Latest / Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast / MBA Wire Taps 383—Southern European in Hospitality. PhD engineer, 750 GMAT. Family Business goal.

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MBA Wire Taps 383—Southern European in Hospitality. PhD engineer, 750 GMAT. Family Business goal. · Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast

• 0:16
  Speaker A: Welcome to the clear admit MBA admissions podcast. I'm Graham Mitchmund, and this is your wiretaps for Monday, September 16, 2024. For more than 100 years, Emory University's Guiseueta Business School has been a training ground for principal leaders and a laboratory for powerful insights. Whether you're looking to accelerate your career or make a career pivot, Emory's one year and two year full time MBA programs prepare you for a lifetime of career confidence. Learn more about Emory's top 20 MBA with top five career outcomes offering world class academics and small by design classes delivered in a dynamic global city. More at emory, BGDev biz clearadmit. I'm joined by Alex Brown from Cornwall, England. Alex, how are things this week?
• 1:04
  Speaker B: Very good, thank you, Graham.
• 1:06
  Speaker A: So give me the latest. What are the deadlines? Are we out of the woods or there's still some more round one deadlines this week?
• 1:11
  Speaker B: No, we're not out of the woods by a long stretch. I mean, this week it's only stern and booth in terms of the very top programs with round one application deadlines. But we're sort of hitting a bit of a trough and we'll hit a peak again over the next couple of weeks and going into October. So round one does cover at least five, six weeks.
• 1:34
  Speaker A: Oh, wow. Okay. So there's still more to come. Well, best of luck to everyone who either has recently submitted some of those top schools that had early September deadlines, or if you're working on your booth and Stern apps, get them in. We continue with our event series. I had so much fun last week. We did that event with Wharton and Insead, Emory, Ross and Lbs. And this week we're doing Wednesday at noon Eastern again. We're going to sit down with admissions representatives from Dartmouth, Berkeley, Yale, Unc, and NYU. So I'm really looking forward to that. That's going to be fun. And there's one more on September 25, you can sign up for these events at bit ly Insidemba.
• 2:15
  Speaker B: All one word, but you're on the spot. Graham.
• 2:17
  Speaker A: Uh oh, here we go.
• 2:18
  Speaker B: Give me one thing you learned from the event last week.
• 2:22
  Speaker A: So this was interesting. So they were charged with, each of the schools was tasked with kind of revealing something unusual about their process and then telling candidates, like, what they need to know about that and how to get ready, et cetera. And there were a couple of good things. I mean, INSEAD talked about how they have these like interview questions or like video essays almost, I guess you would say that you do as part of the application process and virginie from INSEAD was saying they have all this stuff on the website that you can use to practice beforehand. Like they have a sort of video tutorial. They tell you exactly kind of what to expect. So she said, if you're not availing yourself of those resources, you might be at a disadvantage by the time you get. That was good to know. And then David at LBS talked about this mysterious thing during their interviews that they do, which is known as the presentation. And I think the school doesn't ever really publicly talk about that. But in an interview at LBS, as part of it, you're usually given a small presentation where they sort of ask you a business question and say, take five minutes to think about this. And it's usually a really easy question, you know, like, I don't know, piracy is bad for the film and music industries. Any thoughts you have on how one might remedy that or something? I mean, that would be an old one back in the Napster days or something. But in any event, and then you're given some time, you have to make a little, just short kind of presentation to your interviewer. And so David talked about that and, you know, talked about how it's fine if, you know, it's not the main thrust of the interview, but it's just something that they like to see to sort of get a sense of people's skills. And then, of course, Wharton talked a lot about preparing for the team based discussion, which I know you're a big fan of.
• 4:03
  Speaker B: Yeah, no, brilliant. I actually am a big fan of the LBS case study interview approach.
• 4:10
  Speaker A: Yeah, it's an interesting thing that they do. So there were tons of nuggets, and that is, I think it's been recorded and is probably available on our YouTube channel. So just go to YouTube and search for clear admit. You can find the video from that if you want to watch it. We also have another webinar that I wanted to mention. That's going to be in October, I believe it's October 16, and it's a west coast webinar. And we're going to have Berkeley, Stanford, UCLA, UC Irvine, and possibly more schools. And it's going to be all about getting your MBA on the west coast. So if you want to sign up for that, you just go to bit ly westcoastmba. All one word, all lowercase. So yeah, Alex, lots going on.
