Latest / Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast / MBA Wire Taps 437—695 GMAT, enlisted. MBA and Sustainability. 331 GRE, Startup founder.

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MBA Wire Taps 437—695 GMAT, enlisted. MBA and Sustainability. 331 GRE, Startup founder. · Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast

• 0:17
  Speaker A: Welcome to the Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast. I'm Graham Richmond and this is your Wiretaps for Monday, July 21, 2025. I'm joined by Alex Brown from Cornwall, England. Alex, how are things going this week? Very good, thank you, Graham. Yeah, it's, you know, summer is in full force here. It's been, the weather's been nice and yeah, I, I love this time of year. I mean, it's as we always talk about on the show. It's, you know, lots of new candidates coming into the pipeline asking really good questions and, and that's reflected in the candidates you picked to review this week for sure?
• 0:50
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, no, no, no doubt. But yeah, I think we're getting towards the end of last recruiting season. Still seeing a little bit of weightless chatter, but not. It's definitely dying down as I, I assume actually some schools are starting preterm or will do so very shortly.
• 1:09
  Speaker A: Yeah, agreed. And I did see a little bit of activity around Columbia J Term, that's their special MBA program that starts in January and then runs straight through so that you finish in, you know, a little less than two years as a result. But yeah, other than that, it's been pretty quiet. We'll see. Yeah, preterm, usually late July for some of these schools. So we'll see how it goes. Maybe there'll be some last minute move, but in any event. Yeah, so this is an exciting time of year. The other reason I'm excited is because we keep interacting with prospective candidates via our monthly webinar series that we're doing right now. This July, we've been running these essay breakdown series where we literally go over the essay questions with admissions directors from schools. So this past week we had a really fun session. It was, what was it? Yale and Michigan and Vanderbilt and unc. And there was. And I guess what was the other school? Oh, Georgetown. Yeah. So we had a really good discussion. It was the second in this series of four webinars. And this Wednesday we're going to do another one with Columbia, Washington, Foster, LBs, INSEAD and Georgia Tech Scheller. So that should be fun too. And then there's one more on July 30th. But yeah, just been. I always just get energized hearing the stories of these candidates and, you know, when we interact with them in these webinars.
• 2:32
  Speaker B: And so, you know, I'm going to ask you, Graham, what did you learned last week?
• 2:36
  Speaker A: Boy, there was. I mean, it's really interesting to hear how schools are approaching AI. As I said, you Know last week when we recorded, because it was a kind of running theme again, but a lot of talk about, I mean, schools are really open to candidates using it. They just want you to use it to polish, to brainstorm and not to generate the entirety of your written submission. We also just talked about. And maybe this is a function of the schools that we had last week, but there was a lot of discussion around getting to know the programs that you're applying to and making sure that that manifests in the materials you produce. So, you know, I think that that is true as. As we talk about some of these schools, like, they want to see that you've done your homework and that there's a fit there. But you. You saw the transcript.
• 3:20
  Speaker B: Yeah, I would say I. I do think we need new admissions tip. Right. So I messaged you. I slapped you about this this morning.
• 3:26
  Speaker A: Yes, I saw that on.
• 3:28
  Speaker B: You know, how to use Gen AI effectively in the admissions process. Right. So how can applicants use it? Because we're feedback from these essay events. So I think we. I think it's. It's definitely something that candidates would truly appreciate. And I would also argue that that second point that is fit and doing research on schools that also becomes much more accessible with Gen AI tools. So, yeah, I think we're going to talk to our publications team and get some of this rolling. Graham.
• 4:06
  Speaker A: Yeah, that's a great idea. And I think, you know, just while we're talking about this, I really think that the tool that we've built, the clear admit little AI bot that's based on, I mean, what 20 years of knowledge that we've produced on the site, is incredibly effective at helping candidates to think about differences between schools and even just their candidacy. And you see all the questions people are asking that bot, I believe. Right. So that's been really illuminating. Yeah.
