Latest / Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast / MBA Wire Taps 452: Huge salary, 317 GRE. 705 GMAT, Austin TX. Data Scientist to IB.

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MBA Wire Taps 452: Huge salary, 317 GRE. 705 GMAT, Austin TX. Data Scientist to IB. · Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast

• 0:17
  Speaker A: Welcome to the Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast. I'm Graham Richmond and this is your Wiretaps for Monday, October 20, 2025. Emory University's full time MBA powers growth in your career, your leadership and your future. Built on a foundation of cross functional problem solving, leadership development and career readiness, this top 20 MBA program delivers a high return on investment with top five career outcomes. Step into a global network that's connected by design and supportive by nature. Explore the Emory MBA at Emory Biz ClearAdmit. That's Emory Biz ClearAdmit. I'm joined by Alex Brown from Cornwall, England. Alex, how are things going on?
• 0:59
  Speaker B: Very good, thank you, Graham.
• 1:01
  Speaker A: So you got some R and R in. You were on vacation, but are you aware of what's happening with the kind of wires and the. I know you never really take a break. So tell us what, what can we expect? Is there anything big happening this coming week here? I feel like there is.
• 1:14
  Speaker B: Well, I mean we, we've got like Wharton plans to roll out its interview invites.
• 1:20
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 1:21
  Speaker B: So sometime next week. So. So that'll be good. But we've also got a couple of schools releasing early action decisions. Darden and Johns Hopkins, Carey and Johns Hopkins. Carey actually also has a round one application deadline, so there's plenty of activity this upcoming week. We've also seen plenty of interview invites coming out from various schools over the last sort of week or two and I expect to see that to continue. We're probably likely to have seen booth interview invites today or tomorrow before this podcast is published on Monday. If not, it should certainly be next week. Ross has recently, I think Ross has rolled out interview invite. I'm right there, Graham. Right.
• 2:10
  Speaker A: Yes, they have.
• 2:11
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So yeah, I would say we're pretty slap bang in the middle of round one activity at this point.
• 2:18
  Speaker A: Yeah. And so Wharton, they've said, I believe October 22nd, which is this Wednesday. So that's going to be a big, big event this week. Everyone waiting to see if they get that team based interview. We have, you know, in case you're looking for stuff to do. We have a lot of stuff going on this week with our webinars and different virtual events. So first up we've got this real Human series on the 21st and 22nd. So that's Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. Both These are at 8pm Eastern. So kind of a nighttime event, which is something that we, you know, normally we do these kind of midday. So this will be a little bit different. And these are real humans webinars. So they feature current students and recent grads from top schools. So I think on Tuesday, we're sitting down with students from Stanford, Duke, Vanderbilt, Texas, Insead and Foster. And on Wednesday, it's Georgia Tech, Wharton, Berkeley, and unc Keenan Flagler. So these are so much fun. And Mike and Vic on our team kind of MC these and, and mostly just, you know, make sure that the, you know, recent grads and current students get to talk as much as possible about their experiences in these programs. And I think they do Q and A as well. So it should be a lot of fun. And if that's not enough, we also have our regional webinars kicking off this week, and those are, I think, what, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Those are at noon Eastern. That's kind of the regular time slot. And so Tuesday we have a Mid Atlantic one with a bunch of schools. Wharton, Darden, Georgetown Hopkins. On Wednesday, we've got the Southeast regional webinar, and that's going to feature Duke, emory, Georgia Tech, UNC&U Georgia. And then on Thursday at noon Eastern, we're sitting down with Yale, Cornell, Harvard, and MIT Sloan. That's kind of a New England or Northeast kind of event. So, yeah, lots going on. You can sign up for all these just by going to clearadmit.com events. So, yeah, never a dull moment.
• 4:12
  Speaker B: Never a dull moment. Yeah. Good events coming up. Not that you're hosting these ones, Graham, so you're.
• 4:19
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 4:19
  Speaker B: Getting a break, letting our colleagues have a go. But I actually like the concept of the regional. Yeah, it's fun events because again, it's like region matters more than most folks think.
• 4:31
  Speaker A: I agree.
• 4:32
  Speaker B: Where. Where do you want to be post mba and having the schools centered in that region, answering questions simultaneously and so on and so forth is a really good way to gather a load of insight for that particular region.
