[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:16] Speaker B: Welcome to the Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast. I'm Graham Richmond, and this is your Wiretaps for Monday, September 7, 2026. I'm joined by Alex Brown from Cornwall, England. Happy Labor Day, Alex.
[00:00:28] Speaker A: Thank you very much, Graham.
[00:00:30] Speaker B: Now, this of those classic long weekends in the US that kind of marks the unofficial end of summer and the beginning of, I guess, an MBA admissions deadline blitz. Right. What's, what's on tap this week? Tell me also about this column that you and Lauren work on each week that's called the Week Ahead. Yeah.
[00:00:48] Speaker A: Yeah. So the Week Ahead column begins as the season begins, runs through the season, where we list out all the programs with application deadlines that week, as well as interview deadlines and final decision and releases, et cetera, et cetera. So it's a column just to keep people aware of the activity for the forthcoming week and so forth. And this upcoming week, we've got Wharton, Ross, Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, Kellogg, Darden, McDonough, Johns Hopkins, Carey, Haas and Mendoza all have application deadlines. The majority of round one application deadlines, a couple of them are actually early deadlines, which have some sort of binding constraints.
[00:01:39] Speaker B: Right. Wow, that's a lot of school. So it's a busy week. I'm guessing that many of our listeners, instead of barbecuing or whatever people do on Labor Day weekends, were maybe just writing and polishing essays and materials to submit. So I do want to wish anyone who's tuned in, who's applying, you know, best of luck as you get stuff together. But, Alex. Yeah, and I think those columns are great that you guys put together because it's just easy to see in one place every Monday. You know, what's, what's on tap here this week. Alex, we got a lot of stuff to cover, as usual. We've got a really interesting admissions tip that I'm going to get into, around how to go about expressing interest in a program.
We've got an admissions director Q and A from Cornell, some top events to talk about, and obviously the candidates to discuss that you picked out.
I guess I'll start with some events.
So on September 17, we're going to do a special webinar about timing the mba. Like, when is the best time to apply? And this isn't like a round one versus Round two. This is like, do I apply this year or next year or some other future time? And it's just about understanding, you know, kind of when is it? When is the right moment in your career to kind of go and do this? And we're going to be joined by JR McGrath from Carnegie Mellon. Tepper JR is one of the kind of, you know, veteran folks in our industry who just is a super knowledgeable admissions dean and he, you know, he's worked at a couple of different schools he's currently at. Tepper has been there for a little while now. But anyway, look forward to that. You can sign
[email protected] events also on September 22nd, we kick off our Inside the Admissions Process series where we're going to. Now, I was right last week when I was questioning how many schools we had to join us, but it turns out it is 30.
So we have sold out that series. It's five schools each in over the course of like six sessions. We meet with five schools each time. And so on September 22nd at noon Eastern, that'll be the kickoff event.
I will be embassing that one with Berkeley, Haas, Duke Fuqua, Wharton, Stanford and Georgia Tech Scheller. So that's the first five schools. I'm actually going to be embassing that from somewhere in London because I got to go to London for an event that GMAC is putting on. And then we've got the next day, September 23rd, we're going to sit down with Columbia, Harvard, Michigan, MIT and Darden.
And then on Thursday of that same week, September 24th, we've got Carnegie Mellon, Chicago Booth, Dartmouth, UNC and UT Austin, McCombs. So Alex, you can tell that's the first three. I mean this is just an amazing guest list of schools that are coming on and I can't wait to talk to some of these admissions directors about their application process and tips and things.
[00:04:22] Speaker A: Yeah, no, no doubt. And kudos to the team because these webinars that you host have been a real success. I would, I reckon.
[00:04:32] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:04:33] Speaker A: And a real good partnership between Clear Admit and the schools represented.
So yeah, absolutely. Fantastic.
[00:04:41] Speaker B: Yeah, we love doing these and I just always learn a lot and as you know, I mean you're the one that sort of spearheaded this, but we always keep a transcript of these events and we use that transcript to feed the the vector database or whatever the heck it is that drives our AI tool.
So yeah, that's just really important that we're kind of tracking all this information and helping our AI bots better.