• 4:31
  Speaker B: Yeah. And also, I mean, yeah, it's trained on all our web content. So is OpenAI and Gemini. I suppose they can scrape all our web content, but it's also trained on transcripts, like from this podcast. Right. So I do think, actually we're able to create something that's pretty novel and very instructive.
• 4:55
  Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
• 4:56
  Speaker B: For our candidates. So I'm really excited to watch how the tool is being used. As you say, I can see the prompts.
• 5:03
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 5:04
  Speaker B: Obviously it's completely anonymous, so I don't know who's doing the prompting.
• 5:08
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 5:09
  Speaker B: Or anything like that. But. But this is the new era. Right. We know candidates are going to be using tools like this to, as you say, Brainstorm, plan their application strategy, doing research, etc. And the polishing side. And ADCOM absolutely recognizes that that's going to be the case. So that's very good.
• 5:37
  Speaker A: Yeah, totally. The other thing I want to mention is I think it was last week, maybe not this past event that we did, but somebody left a comment during the webinar saying that they loved the podcast and that it was funny to see, I guess to see me presenting because they only hear the audio. So that was kind of nice that there was someone there nice who's a regular listener and we plugged the show so hopefully there'll be some new listeners coming on. The other thing is, if you do want to join us for this coming Wednesday's essay webinar or even next Wednesday's, you got to sign up. You go to bit ly mbasa 0725. So join us for that. Alex I got a bunch of news and notes this week out of the kind of MBA universe. So number one, University of Toronto Rotman Business School, they've launched a one year MBA as well as a MIM Master's in management. And so they did a little press release and essentially it sounds like they're going to offer both one year and two year versions of their mba, the two year coming with an internship. And so this is all big news and I'm guessing that people will be able to apply starting now or this fall and then that the program will start thereafter probably fall of 26. So in any event, that was kind of a little bit of a news and note thing that we had out of Toronto. We also heard from John Hopkins Cary, they're expanding their MBA program. They're going to basically take the full time MBA and operate it out of Washington D.C. while they continue to operate all their joint MBA programs and accelerated MBA out of Baltimore. So that was kind of big news. And they also, they launched some other specialized masters as well. So just a lot of new programs coming on the scene and kind of interesting with John Hop Johns Hopkins getting that footprint in dc. I mean, I wonder what the likes of Georgetown and the other kind of D.C. schools think about that because Johns Hopkins is a noted institution and DC is a a good market for young professionals. So interesting news there.
• 7:35
  Speaker B: Yeah, no, and I meant to ask you just back to Rotman, any particular prerequisite for their one year mba? Is it for folks that have already got a business degree, for example?
• 7:46
  Speaker A: Yeah, so the idea is that you have to. I don't have the exact details, but there's A quote where they talk about how students will leverage their academic business background. So you have to have an academic background in business.
• 7:56
  Speaker B: Yeah. Okay.
• 7:57
  Speaker A: And that's what allows you to accelerate because you'll probably waive some of those core classes. So. Yeah, that's how that's set up. And see that often with these one year type programs.
• 8:06
  Speaker B: Yeah, makes perfect sense. Kind of like London business schools.
• 8:08
  Speaker A: Yeah, exactly.
• 8:09
  Speaker B: I think theirs is even more rigorous in terms of that sort of prerequisite.
• 8:14
  Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. Then the last tidbit I had with regards to kind of just articles we've been putting out on the site is we connected with a student at NYU Stern, who wrote all about NYU's student led impact fund. So that's an investment fund focused on impact or impact investing, I guess you would say. And they just chronicled why they went to Stern and how they got involved in this club and all the things that they've been doing. So that's a kind of recurring series we have where we try to get voices from current students at top business schools. So you can read that if you're interested in impact investing or Stern. Good stuff. I mean, Alex, I know this is kind of an area you keep an eye on too.
