:02] Speaker A: Yeah, that's also fascinating because there's been an evolution there, I would argue, because AI's been around for a little bit now, and we were even asking schools, like a year ago, and now every school on the panel that we did last week was very clear like, hey, we know these tools exist. We think they're fantastic. We use them in our work. And so you should be using them. But the caveat that they all then said was that don't expect, though, to use it to write your entire essay. Don't outsource this process, which is such a vital reflective process, because, A, you'll be missing out in terms of kind of learning more about yourself, but B, it's just not going to create as great of an essay as you would if you started from the voice that you have. And so they more recommend it as kind of use this to polish to avoid grammatical mistakes and to push you to make something better, as opposed to just outsourcing the whole process.
[00:05:55] Speaker B: Yeah, great for brainstorming and that part of the process, for sure.
[00:05:59] Speaker A: Yeah. And proofing, you know, I mean, I think it's, you know, but somebody, I think was the one from Talk, made a really interesting point, which is she said, you know, most of these AI bots are quite agreeable. Like, they, you know, you might ask them, oh, what do you, you know, what do you think of this? Or how should I do that? You know, they'll say, oh, great idea. You know, it's not. Well, it's less common to push back. And she was kind of saying, you know, put your best foot forward, proof it, et cetera, but also maybe ask friends and family to read what you've written and give you some honest feedback.
So, yeah, so I think there's obviously great writers, have editors and get feedback. So I think that still stands.
[00:06:34] Speaker B: Yeah, perfect.
[00:06:35] Speaker A: Over on the website, we did another big piece on kind of the Trump administration and the ongoing kind of war on universities. And so all the latest news and notes about the visa process being kind of changed and the latest actions against international students, et cetera. So there's a full update there. It's a very thorough article, and it goes into some detail on what people might expect when they do their interviews for visas. If you're an international student.
For now, things are looking better in the sense that most of the sort of no international students at Harvard kind of stuff has been blocked, and that stands.
And the visa interviews are open again. There is a slightly expanded screening process, but. So all the news and notes on that is in that piece, but we continue to cover that as it happens.
[00:07:25] Speaker B: Very good. Yeah. Super critical.
[00:07:28] Speaker A: Totally. Yeah. We also did a bunch of admissions tips. We did a whole piece on volunteer experience. So if you have some outside activities that involve volunteer work, how do you position that and present it in your applications? And then we continue to run those myth busters. We did three of them over the last week. One of them is only the M7 business schools promise success. Success.
Which I have to laugh when I read that, because that's just fundamentally not true. And that's. I mean, that's the whole point of these Mythbusters, I guess. And then we also just.
[00:07:56] Speaker B: Yeah. Just to, you know, show a very obvious example. Right. The leader of Apple is a. Is it Duke?
[00:08:04] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:08:04] Speaker B: He's from.
[00:08:06] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right.
[00:08:07] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:07] Speaker A: So, yeah. So that. That's a fun one. And then we did honesty and applications requires sharing your weaknesses. Like, as in, you got to tell everything that's bad about your profile when you write your essays, which is not true. You. You need to be. If you're asked for weaknesses, by all means share real weaknesses, but it doesn't mean that you have to put them all out there without being prompted. And then we did a final one, and this one the admissions directors love because it says, tailor your essays to what the ADCOM wants to hear. And I say that because in every one of these essay workshops we do or webinars, admission directors constantly are saying, don't write what you think we want to hear. Just answer the question, please.
So in any event. Yeah. So we're having fun with these mythbusters.
[00:08:52] Speaker B: Yeah. No. Very good. Yeah.
[00:08:54] Speaker A: Speaking of admissions directors, we caught up with three more admissions directors as part of our Q and A series. And this is like a dream team. So three of my favorite people who work in this industry, and also, they're all super veteran. And so, as you might expect, they all had really great advice in the interviews we did with them. So the first person we caught up with was Melissa Rapp from Emory Guizuera, and we asked her about. Tell us about, like, the life of an application and operationally, what happens when you submit? Where does this thing go until you get your answer. She gave a really nice response that I thought would be useful for our listeners who I think often there's this tendency to be really nervous about what's happening with my file.
