I worked with Angela from mbaMission this year and I have to say my experience was an EXCELLENT one!! I’m extremely happy with both the result and the process!

My background is 3.10 GPA / 710 GMAT / 3 years of work experience in a field that is not common for MBA applicants. I wasn’t one of those typical superstars on paper and to be honest, before I worked with Angela, I wasn’t confident about (and sort of intimidated by) getting into top schools. But I had big passion for my professional dream and for getting into my dream school!!

Angela did a tremendous job of guiding me to realize what is unique about me and express my uniqueness and passion through every aspect of my applications. Honestly, I don’t think I could have gotten into my dream school (Johnson at Cornell Univ.) if it wasn’t for Angela!

Here are some highlights of why I think Angela was GREAT!

-Angela REALLY cared about my success!
I wanted to work with a consultant who I can truly trust and who cares about me getting in to my dream school. With Angela, I never felt like it’s a business, but I really felt like we were a team!! From the initial free consultation, she focused on making sure that we’re a good match. She even introduced me to a couple of other consultants to compare and made sure that I was comfortable making this commitment. Throughout the process, she was very generous with her time, and she was there every time I needed support and expert advice, and she took time to reply to tons of my crazy paranoid questions! (She replied very quickly. Sometimes within 10 minutes..!)

On top of that, Angela’s personality was just amazing! While I was on 4 months painful wait list, I was almost giving up... but Angela never gave up and kept encouraging me to fight till the end!! I kept sending updates to the school and I got accepted after a long wait!!!

-Expert in story telling!!
Angela was amazing at helping me see my unique stories and tell them in absolutely effective way.
We did very thorough brainstorming sessions (both general and school specific) for my stories. During the session, Angela asked many profound questions about my life events and as I thought hard of answers to those questions and we discussed them, I started clearly seeing MY STORY of upbringing, passion, goals, setbacks, why MBA, and why now, and my story became very cohesive and it just made sense. If there were any fluffs or BS in an essay, Angela didn't hesitate to point out and asked more questions to help me clarify. Every word and every sentence in my essays became well though of and very clear. By the time I applied, I was really confident and excited about my story and application! The process of brainstorming was very rewarding; Angela helped me REALLY get to know myself in depth, owe my own success, define what is unique about me, clarify my goals, and above all be confident about talking about myself and my story!

-Expert in admission process!
I had 100% trust in her expertise and I knew following her guidance and advice would give me a great result! I was placed on a waitlist (which had 10% conversion rate to admit last year) and it was very critical for me to have a strategic wait list plan. Angela gave me a guidance of what admission officers were looking for and what additional materials (some of the ideas were just outside of box that I couldn't have thought of by myself!) to send and when to send them. I followed her guidance and I did get off the list after 4 months!! Stressful waitlist process was manageable thanks to her!!

These are just a few examples but Angela truly had such a great impact on my life and I cannot thank her enough for her service!! I STRONGLY recommend her to anyone, especially for those who not only really want to get into their dream schools but ALSO want to get the most out of this application journey!! Now, looking back, I absolutely enjoyed this process and learned so much all thanks to Angela! It was a GREAT Investment!!!

I am convinced that without Angela, I would not have seen even close to the same level of success in the business school application process.

I had a 3.6 GPA from a Top 15 undergrad institution, and a 690 on the GMAT. I applied to business school along with my fiance. We applied to 7 schools together: HBS, Stanford, Haas, Sloan, Tuck, Kellogg, and Booth. I also applied to Ross, but he didn't. I ended up getting into Tuck (both admitted), Booth (both), Kellogg (both), Ross and waitlisted at Sloan (both). After a long deliberation, we ended up selecting Kellogg.

Angela's guidance was amazing. She structured a process that forced me to be very disciplined and efficient in my work, but still confident and proud of the applications that I submitted. Furthermore, I felt like my essays were authentic representations of who I am; they felt very much mine. Angela helped me to achieve this by probing my thinking and helping me down what ultimately became an emotional journey. The best of example of this was my Stanford essay. While I did not get into Stanford, the process of writing the, "what matters most to you and why" essay helped me to process important people and events in my life in a way that made all of the subsequent essays that I wrote so much better. I guess you could say that there were my before Stanford essays and my post Stanford essays. My first few drafts felt disconnected and were a strange mix of intensity and saccharin. Angela suggested that I talk with friends and family and ask them what they think matters most to me and why. This resulted in a tearful conversation with my sister that gave me the "aha" moment that made my Stanford essay one of the most important things I have written in my lifetime.

