Taking an application from good to great

I applied to 5 schools in total (HBS, Wharton, Kellogg, Booth and Columbia) and used a 2 schools package.

I really enjoyed working with Debbie, she was incredibly friendly and I feel that she really made the effort to get to know me as a person which came through in the feedback she gave to shape my applications.
There are three specific reasons that I would recommend Debbie:

1. Brainstorming and prioritising stories: With 8 years work experience and many extra curriculars I had so many things that I wanted to say but it was not possible given the tight essay word count. Throughout the brainstorming sessions she was able to distil my stories down to the few that were really impactful while making sure there was minimal overlap of attributes displayed so the schools could still get the 'full picture'. The brainstorming sessions left me with very specific (paragraph by paragrah) content to write.

2. Taking my first ordinary first draft and making it great: I am an Engineer, not a writer, I knew what I wanted to say but could not craft it in an entertaining or persuasive way. I feel that Debbie assisted me most when I sent her a content rich but quite ordinary sounding first draft and it came back, in some cases with more edits than original content, sounding more like an extract from a storybook. It was still my words and content but just sounded a whole lot better.

3. She stuck with drafts long after I was bored with them: I think my CV ended up at version 16, Debbie's attention to detail and discipline forced me to keep polishing my essays and documents to give me the best possible chance of getting an interview.

I received a number of acceptance’s (with scholarships) and decided to matriculate at Wharton.