She said. I think of each application round like the start of a race. Every applicant crosses the starting line at the same time, but the course each one takes may vary. After the deadline, we begin initial reviews and start sending out interview invitations. Invitations continue to go out for several weeks, depending on the flow of the process and what we learn along the way. From there, it's a dynamic race. Initial reads, interviews, second reviews, they're all happening simultaneously. Every application gets a final review and a recommended decision before we meet as a team to look at the full picture and make final calls. No two paths look exactly alike, but our process is designed to ensure that each candidate it gets a fair, thorough and unbiased evaluation. We've built in multiple layers of review to ensure every applicant is given the consideration they deserve. So I just thought that was a nice way for her to describe what's happening because you and I often talk about how, you know, it's not a linear process necessarily, and it's certainly not a process where every application has the same exact set of steps at the same time.
[00:10:38] Speaker B: Yeah, no, absolutely. Did you ask your friend at Yale the same question? I'm curious how what their answer looks like.
[00:10:46] Speaker A: I did not ask Bruce or Laurel or whoever's going to do their Q and A this year. I did not. But it'll be in there and I don't think we've done theirs yet, so I'll look for that when we get to Yale.
We did talk to Donna Swinford of Chicago. Booth, I'm a huge fan of Donna's because she's a big baseball fan. Your favorite sport, Alex. But whenever we get together, we always talk a little. Baseball though she is a Cubs fan, which isn't my team. But in any event, we asked her for advice on the essay piece of the application and she said she offered again some really good advice. She's been doing this for years. She said, don't be afraid to dig deep internally. This is often a journey of self discovery for people and candidates uncover a lot about themselves. We want to know what drives and inspires you and how that influences your future aspirations. The best advice is simply to be yourself and connect the dots for us about why this is the next step you want to take in your professional development as you are working through your essay. Getting an outside perspective can be very insightful. Have someone else read through your essays and tell you Their takeaways.
My other little bit of guidance is to make sure that your response is aligned with the prompt or question versus using the essay as a catch all for everything that you want the admissions committee to know about you. Above all else, your response should be an authentic reflection of your individual viewpoint, and hopefully it provides a glimpse into who you are as a person, both professionally and personally. So there you have it from Donna. I thought that was good advice, too. I could think of candidates using an essay question to just say what they want instead of really answering the question.
[00:12:18] Speaker B: Yeah. And again, it gets back to this idea that. So don't stress about trying to figure out what the ad. Com wants.
Just answer the question so that piece at the end align with the prompt. That's really important.
[00:12:34] Speaker A: Yeah. And this is because, I mean, I can tell you this. I mean, you know this, Alex. You read thousands and thousands of applications at Wharton.
It's frustrating when you're the admissions reader and you're reading an essay and the person like A, hasn't answered the question, but B, it's because they're answering a question. That's another school's essay and you know it. You know, and that's just not a good look.
[00:12:55] Speaker B: Yeah, it's frustrating, but it does make for an easy decision.
[00:13:00] Speaker A: Yeah, that's true. Yeah, good point.
Last but not least, we caught up with Sherry Hubert from Duke Fuqua, and again, she just. I'm going to give a short quote from her again. She's a vet. She's been in this industry for a long time. And she said when it comes to essays, she said applicants should begin with thoughtful reflection on how their story fits into the Fuqua community and how they hope to grow within it. At Fuqua, we genuinely want to get to know our applicants. We want to see how they would make our unique community stronger and in turn, how our community could support their development. This is what makes the essay section so important. Now, the reason I picked that quote, Alex, is because I think she's making a very, very clear statement about what you need to do when you're applying to Fuqua. Do you agree? Because I'm hearing something loud and clear.
[00:13:47] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, for sure. It's Team Fuqua. That's a big part of their branding.
And. Yeah. Surely few qualify for Fuqua. So get it right.
[00:13:57] Speaker A: Yeah. And get to know. Yeah, I mean, I really think they. I mean, I think all schools value this, but I think Fuqua values this in a pretty unique way, in that they really want you to take the time to get to know their community and figure out, like, what are you going to bring in? I mean, they even have an essay question, which we talked this past week in the last essay workshop because we had a rep from Fuqua. They have a specific essay where you're meant to describe, like, what am I going to do outside of the classroom, on campus, et cetera. So, yeah, you got to get to know their program to be successful applying there.
[00:14:26] Speaker B: Very good.
