Posts by Alex Brown

About

Alex is a co host for Clear Admit's Wire Taps podcast. He has spent 30 years in the MBA admissions industry, and authored the book: Becoming a Clear Admit: The Definitive Guide to MBA Admissions Alex also teaches digital marketing through executive education programs for London Business School, Imperial College Business School and Columbia Business School.

Published: June 29, 2025

MBA Wire Taps 432—329 GRE, Biotech sector. 3.86 GPA, Hospital administration. 685 GMAT, AI and robotics.

Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing some of the recent activity on LiveWire, which is now becoming quieter as we move into the summer season. We then continued our discussion on the recent U.S. Government decisions as they pertain to international MBA students; Harvard appears to have won a recent decision in their fight with the U.S. Government in terms of being able to enroll international students. Graham highlighted Clear Admit’s summer series of webinars, which focuses on top MBA programs’ admissions essays, which will be attended by more Read more

Published: June 22, 2025

MBA Wire Taps 431—Japanese in the US. 326 GRE, consider retake? LBS vs INSEAD.

Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing some of the recent activity on LiveWire, which includes a little movement on wait lists. We then continued our discussion on the recent U.S. Government decisions as they pertain to international MBA students; visa interviews are now available again. No doubt this whole situation is causing great anxiety. Graham highlighted Clear Admit’s new summer series of webinars, which focuses on top MBA programs’ admissions essays, which will be attended by more than 20 of the top MBA programs. Signups are here: https://bit.ly/mbaessay0725 Read more

Published: June 15, 2025

MBA Wire Taps 430—337 GRE, 2.96 GPA. 327 GRE, 3.8 GPA. Booth vs Darden.

Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing some of the recent activity on LiveWire, which includes some movements on wait lists. We then continued our discussion on the recent U.S. Government decisions as they pertain to international MBA students, and the consequences for U.S. citizens who remain on the summer waitlists. Graham then noted a deep dive article, published last week by Clear Admit, that summarizes the sequence of events that has led to where we are with international students seeking an MBA in the United States. Graham highlighted Read more

Published: June 8, 2025

MBA Wire Taps 429—Part-time vs Full-time. Reapplying, from India. Judge vs LBS.

Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing the recent U.S. Government decisions as they pertain to international MBA students, and specifically those who are applying and are admitted to Harvard’s MBA program. Graham then discussed the recent Paris-based MBA admissions event he helped moderate, which brought 10 of the best U.S.-based MBA programs to Paris. Graham noted three articles that have been recently published on Clear Admit. The first focuses on a program CMU / Tepper offers that places Tepper MBA students with non-profit boards in the Pittsburgh area. Read more

Published: June 1, 2025

MBA Wire Taps 428—From China, 675 GMAT. From Africa, 333 GRE. Columbia vs Yale.

Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing the recent events and activities in the news; specifically, we discussed the recent U.S. administration’s decisions around visa interviews for international MBA students. These are, frankly, very disturbing times, which can seriously harm the MBA experience at for all candidates at top MBA programs in the United States. We are hoping that good sense will prevail, in the near future. Graham highlighted an admissions event he is helping to moderate in Paris this upcoming week, which includes ten of the top MBA Read more

Published: May 25, 2025

MBA Wire Taps 427—Entertainment goal, 695 GMAT. Consultant, no GMAT yet. Kellogg vs HBS.

Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing the recent events and activities that Clear Admit has been involved in, including our MBA Fair in Boston, and virtual admissions events that wrapped up last week. More than 600 attendees participated in our most recent virtual event, which included admissions representatives from UPenn / Wharton, Stanford, Texas / McCombs, Columbia and Yale SOM. Graham noted two articles that have been recently published on Clear Admit. The first focuses on the different teaching methods that are used in top MBA programs. The Read more

Published: May 18, 2025

MBA Wire Taps 426—Investment banker, 325 GRE. Argentinian Strategist. Booth vs Ross.

Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing the Round 3 activity on LiveWire; interview invites and final decisions continue to roll out for this shortened application round; next week Chicago / Booth and Imperial Business School are scheduled to release final decisions. Graham noted the Clear Admit promotion, where for every new entry we receive on DecisionWire, that maps out a candidate’s entire application journey, Clear Admit will donate $10 to the Forte Foundation. Graham highlighted the remainder of Application Overview events series that will be hosted this week on Read more

Published: May 11, 2025

MBA Wire Taps 424—First Gen, Civil Engineer. 337 GRE, 2.99 GPA. Johnson vs Darden.

Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing the Round 3 activity on LiveWire; interview invites and final decisions continue to roll out for this shortened application round; next week UPenn / Wharton, Northwestern / Kellogg, IESE, MIT / Sloan, Yale SOM, Minnesota / Carlson, Columbia, Washington / Foster, UCLA / Anderson and Washington / Olin are scheduled to release final decisions. Graham noted a new Clear Admit promotion, where for every new entry we receive on DecisionWire, that maps out a candidate’s entire application journey, Clear Admit will donate Read more

Published: May 4, 2025

MBA Wire Taps 423—695 GMAT, in Australia. Targeting 330 GRE, in India. Booth vs Haas.

Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing the Round 3 activity on LiveWire; interview invites and final decisions continue to roll out for this shortened application cycle; next week Emory / Goizueta, Berkeley / Haas and Duke / Fuqua are scheduled to release final decisions. Graham noted a new Clear Admit survey, where we are trying to understand the issues and concerns that international students may have, with regards to coming to the United States for an MBA. The survey link is here: https://bit.ly/mba25usa Graham highlighted Clear Admit’s Application Read more

Published: April 27, 2025

MBA Wire Taps 422— Peruvian female, 675 GMAT. 330 GRE, from Central Asia. Tepper vs Wait.

Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing the Round 3 activity on LiveWire; interview invites continue to roll out for this shortened application round; next week several schools are scheduled to release final decisions. Graham noted Clear Admit’s Application Overview May series of events. These online events will be hosted on May 6 and 7, and May 20 and 21. Signups are here: https://bit.ly/appoverview25 Already, we have hundreds of signups for each event! Sandwiched in the middle of this series is Clear Admit’s MBA Fair in Boston, on May Read more

Published: April 20, 2025

MBA Wire Taps 420—Potential degree collector. Darden vs wait. INSEAD vs Stern’s Tech MBA.

Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing the Round 3 activity on LiveWire; interview invites are now starting to roll out for this shortened application round. Next week Harvard and UPenn / Wharton have deadlines for their deferred admissions programs. Graham noted Clear Admit’s Application Overview May series of events. These online events will be hosted on May 6 and 7, and May 20 and 21. Signups are here: https://bit.ly/appoverview25 Sandwiched in the middle of these events is Clear Admit’s MBA admissions fair in Boston, on May 14th. This Read more

Published: April 13, 2025

MBA Wire Taps 419— Non-traditional, 16 years of experience. Haas vs Kellogg’s MBAi. Darden vs Stern.

Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing the Round 3 activity on LiveWire; interview invites are now starting to roll out for this shortened application round. Graham then announced the recent partnership Clear Admit has now established with Leland, which will now become our partner for MBA admissions coaching, test prep, and career counseling. Graham noted Clear Admit’s Application Overview May series of events. These online events will be hosted on May 6 and 7, and May 20 and 21. Signups are here: https://bit.ly/appoverview25 Sandwiched in the middle Read more

Published: April 6, 2025

MBA Wire Taps 418—710 GMAT, Brazilian banker. Booth vs Kellogg. Ross vs Kelley.

Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing the Round 2 activity on LiveWire; Stanford, UPenn / Wharton and MIT / Sloan were among the top MBA programs releasing decisions last week. For this upcoming week, Round 3 admissions deadlines are rolling on, while Oxford / Said and Ohio State / Fisher have decision deadlines. Graham noted Clear Admit’s Application Overview May series of events. These online events will be hosted on May 6 and 7, and May 20 and 21. Signups are here: https://bit.ly/appoverview25 Sandwiched in the middle of Read more

Published: March 30, 2025

MBA Wire Taps 417—3.1 GPA, health issues. Electrical engineer, Product manager. Tuck vs Fuqua.

Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing the Round 2 activity on LiveWire; Harvard, Northwestern / Kellogg, Chicago / Booth, Berkeley / Haas, Washington / Foster, UCLA / Anderson, Texas / McCombs and London Business School were among the top MBA programs releasing decisions last week. For this upcoming week, Stanford, UPenn / Wharton, MIT / Sloan and Cornell / Johnson are scheduled to release their final decisions. Graham highlighted the Spring Survey that Clear Admit conducts each season. These surveys are important to understand the decisions of each applicant-cohort. Read more

Published: March 23, 2025

MBA Wire Taps 416—Tuck vs Fuqua and Darden. Judge vs Booth’s EMBA program. Johnson vs Tuck and Ross.

Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing the Round 2 activity on LiveWire; UNC / Kenan Flagler, Yale SOM and Georgetown / McDonough were among the top MBA programs scheduled to release Round 2 decisions last week. For this upcoming week, IESE, Harvard Business School, Northwestern / Kellogg, Columbia, Chicago / Booth, Berkeley / Haas, UCLA / Anderson, Texas / McCombs, Washington / Foster, Boston College / Carroll, Michigan State / Broad, Imperial College and London Business School are releasing their final decisions. Graham highlighted the Spring Survey that Clear Read more

Published: March 16, 2025

MBA Wire Taps 415—Military, GRE 331. Arizona Carey vs Marshall. Haas vs Kellogg

Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing the Round 2 activity on LiveWire; Dartmouth / Tuck, Emory / Goizueta, UVA / Darden, Michigan / Ross, Rice / Jones, Indiana / Kelley and Vanderbilt / Owen were among the top MBA programs releasing Round 2 decisions last week. For this upcoming week, UNC / Kenan Flagler, Yale SOM, Georgetown / McDonough and INSEAD are releasing their final decisions. Graham highlighted the Spring Applicant Survey that Clear Admit conducts each season. These surveys are important to understand the decisions of each applicant Read more

Published: March 9, 2025

MBA Wire Taps 414—20 years of service, Deferred admissions. Fuqua vs Kelley.

Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing Round 2 activity on LiveWire; CMU / Tepper was among the top MBA programs releasing Round 2 decisions last week. For this upcoming week, Rice / Jones, UVA / Darden, Emory / Goizueta, Dartmouth / Tuck, Duke / Fuqua, Michigan / Ross, Vanderbilt / Owen, Notre Dame / Mendoza, Georgia / Terry and Indiana / Kelley are releasing their Round 2 decisions. Minnesota / Carlson is releasing their Round 3 decisions. Graham noted that Clear Admit now has several admissions-related events for the Read more

Published: March 2, 2025

MBA Wire Taps 412—315 GRE, ex-military. Over-represented, interview invites. Kellogg vs Wharton

Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing Round 2 activity on LiveWire; a few MBA programs are still releasing a few interview invites, but we are getting closer to the end of the Round 2 cycle; CMU / Tepper, Johns Hopkins / Carey and Ohio State / Fisher are scheduled to release final decisions for R2 candidates this upcoming week. Graham highlighted the MBA Fair Clear Admit is hosting in Boston, on May 14th. Twenty-four of the top 25 U.S.-based MBA programs are planning to attend. Signups are here: Read more

Published: February 23, 2025

MBA Wire Taps 411—Impact of GRE verbal. Same firm or branded firm. Foster vs McCombs.

Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing Round 2 activity on LiveWire; UPenn / Wharton and MIT / Sloan released their interview invites last week; Washington / Olin, Georgia Tech / Scheller, SMU / Cox and Oxford / Said are scheduled to release final decisions this upcoming week. We then discussed the “user behavior” of Ask Clear Admit, Clear Admit’s new AI chatbot. The bot has received nearly 1,500 prompts since its launch. Graham then highlighted the webinar series for Master’s in Management candidates; the final webinar in this series Read more

Published: February 16, 2025

MBA Wire Taps 410—3.56, from Brazil. Legal background, 334 GRE. Booth vs Kellogg.

Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing Round 2 activity on LiveWire; interview invites continue to roll out for Round 2 candidates; UPenn / Wharton and MIT / Sloan have yet to release their Round 2 interview invites. Alex discussed the release of a “Prompt Guide” for Clear Admit’s new Ask Clear Admit admissions bot. This guide is designed to help candidates get the most out of their engagement with the chat bot. So far, we have seen more than 1,000 prompts. Graham then highlighted the upcoming webinar series Read more

Published: February 9, 2025

MBA Wire Taps 409—3.9 GPA, deferred admissions. Finance or Consulting. Tuck vs Haas.

Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing Round 2 activity on LiveWire; interview invites continue to roll out for Round 2 candidates; last week, Chicago / Booth, Columbia, and Michigan / Ross released interview invites, along with those programs which trickle out invitations across several weeks (e.g. Stanford, Yale, et al). This week, INSEAD is scheduled to release their Round 3 interview invites. Graham highlighted the second webinar for Deferred Admissions candidates, scheduled on Wednesday, which includes CMU / Tepper, Chicago / Booth, Columbia, Yale SOM and UVA / Darden. Read more

Published: February 2, 2025

MBA Wire Taps 408—715 GMAT, from India. Tepper versus McCombs. Columbia versus Kellogg

Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing Round 2 activity on LiveWire; interview invites continue to roll out for Round 2 candidates; Harvard was one of the top MBA programs to release their interview invites last week. This week, London Business School is scheduled to release their Round 2 interview invites. We then had a quick discussion regarding our new admissions bot, “Ask Clear Admit”. It is very interesting to be able to see what types of prompts MBA applicants are using for the bot, some of which are a Read more

Published: January 26, 2025

MBA Wire Taps 407—665 GMAT, from India. 2.9 GPA, how to overcome. Columbia versus Yale SOM.

Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing Round 2 activity on LiveWire; this upcoming week we have two more application deadlines, Arizona / Carey and Minnesota / Carlson. Last week, we saw more interview invitations rolling out for UVA / Darden, Dartmouth / Tuck, Yale SOM, Northwestern / Kellogg and CMU / Tepper. We then discussed the role out of Clear Admit’s latest innovation, our “Ask Clear Admit” chat bot, which launched the prior Thursday. We have seen hundreds of prompts come in from applicants as we launched, and the Read more

Published: January 19, 2025

MBA Wire Taps 406—MBB with super numbers, MBB and urban mobility, Yale vs Stern and Columbia

Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing Round 2 activity on LiveWire; this upcoming week we have two more application deadlines, Imperial College and Boston College / Carroll. Last week, we saw more interview invitations rolling out for UVA / Darden, Dartmouth / Tuck, Yale SOM, Northwestern / Kellogg and CMU / Tepper. We then discussed the roll out of Clear Admit’s latest innovation, our “Ask Clear Admit” AI chat bot. We are excited to get customer feedback and hope this new tool will become a “best in class” for Read more

Published: January 12, 2025

MBA Wire Taps 405—Addressing two grades? Consultant, 695 GMAT. NYC versus Fuqua

Weekly Roundup for Clear Admit’s MBA Podcast In this week’s MBA Admissions podcast we began by discussing the next round of 2024-25 MBA admissions activity; this upcoming week we have more application deadlines, including MIT / Sloan, Texas / McCombs, Florida / Warrington, BYU / Marriott, UC Irvine / Merage, and Toronto / Rotman. INSEAD and NYU / Stern have Round 3 application deadlines, and Maryland / Smith has a Round 4 application deadline. Graham noted two upcoming webinar series. The first is for Deferred Admissions candidates, with signups here: https://bit.ly/de0225 The second webinar series is for Masters in Read more

MBA Livewire

June 17, 2026 3:30pm ET

Rejected at Berkeley / Haas

Round: Round 4

Received via portal June 17, 2026

Standardized Test: Granted Waiver

GPA: 3.74

Post MBA Career: Healthcare

Application Location: Bay Area, California

Juno Member: Not yet

June 17, 2026 12:16am ET

Accepted to Michigan / Ross

Round: Rolling Admissions

Received via phone June 16, 2026

Standardized Test: Granted Waiver

GPA: 3.88

Post MBA Career: Real Estate

Juno Member: Not yet

June 15, 2026 5:37pm ET

Accepted from Waitlist to Dartmouth / Tuck

Round: Round 2

Received via phone on June 10, 2026

Standardized Test: GRE

GPA: 3.5

GRE: 325

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Post MBA Career: Finance

Target Career: Finance

Application Location: Canada

Juno Member: Not yet

June 12, 2026 12:28pm ET

Rejected from Waitlist at Berkeley / Haas

Round: Round 2

Received via portal on June 02, 2026

Standardized Test: GRE

GPA: 8.2/10

GRE: 317

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Application Location: Brazil

Juno Member: Not yet

June 12, 2026 10:29am ET

Rejected from Waitlist at NYU Stern

Round: Round 3

Received via email June 12, 2026

Standardized Test: GRE

GRE: 319

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Juno Member: Not yet

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