In short, I felt Angela not only invested in my application process but also that she was invested in me as a person. I trusted her completely as a thought-partner -- she managed to be objective and straightforward in her feedback, while also offering insights that I would not have identified on my own.

I still feel that I have not done Angela justice for how amazing she is. I will always be thankful for her guidance, not only because of the business school that I will be attending, but also because of the growth I experienced while working with her. Suffice it to say that I would absolutely recommend Angela as an admissions consultant!

Preparing for the GMAT obviously goes without saying. But many are understandably apprehensive about paying $1000+ for an in-person course on top of $250 per GMAT session, etc. I certainly was one of those people. But think of it this way: a bump in your GMAT score, which is probably inevitable with a good course/instructor, can mean the difference between so many things: a safety school vs. a dream school; paying sticker vs. receiving a scholarship; confidence going into the app season vs. apprehension about candidacy; etc. So the money should easily be rationalized given the huge importance of your GMAT score.

But which to take?? I spent a lot of time researching programs and it was clear that Manhattan GMAT had an edge, first and foremost because of its superior print materials. Not to say that other programs don't put out good stuff -- they do -- but MGMAT really seemed to have an edge. Full disclosure, I previously had taken an LSAT course with Angela, so I was confident in her ability to teach. So I chose MGMAT and was extremely pleased. Certainly you could use the MGMAT print materials alone, but augmenting those w/ a strict lesson plan and interactive weekly classes meant the difference between an active/engaged and a passive/solitary style of preparation. I am biased, obviously, but I really believe the former is worth its weight in gold, and MGMAT is the way to go.

Aged 31, and having taken the GMAT more than 6times with a final score at middle 600s, I took the decision to hire an admission consultant rather easily despite the huge cost of taking a 6school pack.

I conducted my market search, and spoke to many consultants through the 30minutes free consultation. Most of them discouraged me to apply to a top MBA program due to my “difficult” profile.

Well, not so many consultants have studied philosophy at Yale -thus have mastered the art of rhetoric – and graduated from a top MBA program –thus knowing what it takes to get in-. Angela believed in my profile and encouraged me not only to follow my school selection but also to apply to more competitive ones.

We had a great cooperation… and I assure you that I am a difficult – and stubborn - client!
Angela helped me sell my-self in a more “sexy” way, something really hard for a hyper analytical finance guy like me. She helped me see the experiences that really make me unique – things I didn’t think were important. What I liked most, was that she did not copied-pasted success stories from previous clients but shaped our strategy on my background and future goals. Because I was a finance manager in a large company, I had acquired an austere way of expression, which many time mistakenly sound like arrogance. Occasionally, we fought because I was trying to make myself sound like what the schools wanted, but Angela argued that it was not true to who I am. She always won the arguments. Angela transformed my story telling…but without changing a thing from what I wanted to say! Moreover I liked the fact that she was a true professional. Many times she reviewed my essays prior to deadline giving me more space to ameliorate my job.

But most importantly, I love Angela because she is a “motivation” machine. She taught me the art of self-exploration and the digging out of my strong parts -the most difficult part of MBA essays writing- and………… BE MYSELF!!

I finally got in 4 out of my 6 MBA programs (all in top 15) selection and most importantly to my dream school…with scholarship!

Ps. In the schools that I did not get in...I did not have the time to follow her advice to the letter…Do the math!

I chose mbaMission to help me with my application to USC Marshall. The reason why I chose a consultant was because of the short time frame (1 month) I was working with. I am very glad I did and was very fortunate to have Angela Guido as my consultant.