• 4:47
  Speaker B: I'm interrupting you again. Yeah, that's the first time you've mentioned our YouTube channel. What can people learn from our YouTube channel?
• 4:56
  Speaker A: Oh, yeah, that's right. So we have a YouTube channel, and on the YouTube channel, our podcast is there because some people like to watch their podcasts or listen to their podcasts on YouTube. But also we have all of the admissions Academy videos, I believe, Alex, that you and I recorded, which are these great short lessons on key aspects of the admissions process. And as I just mentioned, most, if not all, of the webinars that we do end up eventually in the YouTube channel as well. So, yeah, there's a lot there. You should check it out.
• 5:23
  Speaker B: Brilliant.
• 5:24
  Speaker A: Over on the website, we did an admissions tip about something that's probably been on everyone's mind, which is word counts or character limits and how to handle those in the application process. So read that. If you're wondering how far you can stretch these limits, the answer is usually stay close to the limits and use the words they're giving you as well. So don't undercut too much. We also did a piece on the rise of the master's in management degree, which is typically a pre experience business degree, and the rise of that degree, particularly in the United States, with schools like Booth and Emory and others kind of coming into the fold to join the likes of Kellogg and Duke and Georgetown and many others that have them. So, just an interesting piece there. And then, Alex, you're going to love this. We did an admissions director Q and a with Connie Zingarelli, who is the admissions director over at Rice Jones in Texas, and we asked her about their testing policy and whether or not they offer exam waivers. And she said, we currently require applicants to take the GMAT GRE or the executive assessment for admission to the full time MBA, although there is a waiver process for those who can demonstrate their quantitative abilities in other ways. We recognize that test scores are not the only indicator of a candidate's abilities, but they do provide evidence of quantitative skills and commitment. Additionally, test scores are considered when awarding scholarships and are often requested by employers in industries such as consulting and investment banking. Rice business views test taking as an efficient way for candidates to showcase their strengths and demonstrate their readiness for the rigorous program and business world. So what do you think of that, Alex?
• 7:05
  Speaker B: One word in that quote that I really like.
• 7:08
  Speaker A: I know, I know. Yeah, I guarantee. Yep, go ahead.
• 7:11
  Speaker B: Commitment.
• 7:12
  Speaker A: I knew it. Yes. Yeah, I thought. I thought you would like that. I think she's right. I mean, I think that.
• 7:18
  Speaker B: Yeah, it's respect, process, commitment to the test. Fantastic.
• 7:23
  Speaker A: Yeah. So that's that. The other thing is, two more schools have published their class profiles for the class of 2026, and they are Michigan Ross and Cornell Johnson. And I got to say, these are coming earlier than they ever have. So schools seem to be very excited about the classes that they've just brought in, and with good reason. I mean, application volume was up. The schools have put together some pretty impressive classes. So I'll give you the numbers. Let's start with Michigan, Ross, Alex, and then we'll get your take. So they have 396 students, which is up a bit from 379. So they've kind of brought the class size back up a little bit. The average GPA was 3.42, essentially unchanged from last year. Average GMAT 728, which is up from 719. So kind of a big jump there. Gre. 321 is the average. That was actually 322 last year. So just a tick down. Women, they have 40% women in the program. That's actually down a little bit. They were at 43% last year. They had 40. There are 40 countries represented in terms of citizenship, and it was 39 countries last year. So very similar. 44% international students, essentially unchanged there. Six years of average work experience in the incoming class. And those are the. That's what I got. Alex. So what. What do you have to say about this in terms of Ross's profile?
• 8:44
  Speaker B: Well, it seems very good. I'm quite interested in that uptick in the GMAT score. That's quite considerable.
• 8:54
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 8:55
  Speaker B: Correspondingly, a slight drop in the GRE score. And those two scores don't correlate. Right. A 321 is not an. An equivalent of 727. So that's quite interesting.
• 9:08
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 9:09
  Speaker B: Do they allow waivers of the GM?
• 9:12
  Speaker A: I think they might. With. Yeah, I'm almost certain I'd have to go back and look, but I think that they do have a process where you can request a waiver. Yeah.
• 9:20
  Speaker B: So the test scores are quite interesting, I think, aside from that. Yeah, really impressive. I mean, I think we're going to see each of the programs as we. The class profiles some really impressive class stats. And Ross is the third one that you've talked about on this show this season. And. Yeah, very impressive.
