Latest / Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast / MBA Wire Taps 446: 655 GMAT, Indian. Masters in International Relations. 337 GRE, Military

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MBA Wire Taps 446: 655 GMAT, Indian. Masters in International Relations. 337 GRE, Military · 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, September 8, 2025. Emory University's full time MBA powers growth in your career, your leadership and your future. Built on a foundation of cross functional problem solving, leadership development and career readiness, this top 20 MBA program delivers a high return on investment with top five career outcomes. Step into a global network that's connected by design and supportive by nature. Explore the Emory MBA at Emory Biz ClearAdmit. That's Emory Biz ClearAdmit. I'm joined by Alex Brown from Cornwall, England. Alex, how are things this week?
• 0:59
  Speaker B: Very good, thank you, Gray.
• 1:00
  Speaker A: So what's going. I mean this is. We're now in the thick of all the deadlines for round one at the top MBA programs. Yeah. What are you, what are you, what are you monitoring here?
• 1:09
  Speaker B: Yeah, no, we've got it. Like, like you say, last week some of the real big schools had their round one application deadlines and then it follows up next week. It's going to be Ross Stamford, Kellogg, Yale Rotman hash with round one deadlines. And you've got McDonough and Johns Hopkins Carey with their early action deadline. So we're definitely in the new season.
• 1:33
  Speaker A: Yeah. And that we've seen a little bit of an uptick on Livewire. People starting to share that they applied places. Obviously things really heat up on Livewire when interview invitations start flowing. So we'll look for that.
• 1:44
  Speaker B: But we've seen some Graham. So Tuck, if you apply by a certain deadline for Tuck, then you're guaranteed an interview.
• 1:52
  Speaker A: Oh, that's right.
• 1:53
  Speaker B: And we've seen some of those interview invites come out. So even the interview season is beginning.
• 1:58
  Speaker A: Hey, so that reminds me, if I've just gotten an interview from Tuck or any school, is there anything I could do@clearadmit.com to help me with that?
• 2:06
  Speaker B: Well, that's a loaded question, Greg. We just talked about all this in prep. But yeah, I mean, obviously Claire Admit has the interview archive, which is the best archive, I think, on the Internet for sure in terms of the number of interview reports and so forth. So exploring that. But we've Also, our Ask ClearAdmit bot is trained on all Clear Admit data, including the interview archive. So yeah, I would go to the Clearmit bot, I would upload my resume, I would say, I have an interview at TOC. Please provide me 10 questions that potentially likely to come up for the interview and provide me some guidance in prompts based off of my resume.
• 2:56
  Speaker A: Yeah, and we were doing that before we came on air. And it's, I mean, it's so much fun because we, you know, we uploaded a resume, asked it and it came up with 10 questions that, you know, I know the interview archive. We have all these interview reports, years and years of candidates telling us what questions they were asked. And it's like, spot on. And it was really cool how it was kind of suggesting ways to take experiences in the resume and think about, you know, fitting them into some of these questions. So now, yeah, great use of the bot, which I hadn't even thought of when we first made the bot. So as I said last week, it's getting bigger and it's, you know, getting brainier and brainier by the week here.
• 3:28
  Speaker B: Yeah. But also I, I am convinced as a free tool on the Internet, because it is free, I don't think there's a better tool to provide guidance and feedback for candidates that are targeting top business schools.
• 3:43
  Speaker A: Yeah, I know, totally agree. And you know, the reason for that is, and we said this before, is that our bot is trained on, you know, thousands of pieces of content. Interviews with admissions directors, our interview archive, everything we've ever sort of put out there, including these podcasts. I mean, all the advice that we've ever given is kind of rolled into this bot. Whereas if you use ChatGPT, it's going to go across the web and get a whole bunch of potentially conflicting points of view on how to best prepare for an interview. And so, you know, it might give you pretty good questions, but I think you're always safest using our bot when it comes to MBA admissions related questions.
