Admit Advantage Review

Hi Policarpa,

We can agree to disagree - I'm certain that we provided the exact service we offered since I contributed to your candidacy personally. Shoot me a note if you're interested in sharing more/trying to figure this out. I wasn't aware that you were this unhappy, but I genuinely mean what I am saying. You have my contact info above.

If you're in the States, Happy Thanksgiving.

Kof

I have to admit that I'm really surprised seeing this as a response, as it sounds like exactly the opposite of my experience with Admit Advantage.

I was a Round 1 applicant this Fall, and I went with Admit Advantage as they came highly recommended to me through a friend/former colleague of my sister. He is currently a second year student at the Haas MBA program, despite being, as my sister told me "not striking me or my colleagues as being that bright or great." My sister is pretty knowledgeable about this stuff, and that tidbit alone sold me. I can relate with one point only that you've mentioned here, in that Kofi will do the onboarding, but you will work with someone else. Myself, I worked with Joe - a HSW MBA graduate who was enthusiastic, ridiculously smart, and knew just how to help me pitch a very unconventional application (or seemingly anything for that matter). We worked together as a team, and I can say I honestly would not have believed in myself or had half as good as an application without his help.

I used the two school complete package with Admit Advantage, and selected Harvard and Wharton. I picked the two schools as the applications were sufficiently different that I could use the essays to cover essentially all the schools' applications on my list. I also had no one in my industry to turn to that had gone through the process of applying to top business schools. Joe gave me invaluable advice on asking for letters of recommendation, restructuring my resume and my narrative, and what points to hit in the interviews. He was on point with all of his advice, time and time again. I was satisfied with every edit and point. When it came time to do interview practice, Joe and I practiced for over two hours, and he gave me detailed feedback on all my responses.

I applied to 5 schools in R1, Harvard, Wharton, Tuck, UVA, and Yale and Columbia. With my unconventional application, I got interview offers from 4, and acceptances from 3.
I ended up receiving offers from Harvard and Tuck, and a full ride offer from UVA with a bonus stipend. I will be going to HBS next year. I really have to stress here - I came from a background, industry and a university that do NOT feed HBS. I didn't even allow myself to consider the thought that I would actually get into the school of my dreams. It was only by partnering with Admit Advantage that I was able to get in. I should also note that before asking my sister for advice, I reached out to a Sandy (HBSGuru). He asked for my resume, and upon receiving it, blew me off and never sent me a followup email when I told him I'd like to go to Harvard. I don't think we'd have clicked well anyway.

I should also note that I connected with Joe legitimately as a person and we've called a few times since I was accepted. Upon hearing of my acceptance, Kofi offered to take me to the HBS club next time I'm in town. Your case really sounds like the complete opposite of my experience, and I can't speak to it, but I think AdmitAdvantage is an excellent service. I'm sorry that Round 1 didn't work out with you, and I hope that Round 2 goes better.

Hi there, wanted to jump in and share my support of Admit Advantage and the services provided after I had a great experience in Round 2 of this year. I purchased the comprehensive application package for Round 2 and my consultant was Kamila. (Quick note to acknowledge that, in full transparency, I was a bit hesitant to use this company because there are not a lot of online reviews available and the limited ones here on gmatclub reflect mixed experiences.)

It was important to me to work with someone who believed in my story and my application, as I came from a nontraditional background and had a good (but not stellar) GMAT score. I considered other MBA consultants like LuLu Curiel's Ivy Advisors and also spoke with Esther at Stacy Blackman Consulting. It was clear through the conversation with SBC that I was not an "ideal" candidate. They basically told me that I was a long shot and not to get my hopes up for H/S/W as my industry is not well known or widely understood. Further, I felt that the other consulting firms pushed me to apply to what I would consider safety schools, but I wanted to apply to top programs and was looking for a consultant to support me and believe in that journey.

I found the support I was looking for at Admit Advantage right from the first introductory call with Eric Allen, one of the founders. After getting to know me briefly, Eric was able to pair me with a consultant that I thought was a great match for my goals and personality. One of the other aspects I also appreciated early on was AA's availability of flexible payment plans. MBA consultants are expensive in general but it made things a lot easier that I was able to spread the cost across several months.

About my consultant Kamila-- I immediately clicked with her as a person and felt she was engaged, easy to talk to, and for lack of better words, really cool. We had engaging and interesting conversations and I found her feedback on my career goals especially invaluable. I completely echo the other client's comment that my application would not have been half as effective without Kamila's perspective. It was great to have an accountability partner, a counselor, and a coach throughout the process. I genuinely felt like Kamila played all of those roles for me. She was available through text/email/phone calls, and always provided me with prompt responses and feedback.

In terms of exact services rendered, I purchased the comprehensive package for Stanford as I felt the Stanford application was the most in depth and that I could use it to provide a base for other apps. After we finished Stanford, I purchased a few extra hours for Kamila to provide feedback and review my other applications.

In the end, I applied to Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Yale and MIT with Kamila's help. I received interviews from 3 of the 5 programs with my nontraditional background and decent GMAT and was accepted to 2 of the 3. I am overjoyed that I chose to enroll at Wharton for this fall. I highly recommend Admit Advantage's services and will be sharing my experience with others looking to apply to top programs.

(Also another note on lack of online reviews-- I talked to Eric about this and we discussed that SBC and most other consulting firms with tons of reviews hire companies and marketers to reach out and call their successful clients and incentivize them to write reviews. Admit Advantage does not spend more than a few hundred dollars per year on advertising and does not hire people to chase down clients for reviews. Instead they grow primarily through referral/word of mouth. Nevertheless, I wanted to make this review public for those who may be looking for more information from recent AA clients.)

This experience was mine and mine alone, but I can also share that my good friend worked with Anna at Admit Advantage with a similar nontraditional background and not the highest undergrad/GMAT stats. He was also recently admitted to Wharton. Thank you to Eric, Kofi, Kamila, and Anna for the guidance and support- we could not have accomplished this goal without you!