Latest / Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast / MBA Wire Taps 428—From China, 675 GMAT. From Africa, 333 GRE. Columbia vs Yale.

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MBA Wire Taps 428—From China, 675 GMAT. From Africa, 333 GRE. Columbia vs Yale. · 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, June 2, 2025. I'm joined by Alex Brown from Cornwall, England. Alex, how are things this week?
• 0:28
  Speaker B: Perfect. Very good. Thank you, Graham.
• 0:30
  Speaker A: So Alex is a former admissions officer from the Wharton school and current ClearAdmit community manager and podcaster. Alex also teaches digital marketing for some top MBA programs, including Columbia and London Business School. And I'm the co founder of ClearAdmit. Also worked in admissions at Wharton, where I first met Alex and have an MBA from the program. Alex, what's going on this week?
• 0:50
  Speaker B: Well, not a lot of activity in terms of deadlines and admissions and so on and so forth because we are getting towards the twilight of the last rounds. There are still some schools releasing decisions, but obviously there's a lot of other news come out this week that's really pertinent, unfortunately.
• 1:13
  Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. And, yeah, the only activity I've seen on the wires is, like, there's been some deferred enrollment stuff happening, and some of the folks are applying for those. But, yeah, the big news this week has been, first, the US Government said that Harvard could no longer enroll any international students. And they just put a freeze on their right as an institution to have international students, which, as you might imagine, would have been kind of catastrophic. Harvard quickly countersued and has an injunction that's been placed on that, you know, on the government's law, or it's not even a law or whatever. The executive order. That's Trump's favorite thing to use, I guess. So that's sort of kind of been put off. But then what the government has done since is they shut down student visa interviews for any international. They basically told all the embassies stop doing student visa interviews for international students to come to America.
• 2:08
  Speaker B: Stop, stop taking new appointments. I think that was the. Yeah, like, if they already have appointments, they can take those appointments, but not take new appointments until they've resolved some stuff.
• 2:21
  Speaker A: Yeah, they claim they're going to be changing the process a bit to include social media vetting. So in case your, you know, profiles on social media are, you know, somehow offensive to the US Government, they want to have the right to look at that. Now, I don't know how. What's weird is they're not saying how long this is going to take, and it's a terrible time to be doing it. Right. I mean, this is exactly when students are trying to get their visas to come to school in the fall. Right. So it's Terrible timing and there's been quite an outcry about it. And you know, the last thing I heard, actually, just as we're recording this, I heard that now the US government or Trump was saying, President Trump was saying something to the effect of Harvard should have no more than 15% international students in its, you know, across its student body. And they're currently more like 25, 27%. So again, I don't know where he's getting this number from. Yeah, it's just this is, it's sort of this back and forth and I mean, just terrible for any international student that's kind of planning to come and maybe hasn't yet had their visa issued. So. So, yeah, I mean, we actually, we wrote a long piece about this over on clearadmit.com I feel very strongly about this. And the piece I titled it Turning Away Tomorrow's Leaders. And I recognize that US institutions are here to educate Americans, but they're also, I think one of the key benefits of these institutions is the fact that they're open to the world. If you think about things that the US does, well, traditionally education would be at the top of the list. Not K through 12, but university level education. I mean, the US is really highly regarded and I think some of that is because of the ability of the US to bring in people, the best and the brightest from all over the world. I don't, I mean. Alex, what's your take on all this? I mean, I just, it's really disturbing to me.
• 4:06
  Speaker B: I think it's shocking and quite frankly, it's just depressing. Like, I really do not like going to see, see the news anymore because it's one absurd decision after another. And this, this really has real life consequences for folks listening to this podcast, for folks that we care deeply about in terms of administrators, etc. Etc. That we know personally. I mean, it's, it's, yeah, I think shocking if, if I was back in my role at Wharton, I'd be so stressed out right now.
