Latest / Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast / MBA Wire Taps 442: Comedy to MBA, Data scientist to MBA. 331 GRE, 2.75 GPA.

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MBA Wire Taps 442: Comedy to MBA, Data scientist to MBA. 331 GRE, 2.75 GPA. · Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker A: Foreign. Welcome to the Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast. I'm Graham Richmond and this is your Wiretaps for Monday, August 11, 2025. I joined by Alex Brown from Cornwall, England. Alex, how are things going this week?
• 0:29
  Speaker B: Very good, thank you, Graeme.
• 0:30
  Speaker A: So it's, you know, I know we're going to talk about this kind of round one and early deadlines are looming, but is there anything going on at this time on, like, Livewire or, you know, is there any kind of, you know, news or notes you want to share?
• 0:45
  Speaker B: I'd say, actually, I mean, it is pretty quiet. Folks are obviously starting to get into their application cycle and so on and so forth. ApplyWire has been more busy because folks are coming, you know, coming to apply wire. Fantastic, asking for some guidance and so on and so forth. So that's been interesting to see and always fun to respond to. But, yeah, Livewire is a little bit quiet.
• 1:10
  Speaker A: Yeah. And I think we will start to see people indicating applied or, you know, or applying to, et cetera. That's normally the first wave and some of that Columbia, you know, there's that J term and things. But yeah, but what's amazing is, you know, these deadlines. I'm going to kind of break with the script here, but we have, you know, know a lot of deadlines coming up. Right. And so we did a post on the site that's called early and round one MBA deadlines 25, 26. So it's a simple chart that just shows you what's happening. But, Alex, I got to ask you, how many M7 programs do you think have deadlines between September 3rd and the 16th?
• 1:47
  Speaker B: All bar Sloan.
• 1:49
  Speaker A: Yes. So six out of seven. So that's a lot of deadlines in a very short period of time for the top, top schools. And then I looked at, you know, like, what are the remaining top 16 schools that are also between those dates. And you want to guess how many of the, you know, the rest of the top 16 fall in that window between, let's say the 3rd of September, which I guess is the first day after the holiday or something. Right. And then the 17th, middle of the month, basically.
• 2:13
  Speaker B: All Bar Johnson.
• 2:14
  Speaker A: I can't remember which one it is, but you're right that. So seven of the remaining. So, you know, so there's like all but three of the top 16 MBA programs in the United States have their deadlines between the 3rd of September and the 17th. So it is. Yeah, it's going to be busy. And I encourage everyone to look at that post and figure out you got to be strategic about which schools you're going to submit when. Because I think to this point most people are kind of like, well, I'm applying to these schools, I'm working on their essays. You're kind of doing everything in parallel, but you really start to need to think about, well, wait, when is this one due? And you got to start to prioritize accordingly.
• 2:52
  Speaker B: Yeah. And try to apply maybe a day early than the deadline. Right. You just don't know what last minute stuff can occur. So yeah, don't take it right up to the deadline.
• 3:04
  Speaker A: Yes. And you'd think in this era of amazing technology that, you know, everything would run smoothly. But I can tell you, you and I have been first, like firsthand witness to some pretty challenging moments for candidates on that last day. You know, there's been more than one school that's experienced a bit of a technical glitch due to volume or, you know, too much activity on the site. So yeah, get in early if you can, Alex. Speaking of this round one and all these early deadlines, you and I are going to get together on August 26th at noon Eastern and we're going to do like a live stream, whatever you want to call it, office hours, ama, you know, we're going to talk about the round one deadlines and basically the goal, I think, I mean, this was your idea, Alex, but I feel like you said the goal was for us to just be there to be able to answer questions. I mean everyone's going to be, you know, that's sort of a week before many of the deadlines and so it's like a chance to come to us with your questions, last minute concerns, etc. And we will be here to answer them and we'll get a link forthcoming. But I'm looking forward to this.
