** Junior Deluxe Reviews

Admissionado stood out from the competition from the start. They seemed a lot friendlier and down-to-earth than other consultants I had talked to. They were super willing to help and I felt that their approach was much more personable and tailored to my needs.
I was paired with John and I must say he did a great job guiding me through the daunting process of MBA applications, from brain-storming schools to actually helping with the essays and general application queries.
He helped with 3 Top schools In the west coast and was super happy with the outcome. I got into 2 of them with scholarships and got an interview with another (still waiting for the outcome on that). Not having access to people that had been through the process, John helped me frame the applications in the best possible way and frame a story that makes sense for me, the schools and for my goals.

Claudia and the rest of the team are also super helpful and always cheered for me from the start!

Thanks a lot again!

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A little background about me: I'm an Indian with 3 years of work ex at matriculation, 2.7 GPA, and 710 GMAT. I worked with Stefanie on 3 schools - Darden, Cornell, and UNC.

I signed up with Admissionado after talking to 3-4 consultancies. I had a few reasons for this - their essay style which felt inherently 'me', their feedback style which I felt most comfortable with, and most importantly, their cheerful approach toward the process (which helped me feel excited about it).

Stefanie was great at easing me into the process. I was a ball of anxiety at the beginning, but later, seeing how the essays were shaping up, I started to relax. Stefanie and I drew up an action plan initially which was great while fleshing out the outlines for each of the essays. She had great pointers and was lightning quick when it came to replying. Even though their official turnaround time is 3 days, Stefanie sent my essays back to me in 2 and they were thoroughly dissected, just as I'd expected and hoped. What I loved most was how her comments did such a great job at directing me toward what I had to write.

The editing part, although stressful, was a really fun process because of the way she gave feedback. I also loved how the only time they went dark was during Christmas, and that was only for a day. They were available on all days and did a superb job of adhering to the deadlines, always delivering before.

All in all, it was a lovely experience and I wouldn't have believed it two months ago, but I genuinely enjoyed the whole process, thanks to Stefanie & Admissionado!
Special shout out to Claudia who was super super understanding during my payment issue and extremely helpful throughout the whole thing.

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If you are on the fence about getting a admission consultant just do it- I promise you it will be the best money you have ever spent. Sure, they are helpful to put together essays, but admissionado (and Julia especially) is there step by step of the way with you to answer any questions. This was huge for someone as indecisive as me. Julia was able to share what I could expect, what about my profile shined, and what I should stay focused on. My knowledge about applying to grad school now is night and day different than before I started working with Julia. Pick Julia if you want to get into your dream school, I did!

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I can’t speak highly enough of my experience working with Karen Doster and the Admissionado team. Let’s be honest, the application process is daunting and exhausting.

For me, the hardest part was getting my story of why an MBA and why now dialed in as I, in my opinion, had a very convoluted path. That is where Karen and Admissionado shined. With a few Skype calls, Karen was able to pull bits and pieces out of me and help weave them into a cogent story that flowed with my goals. It was seriously impressive how well she understood the kind of person I am and what my path has been leading up to business school to help me get my story tightly knit.

Throughout the few months we worked together, we exchanged dozens of emails. Her response time was always lightning quick and her advice was outstanding. What I really liked was that she was honest with her feedback. If something was working, she would give encouragement and help me explore the idea further. More importantly, if something wasn’t working, she would point it out and tell me why it wasn’t working and help me steer the boat in a new direction. I really think that her ability to give candid and honest feedback is such an integral part of the process.

If I had to go through the admission process again I wouldn’t change a thing. Working with Karen and Admissionado brought a ton of clarity, direction, and value to the process. I ended up getting admitted to my top choice -- with a scholarship!

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I was a re-applicant, but my personal and professional circumstances had changed significantly since my first application. In that, I could only go to a top business school which could offer me a scholarship because I had to support my family. What is more, doing that with a not-so-great GMAT (710) was obviously a steep challenge. That is why, I was looking for an admissions consultant that had truly mastered the art of applying, and I am so glad to have stumbled upon Admissionado. I strongly believe that the process they diligently use to build applications (content married with storytelling) is at the heart of their repeated success with applicants. Irrefutably, I would not have made it to a top European program (with 30,000 EUR scholarship) without their help.

My consultant was Stefanie Barlow, and since the very first interaction, she was approachable, patient, attentive to details, and most important, politely honest. Every time I submitted my essay for her review, she painstakingly edited my essays and marked it up with numerous powerful questions, which in turn, triggered the responses that made for outstanding story-telling. That is when I realized how robust (and outcome-oriented) their process of application-building is.

Admissionado is a delight to work with from an administrative perspective, too. Claudia is easily one of the most responsive people I know, and was accommodating to all my requests without much fuss (so common to other all too professional admissions consulting firms). For instance, I had initially paid for their resume editing services, but soon realized that I didn't really need their help on the resume. The team agreed to use my payment towards another package without much back-and-forth because they understand the confusion and stress that most business school students endure during the application process.

Again, I reserve the highest recommendation for the systematic process and the excellent team at Admissionado (special shout out for Stefanie and Claudia, of course). I can confidently say that anyone who diligently follows their process and puts in the required hard work will emerge successful -- regardless of the school she or he may be applying to.