• 4:48
  Speaker A: Yeah. Eric askins over at UC Berkeley Haas had a really wonderful post on LinkedIn and we quoted him in the piece we did. And he said this is just like a self inflicted wound. Like, why would you do this? And again, our show is not a political show. I mean, we talk about MBA admissions, but this has real impact. I think every American who's studying at Harvard or Wharton or any of these great business schools that we cover benefits from the presence of international students, students in the classroom immensely. I mean, I, you know, I saw this firsthand. When I attended my MBA program, I mean, it was just, you know, even within my learning team, I had people from different parts of the world, and that was super valuable. I mean, how do you expect people to go on and lead massive global corporations without having that exposure? So it's just. It's wrongheaded and stupid and it's a shame. And I'm really hoping that, you know, I mean, obviously it's great that the government was blocked with respect to not allowing any international students to come to Harvard, but, you know, this whole thing with the student visa interviews being paused, I mean, that's terrible. And I'm hoping that that gets remedied really fast. I mean, this is just terrible all around. But, yeah, probably enough said. But I don't know if you have any other thoughts, Alex.
• 5:55
  Speaker B: No, I think we're all along the same sentiment.
• 5:59
  Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. So, on a brighter note, I'm really excited actually. Next week or. Well, this week, on Wednesday, I am going to moderate some panels here in Paris. So there's an event. It's Wednesday evening in Paris from like 7 to 9:30pm and it is Harv, Stanford, Wharton, Columbia, MIT, Kellogg, Chicago, UCLA, UVA, Darden and Dartmouth, Tuck. They're all going to be in Paris, the deans of admissions from each of these programs. So the very top folks in these admissions offices, they're going to be in Paris and they're doing an event. And I'm moderating the panels for the event. So we're going to have two panels with five schools each talking about, you know, why would you get an mba? But also a lot about the admissions process. So this never happens. You never get 10 schools in par. You know, 10 new American schools of this caliber all together in Paris. So I'm really excited. I know we don't have a ton of listeners in Paris, or maybe we have a few, but. So come on out if you can. You can sign up on our website. Just go to Bit Ly. Paris. Topmba. All one word, all lowercase. It should be fun.
• 7:09
  Speaker B: Yeah, no, absolutely fantastic.
• 7:11
  Speaker A: Otherwise, Alex, we've got some things going on on the website, as usual. We did a piece about the cost of applying to business school. And I think most people think about, well, what does it cost to go to business school? But this is a really useful thing where we break down, like, what might it cost you just to apply to business school? So. And it's beyond application fees. You know, there's things like taking the GMAT or the GRE or if you're going to visit a school or you know, even like if you want to sign up for some test prep, etc. So we do sort of a budget and it's a really useful piece that's up on the site and it's been updated for this year. We also did a piece and I don't know, maybe this was at your behest, I don't know. But it's. We looked at test waivers, waivers and test requirements at all the top schools. So there's a chart that just sort of takes you through, like what are all the schools require, testing wise, are they open to waivers or not? And so it's a very simple chart, but I think quite useful. Again, updated for this current season. So good stuff there. Was that your idea, Alex? I don't even remember.
• 8:09
  Speaker B: Yeah, I don't remember if it was my idea or not, but it's definitely a very important piece.
• 8:14
  Speaker A: Yeah, got to see it. The other thing is that we ran a story about Forte. As you know, we love the Forte Foundation. It's an organization that really helps advance women in management. And obviously one of the pieces of that is helping women get off to business school. And they do an annual report each year on post MBA salaries and they look at kind of payment, you know, pay gaps and things. And you can read the article, but I was, you know, once again dismayed to read that. You know, they, they've polled people and among people's first post MBA jobs, the average salary rise for, for a Non minority was 74%. For a female non minority, the average pay raise, and this is from your pre MBA job to your post MBA job was 51%. So huge gap there that has not really moved much in the last few years. Underrepresented women are actually doing a bit better. They have a 57% rise in pay between pre MBA and post MBA. But yeah, it's just a shame there's this like 70 something percent raise for men, whether you're minority or white or whatever. And then it's more in the 50s to high 50s for women. So that gap persists, unfortunately.
• 9:22
  Speaker B: Yeah, and as you say, Forte is a real sort of force in this space to try to help, you know, educate folks in this regard, but also hopefully in the long run narrow that gap.