• 4:46
  Speaker A: Yeah. And I had a lot of fun because even though I'm not hosting or emceeing these events, I had a lot of fun building out. We built out these agendas for the events, and I had a lot of coming up with some of the lightning round questions, which are, you know, some kind of fun things about. About the region. So you have to tune in to see, but it'll. Those should be fun. Alex, I almost forgot.
• 5:08
  Speaker B: I'm. I'm assuming use chat GPT to help you.
• 5:12
  Speaker A: Actually, I, you know what, I use the Internet. I was more, I was kind of looking up like, you know, what are kind of culinary traditions in these regions or, you know, what, what are these regions known for? I. Yeah. I use tatoob for something else related to these events. More around corporate headquarters and things like. For the fun stuff, I just did a little bit of research and also relied on some of the. There's a little bit of knowledge still in my brain at this point that I sometimes tap as well. We are going to hang out, though. People miss me at these events and they want to hang out. Come and join Alex and I. We're going to do another live stream over on YouTube that's on Monday, October 27th. So one week from the day this show's airing, we'll do that at noon Eastern. And for that you just have to be subscribed to our YouTube channel, which is @bit.ly.ca. youTube Live. So, yeah, lots going on. Alex. Yeah, it'd be fun.
• 6:03
  Speaker B: I know you said it, but it is Monday. Yeah, we had promised these were always going to be the fourth Tuesday of the month, but in our third month in, we failed. So it's going to be on Monday.
• 6:15
  Speaker A: Yeah, sorry about that. We just have too much going on. So let's see other stuff we. So did, you know, I got to. Let's play some trivia here. So Stanford GSB is 100 years old. And so we did an article called A Century of Innovation, Impact and Leadership. And it's all about Stanford and the history. And it's a really cool article if you're a, you know, Stanford nut. Go read it if you're applying to Stanford. Super interesting. So I thought. One thing I though I wanted to ask you is that when Stanford was founded in 1925, okay, they were the second school in the United States to offer a Master's degree in Business Administration. Do you know what the first school was?
• 7:00
  Speaker B: Of course. Are you sure, Tuck?
• 7:05
  Speaker A: So this is interesting. So Tuck was the first school to offer a Master's of Science in Commerce. But the first MBA, like a master's in business administration was in 1908 from Harvard. So Tuck was at night in the year 1900. So to me, they technically are the first one. Just because they called it a Master of Science in Commerce is a little bit splitting hairs. But Harvard makes that claim of, oh no, we're first because we are the first to an MBA and Stanford says, well, then we're second in 1925. Do you know which. Which university in America was the first to have a business school at all, even at the collegiate level?
• 7:44
  Speaker B: Of course. Graham.
• 7:46
  Speaker A: This one's like a slow and easy. Do you know what year it was?
• 7:51
  Speaker B: No, but I imagine the late 1800s. It would have predated. What? Yes. You know, the first mba, obviously, because it's undergrad.
• 7:59
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 8:00
  Speaker B: And it was Wharton.
• 8:01
  Speaker A: Yeah. So, yeah. 1890s, so 1881, Wharton started its first collegiate business school.
• 8:09
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 8:10
  Speaker A: Yeah. So there you have it. So a little bit of MBA history or business school history for everyone. But as you can see, some of the names that we're talking about, the Tux, Harvard, Sanford, Wharton's, I mean, these are some of the best schools in the world. Right. And it's no secret that they've been around for a really long time. So that helps probably.
• 8:23
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 8:25
  Speaker A: Other news, we ran a bunch of admissions tips. It's that time of year, so several about interviews. We did our famous, probably one of the most popular pieces of content on our site, the 7 hardest interview questions and how to answer them. We also did a whole piece, thanks to you, about what we call assessment days. So where you're invited to campus and you have kind of an all day interview where they put in teams, you're doing different things. They do that at imd, I believe at esa you could argue that Wharton's kind of, you know, team based discussion falls into that mix a little bit. We did another tip about resume versus application based MBA admissions interviews. Very important to understand the differences there. And we also did another myth buster, which the myth was no behavioral questions, no admit. And this is this idea that if you don't get those sort of behavioral questions in your interview, you're not getting in, which is not true. Again, it comes back to just knowing what kind of interview the school is conducting. But that's kind of a fun.