• 4:03
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, should be good. Hopefully we, we do this once a month, hopefully, you know, through the season. But kicks off with round one deadlines. Answering any questions that folks have. We'll provide a little bit of guidance right at the beginning just to sort of set the stage and so forth. But we've done it before and I've really enjoyed the event. So yeah, I'm looking forward to it.
• 4:24
  Speaker A: Yeah. So August 26th, stay tuned. Also, in the interim, if you already have a burning question, just write to info@clearadmit.com and you know, mention that you want us to address it in the live stream on August 26th and we will put it on the list here. So, yeah, I'm looking forward to that. We're Going to try to make it a monthly thing, as you point out. Alex and I've. We've done this, you know, we did it a couple of years ago and it was so great to connect with candidates and stay connected to them over the course of a season. So that's what we're going to set out to do.
• 4:51
  Speaker B: Yeah, very good.
• 4:52
  Speaker A: The other thing is right after that, our event series begins in September. We have three webinars that we're going to run in September, starting on September 10th. And these are what we call, I think they're called Inside the MBA Admissions Process. You can sign up for these. Basically, I'm going to emcee them. We'll have five admissions directors at each of the events and at schools like Wharton and Darden and Booth and Columbia, Texas, Yale, INSEAD, LBs. I mean there's all these great schools joining us. You can sign up for those in advance at bit, all lowercase, all one word. So definitely join us for those in September. But come and hang out on the 26th first to talk to Alex and I as you get ready for round one. Alex, Other than that, on the website, we've been doing some pretty good content. We ran our, every month we do this. We ran a top in person MBA events piece for August. That calendar is getting absolutely packed. So Christina on our team literally goes school by school, all the top schools and tells you where they going to be and when, when they're out on the road. And she even included Forte Seed Global and the MBA tour this time. So we've got this massive list of schools where they're going to be, et cetera, and then some of the kind of tour operators and stuff too. So if you're looking to connect with business schools in your region, take a look at this post. It's really, really useful. She must spend a lot of time compiling this every month.
• 6:19
  Speaker B: Yeah, no, it's brilliant. Yeah, very good.
• 6:21
  Speaker A: We also did an admissions tip on the site, Critical one especially right for, you know, this timing for round one and that is selecting and preparing recommendation writers. And effectively in this post we address three key things. Who should write the letters, what should they cover and how do you prepare your writers? And you know, we also, Alex included the video that you and I recorded as part of the admissions academy. And for those of you who don't know, Alex and I recorded like, what is it? 25 videos, I think, Alex, about the admissions process. They're all on the site, they're free to watch. And this one that we included in the Recommendations tip is all about recommenders. I think we spend about, whatever it is, 10 to 12 minutes talking all things recommendations. So definitely watch the video, read the post, and that will help you as you manage that piece of this puzzle, which is a challenging one, I think.
• 7:10
  Speaker B: Yeah. And I actually think we recorded multiple videos on this topic, Right?
• 7:14
  Speaker A: Yes, I think there are two, maybe.
• 7:15
  Speaker B: There'S three or four videos dedicated to the recommendation process. And I do think now this is the time where you really need to have your recommenders prepared and et cetera, et cetera. So, yeah, it's really, really timely stuff.
• 7:32
  Speaker A: Yeah. And I think if it works right, when you watch the first video, it should propose the next and you can find them all on the site. But yeah, definitely tune in and get that stuff because it's one of those things where, and I've said this in a couple of the webinars we did over the course of last month that, you know, candidates make the mistake of thinking that the biggest task with the recommenders is determining who's going to write and then putting their names into the system, the online application system. And then they sort of feel like, okay, I'm done with that step. But the reality is you got to stay on your recommenders, you got to manage them, you got to furnish them with materials to ensure that what they produce is consistent with what you're talking about, but also is just effective, you know. So in any event, watch the video, you'll get a ton out of it. And read the post.
• 8:15
  Speaker B: Very good.