[00:05:03] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:05:05] Speaker B: Other events news. We also published on our website a September events kind of piece. And this is not about Clear Admit events per se. It's really about what every school kind of top schools around the world where they are for in person events. And so I love looking at this each month. So, for example, Duke, I just was looking at Duke Fuqua. I just randomly clicked on a school to see where they're going to be. And, you know, they're going to be in Johannesburg, South Africa, they're in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and then Astana, Kazakhstan, all over the course of the month of September. And these are, you know, in person events that you can attend. They obviously are also doing a handful of events in the latter portions of September on campus where you can go and spend a day. They have a full program in place where you get to, you know, attend an info session, go sit in on a class, have some discussions. I mean, they have a full, you know, campus tour, et cetera. So in any event, this is a piece that we run every month and it's organized by school. So if you're targeting a given school, you can just click on the school's name and see where they're going to be when, in case they happen to be coming to your town or city. So that's always fun stuff.
[00:06:12] Speaker A: Are these events published on our events calendar, Graham?
[00:06:16] Speaker B: So I think some of them are. What we've done is we have this new events calendar on the site. It's an amazing software tool that we've added to the site. And some of the schools are now, I think all the schools have been alerted and many of them are starting to use it to put in their events. So, yeah, so that we've seen starting to happen, which is cool.
We also ran an admissions tip, and this was the one I mentioned at the top of the show.
It's called Avoid the Comparison Trap. And this is about when you start to talk about the school that you're applying to.
The idea is to be careful about how much time you devote to wooing your target school with information about how great they are. Obviously they know a lot of the stuff that you might sort of throw back at them about why they're great. And in short, to put together a really compelling application, it's important to sort of go beyond these sort of high level differentiators and kind of the immediate associations and get into the things that you've learned about the program that are on a deeper level and that really fit with sort of your background or your goals, et cetera. So it's an interesting admissions tip because it gets into this sort of idea that you want to be careful about wasting words on, you know, singing the praises of the school you're applying to at the expense of like highlighting and talking about your own candidacy. There's this other issue, too. It gets into some detail around, you know, let's say you're applying to Chicago Booth. And you tell Booth that, you know, they are your dream school. Here's why. Blah, blah, blah. The issue there is that the admissions reader is going to read that and probably assume that you're kind of saying that to every school that you apply to. You know, they just sort of drop in another school's name. So just be careful that what you're saying about a school does really sort of fit with your candidacy and goals. Yeah. And so anyway, it's a really interesting tip. I encourage folks to read it if they get a chance.
[00:07:57] Speaker A: Yeah, no, that makes a lot of sense, really. The important thing is tailoring your pitch for the school to your personal sort of preferences and background and history, etc. Etc.
So don't tell them why they're the best school.
Don't tell them that they're the best school for your goals, but tell them why.
[00:08:17] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. Because. Because if you just throw the general stuff, if you're like, say, to Harvard, for example, oh, I love Harvard because you guys are just so great at the case method. Well, they know that you got to figure out what is it about that learning style that is going to be uniquely suited to your plan. So in any event. Yeah, so read that. The other thing we did on the website is we caught up with Eddie Aspie from Cornell Johnson.
This is Lauren on our team who does these written interview admissions director Q and A's. And so Eddie had a lot of interesting things to say, and I'll share a few of.
We asked him, how do they approach, you know, how does his team approach the essays when they're reviewing an application at Cornell? And he went into this interesting discussion where he mentioned that they are, quote, bringing back a fan favorite, which is the table of contents essay. So I don't know if you're familiar with this essay, Alex, but Eddie goes on to say, I mean, basically the assignment is you're writing a book about your life and we want you to share the sort of chapter titles or table of contents. Right. So it's a fun exercise. I think there's some limitations it that, you know, they give you some more. More guidance than that. But that's the rough assignment. And so he says the table of contents essay offers something different. It gives applicants the freedom to highlight the experiences, values, and moments that have shaped who they are.
That might include your upbringing, family, community, involvement, passions, or other defining experiences. There's no single right answer, so have fun with it. My biggest advice is simple. Be yourself. We are deeply invested in getting to know applicants beyond resumes and test scores. Authentic stories help us understand your experiences, motivations, and the perspective that you could bring to our community.