• 9:42
  Speaker A: Yeah. And let's move into Cornell here, because, again, Cornell has, well, 282 students, which is. They had 283 last year. So their class size is the same. They have 41% women. It was 43% last year, but again, very similar. 34 countries represented by citizenship, 35% international students. Average work experience is 5.3 years. Their median undergrad GPA is a 3.4, which is up slightly. It was a 3.35 last year. The GMAT score remains at median. GMAT is 710. Exactly the same as the year prior. And interestingly, Cornell does not report the GRE. They just don't share averages on that one. So again, another, you know, pretty impressive stats overall. And any thoughts on this one?
• 10:31
  Speaker B: Yeah, again, very impressive. But that difference in GMAT score with Ross is quite interesting because, you know, these are comparable. They're in the same tier effectively. So slight difference in the test scores, Graham. But overall, yeah, real good numbers.
• 10:50
  Speaker A: Yeah. I'll be really curious to see as more schools release, like where we land. You know, we obviously saw these schools didn't share application volume, but we saw in. I guess it was it last week when we were talking about UCLA that they, you know, they were up like 40% in application volume. So I'm assuming most of these schools were up quite a bit and were able to kind of, you know, assemble these great classes as a result. But in any event, yeah, more to come as more schools release. Before we get into this week's candidates, I wanted to just mention two things. The first is that we ran an extra episode of the podcast last week about investment management at UNC. And I basically, I was able to connect with a professor and the woman who runs the investment management center at UNC. And we also had a second year student. You'll love this, Alex, who is a big fan of the podcast. And in fact, I think he was the one that said, hey, let's work with clear middle on a podcast because he was a regular listener when he was applying to school. And so the podcast is just all about investment management at UNC. And it's kind of an underserved area, I think. I mean, people know about, there are a handful of schools that sort of specialize in this domain, but UNC has a really interesting curriculum and we talked all about that and got some great kind of firsthand accounts from Jesus, who's the student that joined us. So that was fun. You can listen to it anywhere that you're listening to this episode. So check that out if you get a chance. Alex, we also got, I don't know if you remember, we got a really nice email from a fan of the show who has completed his admissions journey and is heading off to Kellogg. So I just wanted to give a shout out. I don't know if he still listens to the show, but, yeah, we had a nice note from Cap, who you may remember from last year. He's headed off to Kellogg. He's doing their part time MBA. Just. Yeah, it was great to hear from him and hope he's doing well.
• 12:40
  Speaker B: Absolutely brilliant. Yeah.
• 12:42
  Speaker A: Otherwise you can write to alexanderedmit.com dot, use the subject line wiretaps and we will email you back. You can send us your questions or critiques or whatever you want to share. We're always willing to listen and engage. So, Alex, anything else before we talk.
• 12:56
  Speaker B: About this week's candidates, let's kick on.
• 12:59
  Speaker A: All right, so this is wiretaps candidate number one. So our first candidate this week has six schools on the target list, and they are Columbia, Duke, Harvard, NYU, Stanford and Chicago. Booth, this candidate is looking to apply now and start in the fall of 25. They have been working in the hospitality industry. They talk about Michelin, kind of Michelin star and hotels. So I guess kind of high end hospitality. I would say they're thinking of a pivot into consulting. And they mentioned companies like Bain, BCG, Ernst and Young, McKinsey. They have a 319 on the GRE, which they've taken three times. And they have a 3.77 undergraduate gpA. They've actually been working for twelve years, so probably a little bit older. They're currently working and located in Florida. And they mention in the notes that they are a southern European. So I guess that could mean, I don't know what, Portugal, Spain, Greece, maybe Italy, I guess so. They also shared that they are heavily involved with extracurricular activities, specifically conservation, soup kitchens and local food producers. Very consistent, I guess, with their hospitality career. Then again, they said they took the Jerry three times, but they keep getting the same overall score. They did an undergrad which, where they had that 377 in economics and business administration, and that they've, they also point out that they've lived and moved kind of internationally. So they lived in Asia, Europe, the US. Every couple of years they basically have new postings. They speak three languages. They're also a certified private pilot, and they're planning on taking MBA math. What do you think, Alex, in terms of their, you know, candidacy and these schools that they have on their list. List Johnson on their list, they do not.