• 8:16
  Speaker A: We also have an admissions director Q and A this week. We connected with JR McGrath at Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business. And JR's a friend of the show, a friend of Clear admits, what a super cool guy. And he took some time and we asked him about all the things we've been asking these admissions directors. But the piece I wanted to highlight here is about their interview process because I thought it was really interesting. So we said, tell us more about the interview process and its role, et cetera. And so he said, at the Tepper School, we believe the interview is the most important component of the admissions process. Our admissions team members conduct the interview because we want the person who conducts the interview to have the opportunity to present the candidate to the admissions committee. Before each interview, we read the full application to provide us with the best opportunity to make the most of the interaction with the candidate. Our interviews are 45 minutes, and this lets us explore what is most important to you as a professional as well as a person. Our Interviews will be offered both virtually and in person. We want our candidates to be able to make the choice of which format is best for them. Our interviews are behavioral in nature. We will first explore your background, goals and how you make decisions on what is best for you. Then we will explore some of the topics that we feel are important for our program and community, which include teamwork, leadership, and examples from your professional experience, highlighting your success and learning. Lastly, we want you to ask us questions. Finding the right fit and is a two way street. Please think about what is most important to you and ask us about it. So what do you think of that, Alex?
• 9:50
  Speaker B: Yeah, no, it sounds really, really impressive and it almost sounds like they're leaning on the side of Harvard in terms of really using the application as part of the basis for the interview itself. So, yeah, no, very, very good.
• 10:08
  Speaker A: Yeah. They are one of a small handful of schools that do these what we would call non blind interviews where the interviewer is going to read your file. But you're right, they're also only ADCOM to conduct these. So, yeah, kind of a tightly run ship. And I think, honestly I feel like they're also leaning into this new kind of AI world that we live in where the interview becomes really important because, you know, you can't chatgpt your way through an in person interview or even a virtual interview. It's just not going to be as easy to do. So in any event, yeah, they really want to meet you and it sounds like also you got to do your homework on their program.
• 10:41
  Speaker B: Yeah, no, very good.
• 10:42
  Speaker A: Yeah. So other than that, no other big news this week. Obviously we're always looking for those of you who tune in to write reviews on Apple. Their platform allows for that. Or just rate the show on Spotify or wherever you're listening. Greatly appreciate that. And tell your friends we don't do a ton of like marketing for this show, so just let people know who are applying to business school. We had a nice email from someone recently who said they've been listening for many months and that it's been a nice thing to have in their life as they navigate GMAT prep, et cetera. So, yeah, tell your friends. Other than that, Alex, are you ready to talk about this week's candidates?
• 11:17
  Speaker B: Let's kick on.
• 11:18
  Speaker A: All right, so this is WireTaps candidate number one. So our first candidate this week has eight schools on the target list. Those schools are Columbia, Dartmouth, Harvard, nyu, Stanford, ucla, Wharton, and USC Marshall. This candidate is looking to start school school in the fall of 26, prior to business school. They've been working in education. They've had a number of roles. So they currently are a college counselor, but they also were an undergrad admissions counselor and an elementary school teacher in the past. They want to get into media, so kind of a pretty big pivot. And the companies they're thinking about are Comcast, Time Warner, Viacom, Walt Disney, etc. They have a 3.6 GPA. They attended a liberal arts college, if memory serves, a pretty decent one, you know, sort of top 30 U.S. liberal arts college. And they have eight years of work experience. They're located in the city of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia, and they want to stay on the east coast or land in Southern California, principally Los Angeles, I'm guessing based on their goals. And they gave us a ton of background. In fact they even provided a of ton too long. Did not read summary at the end of it. But essentially this person, while teaching and working as an admissions officer and such, has also been a stand up comedian. So they like every night are out there on stage doing stand up comedy. And that led one thing, led to another and they began to run kind of their own comedy night, opened up their own comedy club or you know, had like a venue and have had quite a bit of success in this domain as their kind of side gig, more so on the kind of, it seems like more so on the sort of production side and organizing side management, etc. Than maybe on their own personal standup. But they've been doing both and they're really keen to sort of use the NBA to pivot into the kind of, you know, media and entertainment sector. And you know, they, they gave us a ton of detail. But effectively they're thinking that, you know, that they could really enjoy some time as like, you know, working at a place like Apple TV or HBO or Netflix and you know, to you know, make this their career essentially. And yeah, they're just really excited to do this. But again, kind of a non traditional background and they haven't taken a test yet. That's the one data point we don't have. But they are working on that right now and you know, are forthcoming. But Alex, I got to turn this over to you and I have to say I'm guessing you picked this because you yourself have done some standup comedy over the years and this person's from Philly. They also love baseball. That's like one of their primary outside activities. So this seems person's tailor made for both you and I in terms of things we like. But what what, what do you have to say about them?