• 8:52
  Speaker B: Yeah, no, fantastic. But I will also say Stern does very good at finding folks to contribute to this series of ours. Fridays from the Frontline. We're often hearing from start Stern students. It would be great to hear from other students at top programs too.
• 9:09
  Speaker A: Yeah, that's true. I got to ask Lauren. But yeah, some of these schools are more proactive than others about, you know, recruiting students to do this.
• 9:14
  Speaker B: Yeah, Stern's a real supporter, I think. Very good.
• 9:17
  Speaker A: Yeah, no, we love them. Let's see. We did some admissions tips, right? So it's that time of year. The tip we published, the big one, was writing your MBA application resume. So how do you make a resume for business school that is accompanied, I believe, by a video that you and I recorded as well? So if you want to see Alex and I talking about resume creation, there's a video. And then we also did another myth buster. And the Mythbuster this week was all MBA roads lead to consulting, tech or investment banking. So we debunk that. You can read that. If you're curious to know what are the other things you can do after business school? There are many different paths. Last but not least, we connected with two admissions directors as part of our ongoing admissions director Q and A series. This is something we do every year. We connect with the top, I mean, admissions Directors at all the top business schools in the world. So this week we had Mohammed Sal, Sal of Rotman at Toronto and we asked him about the essay portion of the application and Muhammad said, my advice is to be unique. With the use of AI, many essays look and read the same. This is something our team picks up on. So anytime an essay feels original, it is refreshing. One thing candidates should think about is why Rotman. While it's nice to know that you, you know that you've done what you've done up to this point in your career, you need to answer, where do you see Rotman helping you get to? To that end, a common mistake is candidates not outlining how Rotman can facilitate their career and life goals. Too often the essays outline what people have done and where they want to go without mentioning how Rotman can facilitate that. So there you have it from Rotman, I guess. Yeah, they definitely want to know that you've done your homework and can see a fit with their program spec.
• 11:05
  Speaker B: I think they took the two tips that you learned well, not that you learned for the first time, but you took from last week's NBA essay event and basically confirmed those two tips, right?
• 11:18
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 11:19
  Speaker B: So it's, you know, be careful, be cautious how you're using AI. They know you're going to be using it, but don't use it simply just to generate the content and know the program. Know why our program is a great fit for what you've done and where you want to go.
• 11:38
  Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. And then the last, the second admissions director Q and A that we published this past week is from Paul north over at Ohio State Fisher and again asked him about the essays because I always find that the responses they give on this are usually quite interesting. So we asked again advice for the essays and Paul says the essay is often reviewed alongside the resume as part of the holistic application process. Consider how these two elements work together to tell your unique story. The resume highlights what you've accomplished and your wow factor. While the essay focuses on fit, answering key questions about your goals and why you want an mba. Our admissions committee wants to see that your goals align with what Ohio State's career focused MBA program offers, ensuring a win win. The most common essay mistakes include typos, failing to answer the prompt, demonstrating a lack of research about the program and presenting an unclear personal vision. Yes, your goals may evolve during the program, but during the application process you need to articulate your current goals clearly. So Alex, I thought that was really good advice because we talk about that.
• 12:47
  Speaker B: A lot yeah, no, absolutely. And again, I'm not saying repeating, but making some of the very same points as. Yeah, the leader from, from Rotman and through your MBA essay series webinar last week. Right. So, you know, just make sure you're answering the questions. Make sure that you really understand our program fit, etc. Etc.
• 13:11
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 13:11
  Speaker B: And have a plan, have goals, really understand why you're investing two years to, to accelerate your, your career going forward.