[00:14:27] Speaker A: Let's see other little tidbits, and then we'll get into our candidates out now in this feed is a special episode of the podcast, which is a live audio that we recorded back in May at the NBA Fair. The first piece of live audio is a panel that we're calling NBA Decoded. And it was me. I was emceeing a panel with admissions directors from mit, Yale, ucla, and Emory. It was a lot of fun, and I listened to it as we were making this episode of the podcast with Dennis, and came out really nicely. I mean, we're in a giant room somehow. The audio sounds terrific, and all of our participants had great advice. So that's the first one. There will be more to come. I think we have three more still in the pipeline, so those are all going to trickle out, but you can listen to them wherever you're listening to this episode. So give those a listen if you get a chance.
[00:15:16] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. Fantastic. And kudos to Dennis for making this stuff work.
[00:15:21] Speaker A: Yeah, it was not easy, actually. And he definitely deserves a big pat on the back because, I mean, it was not easy to get audio. You know, it's a giant room, lots of people talking, and five different speakers, so. But he made it all work.
Yeah. If you want to reach out to Alex for me, write to infoearadmit.com use the subject line wiretaps. Or if you want to send Dennis a note on how amazing he is at producing the show, you can do that, too, and we'll get the word to him. Anything else, though, Alex, before we talk about our candidates?
[00:15:48] Speaker B: Or they can go to Reddit. Graham, I'm going to be doing an AMA on Reddit this week. Yeah.
[00:15:54] Speaker A: Oh, I didn't know that. Okay, so that's. That's been decided. All right, awesome. Yeah, you can hang out with Alex there. That'll be fun.
All right, anything else? Or do you want to talk about these candidates you picked? You picked some great ones, as usual.
[00:16:05] Speaker B: Yeah, let's kick on.
[00:16:06] Speaker A: All right, so this is WireTaps candidate number one.
Our first candidate this week has five schools on the Target list. The schools are Columbia, Harvard, LBs, MIT and Stanford. They want to start school in the fall of 26. They've been working in private equity. They're actually located in Georgia, the country, not the state.
And they are looking to use business school to actually get out of PE and get into consulting. And they mentioned Bain, BCG, McKinsey, Accenture. So they want to do this pivot. They have a 705 on the GMAT, which again, if you don't remember the scaling, that'd be like a 750 on the old test. So very, very strong GMAT score, 3.95 GPA, which is nearly perfect. Six years of experience.
And they mentioned they're going to apply in round one and that they are currently a senior vice president at a private equity fund overlooking investment decisions. And they're wondering do we think they have a good chance of getting into these types of schools that are on the list or do they need to add safety schools? So Alex, I'll turn it over to you. What do you make of this candidacy?
[00:17:12] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, quite honestly, I think this does look like a very strong candidate.
You know, the end of the day, they're working in private equity and it seems like they have a good role in, in their firm.
And this seems to be a, the sort of career that folks aspire to after they get to a top tier MBA program. Yeah, so, so that looks good. I mean, obviously it does depend on the type of private equity, the deal flow, the impact, etc. Etc. And it's coming from Georgia. So maybe the market there is quite different to New York or wherever the big private equity shops are in the United States. But nevertheless, hopefully if they've had some impact and there's some good quality deal flow and so forth, that should resonate well with adcom. Coming from Georgia should resonate well with adcom. I mean, clearly top business schools in around the world aren't overrepresented with folks out of Georgia. I remember there was a guy in a class, Wharton from Georgia, and he was just a fantastic individual or certainly someone that everybody knew in their class anyway.
[00:18:31] Speaker A: You're talking about George.
[00:18:33] Speaker B: Yeah. Wasn't he from Georgia?
[00:18:35] Speaker A: He was George from Georgia. He was in the same year as I was at Warren. Yeah. Oh, that's so funny.
[00:18:38] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. So we both remember.
It's like, yeah, I don't know what he's doing now. If he's still doing bitcoins, that was the direction he was going in. But, but, but so, so, so that stuff Looks good. The numbers are extraordinary, right? 395 GPA, 705 GMAT, six years of experience.
Maybe a little bit lighter on the ecs, but maybe culturally that's fine.
Target round, round one.
I, I gotta think these are, this is a pretty strong candidate. I'd like to know more about their longer term view of what they want to do. Right. So short term it looks like they want to get some consulting experience in the US And I'm just, just want to make sure it doesn't come across in their candidacy that they're simply using the MBA to move geographies which clearly a lot of international candidates will be doing.
