The Leading Independent
Resource for Top-tier MBA
Candidates

MBA Podcast

Published: July 16, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 300—300 Episodes! Military candidate, low GRE. Looking ahead, career switch. Chemical engineer, clean tech
Before pressing play on our 300th podcast episode, take a look back at the Clear Admit podcast recording journey with us as we celebrate this milestone. The first Clear Admit podcast episode aired March 7, 2018, and since then we’ve had 302,000 listeners! The 10 episodes with the most listens thus far are: 7 Hardest MBA Interview Questions and How to Answer Them Admissions Director Q&A with Harvard Business School’s Chad Losee Keith Bevans of Bain & Company Discusses Consulting, Recruiting and More Clear Admit’s 12-Step Program for Read more
Published: July 9, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 299—770 GMAT and 2.9, does that work? Targeting 680 – 700, is that enough? History major, strong work experience.
This week’s show begins with Alex quizzing Graham about his recent trip to San Diego for this year’s GMAC conference, followed by a mention of some limited waitlist movement seen on MBA LiveWire.  Graham and Alex then pivoted to a discussion on the recent supreme court decision that has a large impact on how admissions can consider race in their admissions decisions. Your hosts believe that while this will necessitate some changes to the admissions process, there will still be processes that can be adopted to ensure diverse business school classes that represent all. Graham then highlighted the July Read more
Published: July 2, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 298—LIVE from the GMAC Conference with Yale, Berkeley, Georgetown, and CMU!
Welcome back to another edition of Clear Admit’s weekly MBA admissions podcast. This week’s episode can hardly be described as just ‘another edition’ of the show; that’s because it was recorded live in San Diego, California, at the annual GMAC conference and includes special guest appearances from admissions directors at Carnegie Mellon Tepper, Georgetown McDonough, Berkeley Haas, and Yale SOM! Before bringing on the string of special guests, host Graham Richmond (who did his best without co-host Alex Brown this week) ran down the latest news and notes.  This began with some discussion of continued waitlist movement visible on LiveWire, Read more
Published: June 25, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 297—Test Scores. 2.3 GPA, any chance? 2 years of work experience, is it enough?
As summer heats up, Graham and Alex are back with another episode of WireTaps, and a slightly new format!  After some quick discussion about lingering activity on LiveWire (which is now slowing down as the season gets closer to its end), Graham highlighted our July ‘Essay Insight’ virtual event series. This series, which begins on July 12th, brings MBA admissions officers from top programs to discuss their essays for the upcoming application cycle. This is a very popular series – signups are here: https://bit.ly/cambaessay Graham then mentioned an Adcom Q&A from Michigan Ross; these new Q&As for the Read more
Published: June 18, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 296—Environmental candidate, retaking the GMAT. MBB back office, wanting front office. Nigerian in London, at 32
We’re back this week with another episode of WireTaps, and Alex and Graham get the show started with their usual discussion of activity on LiveWire.  While the LiveWire updates have slowed down as the 2022-23 admissions season comes to its end, there was a little movement on the Chicago Booth waitlist last week. Graham then shifted gears to highlight two events Clear Admit is hosting. The first is a Real Humans event which brings students and alums together to discuss their experiences with candidates. This event includes students and alumni from UPenn / Wharton, NYU / Stern, MIT / Sloan, Read more
Published: June 11, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 295—Asset manager, 760 GMAT. Data scientist, poor GPA. Marketer, Europe vs US
Another week, another Wiretaps!  As usual, this episode begins with Alex and Graham discussing activity on LiveWire which is now slowing down as the 2022-23 admissions season gets closer to its end. Next week, Chicago / Booth will be releasing its decisions for its Booth Scholars program. Graham highlighted two events Clear Admit is hosting: The first is a ‘Real Humans’ event which brings students and alums together to discuss their experiences with candidates. It will be held on June 20 at 12 pm ET, and you can signup here: https://bit.ly/realhumansmba The second is a set of events focused Read more