• 14:08
  Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, quite honestly, I do think this is potentially a very strong candidate, you know, in terms of this sort of outside activity, running, developing comedy clubs, running comedy clubs, performing in comedy clubs, really having some impact and so on and so forth. And that's obviously shaping their post MBA goals, right, in media and entertainment. So there's really good alignment there. So. And as you say, even beyond that, outside of work, outside of that passion, entrepreneurial passions, I mean, yeah, comedy club, I call it an entrepreneurial passion, right. I mean they're effectively running a business, growing a business, growing an enterprise and so forth. But they're also doing baseball coaching and they're on a board for a family foundation, etc. So they just seem like a really cool, good person, good human being, doing lots of different things, I think. I mean, obviously they've got to take the GMAT and do super well. If you're a non traditional candidate and you know, academic admissions and counseling is sort of non traditional for mba, you know, there are some advantages to that. And when you map on top of the comedy stuff, I think there's some real good advantage to that. But it also puts a bit more pressure on the sort of the metrics that count, things like the GMAT to show that they're really ready academically because I believe their undergrad degree was more liberal arts, etc. Etc. So they're going to have to really demonstrate strong GMAT score and so forth. I would really encourage them to do MBA math too. That may well help in admissions and it may well just help them on board for their mba. So I would do both of those things. Obviously focus hard on the GMAT but then do MBA math once the GMAT sort of put to bed applying round two, no need to stress and struggle to get into round one because again, non traditional candidates are good for round two, that shouldn't be a problem. And they also had questions about their choice of recommenders and I think that's perfectly fine too. They don't have not really developed a strong relationship with their current recommender, probably a shorter period of time, etc. Etc. So going to a prior recommender, a prior supervisor I should say, I think is fine. And getting a recommender from the sort of the comedy side of stuff that they've been doing is also very fine. I would just include maybe a couple of sentences, not five paragraphs, but a couple of sentences in the optional essay just explaining those choices. But yeah, all around, if they can really nail this GMAT grain, this is going to be a really interesting, interesting candidate.
• 17:01
  Speaker A: Yeah, I could not agree more. And I, you know, the only, you know, like, concern would be if that test score comes in really light because they, they've been out of school for a while and so for better or for worse, when you've been out of school for a while, the good news is that to some extent your GPA could be taken with a grain of salt because it's older and a test score can really help. But if you, if you come in and have a poor result on the test, sometimes it suggests, oh, there's a lot of rust. Is this person going to be able to survive kind of the MBA curriculum. So to any event, they, yeah, and as you said, I think they were what, American Studies major, Film Studies minor. So they have the right kind of background for the career that they want in terms of media and entertainment, but not a lot of quant. And so, yeah, I think it's going to be, it's just the need to do well on this test or at least ballpark around the average of their targets.
• 17:51
  Speaker B: Right around the average of their targets with an emphasis on the quant side because they don't want it overly balanced on the verbal side, pulling up the score. They want to make sure that they're nailing that quant side.