• 4:15
  Speaker B: Yeah, very good.
• 4:16
  Speaker A: All right, in other news, this Wednesday is our first webinar for the September series that we're doing. So I'm going to sit down with admissions directors from Tuck Fuqua, George Tech, Wharton and Uva Darden, and I'm going to pepper them with questions about, you know, the application process, the interview process, applying in round two. So that's going to be a lot of fun. And I'll do it the following Wednesdays as well. The two following Wednesdays on September 17th and 24th, these are at noon Eastern US and you can sign up at Bit Ly Ca inside MBA. All the schools will stick around and do breakouts afterwards. So it's a great opportunity to not only get some general advice in the main session, but then to pop off and talk with the admissions representatives in their breakout rooms. So please join us for that. And then, Alex, we are going to do another live stream on September 23rd over on our YouTube channel. So come and hang out with us. That's September 23rd. It's a Tuesday. We'll do it at noon Eastern. Bit ly ca YouTube Live, if you want to subscribe to our YouTube channel so that you can get updated when we do go live and just be made aware of all that stuff. So I'm looking forward to that. Alex too.
• 5:25
  Speaker B: Yeah, I really enjoyed the first time we did that. I mean, obviously the audience isn't large, but the quality of questions is absolutely fantastic.
• 5:33
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 5:34
  Speaker B: So it really helps us to understand what's top of mind too for folks in the admissions process. And of course, Graham, I can then get the transcript and train our bot. Yes, I just love it.
• 5:45
  Speaker A: Yeah, that was fun. Let's see, over on the website we ran our kind of early month piece that we do every month now, which is top in person MBA events to check out in September. I was playing around with this post because it just has like a list of schools. And so I clicked on Harvard. I was kind of curious, well, is Harvard traveling? Are they going to be anywhere? And I learned that they have an open house on their campus every Friday from 3 to 5pm in September. So you can go, I think you can attend a class. There's lots of things they have on offer when you go to campus, but literally you click on the school and it tells you, you know what, what they're up to. And a lot of these schools, Harvard's not one of them, but a lot of these schools are out on the road this month and so they have events that you can attend not only on their campus but, you know, in cities near you, hopefully. So check that out if you're interested. We also did an admissions tip and I know you love this, Alex, we've been working on this one. It's about video essays and it's a two parter in the sense that it covers sort of why schools are using video essays and also how to get them right. And there's quite a bit of information on, you know, those types of video essays where you don't know what the question's going to be. So they're kind of these impromptu sessions and so read that tip. And we have a video that you and I put up there from our admissions academy where we talk a little bit about video and those types of things in the application process.
• 7:03
  Speaker B: Yeah, and you've mentioned this before, more and more schools are going to video essays because it allows the school to see more of the authentic nature of the candidate.
• 7:14
  Speaker A: Right.
• 7:15
  Speaker B: And so forth. So this is becoming more important.
• 7:18
  Speaker A: And I would argue now that the GMAT doesn't really have the written essay section and that the essays are all being proofed and polished by ChatGPT or, you know, by whatever. These kind of exercises are increasingly important. And it's a way for the school to sort of hear you and see how your communication skills are before they make a decision about whether to interview you and dig deeper. So, yeah, I get why they're doing this, for sure.
• 7:42
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 7:43
  Speaker A: We continued with our professor profile series. This time we headed over to Chicago Booth, where I remember I once, the dean of Admissions at Booth, once gave me a T shirt that said Chicago Booth on the front. And on the back there was a picture of the courtyard of their business school. And in the courtyard there was like a document on the ground and someone was picking it up and yelling, who left their Nobel Prize in the courtyard Again? Because they're kind of a famous school for people with Nobel Prizes. And so, of course, the professors that we featured, one of them is Richard Thaler. He teaches behavioral science and economics, and he got a Nobel Prize in 2017 in Economic Sciences for his contributions to behavioral economics. He also published a book that I kind of wondered if you'd heard of, Alex, called nudge back in 2008, which applied behavioral economics to the major problems of our society. And the book was a global bestseller. I don't know if you'd heard of that book.