• 14:48
  Speaker B: Okay. Yeah. It just struck me, obviously, in the whole, their experience in the hospitality sector, Johnson would be a school to look at and so forth. I think overall, coming from southern Europe, they do seem like that they're a good person. Right. Probably quite interesting experience overall, involved in sort of sustainability and some other sort of extracurriculars that sort of illustrate that they're actually a pretty caring human being. I really like that they've got a really strong GPA. It's above the averages for the two schools that we profiled today, Ross and Johnson. So that's good. The 319 GRE is going to be a bit of a struggle. That's going to sort of, you know, pair things back a little bit. But they are doing MBA math, so I like that sort of being proactive. Again, it shows that sort of commitment to the process that we talked about a little bit earlier. So I think there's a little bit of a mixed bag overall here. Graham. But they're also, they've got twelve years of experience, so they're going to be an older candidate. So they're really going to have to articulate effectively why now makes sense for them in terms of their career trajectory, where they want to go in the future, et cetera, et cetera. So it's basically two challenges. It's being able to overcome the 319 GRE. And I think with their GPA, with doing MBA math, they're going quite a long way to do that. But it's also this sort of why now they're going to be, again, like an older candidate, sort of overcoming that, showing fit for the programs that they're targeting and whether they should look at the next tier of school in terms of those schools that they're targeting. They're quite top heavy given these couple of risks. But again, I think they're probably a really good sort of person. They show that through their extracurriculars, et cetera, et cetera. But a couple of risks.
• 17:10
  Speaker A: Yeah, I have two points I want to make. Number one, this reminds me of something that you often say, which is sometimes the most important part of your candidacy is the weakest part. And so in this case, that 319 sort of jumps out at you. If they had a 330 on the GRE, I think we would be saying, wow, cool, interesting candidate. And so it's interesting how that colors our perception of the rest of it. But I think the other point that you were making that I just want to underline is that they, I mean, they seem like a really good person. They're very involved in conservation and it's very consistent, as I said, with their work experience. And so what I would like to see is a desire for them. They talk about consulting, right. I would love for them to say consulting, but with an aim to work specifically in the maybe food industry or CPG. And then ultimately perhaps they want to bring sustainable practices to some of these large food companies or something. I don't know. I mean, there could be a nice thread that they could weave, which it could also be more hotel oriented or hospitality oriented if they wanted, but I just feel like if their career goals had more of a bent that played on their strengths of their career to date, that might help them too. And I think you made an earlier point, maybe add some schools beyond the sort of m seven or top ten. That is essentially what their list is right now. Cornell comes to mind. They have that amazing hotel management school that works very closely with the MBA program and you can actually cross list and take courses at both. So best school in the world, people say for that. So I just think, yeah, they may want to cast a slightly wider net, but yeah, they're doing everything else they can. I mean they've taken MBA math and trying to demonstrate that they're ready. And I am pleased that the undergrad is economics with that 377. It's not basket weaving or something qualitative.
• 18:55
  Speaker B: No. History grad not, I should say you.
• 18:58
  Speaker A: Never miss an opportunity to bust my tops on that one. All right, so anyway, best of luck to them. But yeah, really interesting candidacy and I think with some of our advice on board, hopefully they'll find success. But yeah, let's move on and talk about wire taps. Candidate number two. So our second candidate also wants to start school next fall, 25. And they are applying to just three schools, and those schools are MIT, Sloan, Stanford and Chicago. Booth, this person's been working, as they say, in the tech and energy industries, and they're thinking post MBA about tech entrepreneurship and maybe venture capital. And they mentioned some, you know, some firms, if they go the kind of venture capital route they mentioned Excel partners, Andreessen Horowitz, first round capital, Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia Capital, et cetera. They have a 750 on the GMAT and they have a 3.5 gpA. Ten years of work experience and they're located in Chicago. They mentioned that they also have a PhD and their gpa in the coursework for the PhD was a 3.65 and that was in power engineering, which they did right after undergrad. It sounds like their work experience ranges from R and D at a tech firm, but also has done some, I guess, utility work. They became a manager three years ago and they're really hoping to create their own business. And they started dropping a lot of acronyms at this point in their post, and I had to do a little bit of googling to sort of figure out what they were talking about, but they're hoping to kind of create a company. They mentioned, you know, to either get funding via an angel fund or with the Department of Energy, which has, I don't know. They have all these programs and I actually wrote this down because I couldn't. It's small business innovation and research or small business tech transfer. There are these different grants and funds available for people. So anyway, I'll stop there. But what do you make of this? This is not a traditional candidate. They have a lot of work experience, Alex, and maybe sort of non traditional career goals too.