• 9:20
  Speaker B: I have a little bit of different response to that because obviously we prep this podcast before we talk, otherwise we wouldn't be so fluent, I suppose. But you said it depends on the school and the type of interviews the school has. I disagree with that. I think that all schools have the intent of asking some, if only a few behavioral questions in their interview. You name me a school that doesn't and I will go research it, look at their interview reports and we'll see some behavioral questions. I think the reason why some folks don't get behavioral questions is because the interviewer screwed up and I've done it. I've interviewed thousands of folks going to Wharton. Right. And not every time do I deliver all the right questions for whatever reason. So there is going to be the odd occasion I've done an interview and no behavioral question came up. Maybe I got so focused on their Y mba, their pathway and exploring their career. That time sort of ran out on me.
• 10:25
  Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, there are some schools that are very heavy on the kind of the resume, you know, so Dart Darden's a great example where they don't, you know, the interviewer hasn't even seen your resume. So the first question is, take me through your entire background. So you get into a lot of the kind of who are you? But, you know, that does leave that door open for those behavioral kind of follow on questions. And I think you're right. And the other thing I would argue as well is that alumni interviewers can be very inconsistent. They would be to me, top of the list of that group that maybe forgets to ask some of those more, you know, behavioral style questions. But in any event, the key is to know like, what is a behavioral question and how do you prepare? And we have tons of resources on the site for that stuff. Yeah, yeah, but it was, it was, yeah. So that's out there.
• 11:04
  Speaker B: And acknowledge Sloan for really pushing down this pathway that. Oh yeah, basically I state that all schools follow to some degree.
• 11:13
  Speaker A: Yeah, that's fair. MIT Sloan was the first into that sort of style. One other thing, or actually two quick things before we talk about our candidates this week. Number one is we connected with current students at Columbia who are in the class of 2027 as part of our Real Human series. And I just want to share a couple of, you know, quotes from this woman named Claudia. She's a first year, she's actually 31, grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio and she went to Stanford as an undergrad studying in international relations and Spanish. And then, or maybe concurrently actually even she has been a professional track athlete for like eight years. And she was sponsored by Brooks Under Armour. I mean, she's, you know, serious track and field. And she, I guess also had been working part time in the nonprofit sector. My guess is maybe when she wasn't out on the track doing a little bit of that. So we asked her, like, why did you choose Columbia? What were the factors? You know, and she says, I've always wanted to live in New York City and the opportunity to pursue a world class MBA while being in such a special place was too good to turn down. I felt that the vibrance and uniqueness of New York City would also be reflected in my cohort, which would make the experience all the more enriching. Columbia Business School's location was also ideal for my industries of interest, which are sports and beauty. So that's, you know, kind of her thoughts there and then we just asked her, what's one thing you would absolutely do again as part of your application process? And Claudia says, I would definitely seek advice from other individuals who went through the application process, even if that means sending a cold email or message to someone I don't personally know. I would also make sure to really understand what makes the MBA program you're applying to unique so that you can be clear to yourself and admissions that the school is the right fit. So, Alex, pretty good advice from Claudia, right?
• 13:03
  Speaker B: Yeah. And I think Columbia is really interesting location wise because it will have some folks like, like this. This candidate thinks, well, that is the best place in the world to be if I can get in there. Absolutely fantastic. Don't need to look elsewhere. And you know, there'll be other folks be like, I don't want to go anywhere near New York City because there's way too much going on, way too many distractions, etc. So I need to go to Tuck or something like that. But I would imagine that Columbia gets more folks in both camps than any other business school out of the top, you know, 20. I mean, obviously, with this little bit of possible exception of Stern, for exactly the same reasons.
• 13:47
  Speaker A: And why are you saying that, why are you saying that some people would end up there if they, if they didn't want to be in New York? Just because it's a, it's a, these are great business schools and so they're.
• 13:55
  Speaker B: No, no, no. I, I would say they'd have more people that absolutely want to be there and they would also have a larger proportion that absolutely don't want to be there. So the middle would be the smallest portion, huh? Like, I think being in New York City has, you know, get, Gets folks at both end of the spectrum.
• 14:16
  Speaker A: Interesting.
• 14:18
  Speaker B: It's really chaotic and really interesting both at the same time. And also it's a corporate capital of the United States. Right. So you've got, you know, most of the leading firms are going to have some kind of presence in New York City. So from a recruitment standpoint, it's absolutely gangbusters.