• 18:02
  Speaker A: Yeah. And I would actually argue, and I don't, I don't know if they're tuned in and listening today, but I think they, you know, if they need the time to get a tutor or take a course, whatever it is like to boost this score, I mean they haven't taken it yet, but to ensure that they get the best score possible, that would be time and money well spent, even at the expense of having to apply in the second round. I don't know if they noted which round they're going to apply to here because it was a long post, but in any event, yeah, it is important. That's all I'll say. And I think, you know, coupling a solid gmat with this 3, 6 and they're really interesting background and great activities could be a real home run. But if the test score comes in light and then you see, well, they're eight years experience or already 30 or whatever, you know, then you start to have these question marks. So, yeah, yeah, but I, I, this person seems fantastic, like you said and I'm, I'm wishing them the best of luck and I really appreciate them sharing their profile. I don't know if they broke the record for the longest apply entry. I don't think that they did actually, but it was a lot of useful information, so we appreciate that at least.
• 19:01
  Speaker B: I read it, Graham. They're targeting round two.
• 19:03
  Speaker A: Oh, oh, oh, wait, so they did say round two. Okay, so then they have the time. Yeah, I, I read. I just, you know. All right, so, yeah, so let's. So I'm hoping that that gives them enough time to get a good score. I mean, that should be. Yeah, all right, anyway, best of luck to them. Thanks for sharing that. Let's move on and talk about wiretaps. Candidate number two, our next candidate this week has five schools on the target list. Those schools are Berkeley, Dartmouth, lbs, MIT and Stanford. They're also looking to start school in the fall of 26. This person works as a data scientist in a leading reg tech startup. I had to look that up. Regtech means regulatory tech and it's basically technology that helps companies that are in heavily regulated industries that need to do lots of reporting and stuff. They want to get into tech after business school and they list a lot of companies, but, you know, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, IBM, LinkedIn, Oracle, you know, they have a long list here. Their gmat score is a 695, which if you're still like Alex and I, thinking GMAT in terms of the old scale, that's like a 747 50. So very good score, 3.5 GPA. In undergrad they indicated they have one year of work experience, but then they noted in the notes that that was a mistake. They actually have three and will have four years of experience upon matriculation, located in London and looking to land in Silicon Valley after business school. So, yeah, Alex, what do you make of this one? I read this whole thing because it was very short.
• 20:40
  Speaker B: Nice. Again, I like this candidate. I mean, who doesn't like a data scientist that wants to get an mba? I think that's a sort of mix of qualification that the future companies are really going to be looking for. Right. So someone that's really data literate that then just wants to go and get the business chops laid on top of that. So I got to think that if they can show that impact and growth at work over the three years that they've had, it'll be four years of matriculation. If they can get strong recommendations to support them, they've got the GMAT score. As you pointed out, the GPA is fine. I mean, I assume they had some kind of science or math undergrad and so forth. And I do believe Graham that they like to play the guitar and they call it the rock guitar. So they may be in a band, although I don't think we know that. So there's that aspect to their profile too that sort of shows, you know, shows a different dimension and I know something that you would appreciate. So, yeah, again, I think this is possibly a really, really super interesting candidate. Graham.
• 21:54
  Speaker A: Yeah, no, I agree. I mean, numbers are solid. Work experience seems strong and they have a kind of pretty clear path. I mean, they want to get into tech and they want to land out on the West Coast, I guess. And I did note the guitar thing. I think they mentioned they have like some kind of certification and kind of, you know, they've done. They have a certification in rock guitar from Trinity School of Music and they still play regularly. So, yeah, definitely adds some color to the candid. I also should mention we haven't talked about this probably in a little while on the show, but just the sheer fact that they're applying from the UK and might be a UK citizen, we don't know that for sure, but it seems like they could be. That is a feather in their cap. US schools are always looking for European candidates because there aren't as many Europeans applying to American MBA programs. So they'll have a bit of an advantage for that reason alone. What do you make of their school selection? So you have Berkeley and Stanford, which are out on the west coast and make a lot of sense for someone looking to get into the Valley. They also have mit, but then they have LBS and Dartmouth. And I'm assuming LBS is there because they're in London. And they might say, well, if I don't, you know, get into one of these US schools, I could stay at home and do a great MBA program in my home city. And then they have Tuck. So do you have any thoughts on this?