• 21:08
  Speaker B: They've got a lot of work experience. They're also a PhD engineer rocket scientist person. They're obviously wicked smart. There's no doubt about that. They've got a 750 on the GMat. And I would imagine their sort of work experience in sort of power, whatever it is, in utility, whatever it is, etc. Etc. Is actually really good. They've identified a niche that they really want to dive deep into. That's probably very necessary for, you know, in terms of energy management and so forth. All we keep hearing about nowadays is how Genai is sucking so much electricity out of the grid. So imagining like deciphering some of these acronyms and so forth, that that's the space that this person has identified as a niche for them to explore, sort of that sort of energy stuff. So I do actually find that all that really interesting. I do think they're aiming very high with the schools that they're targeting. You know, the question becomes, this person's probably in their mid thirties, I'm guessing we don't know that. But they say they have ten years of experience plus a PhD. So they're going to have to demonstrate fit for the programs that they're targeting. Some might argue, should they be targeting an executive MBA program? But they responded pretty correctly, I think, to that suggestion that they're not actually looking to progress in a large enterprise, but they're looking for this sort of more entrepreneurial approach, like solving this problem that they've identified, whatever it is, with a business case. They've obviously done a lot of research on that. Right. With all the stuff that you were talking about. So I really like that. I'd just be a little bit concerned that they've got to demonstrate this fit with the programs that they're targeting. They're not, you know, basically Chicago is a program they'll go to on a part time basis because of where they're located. Outside of that, I think you mentioned two other programs, Stanford and Sloan. Sloan, I think.
• 23:28
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 23:29
  Speaker B: So, yeah, go all in on Sloane in round one, see where they hit there. But I do think that's going to be challenging. They should broaden their nets I mean, certainly, you know, Wharton would, I think would be a good fit, but, well, not necessarily a good fit. They still have the same challenges they would for Sloan, but not to discount a program like Wharton, but maybe they've got to look into the next tier if they really think getting a top MBA program is the next right step. Because right now they're aiming super high and only a couple of programs.
• 24:08
  Speaker A: Yeah, and they happen to pick two of the schools in the m seven, MIT and Sloan, that are, you know, quite a little bit smaller and have very, very low acceptance rates to top it off. So yeah, I worry that they're aiming too high. I think this person could be, I mean, who knows? Maybe the ten years of work experience is concurrent with the pursuit of the PhD. But even if it is, it's still, they're older and you know, the GMAT score is superb, the GPA is more pedestrian when we're talking about these top schools, if anything, it's a little below the average. Three five. Right? So they're a little bit lower.
• 24:40
  Speaker B: Didn't do basket weaving growing.
• 24:42
  Speaker A: No, no, I know, and I'm sure they're academically sound. I'm just saying it's not like it's going to jump off the page. But then the other thing is they talked about how, I guess you and others on the site were suggesting potential targets and they actually explicitly said, oh, with respect to Wharton, I don't think Wharton could offer what I'm looking for. I know they like people have more experience, but I'm leaning towards tech. And I was like, Wharton has that West coast campus in San Francisco that they could do a semester at. Wharton has the tech transfer kind of programs within the university because they have that big engineering school. So I think they might be sorely mistaken on that front. So they probably should do some more investigating. But as you correctly point out, I don't know that Wharton's going to be any easier than some of these other schools on their list to get into. And so it does beg the question as to whether they have this focus on energy and entrepreneurship. Should they be casting a wider net and looking at UT Austin McCombs, which is fantastic in that domain, or just even some sort of top 16 schools? Like, yeah, it just feels like, I don't know, they could try in the first round with these, but I think they need to be prepared to cast a wider net in round two if things don't go as they hope.
• 25:54
  Speaker B: One other question in that regard, Graham, what about these one year sort of programs that are targeted for more senior folks, like the MSX program, I think at Stanford. I forget what the actual acronym or the Sloan programs out of LBS and Mitz, MIT and so forth. Maybe they're a good candidate for that type of program.