• 9:36
  Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, because you know, you could say, oh, the, the men are making more than women because of the types of jobs they go for, but this is about a percent change. So it's not even about, oh, the men are taking the private equity Jobs more than the women are or something. It's not that, you know, this is literally what's the percent difference, you know, and, and I think, yeah, just for whatever. And. And the other thing that's kind of strange to me is you might think some of the women coming into business school maybe aren't making as much because they're working in, in fields that are less lucrative or something. If you're, if you're going to just sort of look at the overall ways that, you know, women are coming from areas like, often marketing or consulting more so than like, hard finance. And. But that's not even, you know, again, it just, it's frustrating to see this. It just, it doesn't make sense to me.
• 10:17
  Speaker B: Yeah, I completely agree.
• 10:18
  Speaker A: Yeah. All right, well, enough frustration. Let's talk about some really more frustration. Let's talk about some really good stuff, which is we caught up with a few more alums from top MBA programs. First up this week, we talked to Will from UNC. Kenan Flagler. He graduated back in 22. Okay. And when he graduated, he went and worked in healthcare. I want to say he worked with Glaxo or one of the big pharma companies. But now he's the CEO of a company called Grantees. He hails from Philadelphia, so little hat tip to Philly. Went to Umich, Michigan, studied molecular, cellular and developmental biology and had worked in like, pharmacology research before going off to business school. And as I said, he went to GSK, so GlaxoSmithKline and did a couple years post MBA after Keenan Flagler. But then now he's for a couple years been founder of this startup. And in case you're curious, Grantees is basically, it's an application that helps with scientific grant writing and academic fundraising. So he's, you know, helping people to raise funds to do important research. Sounds like a really cool thing that he's built. And we did ask him, what's one piece of advice you wish you'd been given during your mba? And I thought this was really great. He said, I wish I was told going in that the most important way to learn in an MBA is through the friends you make in the program. So really simple advice. And I think, you know, obviously not to take away what you learned from the faculty, but I think he's making a really good point. And, you know, as I alluded to earlier, I learned so much from my learning teammates when I was in business school. And, you know, they came from all over the world. Couple Americans with me in the group, but there were a couple of internationals as well. And yeah, you just learn so much from the people that you study with at these programs and you make friends for life. Yeah.
• 12:04
  Speaker B: So it's a win, win. And I just hope, you know that this guy's business grantees is navigating the fundraising aspect. Well, given again, what the government's currently doing in that regard.
• 12:23
  Speaker A: Yeah, I did think about that, because the government's been pulling back from some of the top universities in terms of funding, but there are many other sources of research funding and many of them require grant writing. And so hopefully his application applies there too. We also caught up with David, who is a Rice business school graduate and he works at McKinsey. He's an associate there, 28 years old, originally from Mexico, went to the Instituto Technologio. I can't even say it. Technologico Autonomo. And it's in Mexico. And he did a BS in industrial engineering there and then, as I said, went to Rice, but before Rice was working in kind of human resources and. And a little bit of Fintech as well. So a couple of different jobs. And now is with McKinsey. Right. And it's been there just. Just for 10 months or so because graduated in 24. So we asked, what's one piece of advice you wish you'd been given during your mba? And he said, find a solid group of four to five people that are as driven as you are and leverage one another to prepare for recruiting. Recruiting takes time, energy, and effort, which can take a toll on you mentally and emotionally. Having a group of friends or peers through the journey makes it more enjoyable. Thankfully, this happened for me organically. If possible, interact with another group of people. That way you can gain other perspectives and multiply opportunities for yourself and for the overall group. So that's another, you know, another benefit of, like, the people you're in the program with.
• 13:56
  Speaker B: I would say no, absolutely. And really good advice.
