Latest / Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast / MBA Wire Taps 502: Brazilian from BCG. Mexican candidate with 154 EA. Indian, 645 GMAT

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MBA Wire Taps 502: Brazilian from BCG. Mexican candidate with 154 EA. Indian, 645 GMAT · Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker A: Foreign. Welcome to the Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast. I'm Graham Richmond and this is your Wiretaps for Monday, July 20, 2026. I'm joined by Alex Brown from Cornwall, England. Alex, how are things going?
• 0:28
  Speaker B: Not very good. Thank you, Graham. Thanks.
• 0:30
  Speaker A: I knew you're gonna. Yeah. Both of our team, you know, both France and England are now out of the World cup as we record this. Obviously by the time this airs, I guess there will be a victor because I think it's the night before it's. Yeah, it'll be Sunday night. Right.
• 0:43
  Speaker B: So I hope it's Spain and I Hope Spain win 3 or 4 nil.
• 0:48
  Speaker A: There you go.
• 0:49
  Speaker B: That's all I'm saying about that.
• 0:50
  Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. I don't know and I don't even know if I can bring myself to watch the, the runner up game between France and England. We'll see. Maybe if I don't have anything better to do, but. Yeah. Well, it was a good run. It was a lot. As someone who's not as you know, I'm not like a huge fan. I definitely got swept up in it and had a lot of fun with my family and friends, kind of keeping track. So it's been, it's always a good tournament, I guess.
• 1:11
  Speaker B: Yeah, it's been a great tournament.
• 1:12
  Speaker A: Yeah. So in terms of Clear Admit related stuff and the podcast, we actually have a couple of really good admissions tips that we'll get into this week. As well as admissions directors, Q&As, we caught up with admissions officers at LBS U, Florida and Toronto Rotman. And of course you picked out some candidates to discuss. As always. I have to say, Alex, you know, it's been funny. We had that episode last week, which was our 500th episode. So in preparing this, I was like, wow, there's none of the pizzazz that we, you know, last week we had all this stuff to talk about, but it was such an amazing response to that episode and you know, the people who sent in those voice notes, I'm just so grateful that we're peppered into the episode from a lot of our, you know, friends of the show and just the reaction on LinkedIn. So it was a really. I mean, I'm still kind of basking in the glow from that. It was just so much fun.
• 2:02
  Speaker B: Yeah. But England getting knocked out of the World cup just really brought me back down to earth.
• 2:07
  Speaker A: Yeah, I can imagine. In any event, the other thing that has to happen this week is, you know, it's our essay event series kicks off actually Starting tomorrow, July 21st I'm going to sit down with admissions directors at Berkeley, Haas, Chicago Booth, Duke Fuqua, Georgia Tech, Scheller and uva Darden. And that's the first of three events this week. They're basically every day, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday at noon Eastern. You can sign up by going to clear admit.com events. And I cannot wait. I've been looking Alex, as I prepare the agendas for these and you know, schools have done interesting stuff and Chicago Booth have essentially eliminated essays. They have a bunch of like short answer questions in the application form. Now there's some interesting maneuvering that's happening and a lot of video, a lot of reliance on video, kind of real time, sort of, you know, don't get any time to prep, just answer questions. So clearly schools are looking for, let's call it authenticity and I can't wait to talk to them about it all week this week.
• 3:05
  Speaker B: Yeah, I mean certainly AI has had a big impact on that in terms of what schools are doing, how they're reacting and responding to candidates use of AI. And this is one of the big sort of trends that we're seeing. Right. So like say Chicago is really scathing back on its essays, lots more video coming out and so on and so forth. Yeah, very interesting.