From the get go, we set up a phone call to go over expectations and to layout the game plan. The first step was to brainstorm - work accomplishments, personal achievements, skills, strengths, weaknesses, random bits about yourself etc. It was a big giant puzzle with pieces scattered everywhere. Then with Angela's guidance, I was able to take all that information and create an outline for each of my essays. In total I wrote 2 full essays , 3 short question essays, and redid my resume. It was great to have another perspective on how to approach and answer each question.

I don't think I could have done everything in less than 30 days without Angela's help. She was extremely energetic and exuberant with an infectious laughter. The turnaround time was quick - on average the edits and revisions took about 2 business days. Through the process, I did about 4 revisions on the longer essays and 2-3 revisions on the shorter ones. The end result was top notch and I was accepted into the USC Marshall Program.

Thank you Angela and Thank you mbaMission!

When I started my application process, I found it very overwhelming. This was partly because I was taking the GMAT at the same time as I was completing my application. I realized very quickly that I needed a plan to apply to my 5 schools and put my best foot forward.

I learned about mbaMission through my GMAT prep course (Manhattan GMAT) and had a discount to take the essay writing bootcamp with Angela. In the bootcamp, Angela helped me think about all of my experiences, personal and professional, and how they may fit the different essays. The brainstorming exercise alone was one I hadn't gone through or thought of, taking the time to take stock of EVERYTHING, big/small, significant or insignificant. She helped me really understand what adcoms were looking for with each essay they were asking as well. I started to really understand how to map each story for each essay, and understand what the essays were really asking, therefore what I really wanted to tell them.

Part of the bootcamp was writing a first draft to one essay and getting a chance for her to read it and provide feedback. It was in that phone call that I realized I wanted Angela to read and critique all my essays. As an objective third party, specializing in helping people get into b-school, she was able to ask me questions that forced me to dig deeper into what I was trying to convey, and tell me when I sounded arrogant (it's easy to do when you're talking about yourself!), or when I was telling versus showing (the hardest thing to do).

You may be reading this review and say to yourself, "yes, I see the value, but it's a lot of money." I thought the same thing, but then looked at the total cost of the next two years and where I wanted to go. I knew I was committing to $100K+ over the next two years and I only wanted to go to a top 10 school, so I knew the competition would be really strong. I decided spending the money upfront to get into the best program where I'd be happy was a small price in the grand scheme of business school.

Another note on cost, I feel I actually got a return on my investment. After getting into the school I wanted, I decided to put my hat in the ring for a scholarship. While I didn't use Angela for this essay, I took the principles I learned from her, show vs. tell, to write my scholarship essay. I ended up getting it! Almost a full year of my program is now paid for!

I started thinking about working with an MBA consultant in June for round 1 applications. I had a 700 GMAT so I knew that I needed to really stand out on the essays to get into my dream school. I had lots of ideas on what I could write about but was looking for someone who can help me decide which stories are the most compelling. I was looking for thought leadership, a direct communication style and someone who really clicked with me. I reached out to friends, colleagues and even my GMAT instructor for consultants they have used and would recommend. I spoke to 8-10 different essay consultants before deciding to go with Angela Guido.

She was someone who really wanted to understand me and help present my stories in the best light instead of just treating me like a client. From the beginning, I felt like Angela was somewhat of a best friend, mentor and epic story evaluator. She was the one my GMAT instructor recommended and I was delighted that she was making time for me in her busy schedule.

Angela was very easy to work with. We spent a lot of time upfront brainstorming and talking about my entire life story. I did most of the hard work on my own (i.e. filling out brainstorming documents, writing drafts of essays/resumes, scheduling time with her to chat, bringing ideas to the table) but we did the all the creative thinking and structuring together. We started with essays for my top choice school. The first one was the toughest one. I think we had a total of 4 or 5 drafts, including one where I had to re-write the entire essay. Angela was very prompt with her feedback and her notes were very clear with thoughtful questions, insightful suggestions and a knack for keeping the big picture in mind. Sometimes, I would have ideas on what I wanted to talk about but had no idea how to approach it. This is where Angela was the most helpful. She could boil down stories to the most important essence and help me recreate it in writing. She never “wrote” anything on my behalf and she trusted that I would be on top of all my applications. I was in charge of the whole process which made our working relationship very positive.

