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Mark Lellouch Reviews

Company: Admissionado

Mark is a business strategy consultant with a passion for nonprofit work, and the environment.

For the past 15 years, he’s used his consulting skills and management experience to advise nonprofits and environmentally-minded companies in the US, Brazil and Mexico with strategic planning, business evaluation and organization, market analysis, and outreach. After getting his MBA at the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1996, he headed south to Brazil to become the Marketing Director for SPVS, one of the Nature Conservancy’s most successful in-country partners. While Mark is our nonprofit specialist, he has spent his life honing his passion for and expertise in the consulting business. He is also an expert in languages (he grew up in Paris and speaks four languages fluently) as well as in computer science, which was his major at Brown University. Mark’s also a published photographer and an aspiring bossa nova guitarist. He currently lives in Taos, NM.

4.8 /5 Average Rating
Based on 32 reviews
January 25, 2016
wngrlx

Joined: Jan 25, 2016

Posts: 0

Kudos: 0

Verified GMAT Classic score:
Canceled

Admissionado=Awesome

REVIEWER IDENTITY VERIFIED by score report [?]

First off, let me say that I was initially skeptical about admissions consulting. But my friend swore by Admissionado, comparing them to the specialists that help NFL hopefuls prepare for the draft combine. After going through this experience, I am confident that I would not even have gotten the opportunities without the help of my Admissionado coach, Mark.

My undergraduate GPA of 3.2 was subpar and my GMAT of 710 was average, so being admitted to a top school was going to be a reach for me. With Mark's help, I was admitted to Duke (with scholarship) in the 1st round, waitlisted from Columbia (early decision, still pending), and invited to interview with NYU/Michigan (results pending). I definitely would not be in this position without Admissionado's services, especially the waitlist at Columbia.

Don't get me wrong, it will not be easy. Don't expect to put down $3k and have them do all the work. Mark challenged to find my authentic story and suggested edits on ways to make the essays flow together. I had MBA friends who helped with some of my other school essays and it didn't turn out even a tenth of the quality (mainly because they didn't have dedicated time). Mark was always quick to respond and offer guidance.

I wholeheartedly recommend Admissionado's junior deluxe package. Working with Mark got me an invite to the 2 schools we worked on. I was able to use this as a start to other school essays and received invites to interview from them.

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This reviewer has not participated on GMAT Club but it is a REAL person and a REAL review. GMAT Club has verified this test-taker's identity through GMAC/Pearson Vue Score Reporting system and confirmed that this reviewer indeed took the GMAT, is unique, and has not submitted multiple reviews.
August 15, 2015
Cartman4179

Joined: Jan 19, 2015

Posts: 56

Kudos: 61

Self-reported Score:
770 Q49 V46

Junior Deluxe - Mark

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I purchased a 3 school junior deluxe package from Admissionado. My perspective is one of someone who doesn't have much disposable income, and who comes from the nonprofit sector. Based on my experience, I feel that the junior deluxe package was a good fit. For someone on a budget, I really wouldn't see needing more than this in order to give yourself the best chance of admission into top schools. As an additional way to save money, I would recommend working with Admissionado on a handful of schools. From there you can easily tailor the essays you developed into essays for other schools. In my case, this meant working with mark on essays for 3 different schools, but using those developed essays to apply to 9 schools total. This fall I will now be attending Harvard on a $51,000 per year scholarship. I won't go so far as to say that working with Mark got me into HBS. What I can say, however, is that working with Mark brought my essays from good to amazing. The benefit of working with Mark is that you have someone who reads dozens of essays and knows what it takes to have an amazing essay. I can unquestionably say that working with Mark was a tremendous experience. He was patient and took the time to fully understand my unique background. At the same time, he was honest and didn't sugarcoat things. He was willing to ask difficult questions and in some cases flat out tell me that an essay idea that I had was a bad move. In my opinion, being willing to give these tough answers is what makes working with Mark such a pleasure. In the end, you will unquestionably give yourself the best chance for admission into business school. Whether this marginal advantage is worth the high pricetag is an individual decision, however. In my case, I believe it was worth it. I really cannot recommend Mark more highly, and if you've already made the decision to invest in admissions consulting services, I really don't think that you'd regret going with Mark!

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February 10, 2015
Anonymous

Posts: 0

Kudos: 0

Re-Applicant found a good fit

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I am a re-applicant and used a different consulting firm the first time I applied. The first time I thought the essays were very well polished, but I think what I wanted from an MBA and what I had to offer wasn’t as clear. The second time around, I had a better idea of what I wanted out of an MBA and wanted to get a different perspective on the MBA process. I talked with several consulting firms and Admissionado seemed to be able to relate to my background the most. Additionally, since I already applied once, I didn’t need a full package from a consultant. I only needed help on essay editing and picking the correct topics to build the proper story. In this sense, I needed a more flexible program and Claudia at Admissionado was quickly able to tailor a program for me as a re-applicant. This allowed me to save money while still getting the support I needed.