• 14:35
  Speaker A: But I'm just wondering, why would someone apply if they, if they don't, you know, if they don't want to be in New York, like, why would they apply?
• 14:41
  Speaker B: No, no, they wouldn't apply.
• 14:42
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 14:42
  Speaker B: No, no, for sure.
• 14:43
  Speaker A: Yeah. Okay.
• 14:43
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I, I just think the New York schools affect, at a higher level than any of the other programs in terms of targeting.
• 14:51
  Speaker A: Right, okay.
• 14:52
  Speaker B: In that regard.
• 14:52
  Speaker A: So it's kind of a polarizing Thing where it's like you're either.
• 14:55
  Speaker B: Yeah, polarizing is probably a better term. I'm a little jet lag, right? Yes. So I'm not making my points as clear as I could.
• 15:00
  Speaker A: No, no, that's right.
• 15:01
  Speaker B: Okay. But polarizing is probably the best and I think that's a real advantage for the New York based program because the polarization on the desire to be in New York City is going to be greater.
• 15:13
  Speaker A: Yeah, no, it's true. And people, you know, I mean, we see that with a lot of candidates who just want to be there. I mean, that's a. It's a huge draw. So. All right. So. Yeah, so in any event, there are, I think five other students that we profiled and all had great things to say. So if you're interested in Columbia, go read that. The last thing that I wanted to mention is Yale SOM released their Class of 27 profile. These have been kind of slow coming out this year. I don't know if you've noticed that, but they're all kind of behind and I don't know what's going on, but schools have been. Normally they're out by now, but I know we've talked about a handful of them, but there's still a bunch that are not yet released. But for Yale, the class 27 has 367 students. That's actually up. Last year was only 347. So they added 20 students to their class. Medium GMAT for those submitting the old tests rose up to 740. It was 730 last year. Medium GMAT focus landed at 675. I don't seem to have that data from last year, but that's also a very good score.
• 16:10
  Speaker B: There wasn't data for that last year.
• 16:11
  Speaker A: Yeah, maybe not. So it's commensurate that 675 is definitely similar to that 740. Maybe a little lower, but it's still a very good score. Undergraduate GPA did not change at 3.69. Oh, this is a funny thing with the GRE, they said 47% of the class took that test. And the average grade in total for the two sections was 329. So a lot of people taking the GRE and you know, Yale sticking to their guns with a very high average score, which is nice to see. 5 years work experience on average. And from the diversity side of things, women are 44% of the class now, which is five points better than last year. International students took a little bit of a diploma. They are 41% and that was 48% last year. So they lost a little bit of international. But overall very impressive numbers. Holding steady, getting more women test scores up a bit. So I mean, I. I think they did quite. Yeah, quite, quite well at Yale.
• 17:12
  Speaker B: I think that's crazy that, that bump in the traditional GMAT score. It'd be quite interesting to know the percent of GMAT test takers under the traditional versus the newer. Yeah, that's fair score format. That would be quite good to know. But that jump, 730 to 740 is quite a leap. They held the GRE steady. I think it was probably around 329 last year. I don't think you mentioned that.
• 17:38
  Speaker A: Yeah, it was similar. I don't know, it might have been 330.
• 17:41
  Speaker B: Yeah. So from a test score perspective, that's really impressive. I think they're not correlated, but anti correlated. Right. The percent of women and percent of internationals. If percent of internationals goes down, women goes up. Women can go up.
• 17:57
  Speaker A: Yeah, I agree.
• 17:58
  Speaker B: For whatever reasons I don't need to get into. So that doesn't surprise me so much. Adding to the class. In terms of higher class numbers, I don't know what happened. Did their yield go up unexpectedly or did they deliberately increase their class size? I don't know that. But these numbers, I think are very impressive.
• 18:19
  Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, they're like all the more impressive when you realize they added 20 people to the class. Right. Because I mean, it's. Yeah. So. Yeah. And I mean, just to explain, I think, you know, it's pretty simple, like Internet. The international candidate pool tends to be more male than female. It's more of a skew than the US pool. So we have by nature, if you go more domestic, you get more women. In any event, you have really impressive numbers out of Yale. We could still use some reviews of this show or at least tell your friends that. You listen, if you're willing to admit that. And you can always write to us at info@clearbit.com use the subject line wiretaps. Alex, it's time we start talking candidates. Are you ready to dive in?