• 3:26
  Speaker A: Yeah, we'll see how it goes on Wednesday and Thursday. I'm going to connect with, I guess it's, let's see, Carnegie Mellon, Dartmouth, INSEAD, Wharton, Texas, McCombs, Georgetown, McDonough, SMU, Bocconi is coming on the show on the. Sorry, not on the show on the. Onto one of our events for the first time ever, I think. And I can't wait for that. So they have a new admissions director named Alessandra who used to be at LBs and so she's really keen to take part. I'm super excited. And then we're going to do two more events next week as well with a handful of other top schools. So yeah, just sign up and come out. Those are always good fun. If you need other advice on your applications, we did run two really great admissions tips on the site in the last week. And the first one is called making the most of your campus visit. And Alex, there was some great tips in there that I'd forgotten about. So one of them was a simple thing that says make yourself known. And what we mean by that is like if the school offers you an opportunity to sign up for an official campus visit or do anything that gets you on the admissions team's radar, you should take advantage of that. You don't want to go in stealth and just kind of visit a campus and hang out with maybe a friend you have in the program without, like, you know, being on the radar of the admissions team. If they track this stuff, and a lot of schools do, so definitely doing that is smart. I don't know if you did Wharton track that when you were there. Like, did there. I know there was an official program. I went once, and you could sit on a class, they would give you a sheet with, like, here are all the classes you could go to.
• 4:52
  Speaker B: Yeah. It never went in your file.
• 4:54
  Speaker A: It didn't go in your file. Wharton. Okay.
• 4:55
  Speaker B: No.
• 4:56
  Speaker A: So where. Some schools definitely keep an eye on that. So in any event, I do think that the stuff that the schools organize is. Is usually quite good. So it's worth it that rather than going it alone, like, to just check in with admission admissions and see what's on offer. The other thing we talk about is just, you know, making sure that you're thinking through your visit. Like, what is it that you want to accomplish in the visit? If there's a certain professor you want to reach out to or certain type of class you want to check out, like, make sure you're planning ahead and not just kind of haphazardly dropping in and then going to admissions and saying, what can I take advantage of? Like, you should really do some research in advance with some other tips in there about putting your best foot forward. Like, you know, again, this stuff doesn't go in your file necessarily, but I would argue that whenever you're on the campus of a potential school that you're targeting, targeting, you want to be on your best behavior, probably dressed reasonably well, you know, if not formally, you still, you know, don't want to look like a schlep as you kind of hang out on campus. In any event, we also go through what you should bring and also kind of when is the best time to visit. So read the. The tip on the site. It's. It's really informative. And I believe that there's a video that accompanies that one as well, Alex, because I think we talked about that in the admissions academy.
• 6:02
  Speaker B: Very good.
• 6:03
  Speaker A: Yeah. So, yeah, a lot there. We also did another tip on digging deep with your MBA program research. And this is a tip that goes into all kinds of detail, how to use those who are available to you to get information about business schools and to enrich your file. So building those anecdotes that you can share. So how to connect with students, alumni, or even faculty. So very These are related, these two tips. I think that's why they've run in tandem here, but check those out on the site. Alex, we caught up with someone you know quite well, David Simpson. He's the head of admissions for MBA at LBs. I think he also runs the master's in finance admissions. He's a pretty busy guy. He took part in our admissions director Q and A and we asked him what is one aspect of your MBA program that you wish applicants knew more about? And Alex, I have a feeling you're going to like this because you do some teaching with LBs. And so here's what David said though. He said business schools are only as good as their people. At London Business School we have the best people from around the world gathering to expand their horizons and transform their futures. I refer back to the way students answer this question and the answer is the huge impact that working with a talented, experienced and diverse student cohort brings learning together and from each other magnifies the impact of our amazing faculty's teaching in the classroom. Wherever a case or topic is discussed, there will likely be someone in the class from the country or organization being discussed. Curiosity and collaborative culture form in the DNA of the learning experience at LBs. And alongside the power of our London location, this gives a unique opportunity to grow. So I thought that was really well said by David and quite true when it comes to LBs. Right?
• 7:51
  Speaker B: Yeah, no, absolutely fantastic.
• 7:52
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. He also talked about, you know, he answered the question we have this year about ROI and you know, what are some other ways that students benefit from getting an MBA besides just, you know, how much cash you're going to make after you graduate. And he says an MBA is a life changing experience. You grow as a person well beyond professional development. It's a period of your life like no other. All the networks, skills and experiences you gain will stay with you and add value forever. The primary aim of a great MBA starts with the basics of knowledge acquisition, skills development and experiential learning. But then build so much further. Developing strategic decision making frameworks is a key outcome. You will learn to handle ambiguity, build resilience, enhance your influencing skills and cross cultural competencies. The diversity of the LBS community will give you a lifelong network you can draw on from around the world. You will learn so much from your peers through their vastly different experiences and diversity of thought. So it sounds like David's definitely all in on on the benefits of getting an MBA specifically at LBs too.
