Latest / Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast / MBA Wire Taps 527: Veteran, 645 GMAT. From Ghana, 310 GRE

Transcript

MBA Wire Taps 527: Veteran, 645 GMAT. From Ghana, 310 GRE · Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast

• 0:16
  Speaker A: Welcome to the Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast. I'm Graham Richmond and this is your Wiretaps for Monday, October 12, 2026. I'm joined by Alex Brown from Cornwall, England. Alex, how are things going this week?
• 0:29
  Speaker B: Very good, thank you, Graham.
• 0:30
  Speaker A: So for this episode we got big news out of Harvard Business School. Some impossible interview questions, real humans at Berkeley, Haas and Johns Hopkins and of course our candidates to discuss. But first, Alex, give me the rundown what's happening this week.
• 0:44
  Speaker B: We've got lots coming up this week in terms of application deadlines for Fisher McCombs, Marshall Kelly, Arizona Carey, UCI, Mirage, Florida, Warrington Stern and Rice Jones. We also have decision decisions coming out, early action type decisions from Fuqua, Mendoza and Fisher said side or side? Oxford is is rolling out its stage one decision. We've got interview invite release for INSEAD as well as we're predicting Booth and Anderson will also start releasing interview invites if they haven't done so already. So yes, lots of activity for next week.
• 1:31
  Speaker A: Yeah, and I, you know, I know, I know we're in a culture now where people like to gamble on everything. You know, there's lots of sports betting and prediction markets and things and you know, we've had a lot of fun building our little like interview prediction kind of calendar. And so yeah, we're calling Booth and UCLA for this coming week. We'll see if it, if it happens. Luckily there's no money on the line here but, but we were pretty good about hbs, which Harvard Business School. The big news there was they issued their round one interview invitations last week. A little different than in years prior. But any, any thoughts on what's going on with hbs?
• 2:06
  Speaker B: Yeah, I think I first heard about it on Reddit and Reddit had a link to an obscure page on hbs, his website, so, so that sort of was a signal that they were coming out this week. We predicted Wednesday. I think they came out Tuesday and certainly on Livewire, Tuesday was pretty hot for HBS interview invites as well as obviously folks that didn't get invited to interview. So they were either postponed until round two, sort of wait listed as it were, or were denied admission. And we do know that Harvard does take a deep cut in that sort of initial review, probably the deepest cut amongst the top programs. So if you didn't get an interview invite, not all is lost is kind of my point. We see year on year folks not getting an interview you invite at Harvard ultimately get admitted at Stanford or Wharton or whatever. Not the majority but, but some will and so forth. So so this is one school, they've taken a deep cut. So and this really sort of is the bellwether beginning, not the beginning of, but, but you know, obviously Harvard has a huge class size, lots of folks targeting Harvard. So yeah, this was a big news last week.
• 3:30
  Speaker A: Yeah. And I do want to just reiterate that, you know, yeah, they do a steep cut, as you say, they interview a very small group of people, which means that if you do get an interview, your chance of getting in are quite good, usually 50% or better. Whereas other schools might interview a much larger portion of the pool. But then maybe they're making a steeper cut after that phase. So it's a little different. So yeah, don't despair if you didn't get word. The thing that was interesting to me was that Harvard traditionally has posted to their website a blog post from the director that says something like, hey, we're nearly done reading files. You know, interview invites are coming out on day X. You know, it's usually a few days before, a few days after the blog post goes up that they are going to release. And none of that happened this year. And you're right, someone uncovered on Reddit a page that's like kind of a, it wasn't a hidden page, but it was like a non linked page on the site that explained how to sign up for your interview and also offered the date that it seemed like interview invites were going to drop. So yeah, just a little bit weird this year, but any event, they're out and we're moving on. I did want to mention before we get into other kind of news and notes that we've got two events this week. So one of them is tomorrow at 8pm Eastern. So for all of you who complain that sometimes our lunchtime slots for our events are not convenient, we've got Nighttime East Coast, 8pm let's see, tomorrow and Wednesday. And these are our Real humans events. So we have current students and recent grads. From tomorrow it'll be Berkeley, Duke, Georgia Tech, University of Toronto and unc. And these are like an ama, so you can ask them whatever you want. They're a lot of fun. Usually a little bit more low key than the admissions director events we because these are current students and recent grads, they'll tell it like it is. And then on Wednesday we're going to hear from current students and alums at Dartmouth, Tuck, Georgetown, Michigan, Ross, Carnegie Mellon, Utah, Austin, and Johns Hopkins, Carey. So those are both at 8pm you got to sign up on our website. I'm Looking forward to those. And yeah, it should be a lot of fun. And yeah, just a nice perspective. And we hear over and over again from candidates that talking to current students and recent grads or alums is a vital part of the application process. So come on out to these events. Should be really useful.