• 18:54
  Speaker B: Let's kick on.
• 18:55
  Speaker A: All right, so this is Wiretaps, candidate number one. Our first candidate this week is applying to Berkeley, Columbia, Harvard, MIT and Stanford. They're looking to start in the fall of 26. This candidate is a senior software engineer, or was, and now is a manager at a faang company. They're thinking after business school that they want to start their own company. So pursuing an entrepreneurial path. Their GPA is a 3.5. They have seven years of work experience, and their GRE, which is a bit of a weaker point, is 317. They then go on to say, my profile is not that exciting. They say that they are an underrepresented minority from Central America, that they have a computer science bachelor's degree from a US University. And, you know, as we said, they were a junior software engineer, then senior, and now a manager of a team of engineers at this FAANG company. Their salary went from 65k at the first company that they worked for, and it's now up to 450k. They were curious what we make of that. They're kind of wondering what schools make of that. They did mention that they were born and raised in Central America, studied in the US and I guess have stayed ever since. They indicated that they also lived in Brazil as a volunteer for a year and a half, where they started out as a volunteer, then became the head volunteer. They didn't specify what they were doing, but they were overseeing 200 other volunteers in that leadership role. They speak four languages fluently. They did mention they're not sure anyone cares about that. We can weigh in on that. And they are wondering if the. They basically say, I feel like applying with these stats is a total waste of time and money. Has anyone gotten an interview with something mediocre like this? So what do you make of this, Alex? This person is kind of a little down on themselves.
• 20:46
  Speaker B: Yeah. I tell you what they should be down on is that test score of 317, because everything else just looks really, really good.
• 20:53
  Speaker A: Yeah, it's funny, right?
• 20:54
  Speaker B: So in this whole sort of rhythm of not that anyone cares about it, they will care about that GRE score. It's an outlier versus the rest of the profile. So to the extent that they can fix that and with their profile, they don't need to be in the first round. Right. They could be targeting round two. They came back with a GRE that's closer to, let's say, the average of Yale, as we've just highlighted in that profile review. Then I think we're talking about a really very decent profile. I like the balance of their software engineering career and that volunteer experience out of Brazil looks really interesting to show a little different aspect to their profile. And the fact is, Graham, that they're making what they said, 450,000, which, I mean, to me is ridiculous.
• 21:49
  Speaker A: That's a little more than you make, I think. Right?
• 21:52
  Speaker B: It's a little more than I made in the last four years, let alone, well, five years, I should say. Maybe that's what I've made in the last five years. Yeah, I'm pretty comfortable with that. That's not an indictment on my lack of ambition or whatever, but I have a hypothesis about a candidate like this. They're a manager at a Fang company and those jobs are in jeopardy because of AI. No doubt about that. I read a lot about this stuff, even though I can't actually do the work that they can do. So I think that they're looking at the MBA as a way to reinvent themselves with the understanding that this 450k salary is probably not going to be around for a whole lot longer. And again, I could be completely making it up, but they probably want to make sure as they apply that that sort of thing doesn't come through necessarily. Necessarily. But there must be a reason why they've risen so successfully from 60k at Goldman to 450k as a manager now at Fang. So that impact and growth, that should be the center piece of their profile. And if they come back with a higher GRE score, I think people will care a lot about this profile.
• 23:18
  Speaker A: Yeah, I agree. So I think there's a lot to unpack here, but I agree. And I think, you know, on some levels you might say, well, they're making a lot of money and they maybe have a business idea and they really think that the MBA could help them to, you know, to become an entrepreneur, which I, you know, I mean, as someone who majored in entrepreneurial management at Wharton, I can attest that I think it is really useful. I mean, some of the professors are just so incredibly helpful in, you know, launching and things like that, so. And then you get, you know, a great network for investors, etc. So I understand why they might want to go to business school. And yeah, maybe it's also because they're a little bit worried about that job going away. But I could not agree more. Retake the GRE, get it up into the 320s and everything will be fine. A 3.5 in computer science is fine. I mean, yes. Is it a little bit below the average at places like Stanford and Harvard? Sure, but with a solid test score and great work experience, with an amazing kind of leadership trajectory in terms of where they are now. And I love the fact they speak four languages and I do not think the schools will be indifferent to that. That is a huge asset that schools are looking for global citizens, people who can navigate different cultures, and they lived in Brazil for a year and a half. You know, I presume they have other activities that they're engaged with as well. Not necessarily volunteer work, but maybe they're, you know, maybe they exercise or do different things. So I, I feel like this candidate, like you're saying, it's like if they had a high GRE score, they could absolutely apply to all these schools and probably make a pretty compelling case. So I, yeah, I would encourage them to, as low as that GRE is, I would encourage them to have a bit of, more of a chin up approach here. I mean they have a lot to offer and they, to get that test more kind of in line.