• 9:01
  Speaker B: Yeah, he's drinking from the Kool Aid, but a lot of his response There is quite similar to the response to his prior question. Right. It's all about the people you're surround. Surrounded with.
• 9:10
  Speaker A: Yeah. Which is hard to.
• 9:11
  Speaker B: Surrounded by. Sorry.
• 9:12
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. And it's hard to replicate that. You know, sometimes people say, oh, I could sit at home and take some classes online about, you know, learning accounting or operations, but there's a real difference when you're in a class discussing a case and it happens that one of your classmates worked at the company that's being discussed or, you know. So we also caught up with Dr. Naz Ehrengook who is at Florida Warrington, and we asked her the same question about ROI and you know, sort of jobs, salaries, et cetera. And she says, wow, I love this question. I think most students enter an MBA program thinking they're going to learn business concepts and get a job, but it's so much more than that. The Warrington MBA program creates intentional opportunities for students to grow personally and professionally. We have dedicated staff who help co curricular, who help develop co curricular opportunities and experiential learning to complement what is being taught in the classroom. In fact, all full time MBA students are required to participate in our Rise to Leadership series that combines industry expectations with academic competencies to ensure that our Warrington MBA students are set up for success. Additionally, we host our own annual conference, domestic and global immersions, MBA summits and so on. And she goes on from there, but she just talks about how these experiences coupled with the congregation of gators that you'll join is invaluable. And she notes, trivia bonus. The collective noun for a group of alligators is a congregation. I'd never heard that term before, but that's apparently the word you're supposed to use when talking about multiple alligators.
• 10:45
  Speaker B: You always learn something, Graham.
• 10:47
  Speaker A: I know, I know. I hope I never have to use that word. Yeah, exactly. Right. So admissions director Q and A. Number three for this week was we caught up with Chris Jones at University of Toronto Rotman and we just asked him a simple question and this was really interesting. We asked him, how does your team approach the essay portion of the application? And this is the question we ask all the schools. Right. So here's what he said. Rotman has recently removed the essay from the application. We now ask candidates to complete the essay component as shorter form pieces based on several questions related to their career goals, leadership and working experience. This is done using an online tool as a timed written response. They will be asked to complete this section once an application has been submitted. And so I just Thought that was fascinating. Right. So they don't have any essays when you apply, but after you've applied you get invited to do this online kind of instant essay writing exercise. It sounds like. Sounds challenging, right?
• 11:46
  Speaker B: Yeah, really challenging. But again, another symptom of how schools are reacting and responding to student use of or. Or applicant use of AI in the application process, I presume.
• 11:57
  Speaker A: Yeah, totally.
• 11:58
  Speaker B: Yeah, quite interesting.
• 12:01
  Speaker A: Yeah. And then the last thing that he commented on was we just said is there anything else you want to highlight? And you know we don't talk as much about you. Toronto Rotman on the show and it is a very good program, obviously some quite notable in finance being in Toronto. But one thing that he said is I would like to highlight Rotman's Creative Destruction Lab. So I just love that name the CDL Creative Destruction Lab. It's one of the world's fastest growing venture labs. It provides an objectives based mentorship and commercialization framework for early stage, massively scalable science and tech based companies. Rather than acting as a traditional incubator, CDL focuses on bridging the gap between technical insight and business judgment by connecting technical founders with seasoned entrepreneurs, angel investors and world leading scientists. So they have this lab happening there and it sounds kind of cool to me. And yeah, that's just something he wanted to highlight and I thought I would share.
• 12:54
  Speaker B: Yeah. And quite honestly, some of the origins of this whole Gen AI movement came out of Toronto rotten.
• 13:01
  Speaker A: Oh, I didn't know that.
• 13:02
  Speaker B: Well, probably not rotten in itself, but University of Toronto. Yeah.