• 13:59
  Speaker A: Yeah. And I think most of our listeners know, but if, you know, if you're targeting a job like at McKinsey, all these business schools have consulting clubs and they have little spinoff groups that help each other to prepare for interviews. So there are lots, lots of resources that you can tap into in business school to get ready for recruiting. And I think it does make sense to, yeah, have those small groups that you can get together with regularly and, yeah, just help each other through the process. So last but not least, we talked with Saran, who is working at Morgan Stanley and graduated from Emory Suran works as an investment banking associate and she's 30, originally from. Well, this is interesting. So Suran is. Originally she listed three kind of hometowns, right? One is Abidjan in Cote d' Ivoire, another is Kankan in Guinea, and the other is Libreville in Gabon. So she's kind of, I guess, lived in and around several different countries in Africa leading up to business school, went to USC for undergrad and studied chemical engineering with an emphasis on petroleum and then went to work as a field engineer in the oil and gas sector with Schlumberger. Schlumberger, I guess you say, and then post mba. As I say, he's been working in banking. And you know, we asked Saran, like, why Emory Goizuera? And she said, I wanted to attend a school with a small class setting and still hold a strong reputation for its academic program and focus on principled leadership. This value still follows me today as in my current role but also in life. I act with honesty, integrity and transparency, which are critical skills to establish a long term relationship with a client as well as with your team members. Additionally, the sense of community was a key factor for me because it reassured me that I would would receive the support necessary to grow personally and academically. So Saran has landed on her feet getting a job at Morgan Stanley in New York, by the way, out of Emory. And really, you know, seems to have valued the kind of smaller pro, you know, smaller program, lots of leadership opportunities at Emory. So there you have it.
• 16:01
  Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. Fantastic. And what an interesting profile they have too. So. Yeah, yeah, no, really good.
• 16:09
  Speaker A: Yeah. And I think, think there's more in the interview that we did with her, but you know, she talked about how, you know, getting to New York from Emory, you know, getting the, the banking job. And so, you know, we often talk about like, can you, can, can you go to New York if you're not in New York already? That kind of thing. And you know, clearly there are pathways. Right. And I, I suspect that, I don't know the details, but I suspect that maybe some of her banking work is perhaps centered on the energy sector or something. That would be a logical thing given her background. But in any event, yeah, really good, good profile. And I love reading these, as I say every, every week, I love learning. So head to the website if you want to know more about any of those individuals. Other than that, we're still looking for listener mail. If you want to write us, you can write to infoearadmit.com, use the subject line wiretaps and we also love your reviews and ratings. So if you're listening on Spotify or Apple, please rate the show. And if you can write a review over on Apple, that always really helps us to get the word around. Anything else though, Alex, before we talk about this week's candidates, let's get going. All right, so this is WireTaps candidate number one. Our first candidate this week is applying to four schools and they're going to apply this summer and you know, ideally start in the fall of 26. The schools they have on their list are Berkeley, Michigan, UCLA and Yale. They have been working in corporate strategy, pre MBA and they want to get into either technology, consumer or consumer goods after business school. They have a 673, but I think they mean 675 on the GMAT. There was just a glitch when they posted. They had a 3.5 undergraduate GPA, five years of work experience and they are based in China and they've had those five years of work experience are actually they've been working for I guess they have five years experience as a financial business partner in a US company that's based in Shanghai. They basically went through a financial trainee program and have worked in both energy and consumer goods in this role. Their undergraduate degree is from a, they say, not famous university in China, but they did have a 3.5. They're hoping to transition into corporate strategy and they say, you know, that their skill gaps that they think they need to fill are like market research, translating analyses into decisions and C level projects. They're having trouble selecting schools because they think that corporate strategy and finance are kind of a niche path for post mba and so they wanted to kind of get our advice on that and also just like which programs might be a good match based on their numbers and things. So Alex, what do you make of this candidate?
• 18:49
  Speaker B: Yeah, I mean I'm not sure that I would agree that corporate strategy, finance or whatever is a niche package I think and it'd be good for you to weigh in on this, Graham too. I mean I guess I get that most top tier candidates are looking to either go into consulting, investment banking or tech or other finance related fields and less corporate finance. But I would argue that the MBA is very well developed for those folks that want to go directly into corporate finance rather than consulting finance and so forth. Wouldn't you agree Graham?
• 19:34
  Speaker A: Yeah, and just to be clear, I mean they say they want to work in corporate strategy or financial planning and analysis which I think they put hand in hand. So they want to be like working inside a company, doing kind of helping the company to figure out, like, what should we pursue next? Like, what are our key projects? And so there's a lot of finance that goes into kind of calculating the net present value of a given, you know, new product line or project or. So that's what they want to do. And I agree with you. Business schools are great at preparing people for these roles because it's really quite similar to the type of work you would be doing if you were going to, you know, a top consulting firm or, you know, maybe, you know, one of these kind of consulting firms with a kind of financial analysis bent. Right. So, yeah, no, it makes sense to me.