• 5:37
  Speaker B: Come on out. Can't they just sit behind a computer?
• 5:39
  Speaker A: Grow well, you know what I mean? Metaphorically, yes. Other stuff, Alex, we continue to try to help people with their interviews. And we published two. We published one admissions tip about interviewing. And this one is one of my favorites. It's called the 7 hardest MBA admissions interview questions and how to Answer Them. And there's some real doozies on here. Alex, you probably remember some of these. But one of my favorites is the what other schools are you applying to? That's never a fun question to answer in an interview. And then there's another, you know, some of these, like, I mean, this is like a trap. The one that's like, what are, what concerns do you have about getting an mba? You know, so if you go, if you lean hard on, yeah, well, you know, the economy is not good. I stealing jobs and it's really expensive, you know, then suddenly the person interviewing is be like, okay, maybe this person's not going to come if we admit them, they clearly have some very serious concerns. Right. Whereas if, you know, so it's a, it's kind of a fine line. You don't want to sound like you have no concerns, you haven't thought about anything. But so anyway, I don't know what your thoughts are, but I know there's like a video that we made where we went through these questions that's on our website that you can watch too. Right?
• 6:45
  Speaker B: Yeah, I don't think that question, the first question you mentioned is a fair question at all, but some schools do ask it. And the second question, yeah, I think the focus is on. On should, you know, the, the commitment and the finances and you know, the, you know, the decision to take two years out of your career, I mean, if that doesn't create any anxiety, I'd be questioned to that too, so.
• 7:09
  Speaker A: Exactly.
• 7:09
  Speaker B: So I think there are good ways to answer that second question.
• 7:13
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 7:13
  Speaker B: And yeah, I think it's a great tip. And just as a reminder not to keep push, push, push, but admit bot which we're going to hopefully reveal next week's got a new name and our interview simulator. These were all trained on these types of admissions tips as well as the interview reports and all the other stuff that we've sort of knowledge that we've picked up over the last 20, 20 years of doing all this. So, yeah, no seven hardest interview questions. One of our favorite admissions tips.
• 7:48
  Speaker A: The other thing is we did a tip around this is something I think people don't know enough about, but letters of support. So there's a whole admissions tip and a letter of support is when someone in the MBA community could be a current student, recent alum, a professor writes a note on your behalf and adds it to your file. This is sort of an informal thing that can happen. It's not, you know, you're supposed to be sort of out of the loop on it. And so there's a whole bunch of information about that. And not every school looks kindly on this or allows it, but some schools do. So there's. You can read that post on the site and learn more about it. But these are interesting. You know, normally it would be after you've applied, but before a decision is rendered, obviously you would, you would have one of these folks submit a letter on your behalf. And it's always, you know, can be helpful to have a stakeholder in the community supporting you. So there's, there's a lot of information about that. And I think even there's a video as well for that one that we recorded.
• 8:38
  Speaker B: Yeah, very good.
• 8:40
  Speaker A: Otherwise, we. I wanted to share. We continue to do real Humans where we connect with current students at leading MBA programs. So we did one with students at Johns Hopkins Cary in Baltimore, and we connected with a bunch of them. But I wanted to highlight one student. Her name is Maria Theodore and she is 25, from Boston. Originally went to Harvard as an undergrad and studied classics and biology. So a real renaissance kind of approach there. A little bit of science and a little bit of classics, literature, et cetera. She has been working in biopharma as an investment banking analyst. So focused on biopharma. So investment banking analyst in the biopharma sector. And we asked her to tell us a fun fact about yourself that was not in your application. And she says, I was a Division 1 and Team USA fencer. Fencing taught me to be comfortable, thinking on my feet, to adapt quickly, be agile, be disciplined, and stay calm when things don't go according to plan. So there you go, an Olympic fencer. Ergie's Team usa. I don't know if she made it to the Olympics or not, but still probably a pretty good fencer. We also asked her what's one part of the application process that you would have skipped if you could? And she Says I probably would have skipped some of the overthinking that comes with the process. There are so many decisions and so much uncertainty that it can be easy to second guess yourself. Talking with people I trusted, focusing on what I genuinely wanted from business school, and reminding myself that there isn't one perfect path helped me to stay grounded. So I thought it was nice, really nice advice. I know a lot of people are worried as they go through this process, and I think her advice is really good.
• 10:20
  Speaker B: So that. The first question, though, was it what. What was one thing that we hadn't learned in your application that we should have done? Was that what it was?
