"Best" admission consulting companies?

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Moderator: Identity checked. The user joined the club in June 2010, has more than 370 posts and owns more than 60 kudos. He got into CBS and Booth.

I am gmatclub regular, but I have decided to post this review under an anonymous username. If anyone would like to confirm my identity, or inquire further about my experience working with Amerasia, feel free to PM me.

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This is a review of my experience using Adam at Amerasia. It was a pleasure working with him…and if there was a rating system in place, I’d give him a 10/10.

Before I go into detail about my experience working with Adam, let me explain my unique background. I have an above average GPA and GMAT score, but I lacked confidence in my candidacy for three reasons. First, I’m young. I only had two years of work experience when I submitted my applications. Second, my work experience, while entrepreneurial, is very non-traditional. And finally, I had a very rocky start to undergrad. I actually failed out of school during my freshman year, and while I was able to return after one semester, it took me five years to graduate.

For these reasons, I set up an initial consultation with Adam. Our conversation lasted 1.5 hours and I took three pages of notes. There was no sales pitch; it was just a long discussion about the application process, my profile, and my concerns. I had already been told by two admission consultants that it would be difficult to get into a top program this year given my lack of work experience. Therefore, I was very surprised when Adam told me the complete opposite. He said that if I framed my unique background correctly and adequately explained why I needed an MBA right now, I shouldn’t have any trouble getting into a top program this year. I was so impressed after this phone call that I decided to pull the trigger on a three-school package.

Working with Adam in the months that followed was a great experience. During this time we exchanged literally hundreds of e-mails and spoke on the phone probably a dozen times. No matter how small, mundane, or worry-ridden my questions were, Adam would always reply promptly with a well-thought out and sincere response. If I had a question that was too complicated for email, no problem, he was always willing to speak with me over the phone. When it came time to write my essays, Adam would first send out a custom-made, comprehensive PDF document that provided insight into the school and outlined strategies for each essay. After drafting an essay, I would send it to Adam for review. He would correct any awkward sentences and add notes to the margin that would ask thought provoking questions and suggest ways to emphasize specific aspects of my background that were most relevant to what that school valued. We would rinse and repeat this process until each essay was perfect.

In addition to providing unparalleled guidance through the general application and essay writing process, Adam was a lifesaver when it came to preparing for interviews. After my first invitation to interview, he arranged an hour-long conference call just to discuss the twists and turns of the business school interview. Then, a week before each interview, I’d schedule a mock interview and feedback session with Adam or one of his colleagues. Coming from an entrepreneurial background, I don’t have much experience being the interviewee. Therefore, these mock interviews were truly invaluable.

Ultimately, what impressed me the most about Adam was how familiar he became with my profile. While he was no doubt working with a number of other applicants this season, he never forgot even the minute aspects of my story. He really did make me feel like I was his only client. In the end, I was accepted to my top two choices (both top five schools) and I couldn’t be happier! If you are considering an admission consultant, and you don’t at least arrange an initial consultation with Adam, you are doing yourself a disservice. I absolutely feel that he was worth every penny and I would recommend him to anyone.

Hi GMAT Club Members,

Has anyone hired Justin Pope as the MBA consultant for Round 2 applications? I have been having trouble reaching him over the last few days. I have a couple of upcoming MBA application deadlines that I need him to return the edited essays! I'll appreciate if anybody knows the current status on Justin Pope. Thanks!

Why are there no reviews of Clear Admit? From what I've seen they seem very legitimate. Has anyone used them?

I worked with Aringo for Round 2 and I have just received the interview from INSEAD and Yale.

My consultant is very experienced in professional writing and we worked on 7 schools within 2 months. I don’t think I can complete so many essays without her assistance.
In addition, Aringo is very structured. I had my main consultant to work with me for my essays and had a specialist to run a test drive for INSEAD.
One thing I like Aringo is they will not try to persuade you to buy the comprehensive package. In fact, I had the option to choose between 3, 7 or 10 hours package. I think it’s very flexible.

My rating for Aringo would be 5 out of 5.