• 20:15
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. So that's exactly my point. So, So I wouldn't use that as a reason for selecting specific programs because I think all top programs are well designed to satisfy the sort of the learning requirements of this candidate. And you know, they listed out some things they want to learn, things like market research and so forth. I mean, that's going to be, that, that's going to be very evident in the core curricula I've been programs. One of the discussions we had, Graham, on apply wire is, you know, do they need to apply in round one? Is there an advantage of applying in round one versus round two? Coming from China and the 675 GMAT, if there's some scope for improvement, is the value in retaking that GMAT that to nudge the score up even higher? And if there is value in that, then if the consequence is that that pushes their applications back to round two, what would be the best approach? So again, I'd quite like to get your take on this. So coming from China, is round one that much more important than round two? And would a few points higher on the gmat, that score make a difference in this case?
• 21:43
  Speaker A: Yeah. So I mean, 675 equates to like 7, 27, 30, depending on the old, old test. So just to give people a sense of it. But I, you know, I would say China used to be kind of overrepresented, maybe less so. Now in the pool, most schools that I talked to say they've seen, you know, declining volume from that market. So I, I think, you know, round one or round two, I mean, they have good, they have a good background, they have a solid gpa. And so if they felt like they could wow the committee with a score that's 685, 695, that puts them above the average score at Top programs, then yeah, that could be worth delaying the app and getting it in round two. I mean, ideally, given where we are in the calendar, they would just do it all over the summer and get their apps in round one anyway with a new test score. I don't personally think they have to take the test again, I think it depends. If you look at the list of schools that they mentioned when they filled out their Plywire entry, you know, there's some range here, you know, with, you know, maybe Berkeley's harder to get into than ucla, but so there's a little bit of range. Right. And they, they could land at one of these programs with their current profile, assuming they execute well on the application. So it's up to them. What I would argue is that a much higher score may open doors even into sort of M7 programs and things like that, which could be useful. Right. So, yeah, that, that's the thing.
• 23:05
  Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, I think my, my overall advice would be same as yours. If you can retake the gmat, if you do think the scope for improvement, then that probably is, is a good thing to do. If you can get it done before round one deadline, that would be preferable. I would certainly have some, some of their applications in, in round one if they spread them between rounds one and round two, maybe. Because again, I, you know, they, they recognize that their undergraduate degrees not from a famous university. So the more that they can show that that doesn't matter. Look at this also, this wonderful GMAT score, etc and so forth that can really help mitigate if they're a bit worried about the, the quality of their educational experience. So, so, so yeah, other than that, like you, I think this is probably a very decent candidate. They got to do a really, a really good job of showing that impact and growth at work, etc. Etc. And, and also, you know, hopefully there's some other stuff about them in terms of extracurriculars that can show a little bit of that additional sort of layer. But yeah, hopefully this is actually quite a strong candidate overall. Graham.
• 24:26
  Speaker A: Yeah, agreed, agreed. Yeah, they definitely just need to execute and, and you know, they have some outside activities they can speak to as well. So yeah, I want to thank them for, for sharing and yeah, good luck as they navigate and pick, pick schools and, and decide whether to retake that test or not. So let's turn our attention now to wiretaps. Candidate number two, our second candidate this week listed all schools when they indicated where they were applying. And I think the reason they did that is they don't know exactly where they want to apply yet, but they too are going to be applying this summer and fall starting in the fall of 26 6. This person before business school has worked in a number of different roles but all around the healthcare space. So pharmacist, researcher, writer, medical sales rep etc. They want to get into consulting or maybe pharma after business school. And so they list some companies including McKinsey on the consulting side but also AstraZeneca, Pfizer etc for kind of post MBA job twice targets. They have a 333 on the GRE which is a terrific score and they have a 3.74 GPA in undergrad. They've been working for four years. They're located in South Africa and they want to land in the States after business school. They indicate they've had a lot of leadership experience both in university and even in their current work. They've had experience managing and starting businesses at and they also have been taking Python classes and pursuing like it sounds like a data science certificate or maybe even a degree. It's unclear from their comment here in parallel to their work because they felt that it would be useful. They're currently located in Nigeria and you had some back and forth with this candidate Alex where they got in a little bit to the details of like what they want to do post MBA and you know, which round they should apply in and that sort of thing. But what do you make of this? We don't know what schools they want. I know there was some dialogue about that too. But what do you make of the sort of building blocks that this person brings to the table?
