Ask MBAvolunteers - application feedback for a donation

Hi Bryant,

Apologies if you may have been offended by our posting. Whether using admissions consultants is "unethical" or not we believe is a purely subjective view point. Some find that it is unfair aid when using admissions consultants to craft business school applications, because others don't have such help either because they can't afford it or they believe applicants should do this on their own. Also, I'm not sure what business schools' official position is on the use of admissions consultants, but I recall from the time when I applied that Eric Abrams, then admissions director at Stanford GSB, told us not to use admissions consultants. At a UC Berkeley Haas info session I heard the same thing. Instead, we should seek help from family and friends, especially those with MBA admissions experience. Some applicants, however, don't have such family and friends who could provide constructive feedback on MBA applications. That's where MBAvolunteers is trying to help out.

A further factor of the "legitimacy" is also the wide variety of services offered. Some agencies actually write essays for applicants or tell them what to write - something MBAvolunteers and I assume most admissions consultants won't do.

On the other hand, MBA programs do work with admissions consultants (e.g. when they give interviews for Stacy Blackman) so they can't be that opposed to them. And plenty of applicants have no ethical issue at all using admissions consultants, evidenced by the huge admissions consulting industry out there. But again, whether using admissions consultants is ethical or not should be a subjective opinion.