"Best" admission consulting companies?

Actually one more thing - any views on whether it is ok to ask for references for specific consultants I'm considering? I know some companies have testimonials up on their website, but it's hard to tell which specific consultant the testimonial is written for.
Thanks.

First of all, thanks everyone for this wonderful thread. I found it quite useful in narrowing down my choices. Having said that, can anyone please offer any insight on the following consultants?

- MBA Exchange. I have gone through the initial email dialogue but I just can't find any *real* reviews. I found an old thread at Business Week (https://forums.businessweek.com/bw-bscho ... ?msg=86996) but all the positive reviews are by first-time posters. Can someone suggest how are their consultants, their responsiveness etc.

- Clear Admit: Deciding between Brett and Stacey. Any feedback?
- Bill at Stacy Blackman: Already saw the great review but is he focused more towards EMBAs?

Thanks a bunch guys!

Any experience with Paul S. Bodine as admission consultant?

Hey 'CAMBA13' -

First off - congrats on making it to Kellogg and thanks for sharing your experience with Tyler. It is really helpful.

I'm actually strongly considering using Tyler's services and had a couple of questions about it. It would be really great if you could answer -

1. Did you use the Premium package or the hourly services? If you did premium, did you do all schools at once or did you start with 1 school and added more later?
2. Did you ever feel that you had to wait too long to get responses?
3. Typically how much time in a week did he spend with you on phone?
4. Anything that you did not like about his services?

As you can understand, it is a significant investment of time and money and I want to make sure I'm going with the right person.

Thanks again.

Just finished up my MBA at Ross, so this review may be a little dated, but I thought I'd chip in with an opinion on MBA Exchange since it seems there are few opinions on here.

I worked directly with Dan, the founder of MBAEx and applied to 4 schools. I have a very non-traditional background (owned a painting company, and worked for a small niche IT firm). Had a 3.4 GPA from a Big Ten school, and a 730 GMAT. To say that I wasn't exactly lighting the world on fire with my resume is probably a pretty accurate statement.

My experience with MBAEx was truly fantastic. I'm not saying I wouldn't have gotten in without their help, but I am positive they substantially increased my chances of acceptance. From helping me accurately gauge to what schools to apply, to helping me craft my personal story throughout my essays, Dan was extremely helpful. I applied to 4 Top 10-15 schools, and decided to attend Michigan. I was extremely happy with my experience and would give MBA Exchange, and Dan specifically the highest of recommendations. I still maintain close contact with Dan, and he always answers emails or phone calls within 24 hours, and often much sooner. He was always there for me during the process to answer questions and concerns, and I am confident he will continue to be a close contact for years to come.

Please PM me or email me if you have any specific questions.

PS - Ross was awesome, and I couldn't have been happier with my final school choice.

Hi Everyone,

I know that this is for reviews but I've been surprised that I can't find anything at all on MBAadmit and Shelly Watts. If anyone has worked with her it would be great to hear about the experience. Thanks to everyone who's contributing!

@ tgrlil: PM sent!

Hey
Somehow missed this post earlier. Not sure if you are still deciding but here are my 2 cents.
I have worked on one school with Yahon and am cureently working on the second one. Although, I did not get positive results from the first school but I knew going in that my chances here were not that great. He is really great and easy to work with, knows the school and it shows that he has been doing this for a while.
We started working on the app with just 3 weeks to go (and boy it was one the longest app) and still managed to apply on time. Thoughout I never felt as if we compromised on quality. Even one day before my app submission, he did not give up and was still pushing me to include more details. His response time was amazing, mostly within a day and towards the end even within a few hours.

As I said, although I dont have the results to back my review but I would definitely recommend him to anyone.

Feel free to PM me if you have any more questions.....

Here goes my 0.0002 cents...

I worked with MBACrystalball.com for its mock application service - what it calls the MBA MAPs. It kicked off with a questionnaire (basically a short essay, a mock interview, general profile information and the resume), followed by an interview with Sameer. What transpired was a customized PDF, showing my chances, rated as Ambitious/Stretch/Practical and Safe, in about 100 odd top schools across the globe. It also had a brief SWOT analysis my profile.

This was then followed by a detailed interview in which I was briefed about the application process, strategies and an overall review of my profile.

The entire exercise was really helpful. I was lost in the big bad world of MBA and jargons otherwise... I'd been following Sameer's posts in GMATClub and other such forums too...and was drawn to the website due to the earnest manner in which he was helping people...

I'd mailed a few other reputed consultants for a quick review of my profile but their curt replies showed they were getting paid for each word uttered! I definitely didn't want to hurt my confidence by tagging along with such folks... Besides, the MAP service was pretty affordable so I thought its worth taking my chances... and in the end, it turned out to be a good decision...

I look forward to the app 2012 season with a lot more clarity and confidence. Good luck, MCB...and good luck, me too!

Hey InseadGrad,
Thanks for sharing. can you recommend a specific Aringo.com consultant? I see they have many. Also, did their specialty in countering low GMAT scores make the difference in your case? how can they help an applicant with low GMAT? (yes, I'm talking about myself )

Hey,
sorry for the late reply...