But they really want to make sure that they come across as someone that's really thoughtful in terms of their long, long term ambitions and how the NBA is going to get them there and so forth. So yeah, I'd like to just learn a little bit more about that Graham, but other than that I got to think that they're a strong candidate.
[00:19:58] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm with you. I mean we did ask them about ECs and they, they say they actively volunteer and they play some sports but they didn't give us a ton of detail as you say. So but as you also mentioned culturally, you know, Eastern Europe, Georgia, like I think there's probably less of a, you know, potentially less of a tradition of what you see like in the US where everyone has like 20 different outside activ.
So they should be okay in that regard. I had the same exact questions as you though about the goals. Sort of like, oh, you know, this is a goal that a lot of people do post MBA in terms of what they're currently working in private equity. But they seem like they, you know, they must have a reason. It would just be good to better understand like oh, why do you want to do consulting and what do you plan on doing in the very long term. And I think one thing we need to keep in mind is that for some individuals the MBA is more than just like that one job that you're going to get after business school. It's often, you know, can be a ticket into, well first of all to just great at education. The US schools and all the schools on this person's list are great schools. So they'd get a fantastic education but often it's also a kind of pathway into work in the US and for now at least, so that's probably an appeal as well. So they might think of, oh, I'm going to get an MBA to top school, great education. I'LL be able to stay and work for at least a few years and at a place like McKinsey and then you're just tapped into an amazing network from there and maybe they'll stay in the US or go somewhere else. But. Yeah. So I just would love to get a better sense of it all, but I don't think they need to add safety schools. What I would argue is apply in round one.
If they can't apply to all these schools in round one, pick four of them or whatever and get them in and then adjust if they need to with a set of round two applications. But I'm, I feel like they're going to find success. They, they have a lot of lot to offer.
[00:21:42] Speaker B: Yeah, a lot to offer. Numbers are outstanding. Professional experience. Sounds good. So. Yeah, I, I completely agree. Yeah.
[00:21:49] Speaker A: All right, well, I want to thank them for sharing their profile and yeah, we'll wish them the best of luck as they move on. Let's talk now about wiretaps. Candidate number two, our second candidate this week has an all Europe focus.
Well, with one exception, they have Cambridge, Imperial, Insead, lbs, Oxford and hkust, which is in Hong Kong. So those are their target schools and they want to start in 26. Just like our first candidate this week, this person is an architect, so somewhat non traditional. They went to school, they have a Master's in architecture. Their undergrad was in architecture as well. They went to ucl, which is University College in London and they had a 4.0 GPA or my guess is probably what, first class honors. So very, very good grades. They're using or wanting to use the MBA to pivot out of being an architect and into doing private equity, real estate.
And so they have a whole bunch of companies that they mention as targets which, you know, include some of the traditional, you know, Blackstone, kkr, but also JP Morgan Asset Management. And I assume there are other firms out there that maybe just really specialize that could maybe weren't on the pick list that we have.
But in any event, that's what they want to use the MBA for.
They gave us a whole bunch of background, which I'll let you get into. But they also, you know, they have some extracurriculars and leadership there and they explicitly state short term goal real estate, private equity and long term goal the same, but ideally in Hong Kong. So what do you make of this person?
[00:23:23] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, I guess I'm making an assumption that that's where they're originally from, Hong Kong.
They've got their education in London and they've been working as an outside architect since in London. It looks like as you say, their work is really interesting.
You know, you're designing buildings, you're designing infrastructure and you're also, you know, designing it with, within the constraints of sustainability, etc. Etc.
And it does look like this candidates worked on some pretty impressive projects. They're a little bit worried that they can't show a lot of promotion.
[00:24:00] Speaker A: And.
[00:24:00] Speaker B: So forth, but I'm not so worried about that. Right. I think as long as you can show the scale of the projects you're working on, that really does show growth. Right. So growth isn't only measured by promotions, it's measured more so by what you do and the growth in, in what you're doing and so forth.
Yeah, I like their obviously UK first class degrees, undergraduate masters. We've got to wait for the test score and I'm hoping that they put in the requisite preparation to get their best score that then reflects, reflects everything else that we're seeing.