One sharing on choosing a consultant:
You must be clear that you are still taking the main responsibility for your essays and your consultant is there to help you with the grammars, structures and make sure you answer to the question. Do not expect your consultant to write anything for you and I believe that would violate the school’s honor code as well.
I used to write long sentences and explain simple thing in a complicated way. When my consultant helped me reduce the words, she usually used my own words and structure to summarize. Besides, when she found me did not reflect enough or did not answer to the question, she would ask me questions that helps me to think more. She NEVER wrote any learning or reflections based on my story. I believe that’s very important to keep the applicant’s own voice.

Hope above information helps.

Hi all,
I am constantly moderating this thread. And I want to be crystal clear with you. There are some of feebacks posted from temporary profiles and the users claim that they are long-time members of the club, but want to stay private, providing a feedback. No problem.

Please if you wonna stay private and you are a posting from temporary profile notify me through you regular profile to let me check your identity. Otherwise I will warn all users about low credibility of feedbacks posted by fresh users.

hey, guys. i know my id looks new here. i still want to share some of my experience of my interaction with Jon Frank. i didn't use service of his company (Precision Essay), but i did get a lot of specific advise from him. and it's really helpful. a couple of weeks ago, i got an offer from one of those M7.

often, applicants get confused by so many issues. Jon Frank specifically helped me on the following quesitons: i shouldn't send additional email to explain my low GPA. how and when to invite alumini to write support letter for me. how to get off of wl...i got valuable reply.

also, i know two of my friends used PE service, and both have secured top mba offers.

Hi all, I want to share my experience with Adam from Amerasia Consulting.
I only have a 680 GMAT score, and with his help, I just recently got the interview invitation from the #1 B-school. What I like about Adam is, he actually pushed me to do a lot of work and go thru several revisions. It wasn't a easy journey (as it should not be), and the purpose of this process is to think of what I have achieved in my life, and where I want to be in the future. Adam did help me to clear up the big picture.
My experience is: because this the life I live, so I actually have no idea what to write about. What are my top three achievements? What are my setbacks? I have no clue. Adam went thru all the possible topics with me and helped me to pick - what appear the right choices now - to write about. I am not a good writer, but every step on the way, Adam always gave me warm encourages so I became more confident about my candidacy along the way.

I am very glad about the result. Will recommend him to anyone.
I know I am new here, if you have any questions, please PM me.

Any suggestions on who gives out the best mock interview prep ?

I worked with Kevin Chen from Clear Admit. His feedback is specific, thoughtful, and direct. He's not afraid to push you beyond your comfort zone--there were a few times when I got "stuck" and thought I couldn't improve my essays further, but he convinced me to re-edit them and I think they were better for it.

However, Clear Admit is very pricey (to me) and I found the response time a little slow (~24-48h, OK, maybe I'm asking alot!) relative to other consultants my friends used. It's also a very professional relationship, so don't expect him to become your confidante/best friend/FB pal/career counselor or hold your hand and make you feel better, like I've heard about other consultants. I didn't mind because that's not what I was looking for, but for someone who's looking for a little more reassurance and a gentler touch, you might want to try another firm.

Overall, I've been very satisfied. Think Kevin helped me put together a good app, fingers crossed, it'll get me past the finish line!

What I would STRONGLY recommend is getting a profile evaluation over the phone before signing up for any consultant. Be prepared with VERY specific questions about YOUR app and the schools you're interested so you can check how good their advice is. Some of the consultants I interviewed clearly hadn't bothered to read my resume before the call or were giving me super generic advice about schools ("HBS is looking for leaders"--seriously?!). That was an automatic ding on my part!

In general, how effective a consultant is depends on you. What works best is if you come prepared with an idea of your career vision, why you want an MBA, why you should be given a place, and what are your potential areas of weaknesses. Having a rough idea of your answers of these questions would give the consultant enough material to work with. You also need to be quite motivated and send your drafts regularly as well as push the consultant with questions about how you can improve, potential areas of weakness. I think that helps maximize the huge amounts you're paying!