• 13:22
  Speaker A: Yeah. Very, very important stuff. Last sort of tidbits. Before we get into this week's candidates, we need reviews of the show or ratings. So please, if you can, especially on Apple where you can write a review, that would be fantastic. That's how people discover this show. But at minimum on Spotify or wherever you're listening, give us a rating. That helps too. Or just tell your friends, shout it from the rooftops. One last thing also is that we published a special episode of the podcast last week, again, audio from the NBA Fair that hosted in Boston at MIT Sloan. And this is audio from a panel that we did with admissions directors from Columbia, Cornell, Tuck and Georgia Tech. And it was a panel that we called what yout've Grades, Tests, Work and Activities. So these are the kind of nuts and bolts items that you bring into the process. I think next week we're going to publish this other panel that's kind of a companion piece which talks more about what you say. So essays, et cetera, rec. Interviewing. So that'll be forthcoming. But you can listen to that wherever you're listening to this episode. It's up in the feed. And obviously if you want to reach out to Alex or me, you can write to infoearadmit.com use the subject line wiretaps and we will write you back. Alex, anything else before we talk about this week's candidates?
• 14:42
  Speaker B: Let's get going.
• 14:43
  Speaker A: All right, so this is WireTaps Candidate number one. Our first candidate for this week is looking to start start school in the fall of 26. So they're applying now and they have a bunch of schools on the target list. They've got Berkeley, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Georgetown, Harvard, mit, nyu, Chicago, Wharton and Yale. So sort of a who's who of some of the top schools in the land. They are a military candidate. They want to work in consulting after business school. And they mentioned Bain, BCG and McKinsey as their target. They initially took the GMAT and scored a 655 which was like a 700 or 710. But then they retook the test and they Ended up getting, I want to say, what was it, a 695, which is more like a 750. So bravo to them for upping that score. They have a GPA of 3.14 from undergrad, but they also have been pursuing a master's degree. It sounds like part time at a top public university. It's a master's in analytics and they're going to finish that by this fall. And their GPA so far has been a 3.9. They've got seven years of work experience, they're deployed in the military and they want to land in either the Northeast or Chicago. Again, they're hoping to use the MBA to pivot into strategy consulting and unfortunately they don't have any real context surrounding their low undergraduate at GPA that 3:1. They did say they double majored in accounting and econ, but again they're hoping that their test score and their current master's degree, which both have kind of off the charts numbers will, will compensate. They also mentioned that before they enlisted in the military they spent two years as a whitewater rafting guide and that since enlisting they've had a couple promotions, they've been deployed, they're supervising folks, they've won a number of awards and you know, they also do some other stuff. They're a data analyst for the American Red Cross, they do some cycling with the Air Force cycling team and have completed two half Ironmans. So there you have it. Alex, what do you make of this candidate?
• 16:53
  Speaker B: Yeah, I mean this does seem like a very interesting candidate I suspect, and we don't know this and maybe you suspect the same thing, that maybe this is a candidate that sort of found their purpose and their path, pathway a little bit later in, in their life. Right. So they, they went through undergrad, they got a 314 GPA in a, you know, probably quite a rigorous undergraduate program, went off, became a white water rafting guide or whatever it was and, and not there's anything wrong with that, but obviously it's not the, the traditional track for someone that's then ultimately targeting a top mba. They then decided to enlist in, in the military. And in the military they, they look like they've performed well, right? Had some great experience, but really, you know, taking a couple of really I would assume quite prestigious awards and really doing quite well. They're also volunteering for the Red Cross doing analytics work. They, as you said, they, they've, they're completing a master's degree with a 3:9. So that sort of helps. Sort of mitigate that 314 GPA from undergrad, but they reach, as you said, they retook the GMAT 655. There was an okay score for top schools, but certainly a little bit below the median. But they really delivered on that retake. Right. With a 695. So it just points to me, to someone that's actually, actually really developed sort of personally and professionally over the last four, you know, four or five years. And quite frankly, Graham, I think they're probably a very decent, strong candidate at this point that, you know, their goals are reasonably standard for military candidates going into consulting straight after mba, that makes perfect sense. And then going into strategy in the corporate environment maybe on an operation side that tends to be where military folks land and so forth. But, but yeah, I got to think that this is a quality candidate at this stage now of their sort of career path.