You made a really good point before we came on air, so I'll just take that off you and maybe they could look at Wharton and Columbia has really strong programs in real estate. Clearly they're in the US but they would have strong networks in London as well as Hong Kong.
So it's worth exploring those. The other, the other thing that I, I would look at and I mentioned this on ApplyWire and I'd quite like to get your thoughts on this, a bit of guidance. The, the, the jump from being an architect to private equity, even though it's related to real estate, seems to be quite a big jump.
I can understand why a private equity shop would be interested in someone with direct design experience and architectural experience.
But maybe the pathway, the easier pathway is to start with investment banking to then with the idea that short term with the idea to transition into private equity once those sort of hardcore banking skills are developed.
[00:25:54] Speaker A: Yeah, it's a really good question. I mean there were two kind of things that jumped out about me with this candidate and that was the first, like, well, how do they make this pivot? And I think, you know, on some levels it had come down to like, to what extent can they demonstrate to the private equity, you know, to the kind of real estate private equity shops that they have had enough experience with, you know, regulations and you know, working with, you know, the planning authorities and different, you know, governing bodies that usually are involved when you're trying to do real estate projects. And so to what extent they can demonstrate a kind of knowledge of the business side of building and architecture as opposed to the design side. And so you're right. I mean, going into banking would be a natural kind of way to demonstrate that. But I wouldn't rule out that if they went to a school that was really strong in finance and took all those classes and all the real estate finance electives, et cetera, that they could make the case and that there might be some need niche PE real estate funds that would want them straight. So I would go for it. But yeah, maybe IB is a good kind of fallback plan.
But yeah, it just sort of depends.
I don't have enough of a sense of what the exposure has been on their side to the kind of finance side and the kind of regulatory side of architecture.
[00:27:11] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, obviously they know that, so that can help guide them in, in sort of making that decision. But investment banking might be a good backup in the short term anyway.
But they clearly have a lot of qualities and I really hope that they nail the test score to represent everything else that they've got in their application.
[00:27:32] Speaker A: Yeah, and that brings me to the second point. I was going to make this sort of test score issue they mentioned in the notes. They're like, oh, yeah, I haven't taken the test yet, but I'm going to take it in October. And my first thought was, well, gee, it's only July now. And I sort of wondered if they could maybe ramp that up a bit and start studying in earnest now and maybe take it in early September or something. Just put your head down, get it out of the way. And the reason I say that is because while they are non traditional and I don't think they need to worry about whether they're in round one or round two, I want to make sure they have enough time to write all their essays and do everything else. And if they leave the test till October and imagine they get a score that they're not super happy with, then suddenly they've got to retake it in Dec. And all those weeks that they could be devoting exclusively to working on their application materials like essays get sort of eaten up. So I just want to make sure that they're doing this on a schedule that facilitates the best possible set of applications for round two. If they want to do round two, that's fine. But yeah, so that was my thought. And then you brought up the other point, which is, should they look at some of those top schools that have really good finance and real estate departments like a Wharton, Columbia, et cetera? So yeah, in Any event. Otherwise, a really interesting candidacy. I had an architect, I think I told you this. I had an architect on my team at Wharton and my learning team and guy was just brilliant and always a really interesting voice in discussions because of the different kind of background that he was coming from.
[00:29:00] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, no, I do think being an architect does allow them to stand out. So. So hopefully they, they take on, you take on your advice and I do think time is quite important. So if they can move that the test score or at least the first attempt at the test earlier, that might open up some more options too. Maybe they could throw an application in round one just to see where they're at.
[00:29:23] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. So anyway, I wish them the best of luck. Thank them for sharing their profile. It sounds like a really interesting one. And yeah, just buckle down and get that test out of the way.
Let's move on and talk about wiretaps. Candidate number three, our third candidate this week has just four schools on the target list at this point. And those schools are Cornell, nyu, Chicago, Booth, and Wharton. They want to start school in the fall of 26, just like our first two candidates this week. And this person has a different background than our first two in that they were enlisted US Military and then did some time in the military and then moved on and are now working as a risk analyst at a bank.