I think the value of mock interview prep is getting a good sense of the type of questions that would be asked. So who gives the "best" mock interview prep depends on the school you're interviewing with. Find a consultant with significant experience helping applicants to your school. For example, I worked with Sandy (HBS Guru) for my HBS mock interview because of his extensive experience coaching HBS applicants. (Fingers crossed, his questions are a good reflection of what's likely to be asked!) Might not have chosen him if I were interviewing with INSEAD for example.

Now that I have a good set of questions (gleaned from Clear Admit wiki, friends who were past applicants, Sandy, etc), I'm planning to just arm-twist my good friends into practising with me. I think you just need practice to train yourself to come up with answers on the spot that:
- answers the question
- is structured and concise (not rambling, not getting lost in the weeds)
- doesn't sound like bullshit


(PS. For those who were wondering why I worked with Sandy AND Clear Admit--I engaged Sandy because I wanted an objective assessment of my app from someone who was completely unfamiliar with my app. I wanted a fresh pair of eyes to see if there's anything Clear Admit or I missed.)

For those interested in hiring a consultant, I would strongly recommend Tyler Cormney of MBA Prep School. He was punctual, honest, concise, and realistic. We spent a few months working together on applications to two Top 10 MBA Programs, and I was admitted to both programs.

I had several free ‘assessment’ calls with different consultants. I think the biggest difference that Tyler brought to the table was his crafted approach – I had the feeling on all the other initial calls that many other consultants and larger firms had a more ‘cookie-cutter’ approach. Tyler really took the time to get to know me personally and different strengths I could leverage in my application. He was very accessible throughout the process. There was a lot of prep work on my end, but as long as you put in the time and effort, Tyler will too and you will reap the benefits.

Tyler has his MBA from a top program as well as a degree in creative writing – I believe the latter helped me significantly in my essays so that they stood out from the crowd. He does not write them for you, but he provided me with great feedback – specifically, I was having trouble identifying points of differences that Adcoms would find valuable, as well as coming up with a career ‘story’ that made sense given my interests and prior work experience. Tyler was able to help me pick my best experiences and craft them into meaningful stories. He also assisted with different ways of making points so that I was able to stay within the essay length guidelines. We spent hours and hours on them and I was very happy with the result. There is NO way I would have gotten to the same final product without Tyler’s guidance.

It was a bit tough for me to digest the fee at first, but in retrospect I think the value that Tyler provided was well worth the investment. To me the biggest value-add was the essay editing. We also spent a lot of time on assessing my strengths, picking target schools, and interview and resume prep. To those applicants who are finding it difficult to come with a concrete “story” that makes sense, or who are struggling with essay writing or having issued with self-reflection, I would encourage you to try MBA Prep School.

Additionally, MBA Prep School has a comprehensive online forum with seminars and tools for everything related to MBA applications – from selecting target schools to nailing the interview, and everything in between. I believe access to this online resource can also be purchased separately from the traditional hourly or comprehensive consultant fee. This would be useful if you are a particularly strong writer or have some really concrete stories already in mind – otherwise, I would go with the comprehensive package. As I said before, it’s my opinion the biggest value-add was the essay prep and editing.

Overall, it was a great experience. My outcome was very positive as I went 2/2 on acceptances. Though even if I went 0/2, I still would have been pleased with my applications as I felt with Tyler’s help I did absolutely everything in my power to make them as strong as possible.

I’d be happy to give more feedback or advice if necessary, so feel free to PM me if you want more info.

Any feedback on Michelle Awuku Tatum from Amerasia?

Forum Moderator - This is my first post. Please contact me if you need to verify anything. Please don’t label it with anything less than its true value.

I am a longtime GMATclub user – well, a passive user. Today, I decided to take my first step in giving an honest feedback plus some suggestions to other GMATClubber because there are things that nobody is seriously talking about.