• 8:38
  Speaker B: I've heard of the book and I have heard of the faculty.
• 8:40
  Speaker A: Yeah, I thought you might.
• 8:42
  Speaker B: And I think behavioral economics as a field is absolutely fascinating.
• 8:48
  Speaker A: Yeah, no, definitely. And then the other professor that we featured in this post, and you can go and read. I mean, I'm just touching this, sort of scraping the surface, but there's a ton of information on these professors. The second one is this guy named Austan Goolsbee, and he's a professor of economics at Booth. And his classes focus on micro econ, platform competition, and the economics and policy of the telecom, media and tech industries. Here's something interesting about him. He served as. On the. As a chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors during Obama's first term. And he became known for his appearances on Fox News where he struck up rapport with the controversial Sean Hannity, offering a balanced and rational counter to his arguments. So apparently they liked him on Fox News, even though he was giving a sort of counter, you know, counterpoint. But anyway, he's a. I've heard of him as well. He's a great professor at Booth. So I love this series that we're doing. It's kind of an interesting way to get to know these professors.
• 9:42
  Speaker B: No, absolutely. And really uncovers some superstars.
• 9:45
  Speaker A: Yeah, totally. One other thing before we talk about this week's candidates, we did connect with two admission directors as part of our ongoing admissions director Q and A series. The first was Bailey McChesney. She's the director of MBA admissions at Vanderbilt's Owen Graduate School of Management. And Bailey's terrific. I mean, we've had a lot of time to hang out at various GMAC conferences and stuff that Clear Admit does. And I just thought it was interesting. She shared two things that I wanted to mention. The first was we asked her about something that people don't know, maybe about Vanderbilt, and she gave an answer. I'm just going to take a piece of it. But she said, over the past few years, the Owen School has consistently surpassed the employment at graduation rates of its peer institutions as well as many aspirational schools. Additionally, the program has seen improvements in our employment at 3 months metric. These successes highlight the competitiveness and career preparedness of Vanderbilt graduates. And I can attest, by the way, that, you know, she's right. I mean, if you look at their career reports, they're doing quite well alongside, say, Emory, some of these other schools. So just. I thought that was an interesting thing to point out.
• 10:49
  Speaker B: Yeah. And super, super important. I mean, frankly, that's why folks are getting an mba, right, in terms of their short term aspiration. I mean, it's not the only reason why folks get an mba. But you, I mean, and I do think this is going to become more critical in the years ahead.
• 11:05
  Speaker A: Yeah. And I guess you could argue they're probably in that they're in a market that maybe is more growing, you know, some of that Southeast and south of the US Is doing quite well. One other thing I wanted to share from her though is, you know, we asked a question this year about impromptu videos or video essays. And we asked like, well, how do they differ from your main interview that you do with a candidate or, you know, what should applicants know about these video kind of pieces? And she gave an interesting answer. She said, while our evaluative interview is structured more like a job interview, our video essay is intended to be more like small talk. We crafted the questions to be fun and easy to answer. Our team loves hearing candidates share their favorite vacation spots or their favorite hobbies. The video essays are a way to give us insight into who you are and communication Style. So I thought that was kind of interesting in terms of how they're using video in the application. Yeah, totally. And then we also caught up with Brad Rosenwinkle, who is the senior Associate Director of Admissions and Financial Aid at Kelly over at Indiana University. He's actually in charge of both the full time and the flex MBA over there. And, you know, we asked him, like, what's something that, you know, isn't as known about the Kelly School of Business? And he said the following. He said, kelly is a place that is personal. You will develop deep relationships and know literally each of your classmates, faculty and staff members within the program, and each of them will be personally invested in your success. This is not a place just to come for a degree and move on. You will be pushed and challenged to grow and develop both personally and professionally from all angles, yet have this substantial support system surrounding you. There will be hard times and even moments of doubt, but we will not let you fall. We're just not here to celebrate the victories, but to work with you through the challenges. And we enjoy it. That is what makes Kelly different and such a special place. People here truly care about you, each other, this place and this culture. So I know that's a bit of, you know, it's a lot of marketing in there. Right. But I do think every time I've talked to a candidate who's attended Kelly, they often kind of echo this back. But it does seem to be a really nice culture there.