I can't recommend a specific consultant, but as for the "low GMAT strategy" I recommend watching their video lecture:
https://www.aringo.com/low_gmat.htm

Good luck!

This post is very helpful for my B-school application. Thanks for the great work!

Hi!

tx for your informative posts!

i have sent you couple of pm's

pls respond

GS

Any feedback on Drew Hoff from Amerasia? If you have feedback, pm me. Thanks!

Hi All,

Can somebody tell me about “My best application”. I am thinking of getting my applications done from this company.

Thanks

Hi,

I found this thread and thought i'd share my insights:

First of all, about applying to b-school and my decision - An MBA at a top school is probably an unparalleled opportunity to catapult your career, and one of the most meaningful decisions one can make. INSEAD is one of the best schools in the world and is a unique in its combination of an intensive and challenging 1-year program; a general management, strategy and entrepreneurship focus; and an incredibly diverse student body where no one nationality has more than 10%.
An MBA from an elite school will not turn you into something you are not, but in today's job market it will put you in front of the right opportunities, which you can then capture using your own skills and strengths.

Regarding using admission consultants, as a former Aringo.com customer, what I liked best was (a) having someone with years of experience and a wide perspective do a sanity check on my positioning, strategy (b) the flexibility of choosing the right model to fit my needs, from just spending a few hours to review, to creating and executing a full plan, hand-in-hand. This is probably a more important life choice than buying a house, so I would advise applicants to realize that and to plan and budget accordingly.

Hope this helps, I'd be happy to answer questions if you have any.

I am confused to zero in on the right admission consultant -

I have shortlisted 2 at this point - MBAExchange and MBAmission.
Would someone with experience mind comparing these two consultants?
Can anyone provide reviews on Deepak Punwani from MBA Exchange? thanks

I’m an internationalstudent from China and just started my dream school, Columbia. I would like tosay without the help form Ivy MBA Consulting, I wouldn’t make this far.

During that long andslow-moving application period, it is Ivy who has been always there, day andnight, to help me conquer the thorniest difficulties in my application. Theyare MBA insiders, essay crackers, life coaches and most importantly, closefriends.

The Ivy MBAConsulting advisors have MBA degree and they even have admission officers fromtop MBA programs join their team. This makes sure they have the first-handinformation about what MBA programs are looking for and how to best presentmyself in the application. In the very beginning, the Ivy team helped me lookretrospect into every details of my past career, education and life, so as todiscover the most special and competent “me” to present my stories. There aretimes that I wasn’t sure which route I would take and it was my adviser whoalways provided the most constructive and professional advises that helped meout.

I wouldn’t emphasizehow crucial essays are in the whole application package. As the applicant whoseeducation language is not English, writing essays has been the dauntingchallenge for me. It is my adviser who helped me modify essays for thousands oftimes. When I compared my first draft essay with the final version, which hasthe beautiful flow, compelling logic and precise description, I couldn’tappreciate more on how much my adviser and the Ivy team has helped me. Moreimportantly, even though Ivy team and I remotely worked together during thewhole application process, communication has always been in time, consistentand seamless.

Ivy MBA Consulting isnot merely a team of advisors but more a group of close friends. There alwayshas been the time that you feel unconfident, disappointed, helpless during theapplication. I couldn’t remember how many times my adviser kept encouraging,inspiring me and helping me rationally analyzing the problems we met so that Iwouldn’t get frustration. All these have bolstered my confidence and I wouldn’tget into Columbia without their spirit support.

During the interviewsessions, the Ivy team would contact the right advisor, who is the MBA graduatefrom the school which I received invitation from, to conduct mock interview forme. I am so glad that through talking with different people, I would be able toimprove my presentation and storytelling skills. Even more, the school alumnihave provided me the most relevant information and resources of the school,which would for sure contribute to my successful interviews.

In the end, I want toextend my sincere thanks to my adviser Eli and the whole Ivy team! I would bemore than happy to answer any questions for the future applicants. Good luck!

I worked with Adam at Amerasia for my applications last year and I would've been completely lost without him. I have a strong academics (98% GMAT, 3.7 undergrad GPA), but my work experience was very lacking (3 years of computer programming at a bank). I was very impressed by his knowledge and enthusiasm after our initial 1 hour consultation, so I decided to take a 2 school package.

Coming from a very technical background (computer programming) I really had no idea where to start with any of my apps, but with his extensive school-specific knowledge, I was able to put together a decent set of essays. He helped me look at what I felt were very mundane experiences from a different perspective and put them into a convincing essays. Over a span of a couple months, Adam not only gave me extremely helpful critiques and revisions of my essays, he helped guide me through what turned out to be a great introspective experience. I was very happy with his work, and decided to use them for another 3 schools. In the end, while I was dinged by HBS, Stanford, MIT (which I chalk up to my young age and weaker work experience), I was able to secure an admission to UCLA Anderson as a round 3 applicant, and am starting there this fall. It definitely would not have been possible without the help and hard work of Adam!

If you have any questions about my experience with Amerasia or Adam, please feel free to send me a PM.