• 10:28
  Speaker A: It was like, tell us about a fun fact about yourself that didn't get into your application, which, I mean, they must have seen on her resume that she was a fencer. I mean, yeah.
• 10:36
  Speaker B: How did fencing at that level not get in their application? That's crazy because.
• 10:41
  Speaker A: Well, maybe she didn't write about it in an essay, but yeah, I would. Had to been on her resume.
• 10:46
  Speaker B: If you compete at an international level or you compete for your country, that shows real excellence in a form, you know, in a field in sport, whatever, and dedication, as well as obviously some of the things that she, she articulated that she learned from, from doing. This needs to be in the application, not just as a, as a line item on a resume. This needs to be weaved into the story. For sure.
• 11:15
  Speaker A: Agreed. Yeah. Do you think, do you think we should, like. Would you have recommended that she bring her sword to her interview?
• 11:20
  Speaker B: Well, I'm not sure about that. That might be a little intimidating, but. No, but joking aside, if you're, if you're an athlete at that level.
• 11:29
  Speaker A: Yes.
• 11:29
  Speaker B: That says a lot about your character, your dedication, your commitment, lots of things, as well as obviously your pure talent. So. So yeah, front and center, that should be.
• 11:40
  Speaker A: And I didn't get into it, but, you know, I read her whole profile and one thing that was interesting is she talked a lot about why she's going to Johns Hopkins, Cary. And, you know, she is really fascinated with biopharma and health care, and that is an amazing MBA program for that. So she, you know, really honed in on that being kind of one of their strengths and being able to take classes, I think, in the school of. Is it public health or. I can't remember. She talked about it in her interview. Anyway, if you're interested in Hopkins, go read the profiles of the students. There's. We also caught up with students at Berkeley, Haas, and I want to just highlight one of them this is really another fascinating one. Her name is Anna Jung and she is 32, hails from South Seoul, South Korea. She went to Korea University where she studied business administration. And then she'd been working in tech and she was kind of a growth project manager in the tech industry. And she had eight years of work experience because again, she's 32. Right. So she'd been out for a little while. And we asked her, why did you make the decision to attend business school and why now? And she said, before applying, I read a growth. I read a growth marketing agency for startups. I don't know what that means exactly. But she, she was, she was researching basically startups, and she said it was 2024 and she was watching AI businesses explode, driven almost entirely by startups. With San Francisco and the Bay Area at the center of all of it, even my own clients, Korean startups were steadily relocating to the US So I became convinced that the location matters more than ever right now. As I looked for a realistic way to get to the west coast and launch my career, the MBA became my path. So I think that's really fascinating because here's someone who, you know, she's really interested in AI, wants to be at the epicenter of it all, and then views the MBA as this great vehicle to sort of parachute her in to that, you know, market, which I think is interesting.
• 13:37
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, no, it's absolutely very smart on their part, for sure.
• 13:41
  Speaker A: Yeah. And she mentions, you know, we did ask any advice she has about the application process and she says reaching out to current students and talking with them in person or virtually talking to current students or alums is the only way to get a real feel for the place. And you can tell right away that Hossis are down to earth and that they help each other. Listen to that. She then says, I even flew in from Korea to visit the campus. And I don't regret it for a second. After that visit, I realized I love the campus. I love the people here. A second year student gave me a tour even though it was the middle of winter break. That was the moment that I saw how much people here help one another and how proud they are of the school and of each other. It sparked something in me again, not everyone can get on a plane and come to a campus visit, but you can see it had a real impact on her.
• 14:27
  Speaker B: Yeah, no, Very, very good.
• 14:29
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. So in any event, I think that's all I have. We can talk about our candidates in a moment. I did want to plug. We did A podcast with Bruce delmonico at Yale SOM. Bruce has been in this space since, I think, 2004, I want to say, so he is a true veteran of this industry. He's been at Yale the whole time and he's a friend of mine. So I had a great, it was a really great conversation. We learned all about his, you know, prior career as a lawyer. He's from New Haven originally, so he's got a lot of local insights into the market there and he even offered some good restaurant and ice cream tips. So it was a fun interview. You can see it, listen to it wherever you're listening to this episode now.
• 15:10
  Speaker B: Very good.
• 15:11
  Speaker A: If you want to reach out to Alex or me, just write to infoearadmit.com use the subject line Wiretaps. We love getting your mail and we will write you back. So please send us a note if you can. Alex, anything else? Should we talk about our candidates?
• 15:24
  Speaker B: Let's kick on.
