The good:

- they do a good job editing your essays and really trying to help you to tell a compelling story. Also fast turn-around time.

The bad:

- there are many, many more important aspects in applying, such as your career goal, your positioning, candid feedback to your competitiveness at certain schools, and they fail to deliver here, this is where you pay big bucks is to work with consultants who can bring the best out of you, relentlessly push you back and bring the best career goals, stories out of you.

The process:

- you fill out a standard form, and they will position you, this is really not enough to create a strong image, especially if you have some weak areas: low gpa/gmat, etc. You really need to bring your best foot forward, and you will get better service elsewhere. They are very nice people, but they also tend to agree with you but letting you know where you really need improvements.

I was truly amazed with the level of service I received through the Admissionado team. They are a great team and everyone from the coordinator to the consultant are very approachable and easy going. They work with you to match your needs and are take what they do very seriously.

Before going with Admissiondo I had worked with other consulting firms and that was probably one of the worst investments I had ever made. So before signing up with the Admissionado team, I interviewed many of their competitors and had an extensive experience with some. I really like what they did and their positive attitude and decided to go with them.

They have many distinguishing factors. One thing that I really appreciated about them is that they really go above and beyond to get the work done. And truly give it their best every time.

My consultant was Phillip Herring and I can't say enough good things about him. Working with him, you will truly see that these guys aren't just trying to get the work done and move on. Phillip really cared about my essays and gave it his best on every revision.

Even at times when I had only 2 days left to submission, if Phillip was not absolutely happy with the quality of essay we were submitting and felt it wasn't the best representation of my background and personality, he would mark pages in red and leave paragraphs of detailed comments and shared strategies to turn the essay around. If you are really willing to make the effort, these guys will take time out of their life to make sure you get the best service.

Given our 3 hour time zone difference, Phillip would stay up late at nights to discuss last minute changes. They have an amazing turn around time and truly do their best job on every revision. Every essay is reviewed by a consultant as well as a professional editor.

It is definitely worth the investment. Great team. I would recommend it to anyone that is looking for some help with the apps.

Last year, I applied to only one school - M7 BSchool. I did not use any consultant then and managed to get an interview with school. However, I could not find a place in the program. After reading forums and talking to some MBA friends, I realized some mistakes in my application but even so, I was decently happy with my performance, considering I had no guidance except Paul Bodine's book.

This year, I took Admissionado's two bootcamp classes ($199 each or so) just before R1. After the two classes, I thought that I would apply to 1 school (ranked 8th-13th) myself and 4 schools (M7 schools) through Admissionado. And I jumped after they offered a 15% discount on the JrD package.

Over the next 2.5 months I worked with the consultant who an ex-M7 MBA. He was a really nice guy overall and very approachable.

At the end, I got into the school that I applied to myself and to none of the ones I applied through Admissionado. I reapplied to the M7 school I applied the year before, this time through Admissionado. Like last year, I got an interview call and (again) could not find a place in the program. I realize I might have deficiencies, so I'll try to restrict the review to the actual services provided and not just the outcome of my applications.

Positives
+ Biggest positive: That I could bounce off a story to someone without having to spend time writing and polishing it, only to have it rejected. Consultants are great for this (v/s using a busy friend or family member).
+ Consultant was nice and likable.
+ Quality of my apps improved.

Negatives
- Biggest negative: The consultant stuck to 72hr turnaround time clause of the contract. Initially, I had a lot of time so this didn't matter. However, during the crunch time of last 10 days or so before the submission deadline, I expected him to respond more quickly (meaning 36 hrs or less), especially for the smaller edits. Upon asking, he recommended that I pay more $$$ to 'expedite' my reviews. Now I know they are busy people, but it was still a ridiculous ask for something that would take him 10-15 mins to review. Not cool and definitely costed me in the quality of the app at the end.

- Sometimes the consultant would not be clear with what he wants me to change. You'd have to email a few times to get him to commit to the weakness in your essay.

- My expectation was that I would get ideas for great openings or closings for each essay. No such thing. I had to search for ideas there myself and he would just green/red flag them.

Overall:
I'm about 60% satisfied, hence the 3 stars. Since I did not have any MBA friends who had gone through the process and could review my essays, I chose to go with a consultant. If you don't have this handicap, I'd recommend tapping a current MBA student instead of spending money on a consultant.