• 19:11
  Speaker A: Yeah, you know, I think the, the blemish is that 3.1 for undergrad GPA, but as we said earlier, 695 on the GMAT, which is like a 750 on the old scale and 3.9 in the masters. So they've addressed, they've done everything that you possib possibly could do to address a low gpa. Right. They've gone out and done additional coursework and they've gotten a stellar test score. And I tend to agree with you. It does seem like maybe a couple years of whitewater rafting, guiding and then off to the military that they maybe found their kind of path a little bit later. But when I was reading their profile I was like, oh, it's kind of cool. It's sort of an interesting experience and I bet they learned a ton as a whitewater rafting guide and that that's kind of. And obviously they've learned a lot in the military too. But I just feel like this is an interesting, candid, someone who seems to have a really good head on their shoulders, know what they want now and they have the numbers in terms of recent numbers to really prove that they're a strong candidate. They're probably going to have to whittle down this list. I think you discussed that maybe with them on the post, but they're not going to apply to what is there 11 schools here in the first round. So they'll apply to some in the first round and then add more is my guess. But I'm optimistic. I really like this candidate. They have a well rounded profile and have done what they can to address the weaknesses.
• 20:25
  Speaker B: So, so it's curious about this white water rafting because I think we're coming at it from a couple of different angles here. How should they pitch this? Because this is very non traditional. If you're ultimately applying to Harvard and your first two years of your career was as a guide, as a whitewater rafting guide, you know, before you, you, you end up enlisting into the military, how should they pitch this? And, and again, it could be. And you know, they could have undertaken this for one of two reasons. One is they really didn't care at that point what they did and they just enjoyed the outdoors. So therefore this job came along, so they took it. Or maybe they have some real passion for this and wanted to pursue it and excel in it and did some really cool things. But I'm curious how you would pitch it if you're applying to Harvard and you've got this two year experience, how do you pitch it?
• 21:23
  Speaker A: Yeah, I feel like it's interesting. I think that it's such a great opportunity to display sort of leadership and teamwork and all these stereotypical things that we would associate. You're in a raft with people and you're guiding them through, presumably through tough territory and to safety at the end. At least that's the goal. So I actually think it could play really well and I think everyone would understand this is an initial, initial thing that this person did out of college and as you said, yeah, maybe they didn't have a full career plan yet, but I feel like they make up for it by later getting into the military and having a successful career there. So I just think it could be an interesting source for a little anecdote in an essay depending on, you know, whether I don't know what stories they have to tell from that time. But to me it'll play well as a kind of leadership, teamwork type, you know, experience.
• 22:14
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, no, no, I kind of agree and I certainly think joining the military is absolutely fantastic. But I know a little bit about my career path. Right. So, you know, I went into horse racing or whatever straight out of undergrad and did some things and probably did it for longer than two years. But my point is it would have been quite difficult for me to pitch exactly what I was doing as a really good grounding for, you know, coming to Harvard or Wharton or whatever it might have been. So. So, yeah, anyway, it's just a bit about my own personal sort of journey, which, yeah, I'm not. I've never applied to top business schools like, like you have, Graham. So. So I'm. I'm a little bit more skeptical, I guess.
• 23:01
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 23:02
  Speaker B: Through my own experience.
• 23:03
  Speaker A: Yeah. I think. I mean, I would not make the whitewater rafting the centerpiece of their candidacy. I think obviously they should focus on the military. But I think there are essays in schools where you have that opportunity to talk about something that you're passionate about or a unique experience you've had, and this would fall into that bucket for sure. So.
• 23:18
  Speaker B: And I do think, no doubt, the military, the military, enlisting in the military, the story from then forward and, you know, retaking the GMAT and getting that masters in analytic. There's a lot to like about this candidate. It's just to me, quite interesting how you pitch this first two years.