• 26:18
  Speaker A: Yeah, it's possible. I mean, those are kind of more. Yeah, mid career. Yeah, that's not a bad. They may want to look into that. It could be a nice way to, you know, get into the Stanford ecosystem without, you know, the challenges that they might face with this, the standard MBA. So, yeah, something to look into for sure. In any event, I mean, I think this. They have it. I mean, I love that they have a very concrete kind of career plan. They clearly know what they want to do. I just, I'm encouraging them to kind of cast a wider net because I think they can accomplish these goals with an MBA from any number of top 20 schools. Like, I really don't think this has to be a Stanford, MIT or Chicago. So in any event, best of luck to them. I want to thank them for sharing their profile. Let's move on and talk about wiretaps. Candidate number three. So our final candidate this week has 14 schools on the top target list. The schools are Berkeley, Columbia, Dartmouth, Duke, Michigan, MiT, Kellogg, Ohio State, Stanford, UCLA, Wharton, USC, UT, Austin, and Darden. So that's a lot of schools. They're hoping to start in the fall of 25 and they've been working in software development at a fintech startup, post MBA. They're thinking about technology as well. I guess they have. Their family has a business that they're hoping to return to at some point or to join and help. Their GRE is a 327, their GPA is a 3.12. They've got nine years of work experience. So I don't know if this was on purpose, Alex, but it feels like all these candidates this week are kind of very seasoned candidates on the work experience front. This person's located in the Midwest and they did an engineering undergrad at a top 40 us school. They then did sales at a Fortune 500 company. Then they went into the family business on the management side, and now they're doing software development at a startup. And the reason they switched into that software development role is they really want to better understand technology. And now they think the next step is an MBA to accelerate their path and ultimately return to the family business and start a tech tech vertical within that business. So, Alex, what do you make of this? I mean, you picked out some really interesting candidates with lots of experience this time.
• 28:35
  Speaker B: They're all at the long end of the spectrum. So they're all going to have to show fit and establish that why now aspect of their candidacy. And with this candidate, I mean, I actually like the deliberate moves that they've made with respect to their career to set them up for their post MBA goals, setting up this vertical within their family business. So that should play well, I think, in the admissions process, because a lot of what we ask in admissions is the whys behind the decisions the candidates have made. Right. So I think that they can tackle that really well. Theyre applying to lots of programs. They claim theyre applying to them all in round one. So good luck accomplishing that. At least it'll give them a lot of data points in terms of whether they need to regroup or rethink their strategy for round two. So that's an advantage for them. Yeah, their recommenders are busy. They obviously have some good recommenders, so that's very good. They have decent volunteer work, their GRE scores decent at 327. The GPA is again, probably their weakest elements of the whole profile, the weakest element being the most important. As we talked about a little bit earlier, they work 20 hours a week and I think had a positive trajectory over the course of their undergraduate. But. So, yeah, it's like, why were they working 20 hours a week? I'm not entirely sure, but that's their sort of point of mitigation. So that's the one aspect that I worry just a little bit about. But I think their range of schools that they're targeting, they've got to see some positive results from that, I would think. Graham? I like that sort of broad range. Lots of schools all in round one. Assuming that they had the ability to dedicate the time to each of the applications, that's the challenge that they presented themselves.
• 30:54
  Speaker A: Yeah, I tend to agree. Unlike our first two candidates, the difference with this candidate is that they're casting a very wide net. We might argue that it's almost not too wide, but there may be too many schools on this list, but they are casting a wide net in terms of rankings. They have schools like Ohio State or USC that are maybe top 20 type schools, 25, and then they have schools like, obviously, Berkeley or Kellogg that are Wharton, et cetera. Top five type schools, whatever. I think they'll get in somewhere. Assuming, like you said, they did a good enough job. And that is my one area of concern. I think it's really hard to pull off 14 applications. 14. Get your recommender to do their job. Write all these essays and do the level of research that these schools expect when it comes to demonstrating fit and your path within their program. But assuming they did all that. Yeah, I feel okay. I mean the GPA is low but it's an upward trend. The test score is strong and so yeah, interesting background and clear plans going forward. So we'll see. I think they'll definitely land somewhere. It's just a question of where because they have a wide spectrum here.
• 32:02
  Speaker B: Very good, very good.
• 32:04
  Speaker A: I want to thank that person for sharing their background. Alex, I don't know if you did it on purpose but great job consistently finding this theme with older candidates. I think that's something good because we've talked a lot about younger candidates. It's been a little while since we had people with a ton of experience. Very helpful. Connect next week and do this again if you're willing.
• 32:21
  Speaker B: Very good. Stay safe everyone. Take care.