While selecting a good admission consultant, follow the below guideline
+ Contact potential admission consultant – I contacted Amerasia, Veritas, and Stacy Blackmann.
+ Prepare a list of questions that you want to cover on your very first call (or initial consultation). Usually, this call is free of charge. You can ask as many “relevant and pressing” questions as you desire. But refrain from obvious questions such as "what are my chances". Come on!! Seriously@#$@#$
+ Be clear on which colleges you are applying to. Some consultants are familiar with the colleges so they can give more pointers on your research. For example, only Adam ( from Amerasia Consulting) asked me to look into some categorically similar colleges in Europe while others just engaged in conversation.
+ Be clear on the payment and promotion.
+ Discuss your weakness upfront. No shame in showing your vulnerability. Acceptance of your weakness is a door to surprising opportunities. Trust me on this!!
+ Discuss your profile in brief ( such as GMAT, past attempts, current role, future goal, etc) and get a quick feedback on the list of colleges you are planning to apply to.
+ Many consultants will ask you to fill the detailed questionnaire. Do so only if you feel that you need to send across your message clearly. Not required if you have not decided on the consultant.

Once you have selected a consultant, the first order of business is to establish a working relationship. Everyone is different and possesses a unique personality. For example, I can't just work on one essay; Otherwise,I will experience lingering writer's block. I normally like working on two to three different essays at the same time. As such, I finish all of them together. What it means to the consultant is that he or she has to switch gear when reading the essays and finish them in the stipulated time. The advantage is that you are rolling fast on your essays. The downside is that if you do not pay enough attention to structure and content, you are up for multiple revisions, which , in my experience, will start diminishing the quality of your literary piece. At this point, you can’t blame your consultant because they are the usher or guide, not the creator. If you are relying on your consultant to write essays for you, first of all it is wrong and second of all you are not ready for MBA. Also, be clear with your consultant on your approach and ask his convenience. You must establish a healthy relationship, as you do with your doctor or lawyer.

Result : After much research and deliberation, I went with Amerasia Consulting. I got interview calls from most of my selected colleges, and have been admitted to few of them. But finally, I confirmed my place in HKUST. HKUST was my second choice. My first choice was INSEAD, but I didn't get an interview call. Oh! Well…

Let’s talk about Amerasia Consulting. I worked with Adam. Adam’s input was extremely valuable in structuring my essays. I have a habit of wandering off to irrelevant content while answering any essay question. What Adam did was providing me a general structure of an essay answer. For example, if the question asked about a 100-word story where I had to demonstrate my leadership skills, Adam asked me to share a quick story in 50 words and the conclusion in the remaining 50 words. This is just a simple example. But when you work on , say, INSEAD essays, you will know what it really takes to work on 8 essays. Another thing I like about Adam is that he was as much serious about my college application as I was. Usually he sent the revisions on time and, on some occasions, on the same day. There were times when he was “blunt” about the content. And I knew that I favored speediness and compromised the quality. One thing is that you need to take the critique on a very positive note. Since he has read many essays in his profession, it’s clear that he will be very objective in his deliberation. So if he is pointing any kinks in your essay, pay close attention and follow his suggestion – rather becoming defensive. At the same time, if you want to highlight any of your strengths that Adam is asking to get rid of, let him know why you think strongly about it. Just remember. You cannot cut corners when working with the admission consultants. You are going to face actual admission committee and they are going to bring up these things. Since Adam has been on the other side of the aisle, he knows what the admission committee is looking for or concerned about. In short, be affirmative and yet flexible. And do not let go of your values.

Bottomline – You can take help of admission consultant for smoothing the rough edges. And if you decide to do that, I can personally vouch for Amerasia Consulting.

If anyone has any questions, shoot pm me.

PS : While looking for a good admission consultant, I narrowed my list to Amerasia Consulting and Stacy Blackman. Stacy seemed to be very pricey, which I was not able to afford anyway. And Stacy company works in group, but I prefer one person looking at my essays. So my rejection of Stacy , by no means, states anything other than my preference. And I was not really impressed with Veritas. Period.

While I have thought about posting here for a while, I wanted to go through some of the process before I wrote a review on my process.

I applied last year without the help of a consultant. I had thought about using one, but I was cheap and did not want to fork over the cash. I have a lot of friends that have gone through the process or are good writers, but none of them were critical on my essays. At the end I applied to 9 schools last year. 3 R1, 3 R2, and 3 R3. I went 0-6 in R1 and R2. For R3 I took a bit more genuine approach to my essays and did not get any reviews. I was actually waitlisted at Duke. The other 2 schools never reviewed my application as my recommender failed to submit recommendations before their cutoff.