Published: June 4, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 294—Two-time Olympian, part-time vs full-time. Pilot with a 690 GMAT. Marketing career, 321 GRE
Alex and Graham’s first WireTaps episode for June gets rolling with the usual review of activity on LiveWire, which includes waitlist decisions and final decisions from Rounds 3 and 4. This upcoming week should feature final decisions from UVA / Darden and MIT / Sloan (for their deferred admissions programs) and for Texas / McCombs and London Business School. Alex and Graham then had a brief discussion about the still-vacant admissions director seats at HBS and Stanford GSB admissions. It looks like both programs will head into next season with leaders in interim roles as their searches continue. Graham highlighted Read more
Published: May 28, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 293—Female lawyer, from Nigeria. Blackhawk pilot, 720 GMAT. International student, lower GRE
Happy Memorial Day!  On this episode of WireTaps, Alex and Graham officially open BBQ season with a look at what’s been cooking on LiveWire, including waitlist decisions and final decisions from Rounds 3 and 4. Alex reminds listeners that we also should see final decisions coming out for Georgetown / McDonough, Cornell / Johnson and CMU / Tepper (for its Future Leaders program) in the coming week.  Alex also pointed out that new deadlines and essay topics are starting to be unveiled by the top MBA programs for next season; this led to a discussion regarding Clear Read more
Published: May 21, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 292—Social impact goal. Switching west for east coast. South African, poor GPA
Spring is in full bloom in Cornwall, England and Paris, France, as Alex and Graham check in for the latest episode of WireTaps!  This week’s show begins with a discussion of activity on LiveWire, which includes waitlist decisions (all rounds) and final decisions (from Round 3). This upcoming week, Alex anticipates R3 decisions coming out for UNC / Kenan Flagler, Stanford, Chicago / Booth and Michigan / Ross. Graham highlighted the announcement of a new dean at Cornell / Johnson, Vishal Gaur, who comes in with an illustrious academic pedigree. Graham also commented on a “Friday’s from the Frontline” Read more
Published: May 14, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 291—Law school or MBA? Naval pilot, great numbers. GRE jumps from 302 to 337
Alex and Graham are back with another episode of WireTaps, kicking things off with a rundown of the latest activity on LiveWire – which includes wait list decisions and final decisions from Round 3. Alex mentioned that this upcoming week should feature final decisions coming out for USC / Marshall, IESE, UCLA / Anderson, Oxford / Said, MIT / Sloan, Yale SOM and Washington / Foster. Graham highlighted four Real Humans Alumni stories: an Indiana / Kelley grad at Apple, a Cornell / Johnson grad at Bain, a Foster grad at Accenture and a Stanford grad Read more
Published: May 7, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 290—Wine Guy, 770 GMAT. 322 x4, one more try? Fuqua vs Haas.
Another, week, another episode of WireTaps!  Alex and Graham began the show with the usual discussion around activity on LiveWire, which now includes decision deadlines for the shorter Round 3 application cycle and some deferred enrollment interview invites.  Graham then highlighted three Real Humans Alumni stories, an INSEAD grad at Accenture, a CMU / Tepper grad at Amazon and a UPenn / Wharton grad at Pfizer. Graham also mentioned a recently published admissions tip that covers scholarship negotiation. He then reminded listeners about the MBA admissions event series that Clear Admit is hosting in May, which Read more
Published: April 30, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 289—323 GRE, from Colombia. Health care, no test score. Tuck vs Kellogg
This episode begins with an in-depth review of the 2024 U.S. News full-time MBA rankings, which were released last week after a delay. U.S. News has changed its ranking methodology which caused some shifts in their ranking, but Chicago / Booth did retain the top spot! Alex and Graham share thoughts on the rankings changes, and continue to assert the reality that a tiered ranking system is always better than an ordinal one. Graham noted that 5 of the top MBA programs now have a median GMAT score of 740, which is pretty crazy. Your hosts then speculate that Read more
Published: April 23, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 288—Strong profile, weak GRE. Yale vs Ross for consulting. Haas vs Kellogg for tech.