• 24:52
  Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely.
• 24:54
  Speaker A: So I want to thank them for, for sharing they, you know, someone, someone shared with them, I guess to encourage them that they got an interview at a business school with, you know, the same GRE score and an even lower gpa. So, yeah, I, I think all's not lost, but I would absolutely just go and retake the test. I mean that's, you know, they have until round two to apply, presumably. So they have time to do it, so they should do so.
• 25:14
  Speaker B: Yeah. And they're underrepresented. Yeah. Geographically, etc. Etc. So yeah, yeah, fix this GRE and the GRE score, you know, may get them into a top 16 program even with everything else. Well, because everything else is so strong. But why, why take that risk? If they think there's any scope for improvement, do it.
• 25:40
  Speaker A: Exactly. All right, cool. I think that's enough said from them. Let's move on and talk about wiretaps. Candidates number two. So our second candidate this week is applying to Chicago, duke, Kellogg and UT Austin. They're thinking about starting actually in 2027, so they have a little bit of time. They mentioned that they've been working as a implementation consultant for Medium Tech company. They're thinking about getting into traditional consulting after business school. So they mentioned Bain, Ernst and young, young McKinsey PwC as possible targets. Their GMAT score is a 705. If you're keeping score at home and don't understand the new, the new GMAT Focus Edition. That's like a 750. So a very strong score. They had a 4.48 GPA, but I believe that's a typo. I remember reading that somewhere that they, they Somehow mistyped their GPA and it's 3.48. They have five years of work experience. They're located in Austin, Texas. They'd love to stay there. And they do mention that they had Some work experience at Ernst and Young in tax before they went on to become a kind of implementation consultant, more in the, I guess in the sort of software domain. Now for extracurriculars, they do quite a bit. They work with at risk youth. They also, I guess they've been doing that for. By the time they apply, they will be doing that for about a year and a half. They're also super into health and fitness. They get into some detail there, but they're just, you know, a real exercise and kind of food buff. Like, they eat the right foods, exercise, and I think they're going to have great letters of recommendation from their direct manager in terms of, you know, getting that together for business school. So, Alex, what do you make of this candidate?
• 27:24
  Speaker B: Do you think this health and fitness theme that they, they talked about, do you think that's going to have any impact on their profile?
• 27:31
  Speaker A: Yeah, it's a good question. I mean, I'm more interested in the mentoring that they're with at risk youth. I mean, I guess it depends. I mean, they might. I guess it depends if there are any milestones, like if they've been, you know, running in some marathons or doing certain things. I mean, it is kind of interesting that they do cold plunge five times a week and that they meditate and I mean, but these are like, you know, secondary extracurriculars, I would say, unless they're measurable kind of activity, you know, or milestones.
• 27:56
  Speaker B: Yeah, I don't think they really allow them to stand out as an NBA candidate. That would be my honest opinion. Just, you know, they've obviously got to figure out like, what's the best way to present themselves. And certainly this wouldn't harm their profile if it's acknowledged in some way. But as you say, the mentoring is going to be much more impactful as an extracurricular activity and so forth. So to the extent that they can build off of that over the next year, I think would be really a smart step forward. Super gmat. So that's very good. You know, they've had three jobs, so they got to explain the check that, you know, the job changes and so on and so forth. But it looks like they found where they want to be. That's very good. Showing that impact and growth, getting those recommendations that they say that they're going to get. That's going to be very helpful. So. So all around, I think this is a very decent profile, Graham. And they want to be in Austin. They're currently in Austin. They want to be in Austin, post MBA. So this is a classic case to me that actually it really elevates Texas, Austin, Macomb as a really strong choice for them. Right. So you could argue that that elevates what's effectively a top 20 program and make it comparable to maybe a top 16, top 10 program in terms of. Because they know exactly where they want to be.