So that was his thoughts on the essay. I do like that table of contents essay, and I'd forgotten about it because they had retired it some time ago and they've now brought it back.
[00:10:08] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. And again, it gets to, what is the value of the essays in the admissions process? It's to understand all this sort of back, you know, the background, the whys behind decisions and what's really motivating you and. And the level of introspection that you've been through in order to present your best candidacy.
So. So, yeah, I like that. I mean, again, it makes me a little bit. I'm not saying concerned, but a lot of the schools that are scaling back on essays because, you know, their theories, they're just going to get written by AI, Are they still able to get that level of sort of granular, sort of insight into their candidates?
So, so, so, yeah, it's certainly something to consider.
[00:10:59] Speaker B: Yeah. And then the other thing I wanted to share from Eddie, who, by the way, he also. I recorded a podcast with him recently, and I think it's going to air this week. So stay tuned for that if you want even more kind of Cornell details. He's also just a really great guy with a lot of great stories to tell. But the other thing he said in this article, we asked about the interview process at Cornell, and I thought this would be useful to hear. He says interviewers have access to the candidate's resume and brief notes highlighting aspects of the application that may warrant further discussion. Questions may explore career goals, transitions between organizations or industries, academic and quantitative preparation or other elements of the application.
Most importantly, come prepared to have a conversation. The interview is an opportunity for us to get to know the person behind the written application.
Bring your experiences to life, help us understand why the Cornell MBA is the right fit for you, and be ready to discuss the perspective and contributions you hope to bring to the community.
So, again, good interview advice, and I think it just underlines that you need to know, like, what. What type of interview you're going to have.
So, for example, I think it's really important to know, okay, this person that's interviewing me has my resume, but also some notes from the admissions team.
[00:12:10] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:12:10] Speaker B: You know, I mean, really important.
[00:12:12] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. But again, the Best way to prepare for an interview, I would argue, is preparing your applications. Right. So, yeah, so, you know, you've gone through that introspection. You know why you're applying to Johnson or whichever school, and you know your stories, right? You've lived those stories, so you should know them even before you prepared them. So, you know, interviews aren't designed to trip you up. They're just designed to allow you to. You to share with the interviewer stuff that you should really understand already.
[00:12:44] Speaker B: Yeah, that's fair. And one thing I would say is I think it helps to practice because you, you know, get better at sort of answering some of these questions and telling your stories. But, yeah, absolutely. The other thing that we did ask Eddie about, we've been asking every admissions director for these articles on the site, was about roi. And just as a reminder to our listeners, the question we've been asking, it's worded as follows. It says, conversations about the MBA often center on jobs, salaries, and roi. What are some of the other ways students benefit from the MBA experience? That may be harder to quantify up front.
So here's what he said. He said career outcomes are important, but some of the most valuable aspects of the MBA experience are much harder to measure. One is the network you build at Cornell. You'll learn alongside classmates with different professional, academic, and cultural backgrounds. A common misconception is that MBA students all come from traditional business careers. In reality, our students bring experience from a wide range of industries and disciplines. Learning to work with people who approach problems differently can fundamentally change how you think and lead.
The MBA is also an opportunity to intentionally develop as a leader. Students learn from accomplished faculty, but they learn just as much from one another through team projects, clubs, recruiting, experiential learning, and leadership opportunities. And then there are the relationships. Your classmates become friends, professional resources, mentors, business partners, and members of a global Cornell alumni network that stays with you throughout your career. Those benefits may be difficult to put into an ROI calculation when you're choosing an MBA program, but they can become some of the most valuable outcomes of the experience.
So I thought he did a nice job of kind of summarizing what those extra sort of things are that don't go in to the ROI calculators out there on the web. But anyway, yeah, I thought that was interesting.
[00:14:32] Speaker A: Yeah, no, really good. Yeah.