This episode kicks off with some discussion of a few big news stories in the MBA Admissions world. This included the news of the delay in the release of the U.S. News MBA rankings (and the speculations surrounding the cause of the delay); the acquisition of Poets and Quants by Times Higher Education (THE), and the decisions from McKinsey and Bain to delay the start dates of their new hires. Graham then highlighted three Real Humans Alumni pieces, including a London Business School graduate running Nona Women, a Duke / Fuqua graduate working at Microsoft, and a Read more
Published: April 16, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 287—Chemical Engineer at Big 4. Johnson vs Darden. One year vs Wait
Our latest episode of WireTaps begins with Graham and Alex taking stock of all the latest MBA LiveWire activity and mentioning upcoming deadlines for UNC / Kenan Flagler, Cambridge / Judge, MIT / Sloan and Berkeley / Haas. Graham then highlighted recently published content on Clear Admit, including a piece that compares the GMAT to the GRE; we then discussed whether to take the current GMAT or the newly formatted GMAT. Graham then highlighted seven Real Human’s alumni pieces, offering a variety of perspectives from MBA alumni working in Consulting, Banking, Tech, and Entertainment, from a host Read more
Published: April 9, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 286—Special Guest William Keller Discusses Journey from the Marines Through Admissions
We have a special edition of MBA Wire Taps today as we welcome William Keller, a marine who will start an EMBA program this fall at either the Wharton School or UVA Darden. Keller served eight years in the Marine Corps and is now transitioning to civilian life to pursue a career in consulting. He’s also a longtime listener of the Clear Admit MBA Podcast and we are excited to have him share his experience with the admissions process! In this episode, Keller talks about: Why someone in the military should consider an MBA How a military candidate can connect Read more
Published: April 2, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 285—Haas, Part-time versus Full-time. Older candidate, to start an MBA or not. Ross versus Anderson for big tech
This episode of WireTaps begins with some discussion around the flurry of MBA LiveWire posts (Harvard and Stanford were among the top MBA programs releasing decisions last week). For those of you keeping score at home, MIT / Sloan and Cornell / Johnson are scheduled to release their admissions decisions this week, and, there are a number of Round 3 application deadlines in the coming days. Following all the chatter about deadlines, Graham highlighted two stories we published, one covering how to select your target MBA programs, and the other discussing the importance of scholarship when determining where Read more
Published: March 26, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 283—Brazilian, 710 GMAT. Kenan Flagler ($) versus Darden. Kellogg versus Stern ($)
MBA Admissions ‘March Madness’ continues as this episode kicks off with Alex and Graham discussing the R2 decisions activity on MBA LiveWire: UPenn / Wharton, Berkeley / Haas and several other leading MBA programs released Round 2 decisions last week. This upcoming week will include Northwestern / Kellogg, Harvard and Stanford. Graham highlighted a new “by the numbers” article focusing on GMAT scores at top programs. Stanford leads the way with a median score of 737! Alex and Graham then discussed UVA / Darden’s career report. The school reports a very high median starting salary of $175,000. This Read more
Published: March 19, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 282—Fighter pilot, low GPA. Carlson versus Bocconi. Tepper versus Ross, online MBA.
This week’s episode tackles ‘March Madness’ – of the MBA admissions variety – as more and more top MBA programs are releasing their final decisions for Round 2. UPenn / Wharton is one of the many programs scheduled to release their decisions this upcoming week. Graham highlighted a recently published admissions tip that focuses on navigating the wait list. He then highlighted two alumni Real Humans pieces, for HBS and Deloitte, and NYU / Stern and Carlyle. The latter alumna discussed the importance of patience and persistence when recruiting outside of the traditional career paths of consulting Read more
Published: March 12, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 281—Army ranger, modest GRE. Fire service, now undergrad. Aerospace engineer.
This episode begins with Alex and Graham’s usual discussion of all the activity on MBA LiveWire, where candidates are sharing news from the leading MBA programs that are starting to release decisions for Round 2. Last week this included Duke / Fuqua and CMU / Tepper, and this upcoming week should see decision releases from UVA / Darden, Dartmouth / Tuck, Michigan / Ross and others. Round 3 application deadlines are also beginning. Graham highlighted the big news out of GMAC; they are launching a new format for the GMAT in late 2023, called ‘GMAT Focus Edition’. While there isn’t Read more
