MBA Wire Taps 348—326 GRE, is that enough? Taking a break, before MBA. Kellogg, Fuqua or IESE?

In this week's MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing the MBA application deadlines and interview releases for this season. This week Round 3 continues with several application deadlines, and UPenn / Wharton and Duke / Fuqua are scheduled to release interview invite decisions.

Graham started with a story of his random meeting with a podcast listener (and current Wharton student), who he met at a car rental agency.

Graham then highlighted the May 15th event we are hosting in Chicago, which will be Clear Admit’s first in-person MBA candidate event. Signups are here: https://www.bit.ly/cachicagofair Graham also noted the Spring Online Webinar series that Clear Admit is hosting, with signups here: https://www.bit.ly/caspringwebinars

We then had a discussion about the recently published 2024 U.S. News MBA ranking of U.S. based MBA programs. For the second year in row, there is a significant emphasis on career outcomes in this ranking, rather than an emphasis on the quality of the incoming class. Some of the order of the ranking appears to be off, as a consequence of this.

Graham highlighted a recently published admissions tip focused on the waitlist, which also provides direct access to a video that we hosted for the Admissions Academy. This video is now freely available for all to watch.

Graham then noted three Real Humans Alumni pieces, alums from: Cornell / Johnson working at Amazon, Columbia working at Google, and Georgetown / McDonough working at Johnson & Johnson.

For this week, for the candidate profile review portion of the show, Alex selected two ApplyWire entries and one DecisionWire entry.

This week’s first MBA admissions candidate is applying next season. They have decent numbers, with a 3.72 GPA and 326 GRE. They have 3 years of work experience in consulting. We discussed what they might do to improve their overall profile, over the next several months.

This week’s second MBA candidate has recently left their work, to take a break, before starting business school. They appear to have a strong professional record at top tech companies, and a decent GPA. They have gained a test waiver to the programs they are targeting; we are not convinced that’s the right approach.

The final MBA candidate for this week is deciding between Northwestern / Kellogg, Duke / Fuqua (with money) and IESE. They also need to consider their spouse’s options, as they weigh whether to do an MBA in Europe or the United States.

This episode was recorded in Schenectady, New York, USA and Cornwall, England. It was produced and engineered by the fabulous Dennis Crowley in Philadelphia, USA. Thanks to all of you who’ve been joining us and please remember to rate and review this show wherever you listen!