• 29:29
  Speaker A: Yeah, I agree with that. They're also, you know, they're very focused on the scholarship stuff. Right. So, yeah, yeah, you know, and I think, you know, that. What did they ask? There was a question that they asked about. They wondered would they get a 50% scholarship at Booth or something. Right. So, yeah, you know, I mean, they.
• 29:47
  Speaker B: At the end of the day, scholarships are going to be awarded by schools as a marketing ploy like a coupon discount to try to encourage the best candidates to, to y them. So it's quite difficult for us, I think, to speculate, well, is this profile worth 50% at Booth or 100% at McCombs or whatever it might be. But that's what you'd be looking at, right? You'd be looking at a higher percentage of scholarship award at a school that's a tier or 2 lower. Right. So that would be typical. But what I would advise this candidate to do, and I think I put this into the comments, is go to the decision wire tool that we have have and do searches on Booth enrolled and look at the scholarship offers that those folks had.
• 30:34
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 30:35
  Speaker B: And the sort of the profiles that they revealed. And that will give them at least some insight into how generous some of these schools are. And some of these schools are very generous.
• 30:45
  Speaker A: Yeah, agreed. And it's interesting, I think, you know, this candidate does have a lot to offer them. They have a killer GMAT score. Their, their grades are, you know, close enough. Right. 3.48 is pretty darn good. Maybe a tick below the average at a place like Booth. But it's still, I mean, right there. And I love that they're, you know, dual U.S. mexican citizen, they went to community college and then transferred to a four year institution. And so, yeah, there's a lot to like here. And I, I wouldn't, you know, wouldn't surprise me if they get a scholarship at some of these schools. But it's such a, as you say, it's a little bit of a roll of the dice because on the one hand a school like Booth or schools at the top of their list maybe have deep pockets, but then on the other hand, they sometimes are, you know, not giving out quite as much you know, they, they're using it for the candidates to pull in and it's hard to know where this person's going to land there. Right, so.
• 31:35
  Speaker B: So I'll ask you a question, gr. This person gets 100% scholarship at MCOM and a 50% scholarship at Booth. Which should they choose?
• 31:46
  Speaker A: Yeah, that is a tough one. I mean, I would want to know a little bit more about, you know, like what's the long term plan in.
• 31:52
  Speaker B: Terms of goals, geography is to be in Austin. They want to be in Austin. That's it.
• 31:56
  Speaker A: I mean, then, you know, I've got it. I mean, McCombs for free is incredibly compelling. I mean, it's a great school to begin with. Like, this is a top 20 MBA program and it's in the market that they want to work. I mean, what better brand could you have? So I think, yeah, this is one of those interesting cases where sure, Booth ranks higher, you know, in the sort of typical rankings, but I mean, look at the alumni network. I mean, yeah, again, that's why I was asking, like, what do they want to do in the long term? I know they want to be in Austin, but particularly if they're trying to start a business, do something entrepreneurial, that network is going to be so powerful.
• 32:28
  Speaker B: There'd be a factor of what, five more Austin alums in Austin, McCombs alums in Austin than Booth alums. Right. Or a factor of 10. That's the network we're tapping into. So if it's 10 times greater, I think that becomes really good. I guess my, my point is, and obviously scholarship money is very important to them. And I get that getting an MBA is very expensive. That really going all in on the cones is going to be a good, a good thing for a candidate like this.
• 33:03
  Speaker A: Yeah. So I want to wish them the best of luck. And yeah, hopefully they end up having these, you know, difficult decisions to make where they get lots of scholarships and lots of offers of admission. So we'll see how it turns out. Let's move on though, and talk about wiretap taps. Candidate number three. So our third candidate this week is applying to Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, mit, Wharton and Stanford. This candidate's applying now to start in 26. And they are a data scientist. They're thinking of getting into, they say tech or investment banking, but they seem more in, more interested in investment banking. They mentioned Barclays, Citibank, Goldman, JP Morgan. And you know, then they did list a few tech companies as well. They have a GRE score of 326 and a GPA of 3.825 years of work experience. Their location, they say, is Korea, Japan. I guess they're working between those two countries. And they would love to land in New York after business school, which is why you see that focus on programs that are, you know, with the exception of Stanford, pretty clustered in that kind of New England, New York, northeast zone. You asked them to give some clarity around their goals, Alex, and I'm guessing this is why you picked this candidate. And they said that they wrote that they want to be a senior leader in a tech company in their application, specifically focusing on supply chain management. Although I'm actually more interested in doing investment banking thinking. So I guess they, they kind of, they didn't write what they really want to do. So I want you to weigh in on this. Like what's, what do you think of this candidate overall? And then, yeah, just what do you think, think of this sort of goal situation?