• 13:14
  Speaker B: Yeah, I think it's absolutely brilliant. But, you know, it is symptomatic of these programs that are sort of in the top 20 and so forth. They're a smaller class size, right?
• 13:25
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 13:25
  Speaker B: And we've talked about this before when you, you know, M7 large class size, top 16, less so. Top 20 less so. But the, the advantage of that smaller size is to be able to do exactly what Kelly is doing. So. So there are advantages.
• 13:44
  Speaker A: Yeah, totally. So I guess I think those were all the things that I had to cover this week. Before we talk about the candidates, I did want to remind our listeners that if you have questions, we may have answers. You could write to us@infoearadmit.com, use the subject wiretaps. Alex, I will say people haven't been writing and I wonder if it's because they're just asking the bot all their questions now and that we have this AI tool. I don't know.
• 14:05
  Speaker B: Well, I hope it's that. Otherwise maybe it's. They're just not listening.
• 14:10
  Speaker A: Yeah, it could be. Could Be in any event. Yeah. Did you have anything else before we talk about this week's candidates, let's kick on. All right, so this is WireTaps candidate number one. Our first candidate this week has 12 schools on the target list. And the schools are Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, Emory, Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, MI, Nanyang in Singapore, NYU, UCLA, UNC, UT Austin, and Uva Darden. They're looking to start in the fall of 26, so they're actively applying. They've worked in healthcare consulting prior to business school in a kind of strategy and insights role. And they're thinking about consulting or tech after business school. And as a result, they list all the usual suspects in terms of consulting firms as well as some of the top tech companies. They have a 655 on the GMAT exam and that translates to about a 710 if you're more familiar with the old scale. They have a perfect 4 on their GPA, which they did reveal is more like a 9.9 out of 5. 10. They went to school in India. Five years of work experience to date. They want to land in the States, but their work experience so far has been all in India. And you know, they mentioned they've been working in product and change management for the past year, but it's all with the same firm. They've had a number of different experiences. And they did say the school that they attended was kind of a second tier school, but they did earn their degree with a perfect, you know, 4.0 basically in mechanical engineering. They were at the top of their class. And they did say initially that they, they said outside of work, I have limited time, so no meaningful documented social or community contributions to report. However, they do some informal mentorship. And when you probed them, they also said, oh, I, you know, they are learning Japanese. They've been studying every day for 190 days straight now. I'm guessing they do that on Duolingo, I'm not sure. And then they mentioned they play badminton and that they also are interested in photography and sketching during their free time. So, Alex, what do you make of this candidate? Because you know, the school selection list, which now there were 12 schools, people may not remember all 12 of them, but I would characterize it as kind of like 10 to 25 type range. And again, 655 on the GMAT, which is about a 710 and a perfect GPA. But what do you make of them?