• 26:31
  Speaker B: Yeah, I'm making the assumption they're from Nigeria working in South Africa but I'm not sure that's exactly correct but it's, but my commentary is based off of that assumption. Okay, so they could potentially be coming from an overrepresented population in terms of Nigeria. But again the only consequence of that if that is the case is you know, get everything ready for round one right if they can. I think they should be targeting the top healthcare programs in the U.S. so the, the standard top programs are the likes of Wharton and, and Kellogg and, and Duke Fuqua and so forth. And I think they want to target HBS because they have a, they have a dual degree that's particularly interesting to them in, in their field and I think that they, they could be a really high caliber candidate. They've got obviously the academic chops. They're really good gpa, outstanding GRE score. They articulate that they've got, had a lot of leadership and various other things through their university, but also through their, their career to date. I think their biggest challenge is telling their story effectively. So they're going to really need to work hard on their narrative showing that impact and growth. Cut out some of the jargon. We talked about this before coming on air a little bit. Some of the, the words that they've used in our correspondence respondents on apply wire don't really resonate with me. So I'm not sure exactly what they've been doing but it sounds like that. Yeah, it sounds like they've been doing some really good impactful stuff. So if they can tie that all together with a really good cogent set of post MBA goals then I really do think they should be targeting those very top healthcare programs and Harvard, etc. Etc. They also have some outside of work activities, some NGO volunteering and again a lot of their volunteer work is related to their passion and interest in health care and so forth. So yeah, quite frankly Graham, I think with a really good story development and so forth, this will be a very strong candidate.
• 28:58
  Speaker A: Yeah, agreed. I mean I, yeah. And I think just going back to the jargon thing. Yeah. You know they, they talked about they're being, you know, they're driven by the desire to reduce the pressure on existing antimicrobial pharma pharmacotherapy and they go on and on and I was like, I have no idea what they're talking about. Right. So they need to be mindful of that. Even if they're applying to like that joint degree at Harvard which is that it's a, basically it's a Ms. MBA in Biotech and Life sciences.
• 29:23
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 29:24
  Speaker A: Or you know, obviously Wharton has their healthcare management program and you know they talked about Hopkins as well, doing kind of I gu. The carry MBA at Hopkins but being able to have access to some of that healthcare stuff that's, that's obviously very strong there too. So yeah, I think everything lines up. They have fantastic numbers. They just need to get their story, you know, really straight with respect to, you know, the audience that they're pitching this to, which is a non healthcare fluent audience. So. But yeah, no, I, there's a lot to like, I mean plenty of activities, amazing numbers. 333 GRE, 374 GPA. Right. So. And maybe a bit overrepresented if they are from Nigeria. It's hard, I can't figure out from the comments if they're in Nigeria now. And working or. And from South Africa or vice versa. But either way they risk being overrepresented and so applying in round one would be smart. Yeah, for sure.
• 30:12
  Speaker B: Yeah. Again, get that story straight and well developed. I do think they're a strong candidate.
• 30:19
  Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. Well, I want to thank them for sharing their profile. Let's move on though and talk about wiretaps candidate.
• 30:26
  Speaker B: And just to note, Graham, before we do, we just just previewed two international candidates so let's hope the current troubles pass very quickly.