Published: March 5, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 280—Difficult personal story. 770 GMAT, off to MBB. Product manager at fintech unicorn.
Welcome back to another jam-packed episode of the Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast!  This week’s show kicks off with some discussion the activity on MBA LiveWire, where a few interview invites continue to trickle out, but that part of the season is slowing to make way for news of admissions decisions. Speaking of decisions, this week, Duke / Fuqua, CMU / Tepper and Oxford / Said will be releasing admissions results – with other schools following suit over the course of several ‘decision weeks’ this month. Beyond school updates, Graham highlighted an admissions tip that Clear Admit published on the Read more
Published: February 26, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 279—Pakistani failed entrepreneur. Architect with sustainability focus. Military with nuclear experience.
This episode kicks off with a discussion of all of the interview invites popping up on MBA LiveWire (and a focus on MIT / Sloan).  While all of the big ‘single release interview invitation’ schools have now passed, programs that follow more of a rolling invite process will still be releasing a few invites in the week or two ahead. In other news, Graham highlighted a recently released podcast episode which focused on GMAC’s new Business Fundamentals program. This program helps candidates prepare for their MBA experience, much like MBA Math and HBS CORe. Graham also highlighted Clear Admit’s Read more
Published: February 19, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 278—Media and Entertainment, from HYP. Sustainability guy seeks asset mgmt. M&A lawyer from India
This episode of the Clear Admit podcast kicks off with a discussion about the flurry of activity on MBA LiveWire, which includes a good volume of interview invites (UPenn / Wharton added to the numbers this week), as well as a few waitlist admits. Alex and Graham then had a decent discussion regarding the Financial Times’s 2023 MBA Global rankings. Three basic themes were discussed: Columbia’s first #1 place, Wharton’s absence, and your hosts’ overall dislike of ordinal rankings (and the additional issues of trying to merge global programs into a single ranking). Graham highlighted two pieces from the Read more
Published: February 16, 2023
Episode 275: Prepare for Your MBA with Business Fundamentals from GMAC
Are you ready for the academic rigor of an MBA program? Do you feel confident that you have the skills you need to succeed? This special edition of the Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast shares how GMAC Business Fundamentals, powered by Kaplan, can help you improve your foundational knowledge and skills and strengthen your journey to business school, from application through graduation. Ana Kyper, Sr. Director of GME Prep and Readiness, GMAC Here to dig into the tool and how to best prepare for business school is Ana Kyper, the Senior Director of GME Prep and Readiness at the Read more
Published: February 12, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 277—Colombian in real estate. Deferred enrollment candidate. Government experience, next season.
This episode once again kicks off with a look at the latest interview invites popping up on MBA LiveWire. Alex and Graham then talk about how they anticipate seeing UPenn / Wharton invites this upcoming week, as well as those for MIT / Sloan. Graham also highlighted a recently published interview tip that discusses the differences between a resume-based interview and an application-based interview. Graham and Alex then discussed the recently published article on finance careers, with a “hat tip” to Wharton for leading the way in venture capital recruits. Your hosts also discussed a Real Humans Read more
Published: February 5, 2023
MBA Wire Taps 276—Over-represented presents challenges. Interesting background, in sales. Kellogg versus Haas and Ross
This week’s episode kicks off with a quick rundown of the recent interview invite activity on MBA LiveWire.  Many programs are starting to release their Round 2 invites; last week included releases from Harvard, Michigan / Ross and Duke / Fuqua, while programs like Stanford continue to “trickle” out their decisions. Interview prep for Round 2 candidates is now critical, and we recently released a new podcast that focuses on the UPenn / Wharton TBD interview. Beyond interview-related news, Graham highlighted the recently published 2023 online MBA rankings from U.S. News. The results were mostly consistent with last Read more