• 13:06
  Speaker A: Oh, okay. Wow. Oh, that's interesting. So probably a good spot for that stuff then. Otherwise, Alex, I just want to remind everyone that they can email us by writing to infoearadmit.com, use the subject wiretaps. And we do have some bonus episodes that have been coming your way. You probably saw last week in the feed our conversation with Camilla DeWitt. She is a person who works at GMAC and does a lot of the training of admissions officers who are entering the field, but also used to work as Head of Careers and Head of Admissions at ESADE in Barcelona. And I think very, very soon we're going to have the first Admissions Director Q and A podcast of the season and that's going to be with Tricia Bayoni who's the Dean of Admissions over at Columbia Business School. So stay tuned for that. It may drop this week or I'm still kind of putting that together, but it's been recorded so we' close and there are many others that are going to be forthcoming. So stay tuned for all that.
• 14:01
  Speaker B: Very good, Alex.
• 14:02
  Speaker A: Should we talk candidates? You picked out three, so should we get into it?
• 14:05
  Speaker B: Let's kick on.
• 14:06
  Speaker A: All right, so this is wiretaps candidate number one. So our first candidate from this week, Alex, comes from an apply wire entry that you've selected. And this person in question is applying to five schools to start in the fall of 2017. The schools on their list are Columbia and Kellogg in the United States and then ese, INSEAD and London Business School over in Europe. This person's been working in consulting, it sounds like at an MBB consulting firm. They are a sponsored candidate. So their consulting firm is going to be sponsoring their mba. So they will return. They indicate they will be going back to consulting after business school. Their GMAT score is a 665. And in case you're curious how that translates on the older scale that's like a 730, 740, so very competitive score. They have a 7.84 undergraduate GPA, been working for about five years. They are located in Brazil and they mentioned that all their work has been in consulting. It sounds like they've been. They did a couple years at a tier two global firm and now three years at an MBB and that they've consistently been recognized as a top forming consultant and that's why they were awarded MBA sponsorship. They've obviously worked on a number of international projects in their role as a consultant and they do a little bit of social impact and volunteering as a mentor for a non profit dedicated to providing educational support and career guidance to low income youth and I think that's it. They did mention one tidbit that they attended a top three Brazilian university and again, I think you have all the numbers. So Alex, what do you make of this candidacy?
• 15:48
  Speaker B: Yeah, quite honestly, I think this is a strong candidate overall, I think ADCOM will really appreciate the fact that they're sponsored. They're at bcg, going back to bcg. I think it's bcg. They're going back to BCG afterwards. So to me that says a lot about the candidate themselves. I'd quite like to know a little bit more about their longer term ambitions, you know, post consulting, what sort of career path that they could see themselves developing down the road, whether they have a specific sort of industry focus, etc. Etc. But presuming that's in play, I mean the GMAT's good. It's not obviously off the charts good, but it's good. And I assume that the GPA and the undergraduate record is also very strong. So overall, Graham, I think, you know a candidate out of Brazil. Well, I think this is a strong candidate out of Brazil.
• 16:48
  Speaker A: Yeah, I agree. The numbers are there and they're sponsored. So if you're a business school, you're saying, well, we bring this person in, we know we're going to be able to put them back out and they've got a job waiting for them. So that's always appealing. I do agree with you though. I'd love to know what's the long term plan. And the reason I say that is because that could influence where they go because they have a couple of American schools and then a few European schools and these are all excellent programs. But I was like, wow, if they knew where they wanted to land in the very long term, and maybe that's back in Brazil, they could sort of stress test the networks of these schools that they're looking at and they might say, well, I'm going to be at BCG or wherever they, you know, whatever consulting firm that sponsored them. I think you're right. I think it is bcg, but they might say, I have that network and if I go back after business school, that's going to be my leap to the next job. And I don't, you know, the MBA network may not be as important, but I would not downplay that. I really think it could be important, especially if they want to start their own company someday. So, yeah, I just would encourage them to think about where they want to work and including like, where do they want to work right after business school? Because presumably they could change offices and it might be easier to work for BCG in Chicago if you happen to have gone to Kellogg than it would be if you went to, you know, esa. Right. So they, they need to think about where they want to be. And I would also argue you and I talked about this before we came on air. Do you think they could add another sort of top school or two on the US side? You know, they have a couple of M7 schools. Columbia and Kellogg is their target. But I noted the abse of the likes of Harvard or Stanford or Wharton or mit and I wondered why.