Claudia was also able to match me up with a consultant, Mark Lellouch, who could really mold my background, engineering, into what adcoms are looking for.

Mark was quick to respond to any questions I had, no matter how dumb they sounded, and gave me good feedback on my essays, which topics I should write about, and prioritize what I should include in my application (hobbies, extracurriculars, etc).

On the first round application, I received interviews from every school I applied to. I received acceptances from all except one, which I got waitlisted. I am still waiting for my second round results.

After all my experiences applying to business schools, I think Adcoms are always looking for someone who is different and adds new insight/perspectives to the class, so the key to applying is to build a story about your background that sets you apart and would help diversify your class. Mark at Admissionado really understands how to build that story and to get the right messages across to the Adcoms.

I would highly recommend Admissionado and Mark at Admissionado to help you to get to your dream school.

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February 16, 2014
Anonymous

Posts: 381

Kudos: 209

Self-reported Score:
730

Would definitely recommend

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I never pictured myself as someone who would use an admissions consultant. After all, I think I’m a pretty strong writer, and I had already decided to which schools I would apply. I wasn’t sure how a consultant could provide any additional value for someone like me. Nevertheless, when Admissionado hosted a contest for people who wanted to blog about their admissions experience, I decided to give it a try, and I was offered the Deluxe package for free for one of my applications.

It turned out to be a great decision. First, I was asked some questions and then paired with a consultant named Mark, who had a similar nontraditional background as my own. I most appreciated Mark for being an un-biased resource that I could turn to with questions. As I crafted my essays, there were numerous times when I worried how a particular story would be perceived by the admissions committee. Would they think I was too assertive, or perhaps not assertive enough? That’s when I’d turn to Mark, who would employ a tough-love approach, while always being incredibly prompt, insightful and thoughtful with his responses. He in no way wrote my essays, but he helped me to feel more confident with the content that I produced and the stories that I chose to share. I always felt that Mark was truly invested in my success, and he helped me to employ a strategic approach to my application.

Ultimately, I was accepted with a significant scholarship to a top 10 program.

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May 20, 2013
Anonymous

Posts: 5

Kudos: 5

Self-reported Score:
Q51 V37

Great service, I recommend it.

REVIEWER IDENTITY VERIFIED by membership [?]

First of all, if you have already gone through all the review comments about this company. You will get mixed message and you may get confused, is it really good or mediocre? Well, it really depends on the reviewer's expectations. So be prepared, any admission consulting service can't do everything for you. They can help you find the best out of the best, but you have to dig deep yourself to find your own best first before presenting them to the consulting service. So that is basically what Admissionado did for me. They will first give you a questionnaire to list your accomplishments and achievements. It is a brainstorm process. By doing that, you have to think really deeply. No one can do that part for you since they don’t know you. Then you need to make the draft essays. And they will comment on your essays a couple of rounds depending on which service you choose.

For me, Admissionado meets my expectation.

Now let me summarize what I like them:

1. Quick turnaround. I started my application very late, really late. But they still helped me edit my essays through the holidays. I really appreciate it. And usually they would send back the essays to me very quickly.

2. Beautiful work. Since I am not a native English speaker, I sometimes can’t precisely express what want to say. After discussing with the consultant, they can make some good recommendations. What’s most impressive is, after their work, my essays are much more concise and smooth.

3. Very nice people. You will see if you use their service.

4. Since my background is nontraditional MBA applicant. They helped me find the best matching schools for me as well as making the application strategy for each school. That is one of the most valuable parts in this whole consulting process.

If you can see my ID, you can guess that I applied in 2010 but got no interview and admission at all. This time, I got interview from every school that I applied, finally got two AD and two WL. I am already quite satisfied. Had I used their service, I would have probably graduated right now. That is why I highly suggest to those who are not sure about their writing skills paying some money and hiring a consulting service. Time is much much more precious than money. That is a painful lesson that I learned until I realized.

Overall, I am quite impressed by Admissionado service and I recommend it.

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May 21, 2012
Gogoplata

Joined: Nov 03, 2009

Posts: 5

Kudos: 8

Precision Essay Personal Consultant

REVIEWER IDENTITY VERIFIED by membership [?]

First off let me state that my work experience is far from conventional. I knew this would be hard to frame, and I really was all over the place in trying to peg down my story. Then I went to Admissionado (formerly Precision Essay), and was assigned with Mark. He took the time to internalize all of my experience and helped me to develop and distill my story. He pushed me to grow outside my limits and make some hard decisions that I had been putting off. In the end, I feel like I know where I want to go (in terms of a career path) more clearly and this was translated to my essay. All in all it was definitely worth it, and I can recommend their services to anyone.

Timely turn around on products, and a very personal touch. It was like having a mentor from Stanford hold my hand.

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6 Older and Non-Verified Reviews for Mark Lellouch