[00:14:34] Speaker B: Yeah. So other than that, I don't have too much else this week. We'll get into the candidates, I guess. But I did want to mention last week we aired a special episode of the podcast again. We're continuing with those admissions director Q and A's that I recorded. So this one was with Willie Green, who's at UVA Darden. He's the Associate Dean or dean of Admissions. And he will. He's a great guy, really interesting guest. He not only has a lot of experience, having worked at Darden, obviously and Duke as well, but he also worked for quite a while in tech. So he worked at Google and he worked at Amazon on the kind of HR side and has a lot of insights into kind of, you know, hiring. And we talked about a lot of different stuff, AI included. So encourage folks to listen to that. You can listen wherever you're hearing this episode. Other than that, Alex, if people want to write to us, they can write to infoearadmit.com using the subject line wiretaps. But beyond that, should we talk about the folks you picked out for this week?
[00:15:28] Speaker A: Let's kick on.
[00:15:29] Speaker B: All right, so this is WireTaps candidate number one.
Our first candidate this week has four schools on the target list and they're looking to start in the fall of 27. So I'm guessing they're in the middle of working on these apps. And the schools they're looking at are Chicago, Booth, Kellogg, Wharton and Stanford.
This person has a pre MBA career, which they describe as analytics from data to product.
They are thinking post MBA of doing consulting and they mention Bain, BCG, McKinsey as some potential targets. They have a GPA of 3.0. They have three years of work experience, they're located in New York and they're thinking post mba, they'd love to land either in New York or Chicago or on the West Coast. So they have seemed pretty flexible overall. They note that they're thinking of doing.
I think what they meant to say was Wharton and Stanford full time and then applying part time for Kellogg and potentially Booth as well. They mentioned they have low years of experience and they're in a non consulting role. So I think that they think that that's maybe playing a factor in terms of maybe why part time could work for them. They mentioned that they're curious what we think. They say, knowing all this and my GPA, which I'll remind you is a 3.0, what would an ideal GMAT score look like for me? So they have that very specific question, Alex, but what do you make of their candidacy overall? And let's talk about it.
[00:16:57] Speaker A: I mean, obviously just to answer their very specific question, they're going to need to get a really high GMAT score to overcome Sort of compensate with, for the lower GPA relative to the median GPAs of these types of programs. They're targeting the best program programs, you know, in, in, in the, on the, you know, in the U.S. right.
And, and so forth. So, so they're going to have to make some considerable strides in that regard. They've, you know, they'll have three years of experience, a 3.0 GPA. They're going to really need to show that they've done really well at work, showing impact and growth at work. They're going to really make outside of work bring, you know, hopefully they've got some activities and, and, and stuff that they're doing that can help complement profile and so forth. But they'll still need to come up with a really strong GMAT score regardless.
But you know, one of the reasons why I selected this candidate is this idea that they're sort of looking at both full time and part time offerings. Now you can argue that you know, part time programs, maybe they're not quite as stringent in terms of their overall sort of profiles that they're looking at and I think that's fair.
So maybe they can come come out with a slightly lower GMAT to be as competitive but still that 3.0 is going to hurt them.
And if they want to sort of target MBB consulting post mba, I'm not sure that doing a part time program is the best route in order to try to gain access to that outcome. If that's truly their goal.
I would argue that they really need to knuckle down and they need to get the best test score that they can. Hopefully there's some mitigating Circumstance around the 3.0 GPA and apply full time but also expand their target list of schools. Right.
So you know, if, if they target maybe another M7 but certainly programs in the top 16, they may still gain access to MBB. Right. Some of, some of those schools in, in the sort of top 10, top 16 tier do a very good job on the consulting side.
So if you, if truly consulting MBB is what they're looking for, Graham, I would suggest they expand their list and focus on full time as their, their option.
[00:19:42] Speaker B: Yeah, I think the number of things with this candidate. So as you point out, I mean whether it's a talk or Yale or you know, there are a handful of schools that are beyond these four that they have on their list that could get them into a role at a, at a top consulting firm.