• 23:38
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, definitely. Well, I want to thank them for sharing their profile and for their service as well. And yeah, let's see how things turn out. Hopefully they'll keep us posted. In the meantime, let's turn our attention to wiretaps. Candidate number two, our second candidate this week is applying to six schools. The schools are Berkeley, Duke, Michigan, Stanford, unc, Kenan Flagler, and Penn Wharton. They want to start in the fall of 26. This person's career to date has been in digital marketing and environmental nonprofit customer success. They are thinking about consulting after business school and they have Accenture, Bain, bcg, Deloitte, and Ernst and Young on the target list. They have a 330 on the GRE. Terrific score there and a GPA of 3.83. They've got four years of work experience. They're located in Brooklyn, New York. And they mentioned that they're pursuing a dual MBA, masters of sustainability. Those are the programs they're applying to. To. For fall 26, they studied marketing and psychology at a top 20 US institution for undergrad. First job was in digital marketing and now is working at this environmental nonprofit, working with large corporations. They are hoping to move into corporate sustainability consulting post grad and ultimately into a leadership role on a sustainability team in house for a company. And, you know, so they have this on a joint degree, which I guess, guess is dictating a little bit. The schools on their target list. What do you make of this candidacy, Alex?
• 25:11
  Speaker B: I love the undergrad. Right. Marketing and psychology. Absolutely fantastic. If they, if they did a bit of Python programming too, then I think they lit up for success. But, you know, 330 GRE, 3.83 undergrad. Absolutely fantastic. Now let's assume that their career to date is full of growth and impact because those are obviously two broad measures. That I always look at in terms of how folks have evolved sustainability, having that as a core interest in terms of what they've done and their goals, etc. Is really important. I think that's something that obviously top MBA programs really respect. They understand that their leaders coming out of these programs need to be, you know, create organizations that are good for the planet, etc. Etc. So. So quite frankly, Graham, I think there's so much to like about this profile overall. I mean, outside of work, a little bit of sports stuff and they play the cello. Right. So again, different ends of the spectrum of different things that they do. So I think this is probably again, a very strong candidate. Unlike our first candidate. I'm convinced that this person's been on the same track the whole time. Whereas maybe our first candidate has got more of a, I'm not saying a redemption story, but has, you know, it's gotten into the right place now where they're at and so on and so forth and doing really, really well. Well. But yeah, I really like this candidate, Graham. I think everything points to target top programs. You mentioned before we came on air, Yale probably should be on their list. I'm not convinced that the dual degree is the right way to go. More so just get into the best MBA program that they can target. And to me that's M7.
• 27:14
  Speaker A: Yeah, it's interesting you had this debate with them. As you said to this person, why, you know, why do you need the sustainability masters? Why do you need not just go to an MBA that has a strong focus in that area? And the person wrote back and said they really want some technical skills and expertise that the MBA will give them. So they seem to be keen to pursue that coursework. They also did mention, I didn't mention this earlier, but they have a number of outside activities and things too. So as you say, they're strong all around. They're cellist playing a rec sports team that they captain. So yeah, there's a of lot, lot to like here. I had mentioned Yale because Yale has a, you know, also has a joint degree program with their school of Environment and also with the forestry school. So there, there is a, you can do a sustainability kind of joint degree, but perhaps they, there might. I don't know the spec. Sort of specifics of what this person wants to do post MBA other than, you know, that they want to be in sustainability and do that kind of consulting. But I don't know the specific area, you know, whether it's energy or, you know, it's hard to know right. Where they're going to be focusing on run.