• 15:25
  Speaker A: All right, this is WireTaps candidate number one. Our first candidate this week has six schools on the target list. This comes from an apply wire entry that they submitted and they're looking to start school next fall. The schools on the list right now are Duke, Indiana, Michigan, Kellogg, Notre Dame, and uva Darden. This person's a military vet with a focus on kind of operations. It sounds like they want to get into consulting or potentially they wrote other industries too. So. But I think consulting is probably the initial post MBA career plan. They have a GMAT score of 645. If you're curious what that means on the old scale, which is probably just good for people like me who are too old and have been around too long. But on the old scale, that's like a 690, maybe a 700. And then their GPA is a 2.96, which they earned in mathematics and economics from one of the US Military service academies. They have eight years of service. They're located in the states. They didn't say where and they want to land ideally in the Midwest. And they mentioned that they're a veteran and that they'll be sponsored for their MBA studies. So, Alex, what do you make of this candidate? Because you had some dialogue with them on the applyware entry UFC a comment, and they wrote back, yeah, I mean,
• 16:41
  Speaker B: obviously if you look at the sort of counting stats and, you know, stats thing and you see that GPA that initially that would create some concern. I think anything below a 3.0. But the service academy is sort of typically doesn't have the sort of same level of grade inflation as other universities tend to do in the Western world. Certainly here in the UK and in the US that's absolutely for sure. And they studied math and economics, but I still, I highlighted that as a potential issue for them. And they did already recognize that they've written optional essays, they've already applied in round one to a lot of schools. They're targeting written in the optional essay about their lack of maturity and so on and so forth. And they're hoping that their career and certifications that they've acquired over the interim sort of really assures schools that they have the academic aptitude. Their GMAT at 645 Again, it's not outstanding. And they think there might be scope for a little improvement there based on their practice tests. And it might be that it would be worth having one more go at the gmat, even though they've already applied because obviously, you know, they're now in consideration, they're interviewing at these schools. If they did come back with a slightly higher GMAT score, that would show further commitment to the process as well as further trying to overcome this potential issue. Typically, you know, adcom, you know, they like military candidates. Military candidates have really strong experiences that relate really well with sort of preparation for, for top tier MBA programs. So I would presume that that operations experience they've had in the military will help elevate their overall profile and so forth. They already have an interview invite at Ross, so that's a really good positive signal. And I would think a program like Ross and others in that sort of top 16 tier would be really good target programs for, for this candidate. I mean they, they do some things outside, outside of work, which is quite nice, scuba diving, etc. It looks like they're also a bit of an entrepreneur. They just made a small mention of starting an llc. So to me that means you're an entrepreneur. So that might be very interesting too. And just I guess we need to get just a slightly better handle on their goals. I mean consulting coming out of mba, that's very standard for military candidates. So that's very good. And what then post consulting. And does it tie to that entrepreneurial sort of endeavor that they're already starting to explore? If it does that, that might help resonate also. But yeah, I think overall, Graham, this is potentially a very interesting candidate, but there's clearly an issue they've got to overcome with that gpa.
• 19:55
  Speaker A: Yeah, I was sort of torn when I looked at this because on the one hand, like you say Service Academy. No, great inflation. And they studied math and economics, which are, you know, disciplines that an admissions director would want to see on a transcript before business school. And yet they're below, you know, they're below 3o, which is like a little bit of a red line. And so ordinarily, yeah, you would say, well, just get a great score in the GMAT and you'll be all set. But they kind of fell short there. Yeah. So. Now, on the other hand, though, the reason I'm conflicted is it's not like they're applying to hbs. Right. They have a list of schools that's, you know, sort of top. You know, 16, top 20, 25, and Kellogg. Oh, that's right. They do have Kellog analysts. Yeah. So, but still, it's, you know, if you look at Notre Dame, Indiana, like, they. They may make the cut. Right. I think, you know, this is a compelling candidate, really. You know, solid outside activities, great track record, it looks like, and as you say, maybe even a bit entrepreneurial. This would clearly be someone who adds to the program. It's just that the numbers may drag down the class profile a bit. So schools are, you know, always cognizant of that. So. Yeah, so I think this idea of maybe resetting it sometime in the next month or so and getting that updated score in may influence the outcome as well as any potential dollars. Although I think they're fully sponsored, so they may not care about that. So in any event, it's an interesting
• 21:11
  Speaker B: situation, though, also, if they did, let's say they came back and got a 685 on the GMAT, like really was, was able to push it up, that might open doors for a round two strategy, too.
