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Weekly Refresh: MBA Essay Questions, Analyzed – Plus Deadlines & Rec Questions

Published: July 3, 2025 by Lauren Wakal
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Welcome to Weekly Refresh, a roundup of admissions updates and advice on the Clear Admit site. The 2025-2026 admissions cycle is on the horizon with some deadlines and essay topics coming out. Apps are going live as well, which means recommendation questions are available.

Essay Tips

Drafting your application essays? See the latest of our experts’ advice in our Essay Topic Analysis. The following schools recently released their essays—click for our advice:

Deadlines Released

See the admissions deadlines that have rolled out:

You can also bookmark our deadlines page for reference.

Recommendation Questions

Let your recommenders know, the following MBA programs have released their recommendation forms:

Posted in: Weekly Columns, Weekly Refresh
Schools: Cornell / Johnson, Dartmouth / Tuck, Duke / Fuqua, Georgia Tech / Scheller, Harvard Business School, Oxford / Saïd, UVA / Darden, Yale SOM
Lauren Wakal
Lauren Wakal has been covering the MBA admissions space for more than a decade, from in-depth business school profiles to weekly breaking news and more.
Read more from Lauren Wakal

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MBA Livewire

July 17, 2025 11:01am ET
Accepted to Columbia
Round: Round 1
Received via email on July 14, 2025
Standardized Test: Executive Assessment (EA)
GPA: 3.3
EA: 152
Program Type: January Intake
Target Career: Finance
Application Location: Brazil, Sao Paulo
Note:

Applied 5/23
Invite for interview 7/2
Interview 7/9
Offer 7/15

Super excited!
July 16, 2025 5:56pm ET
Rejected from Waitlist at Berkeley / Haas
Round: Round 2
Received via email July 16, 2025
Standardized Test: GRE
GRE: 309
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Target Career: Healthcare
Application Location: San Francisco, CA
Note:

Knew my GRE score was going to limit my chances into Haas. Received a full-ride elsewhere with a GRE waiver (I have a MS in a quant field). Either way, congrats to all going to Haas!
July 16, 2025 2:40pm ET
Rejected from Waitlist at Stanford GSB
Round: Round 2
Received via email July 16, 2025
Standardized Test: GMAT
GMAT: 720
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Note:

For all peers waiting on the WL so long. Good luck to you all.
July 15, 2025 9:53pm ET
Accepted to Columbia
Round: Round 1
Received via portal July 15, 2025
Standardized Test: Executive Assessment (EA)
EA: 164
Program Type: January Intake
July 15, 2025 9:50pm ET
Accepted to Columbia
Round: Round 1
Received via portal July 15, 2025
Standardized Test: GRE
GPA: 3.8
GRE: 322
Program Type: January Intake
Application Location: UK
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