• 28:16
  Speaker B: So I guess my point though is Graham, as when you're in an MBA program, yeah. You spend your first year pretty much doing MBA coursework, you know, the standard stuff, whatever it is, which have a school. But in the second year when you're doing electives, you're going to be able to pick and choose and focus on sustainability. Right. And go off to the school, you know, whatever the sustainability school is at the university, you're doing your MBA and you know, take some of those electives within the MBA curriculum. Right. The elective part of it. So you know, I'm, yeah. Anyway, I don't want to completely distract them from pursuing a dual degree but I do find that quite a lot of folks, they start off in the application process thinking dual degree is the right way to go and as they learn more and more about what their options are, etc. Etc. For some folks actually the MBA will actually allow them to do this. The, the, the, the, the content from the other school that they were looking at. But by focusing on only the mba, maybe they can get into a better, you know, really target the very best programs.
• 29:33
  Speaker A: Yeah. So they do have a couple of M7 on their list at this point with Stanford and Wharton. But I know, I hear what you're saying. I think that the other thing though I would encourage them to do is read the fine print if they're going to go down the path you're suggesting because some schools allow you to take any number of electives across the university. Other schools, it's limited to like, you know, one or two classes only that you can take outside of the business school.
• 29:54
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 29:54
  Speaker A: So they need to look into that and it really varies and it's, you know, some schools are very strict and some are totally open ended so look into that. But I do want to thank this person for sharing their profile. I think they're going to, you know, great numbers, interesting background, interesting goals and it's a joint degree which you know, I think will, will help them stand out to some extent and so I think they're going to find success.
• 30:15
  Speaker B: Yes. Yeah.
• 30:16
  Speaker A: All right, let's, let's move on and talk about our final candidate for this week which is WireTaps candidate number three. So this candidate has five schools on the target list and those schools are Columbia, Harvard, MIT, Wharton and Yale. They like our first two candidates, wish to start in the fall of 26. Their career to date though, they list as kind of startup founder. So they've been working, you know, as an entrepreneur. They want to stay in that domain. They mentioned entrepreneurship and technology post MBA as the kind of domain that they want to be in. They have a 331 on the GRE and a 3.4 undergraduate GPA. They've been working for six years. And they mentioned in the notes to us that they are first generation immigrant to the U.S. they also mentioned their naval service member. So I'm assuming that means they, you know, they joined the military at some point and maybe are no longer or I don't know if they're maybe I don't know if the Navy has like reservists or what. But in any event they, they were in the Navy at some point, I guess, and then they started a business, they mentioned and they also. This is the other key wrinkle that I got to get your take on, Alex. They hold an MBA in IT management which they completed online and from a low or, you know, not, not a kind of big rank type school. They have worked in product roles at startups and enterprise companies like Salesforce and Greenhouse. They've built solutions. They're currently a founder and CEO of a company that's an A doing some work in AI with regards to like property operations for commercial facilities. So they've got a lot going on. They also do some outside kind of things like their work with this nonprofit that's dedicated to creating access to education for West African youth. And you know, they are, they, they know this is coming so they said that they're pursuing a second MBA from a top program to strengthen their leadership in enterprise tech, gain access to a long to. Sorry to a strong foundation founder and investor network. And they're just trying to refine their strategy with their own business as they scale nationally. So they're looking for programs that are strong in entrepreneurship, social impact and tech. And that's why they have the list that they have. Yeah. Alex, what do you make of this? Because there's kind of a lot going on here between what sounds like some military experience, some you know, work experience, maybe working for companies, but then also running their own and then the fact that they already have an mba.