• 18:18
  Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, it is quite possible that they get admitted to all these programs, right. And then they'll be like, well, that was a good application season for me. But then the argument is, was it really, did you aim high enough? So, yeah, why not take a punt at Wharton in round one? Or if they have a preference over Harvard or Stanford, what are Those in round one might, might actually be a smart thing to do.
• 18:43
  Speaker A: Yeah, couldn't hurt certainly. So something to consider for them. I do want to thank them for sharing their profile. Very interesting profile. And, and yeah, I think they're going to be very competitive. So just a question of. Yeah, think about the long term plan and how that might shape school selection and being sure that they aim high enough. Let's turn our attention to wiretaps. Candidate number so our second candidate this week again comes from an apply wire entry on the website. And this person's looking to start in the fall of 27 and they have eight schools on their target list and those schools are Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, Dartmouth, Duke, Indiana, Michigan, Notre Dame and UT Austin. This person describes themselves as an innovation and development engineer and they're thinking about consulting after business school. Although they did also list manufacturing, consumer goods and some other ideas here too. Their GRE score is not. No, sorry, not gre. They listed it as gre but they meant to write ea. So they took the executive assessment and they scored a 154, which is a very high score on that test. But not every school accepts the executive assessment. We'll get into that in a moment. Their GPA is a 3.06 years of work experience. They're located in Mexico and they would love to land in the US after business school. They also mentioned that Aside from that 3.0 undergrad, they've earned a master's degree in finance in which they had a 3.7 GPA. They mentioned that right after their MBA, their goal is to stay in the US and work in a strategic corporate role, potentially, you know, procurement manager, operations consultant or some kind of like, like supply chain leadership program. So they have a number of possibilities. Which explains the list they gave above in their entry where they talked about several different possible fields. In the long term their goal is to be, you know, kind of a COO or maybe a CDO development officer. But they are, it sounds like, you know, their main sort of mission is to lead a company's high level strategy. And so that would explain why maybe do some consulting before that. They also do mention that like very, very long term, they wouldn't mind being the CEO of a big company any event. They talk about, you know, their need for an MBA now and you had some exchanges with them both about the EA exam as well as you asked them about outside activities. And I just wanted to mention that they did have a number of things they do outside of work. They do some philanthropy work. They actually organized a charity golf tournament that raised over US$200,000 for Down syndrome support. They're obviously a golfer in their spare time. Tennis also play football or soccer as some would say. And you know, we're quite good at that apparently, at least back, back when they played in, in high school and maybe university. So Alex, what do you make of this Canada to see?
• 21:45
  Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, I'm just a little underwhelmed by their strategy for the standardized test. It seemed to me that they tried to do the gmat, they couldn't get a really strong score and they just worried that they don't have the time dedicated to improve their gmat. Therefore they went the EA route. So what is the EA route? It's an easier test Best. Right. In terms of preparation and so forth. So. But you know, having said that, if you look at the schools that they're targeting, they're not really targeting the M7, the real top schools. So maybe within the, the pool of schools that they're targeting some of them do accept the EA and some of them will allow them to waive tests if they, they need to waive tests. But I would argue that they might really get a lot of leverage out of knuckling down and looking at the GRE and prepping hard and taking the gre. I don't think they need to apply before the second round. You know, they're not necessarily going to be overly represented in the applicant pool and so forth. So if they needed that extra time to then be able to dedicate to the gre, that might provide them considerably more access to some of the top programs. I'm just concerned that whilst a lot of other stuff in this profile looks good, they're going to harm their overall opportunities by leaning heavily on an EA score which you described as very good. I would say it was good. I don't think it's necessarily out the ballpark.
