I started working with mbaMission after I had a free 30 minute consultation in their NYC offices where we discussed my career goals, resume, target schools, etc. I recommend doing this (especially since its free) to get a bearings of where you are at in the MBA application process.

After the consultation I signed up and worked with one of their admissions consultants, Dan Richards, on my Columbia Business School application. Dan was extremely helpful throughout the entire application process, from start to finish.

For me, the biggest benefit was for the essays - the brainstorming and ideas discussions were very beneficial in terms of conveying the core themes of my application and how I wanted to portray myself to the admissions committee. Dan was very easy to get in touch with and responded with essay comments well earlier than the agreed upon time frames.

Overall, it was great to have someone with a lot of experience with putting together successful top-tier business school applications. His help was invaluable and I highly recommend their services to anyone looking to put together an excellent b-school application.

Dan was thoughtful, diligent, an expert word-smither, a great sounding board, and overall a great resource to have throughout my application process.

Dan truly made my essays better. I initially engaged Dan for only 2 hours, but by the end of the application process I had spent around 10 hours total working with him. As the weeks went on, I just kept adding hours because I knew Dan was helping my application and essays immeasurably.

I brought Dan in towards the end of the application period, but without fail he turned things around very quickly as well as was completely transparent about his process. Without a doubt, he improved the quality of my essays as well as alleviated a lot of the stress I was putting on myself. If nothing else, simply having someone say "yes" or "no" was invaluable. Though, obviously, he did a lot more!

I highly recommend Dan!

My review is specifically for Daniel Richards.

I've worked with Daniel on strategy, consulting and editing serves for admittance to an MBA program this year. Daniel is extremely experienced (he's worked with hundreds of applicants) and is professional and helpful.

What you can expect from the service:
1 - strategy of personal essays (by school, by essay type) - he clearly identified what my strengths and weaknesses were (from my resume and phone conversation), how to play up my strengths and what is most important to emphasize for the Admissions Committee.
2 - consulting and coaching - Daniel coached me on how to structure my essay and clearly tie in my experience with my reasons for enrolling in an MBA program and with my short and long term goals. His knowledge allowed me to see and think from the Admissions Committee perspective and helped me strengthen my essays in a ways I could not have done alone.
3 - editing - Daniel is an incredible writer and editor - he is concise and knows where to "trim the fat". My essays really went from zero to hero!

I know that mbamission services are expensive but the ROI on using them pay off. I strongly recommend Daniel's services.

To frame this discussion, I will say this: I applied to the two hardest programs to get into with some less than savory topics to address in my essays. I did this at at roughly the last second... in the middle of cross-country move.

mbaMission sold me on BootCamp, which I did to prep and get oriented. When it came down to it though, I really wanted more in-depth help with the app I felt was harder and more important. Daniel not only pulled through, he was a windfall of help in the eleventh hour. He was informative, completely transparent as to the process and what he could and couldn't do, and above all the quality of his guidance was stellar - I felt infinitely more confident about my difficult situation and I know I handled it in the application 10x better than I would have otherwise. Daniel made a huge impact, without question.

Testament to this is the fact that I've gotten interviews at both schools. No decisions yet, but at the interview level I once again went to Daniel for help and he once again shepherded me through the process with really practical, credible advice - specific to me and the programs to which I applied. And once again, the end result made it worthwhile.

I'm typically very wary of services like this insofar as they can provide expensive, generic, "one-size-fits-all" advice. To the contrary, Daniel and the other folks at mbaMission know their stuff inside and out and - importantly - make it personal to YOU. And since these applications are made or broken on how well you convey yourself as an individual, that's pretty invaluable.