• 16:31
  Speaker B: I think that, you know, they obviously did really well at undergrad, you know, and they, they qualified that in terms of saying it was a second tier school but at the end of the day you can only do as well as you can wherever you are. So maybe they're first gen or something like that too. That could sort of add to their story and so forth. But getting a near 4.0, we don't usually see that coming for candidates coming out of India. So I just thought that was fantastic. If that's backed up by really strong work experience and it looks like they've done well, you know, in three different sort of promotions I think, or three different areas of their firm and that gets backed up by strong recommendations, I think that's going to be really helpful. I know that they talk about not being actively involved in formal, social or community based activities and that can certainly really help further flesh out your, your overall profile. But there are other ways to show that you're, you're more than just a worker bee effectively. And it sounds like, you know, they're going off and doing some additional learning. You say duolingo, I say ChatGPT can do that just as effectively now. So I'm not sure how long duolingo will last in this new world, but there we go. But you know, who goes off and learns Japanese like that? I mean it takes a certain character, certain type of person that wants to do that and then they have some of these other hobbies and interests and I do also think that they've helped support some folks either through work or through school. So maybe that side of their profile isn't as bad as they might potentially perceive if they can sort of articulate it effectively. My concern, and I'm not necessarily saying this is a concern, but I just wonder if you're such a super smart person, ie 4.0 mechanical engineering. This 655 GMAT isn't outstanding. It's decent. It's probably at the median of a lot of the schools they're targeting. But I would anticipate and expect to see a higher GMAT score.
• 18:45
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 18:45
  Speaker B: So I'm a little bit concerned about that. You know, as an Indian candidate, you know, round one I think does give them a boost. So they're going to have to target round one for a number of these schools. But I'm wondering if they need to go back to the table even after they submitted applications for round one and take another go, like put Japanese on pause for a week or two to deep dive into real strong prep for the GMAT and just see if they can come back with a score in that sort of 685 range or something, to show that the 4.0 GPA is rigorous. Right. To show that they're really a smart candidate. So that's my only concern, Graham. But obviously with candidates that are potentially overrepresented, the challenge is, should they apply in round one with the 655, or would they be better off applying in round two with a 685, 695 type score? That's the big dilemma.
• 19:48
  Speaker A: Yeah. It's interesting because that GMAT ends up coloring the gpa, which we often see. There's always an interaction between the two. And so when you see someone from a school that's lesser known with great grades and then you see a lower test score, you say, oh, I guess that undergrad indeed wasn't so challenging. So I, yeah, that's the feeling I have. And I think, you know, they probably need to. They have such a long list of schools that they probably need to apply to some in round one. But like you said, I would probably retake the test and then furnish the schools that they apply to early with that newer score if possible, and then obviously maybe apply to some of them in round two with the new score only.
• 20:24
  Speaker B: And you say if possible for most schools, that is very possible.
• 20:29
  Speaker A: Right.
• 20:30
  Speaker B: Especially for the types of schools in that sort of top 16, top 20. They want to see those better numbers. Right, yeah. So even after the deadline, and you can do that after the deadline because you've got a complete application on the deadline. So this is very different to someone saying, well, can I apply in round one and just take the GMAT two weeks later? No, because your application is not complete when you apply. But in this case, the application will be complete. So this is more tantamount to submitting additional supplemental information post completion. And these types of schools mostly will be very tolerant of that.
• 21:10
  Speaker A: Yeah, I agree. And I think one other thing is that, yeah, they did not pitch their outside activities and interests well at all. I mean, they said, I don't really have anything because I work too much. And I was like, wow, they need to reframe that rhetoric. And, you know, because when I look at what you then teased out of them by talking with them in the comments is, oh, they're a sketch artist, they're a photographer, they're a badminton player and a mentor. And I'm like, wow, they need to push that, you know, narrative a bit more. But back to the test, I think, yeah, taking it again. And I, you know, the other thing that's a little worrisome to me is that I think when some of the schools on their list in this 10 to 25 zone are going to take Indian candidates, often those Indian candidates are bringing in very high test scores and helping to raise the, the average in the class. And so in this case, that would not be what's happening, which is why it'd be smart for them to take the test again. They might find themselves getting wait listed in round one. And that'll be schools essentially saying to them, go back and take that test, get us a big score, and then you're probably going to get in. So. So, yeah, so I think we're giving them good advice to reconsider taking the test and, you know, getting a score that's more befitting of that gpa.
• 22:13
  Speaker B: Yeah, exactly.