• 23:30
  Speaker A: Yeah, well, the issue is that that test is designed for executive MBA programs. And so anyone going to a full, full time, you know, two year type program with decent, you know, academic chops should be able to get a score like theirs, which is 154. Yeah, you know, the, the average, there's very little data on what's the average EA score for someone who goes to a top MBA program. That's because there are very few top MBA programs that will take the EA there. There are a handful, you know, you do have, I think Columbia, Uva, Darden, Duke, I want to say Stern, Tepper, McCombs. So there are, you know, and these are the schools that are on their list, Right. Some of them. And then there are other schools in the top bunch that will sometimes allow for a waiver. Although, you know, that's. That's, you know, depends on, you know, you have to keep. Keep on top of, like, the. Every school seems to be changing from season to season, so you got to make sure. But.
• 24:23
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 24:24
  Speaker A: I can't help but think there's something else, though, that's a bit of an elephant in the room, which is that, you know, that 3O in undergraduate, which maybe was a challenging program or something. They mentioned that it was just kind of a good gpa, but not excellent. Now, they did really well in their Masters, but I still. The school has to report your undergraduate GPA when they're doing the class profiles, rankings, et cetera. So I'm looking at a 3.0 and this person's coming in with an EA. They're not really helping me with my class profile. And so I would love to.
• 24:55
  Speaker B: Yeah, I would say that's a converted gpa, Right?
• 24:59
  Speaker A: It is.
• 24:59
  Speaker B: So, yeah. A little cautious. Just relaying that I have a 3O GPA, I think, you know, because a 3.0 GPA out of a US school with all the grade inflation we got is clearly in the lower tier.
• 25:13
  Speaker A: Right.
• 25:14
  Speaker B: Of folks. Whereas their. Their representation or their interpretation of their GPA is actually. It's a good GPA. So.
• 25:24
  Speaker A: Right.
• 25:24
  Speaker B: In the US, a good GPA is probably 3.5, 3 6. Right. So they've got to bear all that in mind.
• 25:30
  Speaker A: Yeah. So I would encourage them not to do a translation of their GPA if possible. But even so, I still would say, like, gosh, yeah, I think it would be very smart on this candidate's part to go out there, take the GMAT or the gre. You recommended the gre. Just take a test and it'll expand their options and might help address things.
• 25:49
  Speaker B: Yeah. Quite frankly, you know, why the gre? Because, again, I think it's. I mean, I hate to say this, but I presume it's just slightly easier to prep for.
• 25:59
  Speaker A: Yeah, it depends on. Yeah. Which elements of it. But the math is perceived to be a bit easier. Right. So. Yeah. And.
• 26:06
  Speaker B: And we know that schools will say, well, they got a three. Three, you know, 24 on the GRE and that's a good score when the equivalent to that on the gmat that they'll say is not a good score. So there's that too. Yeah. So that's why I'm like, It's a bit of a back door go after the gre.
• 26:24
  Speaker A: Yeah. So in any event, I think otherwise they're an interesting candidate. Like their work sounds interesting.
• 26:28
  Speaker B: Exactly.
• 26:29
  Speaker A: And they have a plan. I know that it's a way I described it, it seemed a bit maybe haphazard with a bunch of different potential targets. But they have an idea of what they want to do, which is really strategy. And there are a number of ways they could do that. You know, take a leadership development program or work as a consultant. But they know what they want to do and, and you know, they've got some outside activities. Everything kind of lines up. It's this academic component between the slightly lower GPA and the no test effectively is really tricky. So in any event, I would encourage them to do that. I want to thank them for sharing their profile. Hopefully they'll keep us posted as to how things evolve from here. Let's move on and talk about wiretaps. Candidate number three. So our final candidate this week, Alex, comes again from an applyware entry. This person has 19 schools on the target list. And so I'm just going to say it's a smattering of the top, you know, 15 kind of US programs. And then peppered in are the likes of HEC, Paris, London business School. I think I saw, did I see Oxford? Yeah, Oxford's on here too. So it's, you know, it's a who's who of sort of global top 20 type programs. This person wants to start in the fall of 27. They've been working in finance and they want to switch to consulting, but to be at the intersection of, you know, kind of doing consulting work. But in the financial services sector, their GMAT score is a 6. Where is it? 645. And their GPA is an 8.71. Again, if you're keeping score at home, a 645 is like a 690, maybe 700 on the old scale. They've got seven years of work experience, they're located in Bangalore and they would love to land in New York after business school. They mentioned that they are a have had seven years of finance experience across two companies, JP Morgan and American Express. All that work I believe has been out of Bangalore. Although they've been working for the US market, it sounds like in some of their roles and they listed a bunch of, of pretty impressive accomplishments in terms of gains for the company and kind of just managerial responsibilities that they've had. They also mentioned that they're running an AI startup in supply chain Finance, which is backed by Entrepreneur First. And so you had some conversation with this candidate. But I want to just, yeah, get your take. I mean, this is a candidate from India, again, 645 on the GMAT. That 8.7. I do want to mention that 8.7 was earned at one of the IITs in India, which are the very best engineering universities in India. So that's a very high GPA out of those schools. But what do you make of this, Alex?