This year, I was a re-applicant. I decided after investing over 2K in application fees alone last year, an investment in an AC was worth it. If not for all the schools I was going to apply to, at least the first few to get some structure with my essays and applications and to understand where I went wrong last year.

The best advice I can give is contact as many companies as you can. Inquire about all their services a la carte, packages and get to know the people that will be working with you. I did that and searching various boards, threads, and google I ended up using indusminds (www.indusminds.com).

I choose them for a variety of reasons, but the few things that I liked is they were honest with me. They let me go in the direction I wanted, but ensured my direction made sense for an overall story. They helped me link essays together in ways I never thought and made sure my package was complete. I only planned on using them for the first 4 schools that I had a package with but ended up using them for all 7 I submitted applications to.

This year I am 1 for 3 with one waitlist. I also have an interview at another school and am still waiting on 2 more schools. Last year, I only got one interview invite, this year I am on track to be invited to interview at all my school except for possibly one. I cannot recommend them enough.

If you have any questions about the application process, the re-application process, the searching for admissions consultants, or indusminds (www.indusminds.com) shoot me a PM.

Good luck to everyone applying this year and those that are using this thread for insight for future years.

I was admitted into my dream school thanks to Tyler Cormney and MBA Prep School, read below for details! It’s a thorough / long review, but I hope it’s helpful to anyone doing research. PM me with any questions.

Background
The MBA application process is excruciating and stressful, especially for re-applicants who are waitlisted and ultimately rejected.

During last year’s application process, I initially thought that both my application and essays were strong. After all, I had been invited to interview at my dream school and a couple of very close friends had also thought my essays were compelling. However, the eventual rejection signaled that I needed to go back to square one and objectively re-evaluate my application if I were serious about re-applying.

To start, I decided to reach out to friends who did not know me as well as my previous reviewers; I thought they would be more objective because their feedback would not be clouded by intimate knowledge of my background and story. Their feedback helped me realize my essays were not as strong as I had previously thought.

Despite the rejection, I remained enthusiastic about reapplying. The first time I applied, I was skeptical of the value provided by admissions consultants. I thought my undergraduate record, work experience, extracurriculars, and writing skills were adequate / strong. With an open mind, however, I started doing research on admissions consultants to see if I could benefit from their guidance.

Given that using an admissions consultant is a significant investment, I was extremely diligent with my research process. I contacted all the consultants reviewed on GC and eventually spoke on the phone with six of them. On each call, we covered a list of 15+ questions that I had. I also set up follow-up conversations with the front-runners with more questions. Eventually, I narrowed down my list to MBA Prep School / Tyler Cormney, MBA Mission, and SBC. As someone without finances to spare, I was still hesitant but there were two deciding factors:

1. An emphatic endorsement for Tyler by a mentor who I had worked with
2. Tyler’s answer to, “why are you in admissions consulting?”

Process
I give Tyler and MBA Prep School my highest possible recommendation. Tyler was instrumental in pushing me to present an application that captured who I am.

The biggest advantage of working with Tyler is the personalized approach. He took the time to get to know me and understand my story. I felt he was invested in the outcome of the process as much as I was. The “care” factor is what I valued highly as a client.

In many ways, working with a consultant involved more work and hours than the first time I applied. The tools, tutorials, and (countless) videos on MBA Prep School helped me thoroughly understand my own story, strengths, weaknesses, and future goals. Yes, this was useful even as a re-applicant. While doing all this work, Tyler remained alongside, providing feedback as necessary. All my prep work also helped Tyler understand my story better. Initially, the amount of prep work required was actually perplexing because I already had a previous application and a set of essays. But I came to appreciate and understand the value of taking one step back, doing all of the MBA Prep School work, and trusting the process to take me two steps forward. All the prep work also opened my eyes to schools I had not previously considered.