• 22:14
  Speaker A: All right, well, I want to thank them for sharing their profile. Let's move on and talk about wiretaps. Candidate number two. So our second candidate this week is also applying now to start in the fall of 26. They have eight schools on the target list. Those schools are Berkeley, Columbia, Georgetown, nyu, Stanford, Chicago, Wharton and Yale. This person wants to work in consulting or technology, ideally at the intersection of the two. So they mention Bain, BCG and Deloitte, and that's because they're really hoping to join one of those firms and do consulting, but in the tech space. So for tech companies, GPA is a 3.51. They have have seven years of work experience. They are located in Washington D.C. they mentioned that they earned their undergraduate degree in economics from a state school and they spent three years at a small consulting firm working on business development and analytics. Then a couple more years at a big four consulting firm focusing on analytics there. And then the last, I think one and a half years have been with a big tech company focusing on technical account management and customer success. Although I'm actually not sure what order this stuff is in. But that's the seven years of experience that they have. They did share that they have a Master's in International Relations from a top UK university and that they're going to take the GRE in the next two to three months with the hopes of attaining a score between 320 and 330. They also said they have a history at work and in school of supporting DEI initiatives. So, Alex, what do you make of this candidate?
• 23:48
  Speaker B: I actually really like this candidate. I like the first candidate. But, you know, it's interesting to me that they did their undergrad, went to the uk, did a master's in international relations. I'd like to understand a little bit more about why they made that decision. And then I presume they came back to the United States to then embark on their career and so on and so forth. So maybe I just need to understand a little bit more about that sort of decision making and the whys behind what they've done. And that's really important. ADCOM are always going to want to know the whys behind any sort of transition and so forth. So assuming that their career, again is supported by strong recommendations and they can show that impact and growth at work and so forth, I think that that obviously will bode them very well. They still got to take the gre. Fortunately, unlike our first candidate, applying in round two is going to be perfectly fine. They're not going to be overrepresented. I think they've got enough in their profile to help them sort of separate themselves. I'd really love to see a strong GRE score. Right, so they say between 320 and 330 for some of the schools they're targeting, a 3.5 GPA might be just slightly below the median. So getting a GRE at all slightly above the median. So that's closer to 3:30 would be super, super helpful. But you know, obviously the balance, the GRE might be important too. I'm not sure what their undergraduate degree was in, quite honestly, but. But if they can come back with a really strong GRE score, I think that they're going to be able to target those, those sort of top programs quite effectively. Outside of work activity, travel and tennis, it's probably not the most meaningful, but again, it shows a different sort of aspect to, to who this person is. So if they can weave that into that, that should be very good.
• 25:55
  Speaker A: Yeah, and I, you know, I, I failed to note that, but they, you know, when I was reading out their profile. But yeah, they do play tennis, they travel a lot. And they also, I did say, I think have been involved in DEI initiatives at work and in undergrad. So I think they probably have just enough there, hopefully. I agree with you. You know, they said 330 on the GRE. I mean, those are two very different Worlds. You know, 320 is one thing. 3:30 puts you up at the, you know, kind of the average at the schools with very high GRE averages like Yale or Stanford. So, yeah, so they need to do well on that test. By the way, they majored in econ, so maybe not as much of a big deal, you know, in terms of like looking for evidence of quantitative experience. But yeah, I, I do. I am intrigued by the, you know, international Relations masters. And I, I did post a question to them on this entry. I was kind of curious, how did they do that course? Because they had a 3.5 in undergrad, which is great, but not, you know, it's gonna be a little below the average at the top schools on their list, as you point out. But if they had a first class honors or, you know, second class honors, even at a top school, like let's say LSE or who knows where they got their degree. But they said it's a top school in the uk, so that could help too, I think, and just sort of painting a picture, so. But yeah, this person seems interesting to me. I tend to agree they don't need to apply in round one. They're not going to because they haven't taken the GRE yet. But they're, you know, they should be competitive.
• 27:15
  Speaker B: Yes, absolutely agree.