• 32:43
  Speaker B: Yeah, I think that the, the big point here is I think we need a bit more clarity in terms of exactly what they've done, their growth, impact, etc. Etc. And when I say that, I mean they provided a lot of information on Apply Wire, but it wasn't really done so in a cogent fashion. And my point is, is that, you know, when they apply and use the essays to narrate their stories, etc. Etc. They're going to have to be really crisp and clear in, in that narrative. So assuming they can do that and things make much more sense and we understand what their military career is with respect to their career as a startup founder, with respect to their career as a product manager, etc. Etc. When, when, when that becomes, becomes clear. I do think this is probably again another strong candidate. I mean that. 331 GRE. Yeah, 3, 4 GPAs slightly lower than our last candidate, but obviously that, that, that GRE score is very good. I'm guessing in this case that 3, 4 might come from an engineering degree, so maybe quite a rigorous undergraduate experience. Anyway, being a startup found at times two I think is potentially really interesting doing that work as they're first generation immigrants doing work, volunteer work for West African youth. So I'm guessing they're from West Africa, that's where they've come from. So we're speculating a little bit on some of the story. I think if we had the full, full story and it was developed in, in, in, in a good fashion, they, then this could be a strong candidate. They've got to sort out this. I'm doing a second MBA and it seems like they've got good reason for this second mba, but that's definitely something that they'll tackle either in the optional essay or whatever it might be. You know, maybe the first MBA came at the right time to give them some core business, technical, technical skills they've been able to use to get some of these startup opportunities off the ground. Now as they say, they want more sort of leadership. They want to be in amongst other folks that are entrepreneurs and founders etc. So I, I totally understand that. I'm also speculating that they're female just from their, their username profile, which may or may not sort of add another sort of element to the story. They might struggle a little bit like sourcing the right recommenders. Just as an entrepreneur, that's always a bit challenging. So they've got to think long and hard about their selection of their recommenders and so forth.
• 35:38
  Speaker A: Right.
• 35:38
  Speaker B: But I think their biggest challenge is just get their story straight, make it really understandable. And there's potential here that again, this may be the third strong candidate that we've reviewed this week. Grab.
• 35:51
  Speaker A: Yeah, I agree. I mean I look at this profile, I couldn't tell like, you know, I'm like, is this person, you know, someone who's like bounced around between five different jobs and started a company, but no, no big results yet or are they this like, you know, really impressive, like they've, you know, gone off to, you know, they had decent grades, great test score, go to the military, then you know, work for Salesforce or wherever they were and then start a company and you know, they're, they're growing, scaling and they need the MBA to kind of get to the next level. Like they need to get this story down so that we can understand it. And you know, and I think one question, besides getting wrecks, which is always challenging for an entrepreneur and you know, you have to go to, you know, kind of other businesses that you work with or you're, you know, the company's lawyer or accountant or you know, a big client, et cetera. But beyond that, sometimes people struggle with the idea of like, wait, if your company's going so well, why are you leaving and how will you manage that? You know, if you're going to be running the company while you're doing the mba, like they need to understand that. Right. And that can be challenging too. So they'll need to have a story around that as well. If the goal was to continue with this, you know, this, this business that they've built, which it sounds like it. Yeah, yeah. They'll need to be convincing on that front too that they have others that, that are in on the team who are going to be running the day to day while they get their mba, you know, so in any event, and.
• 37:06
  Speaker B: That'S important too because the school doesn't want to think that you're going to be completely distracted from all the other opportunities that the school will be providing over that two year experience.
• 37:17
  Speaker A: Exactly.
• 37:17
  Speaker B: You, you raise a really important, important point.
• 37:20
  Speaker A: Yeah. So in any event, I do want to thank this person for sharing their profile. Really interesting. Do we just. Yeah. As we said, we need clarity but could be a compelling candidate as long as they can explain, you know, Ymba and get everything else in a row with respect to the, you know, the career to date, etc. So Alex, thanks for picking these out. As I said earlier at the top of the show, love this time of year with all these new candidates coming into the Clear Admit community. And yeah, if you're joining us for the first time ever on the show, really, you know, we welcome you and we're here every week. We haven't missed an episode in what, five years, Alex.
• 37:52
  Speaker B: Something crazy.
• 37:53
  Speaker A: Something crazy. So we'll be back next week. Yeah, get, get ready, Alex. Pick out some other, some more candidates for us for next week.
• 37:59
  Speaker B: Very good. Very good. Stay safe, everyone. Take care.