Having followed the MBA Prep School curriculum, I had full awareness of the content pieces and stories to use for my resume and essays. Also, I was able to differentiate the qualities that were more important to one school vs. another, which helped me pick the appropriate stories for each set of essays.

Tyler’s feedback and the MBA Prep School videos were key in helping me understand how to position my stories in a memorable way. Sometimes, I thought my initial drafts were close to being “masterpieces” (just like last year, of course), but Tyler brought me back to reality and continuously pushed me to write better. In the end, I was confident in the essays and the application I prepared.

To top it off, MBA Prep School has video tutorials on acing your interview. In addition, Tyler’s mock interview and advice made me feel completely prepared to tackle this last step of the application process.

Another of Tyler’s strengths is his personality. He is sincere, honest, and encouraging. That combination and balance is hard to find, but much needed in someone who you’ll look to for advice through months of hard work.

Result
I was admitted into my top choice (think H/S/W). Unlike last year, I actually felt the application I presented was the best I could regardless of the results. Before decisions even came out, I told one of my friends that I would have no regrets about my applications this year or my investment, I knew I had done my absolute best – that feeling of knowing I did everything within grasp is thanks to Tyler. If you are considering working with a consultant, Tyler is the absolute best in the business – 5 out of 5 stars.

With a clear idea on why I want an MBA, I started applying to B-Schools on my own. I wrote a few essays and sought feedback from my friends and family. From the feedback, I realized that I am not coherently conveying my message. Also, I needed honest advice, from a reliable source, on the admission process and on the quality of my application. I eventually decided to take help from a consultant.

Why Michelle Awuku-Tatum?
There is valuable advice on this thread on several consulting firms and their consultants. I have gone through most of the posts, spoken to several consultants, and shortlisted Amerasia, for its personalized services, and Stacy Blackman (SBC), for its structured approach. I also had very specific requirements based on my background – I wanted a consultant with corporate work experience and with international exposure. I reviewed several consultant profiles from both firms and decided to speak with Michelle (Amerasia) and another good consultant from SBC. I chose Michelle, a Kellogg alumna, for her corporate experience as a VP at Citigroup and for her diverse international experience. After speaking to her, I was even more confident in her abilities because of her patience, experience, and composure. More importantly, I enjoyed my conversation with her - I decided to work with Michelle.
My advice to anyone who is in the process of choosing a consultant/firm – even if it is time consuming, please look for a consultant who fits with your profile/background and who is genuinely excited by your experiences.

My experience working with Michelle
Working with Michelle was a stimulating conversation because she truly is passionate about what she does. I felt motivated after every single call, and she inspired me to seek perfection. She gave me valuable feedback and unbiased advice. Her attention to detail is extraordinary, and I believe that this detail differentiates a great application from a good one. I always got back to Michelle with a ton of questions on every single aspect of the application, and she never fell short of answering all my questions patiently. I cannot emphasize the value of her experience that she brought to the table – I made confident and informed decisions because of her experience and knowledge.

What differentiates Michelle from other consultants is her faith in the candidate’s dream. I am sure she picks her clients well, and she is very ethical in choosing a limited number of clients every season. This dedication to offer her best to her clients creates an exceptionally personalized consulting experience. In my case, she truly believed in my goals, ambitions, and potential contribution to the society. She enjoyed listening to my experiences and understanding how they shaped my personality. When a consultant works at this level of detail, I am sure the candidate will present the best possible application.

Finally, I had a great time working with Michelle. She was a good friend with whom I could discuss every application question that was lingering on my mind. At the same time, she was very professional in her approach and advice. Also, I must mention her ethics: not once did she put words in my mouth or do anything that is remotely unethical. She helped me by giving a good structure and definition to the application through right questions.

Result
I have worked with Michelle on one (extremely selective) school from which I received an Interview invite. She is very helpful in preparing me for the Interview through her detailed feedback on the mock interviews. I promise to update this post with the name of the school and the result as soon as I hear from them (my interview is in a few days). I wish you guys all the very best on your applications!

Forum Moderator,
I have been a passive GMAT Club user for a long time. I want to give back to the community through my feedback on the consulting service that I used for my MBA application process. Please let me know if you need more information to verify this post.