• 21:21
  Speaker A: Exactly. Because suddenly, you know, there might be different. A different set of schools available to them. Right. So, yeah, in any event, I want to, you know, obviously wish them the best of luck. I know they're in process, and they've already gotten an interview at Ross, as I think you mentioned, so things are, you know, moving along. But I would definitely consider pushing on that GMAT score. Yeah, best of luck to them. I want to thank them for their service. Let's move on and talk about wiretaps. Candidate number two. So the second candidate, again, an applywear, and this person wants to start school next fall, and they have six schools on their target list, and those schools are Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Duke, mit, and Darden. This person's been working at KPMG in transaction advisory. They're based in Ghana. They're actually a Manager at kpmg. They've kind of fast tracked their way to manager. I think they even skipped over, you know, one of the intermediate steps to get to that role because they been so successful at work. Their GRE is a 310 and their GPA is a 3.3. They've been working for five years. They mentioned that outside of work they play tennis, they work sometimes as a DJ and they volunteer their time mentoring underprivileged children at a school near their home. They also mentioned they play football and they really want to transition into strategy consulting at a leading firm, ideally one of the MBB firms. And longer term they'd love to be head of strategy for a big time, you know, Fortune 500 company in the US. They also, you know, are recognizing that they've got a lot on their plate. They have two young daughters and they want to build a successful career. So in any event, they're targeting these pretty top US programs, right? These are all kind of top 16, you know, programs and a couple of M7 and stuff. So what do you make of their profile? Profile and their chances, Alex?
• 23:12
  Speaker B: I mean again, I really, there's, there's a lot to like about this candidate. I'm not sure about that. 3, 3 GPA in terms of is that converted, etc. Etc. Because I got to imagine they did well at undergrad to get to KPMG as well as then. They've sort of been fast tracked, etc. Etc. So, so from that perspective, I think things look really strong. They're a slightly older candidate, but that's, I think that's perfectly fine as long as they can establish the why. And I presume actually our military candidate is also just going to make sure that they establish that why now piece of it. But obviously again for this candidate the big issue is going to be that GRE score. They want to get into mbb. They've got to apply to top tier programs to get access to MBB and they can't, they're not going to be able to do that. I would find it would be very difficult to do that. I should shouldn't say it can't be done, but difficult to do that with a 310 GRE. So they're applying in round two. They really should take some time, really knuckle down and blow that GRE score out of the ballpark. I'd like to see it in the mid-30020s at least for them to then figure, yes, my plan going forward is realistic because everything else about this profile looks really good. I mean, obviously they, they're family and stuff, which again, I think our military candidate also has a young family, but also that they're active outside of work. I really like the mentoring aspect. So to the extent that they've done that and how impactful that mentoring has been, that can resonate really well in their applications and so forth. So, yeah, lots of potential, Graham. But they got to do something about this GRE score.
• 25:06
  Speaker A: Yeah. And I think one of the good bits of news here is that they're applying in round two. Right. So they have some time. And I think, you know, I mean, I will say they have a bit of a way to go. Like they're 310. I really want them to be above 320 for these schools that they're targeting. So that's a big leap. But, you know, it's doable and they
• 25:24
  Speaker B: got to be smart. Right. They've done so well at KPMG. So come on, this 310, let's really push, push. Not that 310 is an awful score by any means, but we're talking about the very top programs that they need to get access to if they want access to mbb.
• 25:40
  Speaker A: Yeah, exactly.
• 25:40
  Speaker B: So that's their goal.
• 25:42
  Speaker A: Right. And I just worry right now that tandem, as you said, of a 33 and a 310 is just not going to cut it. So they need to up their game. I mean, one thing I was reading about actually in preparation for this too was that, you know, we keep hearing, you know, different things from the US government about which countries are not allowed in, et cetera. And Ghana had originally been on some kind of a list, but it was only for employment. So, you know, like people coming in who want to work in the US or something. And now it's apparently that I think that might have been rescinded. But whatever the case, it was never for students. So, yeah, if you're in Ghana, you can apply to a top MBA program, get in, get a visa and go. But yeah, just wanted to mention that too, in case people are wondering.
• 26:20
  Speaker B: No, it's a good point.
• 26:21
  Speaker A: But I feel like this person get a better score on that test, apply in round two and yeah, see where the chips fall. Really impressive career and it sounds like an all around, you know, good person with some interesting, you know, activities and a family and stuff. So, yeah, best of luck to them. I want to thank them for sharing their profile. Alex, I'm going to be heading out on the road. I gotta head up to Boston over in the United States and then making my way down to New York and Philly. So we'll record the next one. Probably I'll be in a hotel room somewhere, but we'll make it happen.
• 26:49
  Speaker B: Very good. Good luck with the trip.
• 26:52
  Speaker A: Thanks. All right, we'll see you next week.
• 26:54
  Speaker B: Very good. Stay safe, everyone. Take care that.