The MBA process is tough! It's even tougher if you are from Africa and have never written a college admission essay before, are a non-standard applicant and have a less-than-ideal GMAT score.

Before I got hold of Admissionado I had spoken to around a dozen other admission consultants, many of whom were doubtful that I would be successful in my process because I had such a unique profile. I was also skeptical about the cost involved to use an admission consultant. It was only after I decided to apply on my own to a Top 5 b-school, and got dinged, that I realized the value of a strong story and got in touch with Admissionado.

The first thing you notice about Admissionado is how friendly and nice they are. Everyone, from Lauren who heads up their marketing to Kyn my consultant is completely relaxed and extremely helpful. Speaking to Kyn was the first a consultant actively engaged with me to found out what made my application unique. Kyn was an absolutely awesome guy who worked around my schedule even when my work commitments made me impossible to work with.

In my mock interviews I also worked with Mark Lellouch, who I believe was a critical factor in my almost flawless interview with my dream school. Mark challenged my thinking and identified key flaws in my reasoning. I worked on these areas and when they came up in my actual interview I was able to come across as calm and confident.

Admissionado was critical in me not only being accepted into my dream school but also being offered a full scholarship. Admissionado turned out to be one of the best investments I have ever made. I would recommend them to anyone.

It was the best decision (and investment) i made this year to choose to work with Admissionado on my dream school application. Admissionado has a tailored approach which I really appreciate – they try very hard to understand your situation and exactly what you need and pair you up with the best possible consultant.

My consultant is very friendly, responsive and patient. He knows the application process inside out and always tried to work around my schedule. He also got me very well prepared for my interview and predicted lots of the questions that eventually came up. He was very patient in answering my questions and was supportive and encouraging all the way through.

It was start of December and I was really struggling to kick start my essays or to be more precise I was not able to locate the starting point. I need some help desperately,but from whom??. There are lots and lots of advertising and opportunity cost is not limited to couple of grand’s it is more in terms of a year of failure. Being always a low key event I cannot discuss this in public, one of my best friend advised me of 'AdmissionAdo', as he himself experienced them while applying to 1st round of business schools. I was only gonna apply to my dream school and I cannot afford to lose on account of poor consultant service.

Mid December - I applied for free consultation of 'admissionado' and after series of mail and careful analysis of my profile their administrator 'Lauren Hersk' referred me to 'Mark Lellouch' - a dynamic stanford passout - as consultant and after an hour long discussion with Mark on the same day I, having no doubt about 'Admission Ado' took their service in the form of 'Junior Deluxe' package.

The unexpected thing - I thought after hiring the consultant I can relax and most of the work would be done by him. But I end up putting thrice the amount of work that I would have done without a consultant, end result - the best application that I could ever manage.

Mark with his excellent soft skills and precise analysis have always pushed me harder in terms of writing essays. One thing that I really admired about him is his 'honest feedback'. I clearly remember the time when he told me after seeing my first draft that you need to change your one of the essays otherwise you are not getting through. He gave me an independent and thorough review of my profile followed by detailed analysis of the essays and pushed me really hard to think about 'n' different things that I would have simply ignored without him. The last but not least since I was running really short of time and Mark made sure that he delivered me the reviewed draft asap.

I am really thankful to the full team of admissionado and especially Mark to be such a great contributor to the application.

Oh and I forgot to tell - I have received the interview call from 'the one' and preparing for it.
If you are serious about your application and don’t want to take any chances, I advised you to have a free consultation with ‘AdmissionAdo’

I knew precision essays from before, but I first came in contact with Admissionado when I wanted to take services of an admissions consultant

After a lot of thoughts, I finally decided to take services of a consultant for MIT LGO application. I first went for AcceptU.com, after attending their seminar on BTG. While I was evaluating their offering, I came in contact of Lauren of Admissionado and almost immediately was hooked on to their professional approach.

Their initial questionnaire was quite thorough and made the basis for preparing good essays as it brought out nice themes. When I finally paid for their service, only 15 days were left for the MIT LGO application and it was a race to the finish. It took me another couple of days to submit their questionnaire as I wanted to make sure it properly brought out my past

With just over 10 days left before the application submission and the 12-hour time difference between me & the consultant, it was a tough & stressful ride. I worked with Damon Chua, he might not have known a lot about MIT, but he made sure that those 10 days were as stress-free for me as possible.