List of what she helped me with:
- Brainstorming – thinking about who I am and how I could differentiate myself
- Essays – at the beginning we did everything together, but by the end I was doing essays on my own without too much iteration
- Applications – including short form answers, I had everything in a word document and she reviewed
- Recommender brainstorming – I ran my recommenders by her and what they were going to write about so she had the “whole application” in mind
- Interviews – we spoke about them but didn’t do a formal practice interview
- Resume
Other things she can help with that I didn’t take advantage of (did it myself, but she could’ve been very helpful):
- Mock interviews
- Read recommendations from recommenders

I sincerely feel like I had a better end product because I worked with Angela. She brought out the best in me. She was so great that I referred many of my friends to her. One of my friends let me read her essays before submitting them for her round 2 application and I was pleasantly surprised that her essays were very different from mine. This was one of my fears of working with a consultant. This just goes to show that Angela really tries to stay true to her clients and does not impose any “molds” or “common guidelines” for them. Everyone remains an individual.

My first attempts at essay writing on my own were dreadful because:

1) I didn't believe I had anything extraordinary to tell - I haven’t cured cancer, started a charity, mentored a child, lived in another country, or lost 100 lbs.
2) I couldn't answer the essay questions effectively - 400+ words of background information
3) The tone/voice of my essays was off the mark - It is SO easy to sound whiny, bossy, judgmental, or just plain boring.

I knew I needed help but didn't have the money to hire a 1:1 consultant. So I signed up for the 3-day mbamission Application Boot Camp held in Chicago in August 2012.

The class amounted to 9 hours of live instruction with five other students, a 1 hour pre-recorded class online, and 30 minutes 1:1 with the instructor to review practice essays and answer questions, which I used to discuss application strategy. I was initially nervous about not getting the personal attention of my instructor in a classroom setting. But the group is an added benefit because there are other people to bounce ideas, give feedback, and ask the questions you didn’t think of. But still small enough that your instructor gets to know you, your profile, and answer your personal questions.

Angela Guido is a fantastic instructor. You can tell she has a real passion for this and truly wants to help you succeed. She is intelligent, straight forward, and will tell you like it is. She also has an amazing ability to hear your story and twist it with a fresh perspective, or pull out some ‘a-ha’ that you didn’t initially see, so that you can craft a unique essay. And she will help identify the weaknesses and pitfalls of your writing style, so you can avoid these going forward on your own.

After the class, I was super motivated and applied to 4 schools in Round 1. I got interview invites to all 4, and accepted to 3 - Wharton, Kellogg, & Duke.

If you are SERIOUS about getting into a top 10 program, you are going to need some help. And this class is the best bang for your buck! DO IT!

Angela helped me extensively throughout the application process. She is a very realistic person and gives you her honest opinion right from the start, which I greatly appreciated.

I did not have a good enough GMAT score for McCombs. My GMAT was way below the average GMAT score of the entry class. However, with Angela's creative skills she aided the build up of my resume and application that got me my acceptance at the University of Texas at Austin.

Angela works very hard and expects the same amount of effort from her client. She cares a lot about the people she's working with and treats their work as if it were her own. She will continue to encourage you to rework your applications, essays and resume until it meets and exceeds the expectations of the admissions officers at any Business School.

I believe that without her input and help I would not have gotten my acceptance.

THANK YOU ANGELA!

This class was absolutely worth the money, and more, beyond what it costs. Angela is engaging and friendly, yet no-nonsense.

The classes were engaging and went at a steady pace - I never was bored or felt overwhelmed. If anything I would suggest that they be harder sticklers about doing the homework (I didn't do mine....) because, like the rest of the class, the homework was extremely helpful as well!

During class we worked on everything from essay writing (whooaa before I took this class was I ever way off) to the resume to getting in the mentality of the AdCom. I've been complimented on my resume many times but it looked like a piece of garbage before I learned what we did in the class.

Totally would recommend these guys - just pony up the cash and do it, you won't regret it!


And I say I got into "some, but not all" of my schools, but I haven't heard back from the yet, so I don't know. But did this improve my application? 100%