• 27:16
  Speaker A: Yeah, Yeah. I want to thank them for sharing their profile. Let's move on and talk about wiretaps. Candidate number three. So our final candidate for this week has just six schools on the target list. Those schools are Columbia, Duke, Harvard, Michigan, Wharton and Darden. They, like our others, are starting in the fall of 26. Unlike our other candidates, this candidate has been in the military. They actually have eight years of experience and that's because they actually worked in financial services for a couple of years before heading off to the army back in 21. So they've had like four years in the army and they were promoted. You know, they give us some details here, but they're basically promoted a couple of years ahead of sort of the average. And they've, you know, have a track record of mentoring junior soldiers. They've taken the GRE score. Gre and they have a very high score. Sorry, it's a 337. Their undergraduate GPA, 3.5. Again, eight years of total experience across the military and private sector, located in North Carolina, and they want to get into consulting. What do you think of this candidate, Alex?
• 28:28
  Speaker B: Another one that I really love. It's interesting, right? Obviously the GRE score, 337, that's absolutely outstanding. They were in a regular career and presumably doing well in that career and then decided to enlist in the military. We don't know why they made that decision. I think that would be really interesting for ADCOM to understand. So again, this importance when you're putting your applications together to explain changes, what is the motivation behind it and so on and so forth, whether it's going from one company to another in career or choosing a less traditional, choosing a less traditional undergraduate degree, whatever it might be. So explaining that decision to enlist I think will be really important. It looks like they did very well in the military. There's just a lot to like about this candidate. Graham.
• 29:28
  Speaker A: Yeah, it is an interesting case just because we don't, as you say, like we don't really see people go out and work for I think actually like three plus years right in, in financ. I mean, well, credit risk and financial services right before joining the army and then, you know, then getting into the army and moving at a really fast pace. Right. And so I think, yeah, as you say, there's a lot of interesting facets to this candidacy. And you know, you did ask them, they said they want to do consulting and they mentioned Bain, BCG and McKinsey, but they didn't really offer much beyond that. So you did ask them. They haven't responded yet. But you asked like, hey, what's the longer term vision? And that would be helpful to have here, you know, and they, I mean, I understand exactly why they want to do the MBA and they even, they phrase that very well. They, you know, they want to build a new network as they transition back into the civilian workforce and pick up the right, you know, kind of analytical background and stuff. So I get it, it makes sense. And that 337, very high score, 3.5 GPA. Good enough I think, given the GRE score. So yeah, there's a lot to like here. I just, it would be good to know a bit more about their vision for the longer term. And you know, it sounds like they have some outside activities. But I would want to know a bit more too there. I mean, they just mentioned that they mentor junior soldiers on financial literacy and they've helped people with college applications. But I guess, you know, are they, is there something they do for sports or you know, is there anything else that they're kind of interested in that makes them multi dimensional?
• 30:51
  Speaker B: But it's also quite clear that military candidates tend not to have as much in terms of outside activities, especially if they're getting deployed, et cetera, et cetera. So ADCOM recognized that. I, quite frankly, Graham, if they can explain this decision to enlist in a way that's really appealing to adcom, I think this is an outstanding candidate.
• 31:13
  Speaker A: Yeah, I agree. Everything seems to be lining up and they have, you know, a good list of targets. I was going to say it's, you know, they're not just applying to like Harvard and Wharton. I mean, those are on the list, but they also have, you know, Darden and Dukes. They have a spread across the sort of top 16, I guess you could argue. Right. So I think they're well positioned. They're going to get into some of these schools for sure. They just need to put the work into the application process, of course. But I think they should be looking pretty good.
• 31:41
  Speaker B: Very good.
• 31:42
  Speaker A: All right, Alex, let's go back and play some more with that with the Ask Clear Admit bot. I'm having a lot of fun testing out these new things, new use cases like preparing for interviews and stuff. But yeah, let's connect next week again and talk about some more candidates.
• 31:55
  Speaker B: Very good. Stay safe, everyone. Take care of there.