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I was introduced to Admissionado by a friend who worked with them the previous year. My first call was with Stefanie and i instantly felt a great vibe with her.
Their questionnaire was a great 1st step because it forced me to think hard about what i wanted to convey with my essays. Before starting this process i had the misinformation that all they did was "check" the essays for grammatical errors and content but it was so much more!
Stefanie had an astute sense of who i was and what were my best qualities. She dug deep into every single line of my drafts and forced me to chalk out the details and remove all unnecessary fluff. She helped me weave a thoughtful narrative and provided a structure to my words.
Although i had the most communication with Stefanie, Claudia and the rest of the team were always on hand for help. They were swift with their responses no matter the time of the day. I was so satisfied with the essay process i eventually went back for help with my interviews as well.
The best part is, the entire team is really cheering you on and want you to do your best. Stefanie was a much needed motivational boost during the whole application process.

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I came across Admissionado via Poets & Quant--I was looking for a consultant that could offer support for UK/European MBA applications. I'd previously had a free consult with another business, and while the consultant seemed decent and a friend had had success with them, it was clear they couldn't offer a nuanced approach to the UK application scene. As an LBS alum (my top program of choice), Sally Radwan was a perfect fit.

During my initial free consult, Sally immediately offered detailed strategic advice unique to each of the programs I was interested in--this was a stark contrast to the much more generalized advice I'd received previously. I knew right away she would be a perfect fit for my application support.

From our initial consult, I was already tight on time for my applications and was still juggling a heavy GMAT study schedule for a resit of the exam. Sally helped me to come up with a prioritization plan, encouraging me to stagger some of my applications into different rounds. She was fundamental in helping me get through the hefty LBS application in a 2 week period (though not advised if you can avoid it!). Her essay feedback was excellent and helped me to rapidly find the right flow and direction I needed for a compelling application.

For a number of external reasons, I ended up putting my other applications on hold for the following year of application rounds, expecting at that point in time that due to a softer GMAT, I'd need to reapply with a stronger score. To my great surprise I was called to interview at LBS, but then to my shock and horror discovered how intensive LBS' interview process can be! I added interview support with Sally, following which she put me through tough interview mocks that were fundamental to my fluency in both the video and in-person interview portions. She was very direct and honest throughout the process, so I truly understood where I needed to improve.

I was over the moon a few weeks later to hear I'd been admitted as an R3 admit despite my softer GMAT! I really couldn't have done it as well without Sally. She gave me crucial guidance and helped me to develop the polish I needed to put my best foot forward and win a spot in my top choice program! I'm ecstatic to be joining the class this Autumn.

A few points of advice for those considering consulting services. While your consultant may help you to strategize and prioritize your application timeline if you ask, it is very much your responsibility to stick to it. Additionally, I was a little unclear on what kinds of questions I could ask for support on and which parts of the application (e.g. short answer questions) I was entitled to support on with the Junior Delux package. I recommend seeking a little more clarity on this at the start. I believe there were more general/essay content questions I had that I could have asked for help with than I did throughout the process.

Best of luck with your applications! You are in great hands with Sally!

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I applied in R2 and had a feeling that I was already late in my admission process. Admissionado was recommended by a friend who had received an admit in R1. Initially I thought that I already had a story that I wanted to portray in my applications, but I was blown away by the amount of deep-dive my consultant made me do to refine my story and weave all my thoughts together. She questioned every additional word that did not add to the bigger picture - something that helps craft a meaningful application. We went over my essays atleast 5 times to refine it to an extent that fixed every vagueness or loop hole that we found in previous versions. I was so glad that I had somebody supporting me in the entire journey and paying attention to every detail which I may have missed due to a tunnel vision. It was not just Julia (my consultant) who helped me but the entire team was working in the background to help me. I applied to 5 top business schools and got admits from 4 of them. I am so glad that I had such an incredible team to help me!

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I was looking to get on online MBA programs. Worked along with John DC Miles who was best qualified to help me with online grad schools. He did a very well comprehensive analysis of my application and came out with a strategy and helped me identify my strengths to guide me during each step of the application process. He helped me on each element of my application to polish it to stand out. I ended up being accepted at my top 2 schools. Now that I finished the application process, I don't think that I would have come with an excellent application without his help. I definitely recommend their service.

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I worked with Julie and Claudia for a 3-school package. It was money down the drain. First, they started with a half-hearted intro call and sent me a questionnaire. They copy pasted my answers and called it my "action plan". Next, for all the essay editing, they just put 'Why?' and 'How?' after every paragraph and had no good content to suggest. My consultant didn't even bother to brainstorm essay content before beginning with a new school and gave no personal touch to my stories.

Besides general essay editing, they don't help much. Even when I asked about general school stuff via emails, they straight away refused to help without additional dollars. Many times, I used to get emails that I should take rush service for $250. It was very frustrating that they were more focused on selling more services than concentrating on improving my work.

Also, I wouldn't trust Admissionado's 5-star reviews on GMAT club. Most of them would turn out to be paid reviews. They also offered me a $100 discount on a service if I gave a positive review. I consulted with them on 3 schools - dinged everywhere. I did 4 schools separately - got invites from all of them. I would suggest reconsidering partnering up with them if you are new to this whole MBA admissions process as things may seem to be going great, but the results would speak differently.




************* ORIGINAL REVIEW **************
I have been using Admissionado's services for essay editing and resume preparation, and I can totally vouch for their services. I started my application process with zero knowledge of the essay writing techniques, but the way Claudia and Julie helped me to ease out the complete process made me confident in applying to multiple schools. Not only do they guide you with the school for which you are using their services, but the personalized action plan provided by them also helps you to work on other applications confidently.

Julie and Claudia are professional and friendly at the same time and are ready to help you with any needs during the application process. MBA applications can be a stressful exercise, but with Julie's skills and support, I was confident in the material I submitted for my applications.

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