• 23:10
  Speaker B: I think, quite honestly, I think the school selection is fine. I mean, they might want to toss in Wharton and, you know, I think they need to just get into the best business school that they can get access to. Right. I mean, all these top programs want to provide access to big tech to the big firms, whether it's tech, strategy, consulting, buy side finance, whatever it might be. So the better the program they can get into, frankly, the more opportunity they'll get. And obviously they picked some of the obvious ones too with Sloan and, and Stamford and Haas. So, yeah, I'm fine with it. I mean, they might want to look at Kellogg also could provide them a good sort of segue into Silicon Valley if that's where they want to be and so forth. If they want to look at sort of the next tier down. I mean, I know they've included Tuck in there, but they might look at like Ross or something like that. But yeah, I'm quite fine with it. And obviously LDS just makes perfect sense. Right. I mean, they're right in London. So.
• 24:19
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, I think. And just to sort of clarify, I think you're mentioning Kellogg and Ross because Kellogg has historically done pretty well with tech placements and also has a sizable alumni community on the West Coast. And in the case of Ross, they have, I believe, an executive MBA that they operate out of la. So they, they have a presence in that market. And again, both of these schools, while located in the Midwest, are historically strong at getting candidates into other markets.
• 24:43
  Speaker B: Yeah. Because their markets aren't that strong is the key. So their alums do go elsewhere in quite large numbers, which is great.
• 24:54
  Speaker A: Yeah. So, I mean, a case in point, like you look at a school like Stanford, the kind of scatter of alums post MBA from Stanford is actually quite limited. Right. You see people kind of largely staying in the Bay Area. I mean, that's just their big bread and butter market. Whereas if you were to look at Kellogg or Ross, where people are going, it's kind of all over the place. So that's why. And the only other school I would mention is UCLA Anderson. Again, I know they're targeting, you know, they're trying to go to, you know, Stanford or something, but I, I just would encourage them to at least take a peek if they really want to land out west. There's no substitute for going to school in the market where you would like to work. So anyway, they should keep that in mind. But otherwise, I think they have a terrific profile, you know, as we, as with the first candidate, they have, you know, solid career, but interesting outside activity in this sort of guitar stuff. Good numbers, you know, and yeah, I feel like they, you know, they could probably get more precise around their career goals. Like, I know what that they, they want to land at the Valley, they want to work in tech, but I think fleshing out exactly what they're hoping to do would be great. But otherwise seems like a very strong candidate.
• 25:58
  Speaker B: Yeah, very good.
• 25:59
  Speaker A: All right, so I want to thank them for submitting their profile. Let's move on and talk about wiretaps. Candidate number so our final candidate this week has nine schools on the target list. Those schools are University of Georgia, Georgia Tech, Indiana, Kelly, Johns Hopkins, Rice, Toronto, Rotman, unc, Kenan, Flagler Washington University Olin and William and Mary Mason. This person wants to start school in the fall of 26 just like our other candidates this week and they've been working in retail and they're looking to pivot into tech and they like our last candidate, have, you know, Amazon, Apple, Facebook or Meta, Google, Microsoft on, on the list they have a whopping GRE score of 331. Their undergraduate GPA however was a 2.75. They've got five years of work experience, they're located in Africa. They also already have earned an MBA in the past in Africa and they've got some decent volunteering and leadership experience, as they say. And they tell us also that they've taken MBA Math to help bolster their profile and shore up that lower gpa. They also shared with us the fact in the comments that they applied to business school this past season and they were waitlisted after an interview at Washington University Olin, which they applied to in round three. They were rejected after an interview at Kenan Flagler again also around three application and they said that at the time they hadn't really evaluated, you know, their, their results and they hadn't taken MBA math and they feel like their essays were subpar, especially the optional essay. So a late application to some schools this past year and they're coming back as a reapplicant with some additional to their profile, namely MBA Math. What do you think of this, Alex?