I share this concern that you have that 3o GPA I mean I posted, I think I posted a comment on this entry. I was like, well I to know more about like what did they study where? Because if they were studying, you know, chemical engineering at Caltech, you know, and have a 3 0, that's different than studying basket weaving at, you know, Jap State or something, you know, like what? Right. So, so it's important to understand the context. I just want to understand like why did they have it or you know, did they have like a 40 in their final year and a terrible first first year in college? So all those things matter too. But at the end of the day I was looking at the, you know, the test scores and you know, because they were asking what kind of a score they need and my thought was probably 685 plus on the GMAT. If they're taking the GMAT, that equates on the old scale to like a 730, 740, which is right around the average for these top programs. So and then the other thing I was wondering is, you know, they're in New York but they want to do part time, maybe in Chicago. So I'm assuming they have an employer that would, you know, easily allow them to make that sort of transfer if they were looking at part time. But I agree with you that if they want to work at a top consulting firm, those full time MBA programs are uniquely positioned to land those kinds of jobs. So. Yeah, yeah, I agree with you. Cast a wider net, take that test very seriously, get a high score.
And the other kind of piece here that we don't have is outside activities. I would like to know more about that. Obviously if they have an amazingly robust portfolio of outside activities that that could help, you know, just sort of make them a more attractive candidate. So in any event, yeah, there's a lot of question marks here, but I think at the base level we've probably offered them some good food for thought on this part time versus full time and on maybe casting a slightly wider net as they go into the process.
[00:21:39] Speaker A: Yeah. And it looks like they're a bit concerned that they have a non consulting role because they say I have low years of experience in a non consulting role.
When I read that, I mean that doesn't worry me at all. Right.
It's all about whatever roles you've had, what impact have you had and how's it helped you sort of grow within your career and so on and so forth. And you can have really significant impact without being a consultant.
[00:22:06] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. I didn't really understand why it seemed like they were pointing that out as a reason to apply to these part time programs but I didn't really understand that either, you know, so yeah, I agree. I mean people come from all different areas and I'm not worried about it. I think what I'm worried about is that 3o and the fact they don't have a test score yet. So those are the big, big variables and I'd love again to know more about outside activ and any context around the 3.0. In any event, I want to thank them for sharing their profile. Hopefully they get back to us with some further kind of information to help us, you know, just weigh in on this on, on Apply Wire. I do want to encourage listeners, you know, you can apply, you can go over to Apply Wire and post your profile. It's totally anonymous and we'll give you feedback and in some cases even talk about you on the show.
Let's move on and talk about Wiretaps. Candidate number two.
So our second candidate this week, Alex has 19 schools on the target list. I'm not going to read them all out but it's essentially a who's who of, you know, kind of a smattering of some, you know, M7 schools, some top 16 schools and then a bunch of sort of top 25 schools as well. So there's sort of all over the map from Berkeley, Haas to University of Wisconsin. Okay, so there's a big spread there.
I think I saw Wharton on the list, Notre Dame. So it's, it's a big kind of a hodgepodge of schools. I mean I'm not really following exactly what made this list come together other than that they're all kind of, you know, top 25 schools. This candidate wants to start school next fall so in 2027. So they're going to be applying now. They are a lead technical consultant at a big four firm. They are interested in both consulting and tech after business school, I think primarily tech. They talked about wanting to pivot into product management in big Tech as a potential post MBA career plan. Their GPA from undergrad is a 3.8, so very strong GPA, four years of work experience located in New York. They're interested in either east coast or west coast post MBA in terms of where they want to land.
This candidate also shared that they have a bachelor's degree that 3.8 in computer science.
They have experience in big tech but then more recently have been with consulting at one of these big four firms. They currently manage a technical manage technical consulting At a large retail account. It's a $5 million contract. So big time role.
They're an active member and organized events at a women's leadership organization. So I'm guessing this candidate might be a female candidate. So Alex, what do you make of this? Because I think there are a number of things to talk about from school selection to, you know, just, you know, career plans and you know, there's a lot here. But what do you make of this candidate?
[00:24:51] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, I think she, she. I'm going to assume the female candidate needs to cut down this list to about four or five top schools.
Yeah, you know, there's a lot to like here. I mean, 3.8 computer science. I've said this on a number of occasions now. I think the MBA of the future is best suited for those with a technical background coming in given this sort of AI transition we're all going through and so forth. So she has the computer science chops. Marry that to a top tier MBA program. I think the opportunities coming out are going to be outstanding for a candidate like this.