• 34:47
  Speaker B: Yeah, I mean again, overall, this is again a good profile on the surface. They're a data scientist, so their skills will be in high demand. As a data scientist with an MBA, I'm sure. 326 GRE. I mean it's, it's, it's decent GRE, it's not outstanding, but is decent and so forth. There are extracurriculars I'd probably like to see something outside of the hardcore computing. I think they said that they helped a friend or a startup creates a computer vision model is extracurricular because it's outside of their work. But it is sort of in a similar domain. But it also shows again how clever and creative they are and that entrepreneurial bent I suppose can be highlighted through that. But their goals is, as you said, it's kind of why I wanted to talk about this candidate because at the end of the day, if they want to do investment banking, I don't care what anyone else is telling them, I think investment banking is what they should be doing and what they should be articulating and so on and so forth. But they've got to then back that up with a really good reason why. And if they can do that, other than the fact that they want to earn a ridiculously high pay package, then I think it could be a really good, good case. So let's say they do want to return to the tech space in the long run in more of a buy side sort of scenario. Right. Private equity, venture capital type stuff with their understanding directly the tech space. A stepping stone to do that would be to do investment banking, to try to then ease into the buy side. Right. So if that is ultimately what they want to do, I think that's a really good, really good sort of profile and rationale and so forth. So I guess my point is stick to investment banking as that short term goal. If they truly have a passion for doing something longer term that exploits their understanding of the financial systems but returns them back into the tech space.
• 37:09
  Speaker A: Yeah, my, my thing, you know, so, you know, it's not, it's not like they're like a marketer or a product manager in the tech space right now. They're a data scientist. And so when I see that, I say, yeah, this is someone who could probably pretty easily transition into the number crunching that's required for, you know, a kind of investment banking role. So I, Yeah, it's a little puzzling to me this whole goals thing, like in that they, they sort of hid their, they're hiding their real interests and they probably be more passionate just focused on. Yeah. The goal that they really want to achieve, which is to get into banking. And they can make a great case around that with their background in data. Seems like it would fit. I am interested in the fact that they're located in Korea and Japan. They do play football. And there was something else there, an art enthusiast. So not like the best extracurricular activities in terms of like volume and things like you were saying, but certainly respectable. And as you pointed out, the numbers are good. So I'm not so worried about the goals. I just want passion in those goals and I think they could make this pivot that they want to make. So it's. Yeah, it's a little puzzling to me. But in any event, yeah, I feel like they're, I mean they have a pretty incredible list of target schools. It's sort of all the best of the best. So, you know, there's not a huge range. I mean, you could argue that Cornell, Johnson and Columbia might be easier to get into than Stanford and Harvard. But these are all, you know, really, really good sort of top 15 schools that are tough to get into. So.
• 38:33
  Speaker B: But I think Johnson would love this camp that it, for example, especially if. Right. They got a strong.
• 38:38
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 38:38
  Speaker B: Banking program. Yeah, yeah.
• 38:41
  Speaker A: I mean, especially if they're saying they want to do banking and that they want to put to use their kind of, you know, quantitative mind that they've honed in data science. So. Yeah. In any event, yeah, it sounds like they got advice from a number of people that may be a little misleading in terms of, you know, hiding their real goal and going to something that's more like what they're currently doing. But in any event, hopefully this advice helps them write that ship. I don't know if they've already applied or they're sort of in the process with round two or something, but I want to wish them the best luck. It's always great when people share these profiles because it gives us an excuse to talk about all these great, great topics. Anything else on this one, Alex?
• 39:15
  Speaker B: No, I think we should wrap it up. Stay safe, everyone. Take care.
• 39:18
  Speaker A: All right, I'll see you next week.