• 27:54
  Speaker B: I think if they get all their doctors in a row with stronger essays, etc. In round one as a reapplicant to some of these schools, etc. But in round one that makes a difference too with the MBA math and so forth. I got to think that with the types of schools that they're targeting, they should see some success. I mean that GRE score is absolutely outstanding. So they've obviously got to overcome the 275 GPA which is low, but they've completed MBA math since they applied last time, they're applying earlier, etc. Etc. I just think, Graham, that, I mean, I think they got interviews in a couple of schools that they were targeting last time last year and so forth. I just got to think if they're in round one with MBA Math with better essays, they should see some more positive results. They are not being overly ambitious with this list of target schools.
• 29:02
  Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, I could not agree more. I mean, I think part of what happened to them last year when you see round three applications and a low gpa, it's Hard. You know, schools at the end of the cycle are looking to bring in people who can maybe help bolster their numbers, not take them down. So yeah, so they struggled probably because of the late round apps and they have the slow gpa. But as you point out, taking MBA math was a smart move. They have a great GRE score which would help. And yeah, the list of schools on their target list is, I would argue, kind of top 25 for the most part, maybe even top 30 for some of these programs. And so I suspect they will find success. They need to apply in the first round, as you say. What do you make of the fact that they already have a net?
• 29:44
  Speaker B: Well, they've got to make sure that they do just a good job of addressing maybe in the optional essay why they're planning to the second MBA. Obviously there's lots of cases where the second MBA, after years work experience in a different country, etc. Can really elevate their profile. But yeah, they'd be smart to address that as well as obviously the 2.75 in the optional essay. So they can address multiple issues in the optional essay. They don't have to stick to one theme or whatever.
• 30:19
  Speaker A: Yeah, I would just advise them to be fairly brief, but devote a paragraph to explaining why was the undergrad not where it could have been and similar why do I want an mba even though I already have one. And I believe, if memory serves, they did a little bit better in the MBA program than they did in undergrad. So maybe they can speak to that. Obviously if they have, to the extent they have a class rank because their grading system in both undergrad and grad is not on the same scale as the US So. Except they can just kind of explain where they were in the class with that mba. If it was a strong result, that would be helpful. But you're right, we see this happen a lot where someone's done an MBA in their market and they want to go to the US and do an mba. That's going to help them pivot into bigger, better things. So it's not unheard of and they just need to explain and show that they have a good head on their shoulders. My guess is they did that MBA with very limited work experience. So the only other question I had, Alex, is about the work experience. Here they talk about retail. They don't really give us a ton of information as to what that has entailed. I mean, they said that they were working while they were in university in what sounded like a retail type business, but they didn't share too much about their current career. And I'm hoping that it's strong enough because, I mean, retail could be anything from working the floor at a department store to working in operations or accounting for, you know, for a retail company. Right. So I'm presuming it's the latter, but I don't know, because they didn't say.
• 31:51
  Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, just like any candidate, they got to show that impact and growth through. Through work and so on and so forth. But. Yeah, you're exactly right. I'll ask you one more question before we wrap up.
• 32:02
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 32:03
  Speaker B: Again, I don't think they're being overly ambitious. If you could identify one reach school that they might add to their target list.
• 32:11
  Speaker A: This.
• 32:11
  Speaker B: What. What. What might you suggest?
• 32:13
  Speaker A: I would suggest Foster.
• 32:15
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 32:16
  Speaker A: At the University of Washington in Seattle, especially given some of the targets on their list, like Microsoft and Amazon. But, yeah, that. That would be the one that comes to my mind.
• 32:25
  Speaker B: Yeah. Very good, Foster. It should be.
• 32:28
  Speaker A: All right. Well, thanks for picking these out, Alex. We'll do another one of these in short order. And yeah, I appreciate the time you put into doing this.
• 32:37
  Speaker B: Very good. Stay safe, everyone. Take care. That.