• 29:09
  Speaker B: You neglect to mention they're also a world record holder or they broke world records in skating.
• 29:16
  Speaker A: Oh, yes, I totally forgot about that. That was in one of the comments. Yes.
• 29:20
  Speaker B: I mean, this person's incredible in my book, Right. So they have really interesting interests and, you know, I'm going to assume their work experience is very good, both on the finance side and the entrepreneurship side. They've got a fantastic undergraduate record, 871 out of IIT. To me, this looks like an outstanding candidate. Okay, they're from India, so they're going to need to apply in the first round and so forth. But the GMAT just doesn't correlate. So to me, they probably rush the GMAT to get over that hurdle so that they could then target some of the best schools on the planet. But they need to go back, get a comparable GMAT score, comparable to the rest of their profile, apply in round one. And I got to think they're going to have some wonderful opportunities at the very top schools.
• 30:21
  Speaker A: Yeah, I agree. So, you know, while they may be a bit overrepresented, I think the work experience looks really sound, as you say, some entrepreneurial experience, amazing grades. They're also very active. You know, I listed a couple of things, but they're quite active in their spare time. And yeah, I forgot about. They've set three world records in skating. This is when they were younger. But still, you know, someone who's got a lot going on and is interesting, I would agree with you. Apply in round one, and I would spend the rest of the summer retaking that GMAT test because they could definitely stand to get more points there. And as you say, it's which one of these does not belong with the other? It's kind of like, why do they have a lower test score? And again, just so everyone understands, it's a fine test score for most people. But the issue is that we're looking at top schools here and the averages are higher than that, so they need to buckle down.
• 31:13
  Speaker B: And everything else in their profile says this is not a regular person person.
• 31:17
  Speaker A: Yeah. What do you make of this school selection, though? So I found it puzzling that they have 19 schools on the list. Some are in Europe, some are in the US and then they clearly state again.
• 31:26
  Speaker B: Yeah. Again, it's a symptom of someone that's rushing the applications.
• 31:29
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 31:30
  Speaker B: I think maybe two weeks ago they had it in their mind, oh, I'm going to go get an mba. What do I need to do? All right, go get this GMAT test done, list a bunch of schools, and let's kick on. I mean, I could be completely wrong, but that's what it looks like to me. If nothing else, knuckle down, retake the gmat, lots of other stuff. Looks really, really good.
• 31:53
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 31:54
  Speaker B: And that should open up some opportunities.
• 31:57
  Speaker A: Yeah. And if they were to watch our Admissions Academy video on school selection, they would see that we typically recommend at least somewhere between 4 and 8 at most. Right. So they need to narrow this list down, and I would encourage them. If they know they want to be in New York, which is what they claim after business school, they should look at schools that maybe are likely to place them into New York. So. And you know, they have Stern and Columbia on the list, I think. I. I don't know if I saw Cornell on the list, though. So, you know, there are schools that might be better suited than others if that's where they want to land. So. Yeah, so they need to narrow the list down and retake the test, ideally. Anyway, obviously, very interesting candidacy. Alex. Thanks for picking these out, as always. 501, to me, was just as fun as 500 in terms of our episodes here. But let's do it all again next week and look forward, but very good.
• 32:46
  Speaker B: Stay safe, everyone. Take care. Of.