Though their committed turn-around time was 72-hours, but Damon almost always came back within 24-hours. We properly utilized the 12-hour time difference, I would submit the essays in Damon's day-time and he would return them in my day-time :). This flexibility really helped me squeeze in 3 reviews & a final polish with Damon and also a review with my sisters (to ensure the story-line reflected real me)

Damon also ensured the whole process was action-packed. He gave me thorough comments which were really helpful in shaping the essays. The final essays were a real good read, unlike the initial submission which was very-very loosely written. Damon's limited knowledge of MIT had little impact over the whole process, but he was really passionate in his work

Their support over the whole period and even after that has been really commendable. It is still to be seen if I am able to make into one of the 5-6 international students of LGO, but I am satisfied with our efforts. And I learnt one thing, be very open with your consultant, as then they can really surprise you with how they can present your story.

If you are considering using an admissions consulting service I am here to highly recommend signing up with Admissionado. Upon first contacting them you will notice immediately how colloquial and confident the people who work there are, and this is not just a marketing technique, it continues throughout the entire process. Additionally their services are very affordable in comparison to other consulting companies, without skimping on any of the quality.

From the very beginning they will attempt to pair you with a consultant that can best meet your needs and in my case it worked out perfectly. Mark Lellouch is extremely bright, honest, and caring. He will challenge you at every step of the process, and that tough love is the key to developing clear goals and presenting your best achievements while minimizing fluff. Engaging with your consultant in an honest and open way is paramount to a successful partnership and I felt comfortable at every step doing so with Mark.

Applying to business school is a stressful process for most, and while consulting will not totally alleviate that stress, it does offer invaluable piece of mind and expert advise at all stages. Admissionado adhered to their turnaround times every time and even exceeded them as deadlines drew near. It is important to remember that the harder you work on the applications, the more you will get out of the consulting process.

Admissionado and Mark in particular met and exceeded my expectations. I was already confident in my writing capabilities, but they helped me immensely in crafting an honest and believable application to b-school. While I have not heard back from all the schools I have applied to yet, I feel 100% confident in saying that Admissionado helped me put my best foot forward in each application we worked on together (and absolutely elevated the other applications I completed on my own).

I am glad to have Fritz Charles as my tutor in completing my MBA application. I had a quite tight schedule when I decided to apply this year. The guidance from Fritz helped me a lot. His careful review over my essays has impressed me very much. He understands how the admission committee thinks about the essays and what points can attract the attentions of them. He also took care of the vocabulary and word count quite well.

With his help, I have gained the interview invitation from one of the M7 schools, also the only school I asked Fritz for help.

As a non-traditional applicant and career switcher, I knew I needed to get my application right the first time with the help from a professional. Problem was, there were so many consultants out there, each boasting a team of top MBAs.

What set Admissionado apart was its boutique service. Jon, the founder/CEO spent 1hr+ on the phone with me when I signed up for a free consultation. I felt that this guy was down-to-earth, honest and I could not detect any B.S. Being a non-traditional applicant, I was a little worried about my school selection, but felt assured when Jon laid down my school strategy and gave me his honest opinion on my chances. I really felt that I had Jon on my team and trusted him in helping me with my application.

In my opinion, a consultant should be part of your team, and not a guy that just edits your essays. Based on my background, Jon recommended Alex to be my consultant. I needed more help with refining my story so I chose the Junior Deluxe package with 5 schools.

While relatively expensive, I was very happy with the work Alex and I did together and would recommend them to everyone I know. Based on all the "red" I got for each round of feedback (4 rounds total), I could tell that significant time and effort went into the edits. Because Alex knew my story well (we spent 1 hr on the phone as well), he could guide me in bringing the most out of my story as possible.

Alex was always patient and responded very quickly to my emails, and his edits always came back within 72 hours. I started early, but could see how this process would not be so stressful even if under a short deadline.

Even after I signed up with Admissionado, I would still occasionally look at other consulting companies at fairs or online, and it just made me even happier with my decision. No other firm could offer the boutique service that I experienced and could help me elevate my essays so much.

Time and effort spent is really important, and I felt that Alex and Jon really cared about my results. I wouldn't want someone to just browse through my essays and give me generic edits, I needed personal service that would get me into the best MBA program I could get into. I got it at Admissionado.