So I'm simply hoping that they get a really good test score and they apply M7. Let's have a go.
[00:25:43] Speaker B: Yeah, it is interesting because I don't understand, as I kind of was suggesting at the top, I don't understand these 19 schools. I mean, keep in mind, this person says, she says she wants to work on the east coast or the west coast, right. So I would start, if I were her by maybe even narrowing that further. Right? So like, oh, I want to be in New York or I want to be in San Francisco or LA or you know, like are the cities and then start to look at schools because I think as we always say on the show, where you go does matter geographically. So, you know, at least as a good starting point to think through. So I would start there. I also agree with you. Here's a 3.8 computer science female candidate, great work experience, probably can limit her target list to like four to six schools and not 19.
So yeah, there's something going on here where I think there needs to be a real narrowing down. And my guess is that she's yet to take. She's yet to take a test. Right. So. And she's going to, I presume, because she has a number of schools, schools on her list that require a test. So my guess is she's applying in round two in January. So she has time, you know.
[00:26:43] Speaker A: Yeah, I think, yeah. The first bit of advice is don't take the waiver.
[00:26:47] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:26:47] Speaker A: Because that's going to limit her opportunities
[00:26:50] Speaker B: and may limit scholarship dollars too.
So. Yeah. So I think take the test, get a good result which for a computer science 3.8 GPA shouldn't be, you know, too difficult.
[00:27:00] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:27:01] Speaker B: And then target a nice select group in round two of four to six programs. Again you can throw, she has Columbia, Wharton on the list. Those be her kind of top end or maybe she throws in a Stanford or Harvard too. But either way some top end and then some stuff that's maybe a little bit more kind of certain and maybe one safety if she wants. But I think this needs to be narrowed for sure. We don't have a ton of information on outside activities, but she does say she's an active member in the Women's leadership organization. Hopefully there are a couple of other things. But again, this background, these numbers, work experience, it just seems, seems really impressive and kind of tailor made like you were saying, for, you know, for an MBA program. This is exactly the kind of candidate that I think a lot of schools would, would love to get.
[00:27:45] Speaker A: So a lot of schools would love to get this type of candidate and recruiters would love to hire this type of cabinet with the MBA mapped on top.
[00:27:53] Speaker B: Yeah, agreed. So.
[00:27:54] Speaker A: And, and they'll be looking at that computer science experience. Right. So, so, so yeah, I, I do think this is, to me, I mean, hopefully she doesn't completely bomb the test, but potentially this is as good a type of profile as you can get.
[00:28:11] Speaker B: Yeah. So I want to thank her for sharing her profile. And yeah, again if she takes away one message it's, you know, there's no rush, you know, could apply in round two, doesn't have to get everything in right now. And number two, just, yeah. Buckle down, get the test done, narrow that list of schools because there's no reason to apply to 19. And again, it could just be that she threw the 19 in there as a kind of, this is the universe of schools I'm thinking about and knows that she's not going to apply to all of them, but still just want to narrow that.
[00:28:36] Speaker A: Yeah, either that or maybe she's early in the process of figuring this stuff out. Right. She might have quite recently and given all this sort of AI stuff that's going on around her, might, might have realized, well actually I need to start thinking about my further education in order to prepare myself for the future and that's perfectly valid.
But certainly if she can spend the time to prep hard and get a test score, she should find some really interesting opportunities and hopefully she can do all that by the January deadlines for sure.
[00:29:13] Speaker B: Yeah. Agreed. So in any event. Yeah, it really, you know, plenty of time. And you're right, could just be early in the in the process for this candidate. So, Alex, thanks for picking these out. As always, I want to remind our listeners to rate, review and subscribe to this show wherever you listen. We've loved seeing more and more of you tuning in over the last month as we get into this next admission cycle. And we will be here, you know, every week throughout the course of the entire admission season.
And we'll pepper in some special episodes with guests, too, as we go. So, Alex, thanks for doing this. And I'll find you next week to do it again.
[00:29:46] Speaker A: Very good. Stay safe, everyone. Take care.