MBA Applywire

6
December 13, 2024 7:23am ET
Applying: Columbia, Cornell / Johnson, Dartmouth / Tuck, Duke / Fuqua, UPenn / Wharton, Yale SOM
Intake Year: 2025
Pre-MBA Career: Private Equity Tax Operations
Post-MBA Target Industry: Investment Banking, Venture Capital, Private Equity
GRE: 335
GPA: 3.30
Years of Work Experience: 3
Location: India
Post MBA Location: New York
Notes:

Undergraduate: US took 6 years to graduate due to health issues. Took 1 gap year, 6 months of co-op in college + covid.
6
December 12, 2024 12:43pm ET
Applying: Berkeley / Haas, Dartmouth / Tuck, Duke / Fuqua, Emory / Goizueta, UVA / Darden, Yale SOM
Intake Year: 2025
Pre-MBA Career: industry accounting
Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting Companies: Bain , BCG
GMAT: 695
GPA: 3.48
Years of Work Experience: 5
8
December 12, 2024 10:42am ET
Applying: Berkeley / Haas, Carnegie Mellon / Tepper, Cornell / Johnson, Georgia Tech / Scheller, Indiana / Kelley, NYU Stern, UCLA Anderson, UT Austin / McCombs
Intake Year: 2025
Pre-MBA Career: Entrepreneur
Post-MBA Target Industry: Technology Companies: Google
GMAT: 751
GPA: 3.4
Years of Work Experience: 5
Location: India
Notes:

My path has been unconventional - from AI Engineer to startup founder, I'm now pivoting to Product Management at a global tech leader. The goal? To make technology more accessible and win at distribution, eventually driving impact at a growth-stage startup focused on emerging markets.
4
December 11, 2024 8:40pm ET
Applying: , Columbia, Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan
Intake Year: 2025
Pre-MBA Career: Auditing
Post-MBA Target Industry: Investment Banking Companies: Bank of America , Goldman Sachs , JP Morgan
GRE: 334
GPA: 3.76
Years of Work Experience: 5
Location: Ghana
Post MBA Location: USA
6
December 11, 2024 2:59pm ET
Applying: Carnegie Mellon / Tepper, Cornell / Johnson, Emory / Goizueta, NYU Stern, Rochester / Simon, UNC Kenan-Flagler
Intake Year: 2025
Pre-MBA Career: Semiconductors, Project Management
Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting, Technology Companies: Accenture , Bain , BCG , Deloitte , Ernst & Young , KPMG , McKinsey , PWC , Amazon , Apple , Facebook , Google , IBM , Microsoft , Oracle
GMAT: 675
GPA: 2.8
Years of Work Experience: 6.5
Location: nyc
Post MBA Location: NYC
Notes:

WE: 3.5 years in semiconductor industry (2.5 years as an engineer, 1 year as jr project lead, total 3 promotions)
1.5 years in chemicals industry as engineering project manager
1.5 years in utilities as technical project manager
all f500 companies.

I went to a t30 school and majored in mechanical engineering. My GPA was low because I struggled with my health during my undergraduate (even had to take a semester off).

Thank you in advance!
View or Submit Entries

MBA LiveWire

December 13, 2024 3:53pm ET
Interview Invite to Duke / Fuqua
Round: Round 1
Received via email on November 12, 2024
GRE: 330
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Target Career: Consulting
Application Location: India
Note:

Interviewed on November 23, 2024.
December 13, 2024 3:50pm ET
Interview Invite to Duke / Fuqua
Round: Round 1
Received via email on November 12, 2024
GRE: 220
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Target Career: Consulting
Application Location: India
December 13, 2024 2:59pm ET
Accepted to Columbia
Round: Round 1
Received via portal on December 10, 2024
EA: 163
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Target Career: Finance
Application Location: NY
December 13, 2024 2:30pm ET
Accepted to UCLA Anderson
Round: Round 1
Received via phone on December 10, 2024
GPA: 3.4
Application Location: Southern California
December 13, 2024 2:23pm ET
Accepted to U. Washington / Foster
Round: Round 1
Received via phone December 13, 2024
GPA: 3.37
GRE: 318
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Target Career: Non Profit / Social Impact
Application Location: WA
Note:

Army vet, 9 yoe, admitted with scholarship (amount will come later today)!!!
View or Submit Entries
Live
Wire