• 30:38
  Speaker A: Yeah, agreed, agreed. Absolutely. So let's move on and talk about WireTaps candidate number three. So our third candidate this week comes from a decision wire entry that you've picked and this one's pretty straightforward. This person applied to Columbia and Yale. They applied with a 334 GPA. And a 365 GPA. Sorry, 334 GRE. 365 GPA. And they got into both schools. Okay. And what's interesting is they said Yale just unexpectedly dropped a scholarship on me for two thirds of tuition or half the total cost of attendance. And that scholarship, in case you're curious, amounts to $120,000. So Columbus, Columbia and Yale both accepted them, but Columbia with no money and Yale with 120k. This person has 9 years of non profit experience. They have a data background and they say non profit data background and finance before that. They want to pivot though into tech PM roles or edtech venture capital. They indicate their humanities have a humanities academic background which is sort of shaping their goals a bit. They say that they liked CBS far more when visiting and they recognize it'll open more doors. But Yale's money is big, they say. Is it too big to brush off? So yeah. What would you do if you were in this situation, Alex?
• 32:04
  Speaker B: Well, my first comment is I'd not heard of business schools do this before, but maybe we'll see a little bit more of this. Right. Where schools reach back out to admitted candidates to negotiate scholarship on the other side. I guess so. I just thought that was quite interesting and it was good to talk about that approach a little bit. I always think that the leadership in admissions at Yale is super strong and very innovative. So this is perhaps a reflection of that. Yeah, I think this is a really difficult decision because they've obviously got some buy in to Colombia, they preferred it, etc. Etc. When there was no scholarship money at play. Now that is a significant amount of money and I think to me it would boil down to how important is it for this candidate to be in New York City during their MBA program and the advantages that does bring. So maybe they could be doing some networking directly as they're doing their mba, doing some internship type work during the semesters and so on and so forth. That is less that sort of stuff you, you can do with top MBA programs directly in New York City that you can't do so much in, let's say a program in New Haven or something like that. Is that a real advantage to them? Is that really important? If not, I got to say yes, that Yale's offer with their goals I think is very strong.
• 33:40
  Speaker A: Yeah, I, I think, I mean it's challenging, right, because it's $120,000 from Yale and, and a lot of Yale folks end up in New York where this person wants to work. You know, Columbia has an edge, of course, they're in New York, higher ranked program on most rankings and, and you know, obviously brand new facilities, there's a lot of things going for it and like you said, access to the companies that might be employing people in those, you know, kind of PM roles, et cetera. So yeah, it a challenge. I, I mean I will say if they really liked Colombia a lot more, that's, you know, worth considering too. I mean, I wouldn't want them to go somewhere that they're not going to be happy. But I do think that Yale fosters a really nice kind of small, you know, closer knit environment and you know, and, and it is a lot of money. So it's certainly something to consider. I mean, you know, we talk about this a lot like it's rare to see that much of a gap in, in funding. Right. So you would say that, that you know, 120, 120K versus 0 is. That's a big gap. Right. And so it may bridge the gap with respect to any kind of rankings concerned too. Because it's so much money, so. Exactly. Yeah, that, yeah, you said it better than I could. Yeah, yeah. And I also think they owe it to themselves to talk to these schools about the jobs that they want because I mean frankly Ed Tech vc, that's going to be challenging at any business school. And remember the VC jobs typically are Stanford, Harvard and Wharton dominated. Right. So they need to, they need to look into that. And now with the tech pm, that's a lot more common and so, but I would, yeah, I would encourage them to just do a little more digging and see what the outcomes are and where they'd be comfortable and, but, but yeah, I mean obviously, congratulations to them. They got into a couple of great schools and and that is a significant scholarship. And yes, very unusual to get a scholarship dropped on you after you've been accepted. But, you know, these are strange times. So who knows what's. What's driving it.
• 36:00
  Speaker B: Yeah, no, absolutely brill. Best of luck to them. Great opportunities.
• 36:04
  Speaker A: Yeah. So I want to thank them for sharing that news. Obviously that helps us to contribute a little more money to forte because we've been doing that with those decision wire entries. But otherwise. Alex, thanks for the chat this week. I know it's been a challenge with all this news, but we're here to help, you know, shepherd everyone through and just at least stay on top of what's happening. So appreciate you chatting and let's connect next week. Who knows what they'll maybe there'll be a lot of new changes to talk about once again.
• 36:28
  Speaker B: Hopefully something really positive. So best of luck everyone. Take care and stay safe. Facebook.