They want to get into investment banking after business school. And they mentioned bank of America, Capital One, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, and JP Morgan as potential landing places. They have a whopping 332 on the GRE and a 3.7 undergraduate GPA. About a total of five years of experience. I'm assuming that's probably, you know, a few years in the military and then maybe a year or two in their current role as a risk analyst. They're located in Charlotte, North Carolina, and they want to land in New York. They mentioned in their notes that they've already had a conversation with some folks at Wharton's veterans club and that those people were encouraging in terms of telling them to, you know, go ahead and apply. And so they're asking us, as a result, for a reality check. So, Alex, what do you have to say about their candidacy and these schools they have on their list?
[00:30:54] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, obviously we don't know the quality of their military experience. Right. So all they indicate to us is they enlisted in the, in the military and that is the less traditional route to top tier MBA programs. There's no doubt about that. But presuming that the quality of that military experience is strong and enlisted folks can obviously do some really good, good things in the military. So I'm not discounting that. So assuming that is strong and they can show some leadership, etc. Etc.
Then you know, the numbers really stand out.
So that's really good. That.332 GRE3.7 GPA. That's going to be very helpful. The fact that they've already transitioned out of the military and have gotten some banking experience currently under their belt, I think that can play a good positive and also it can really help them in terms of their post MBA goals. Right. So I think their post MBA goals investment banking.
Typically most military candidates, I'd say they start off out in consulting, but a few do choose investment banking and I think the fact that they've already got some banking experience really validates what they're planning to do. So I'd like to know maybe a little bit more about those, the longer term goal and so forth. I mean, I know they want to be a career banker, but you know, maybe there's something about that that's particularly interesting, the impact of their work, etc. Etc.
But again, the numbers are really good. Graham. So assuming the, the experience in the military is similarly strong, I've got to think that they're a very strong candidate.
[00:32:44] Speaker A: Yeah, no, I tend to agree. I mean, I do wonder about outside activities and whether there's, you know, what they have there because that would obviously complete the puzzle for them. But I agree from a number standpoint, they're great.
It would be also good, as you say, to know more about that military experience and even their current work experience. But it, you know, it seems like they're ticking a lot of the boxes. They have enough experience and as you say, like there's some power in having made that transition from military to civilian life already. And so they're not going to business school to be able to make that transition. They're going to business school to kind of accelera the transition they've already made, which is terrific.
But yeah, it would just be good to know what do they do with their spare time. I'm presuming they have some hobbies and activities that make them interesting and as you say, fleshing out the goals. But yeah, there's a lot to like here. And I do not, I mean, to answer their question very directly, I don't look at this and say, oh, why are you applying to these schools?
They got Cornell, Stern, Booth and Wharton, which great schools for heading into banking.
I would apply to these schools in the first round. And then ad they need to like, could you. What would be the next school for you? I mean, I'm trying to think of another school that would make sense if they.
[00:33:53] Speaker B: Well, they're in Charlotte, North Carolina. So I'm sure that they can look.
There's some very, very good schools in their proximity that they, they could look at.
[00:34:04] Speaker A: But yeah, that's good.
[00:34:05] Speaker B: But Yeah, I mean, M7 top 16. Right. Yeah, so, so they've got that selected in their current list of schools for, For. For targeting round one.
And I, I think that like you say that that just makes sense and if they have to readjust for round two, they're not going to be overrepresented.
So they, they can, you know, readjust for round two. Maybe their readjustment is applied to Harvard or something. Who knows? They could just go across the board. But. Right, right, We. We shall see. Obviously wishing the best of luck. The. The. The unknown to me is their military experience explicitly, but presuming that's very good, I got to think that they're going to fit somewhere with the schools they've selected.
[00:34:53] Speaker A: Yeah, and great point about some schools in their region too, that they could also take a peek at. I mean, UNC has a really good finance department and excellent asset management programming. And so if they, you know, if they're interested in finance, I would definitely take a peek there too.
But yeah, I would say give it a shot, get things rolling in round one and as you say, see where they. They see where they land.
But, but yeah, I want to thank them for sharing their profile and wish them the best of luck. Hopefully they'll continue to keep us posted and.
Yeah, and, and listen to this and take our advice. We'll see.
[00:35:22] Speaker B: Yeah, very, very good.
[00:35:23] Speaker A: All right, well, Alex, thanks for picking out these candidates as always.
And let's get together next week and do this again. Fear around.
[00:35:30] Speaker B: Very good. Stay safe.
[00:35:42] Speaker A: Sam.
