Thought I would briefly share my consultant experience with the GC community:
• Last year I applied to only 1 school (outside of top 30). My stats were: 3.3 GPA/650 GMAT/4Yrs WE/Extensive EC. Result: Dinged w/o interview
• This year, I raised my GMAT to 700 and got a consultant through MBAmission. Result: Admitted to 4/8 Top-15 programs (possibly 5 depending on how the Wharton WL goes)
• My thoughts on why my consultant helped so much:
1. She knew where the land mines are in the application
2. Helped me NOT say stupid, arrogant, offensive, or other app-killing things. Believe it or not, this is SO VERY easy to do if you don't have proper guidance
3. Helped my story stand out and not be cliché.
4. Helped me recall stories that I had not even thought of using.
5. Assisted me in framing my stories in a concise and powerful way (She literally showed me how to take a 200 word paragraph and condense that down to about 30 words without losing any of the impact, incredible really).
6. Aided me in tying the entire application together (essays, resume, LOR's)
7. Provided this same kind of feedback to my recommenders (who thankfully took her advice)

Occasionally, the issue of the ethics of using a consultant to aid in the app process emerges. My thought is that if professional writers use professional editors, why would someone applying to b-school, not use the resource of a consultant? Baffling to me why more people don't use them (and why I didn't use one sooner!).
That said, those that are going to invest in a consultant need to know a couple things from the outset:

1. An admissions consultant will help you organize your "raw materials" into something eloquent and grand. However, if you don't have the "raw materials" such as leadership experience, relevant work experience, etc, the best consultant on the planet will not be able to help you get into your schools. If you find yourself in this category, my advice to you would be to postpone b-school apps and go get the leadership/work experience you need instead. Come back and apply when you have the "raw materials". You will be far better off in the long run.

2. DO NOT EXPECT them to do all the work for you. I applied to 8 schools. At an average of 4 essays for each school x on average about 7 drafts per essay = 200+ Drafts by the time everything is said and done. "but why not recycle the same essays for all schools?", you ask. In my opinion, one of the marks of a great consultant is that they perceive the subtle differences in the questions/ school culture and will help you re-frame the same (or different) stories to best answer the question and woo the adcom. If you are cutting and pasting, that is your first red flag. In short, having a consultant to help you will not lighten your work load in the app process, but it WILL make it way more efficient.

As far as recommending a specific company, I really can't comment on anyone other than the company I have used, MBAmission.com. I have been EXTREMELY pleased with their services, results and promptness in responding to all of my inquiries. I would highly recommend them to anyone who is serious about breaking into a top tier school.

I took the online bootcamp in Dec 2011. The program is designed for working professionals with a 8-11PM EST schedule for 4 sessions. Although there is an onsite version in certain cities, I felt that the online format had its own advantages in perhaps letting us share freely with each other, which was very helpful for some of the exercises and exchanging feedback. The software/website used for the class is like a more fun version of Webex.

For the first three sessions, we covered:
-Overall application process, what schools are looking for. There were only 6 students in my bootcamp so we had plenty of opportunities to ask individual questions. I think we all overlapped on some schools anyway.
-Essays: the meat of the course. Types of essays, brainstorming and organization, storytelling methods, do's and don'ts, critiques and samples.
-resumes
Exercises accompanied the topics. For example, we would think of memorable life experiences to share to demonstrate story elements. We also spent a few minutes here and there to write sample excerpts, beginnings, endings, and resume elements.
I might have left out some topics but these were the ones I focused on.

The fourth session was scheduled a week after the third and was slotted for 1:1 private essay critiques with each of us. We sent Angela our essays along with some other homework before the last session.

The instructor Angela really shed some light on the essays for me. Toward the end, she let us bring up any non-traditional essay questions that stumped us and we explored it together with the class under her guidance. These exercises sewed the seeds for what would develop in my head over the next few days. Without them, I would likely have written many throw-away drafts before achieving any similar coherence and depth.

Angela was an energetic and fun instructor who knew how to respond individually to each of our styles to bring out our stories. She offered to hang around after every class for extra questions at after 11PM her time. Her enjoyment of teaching and helping came through every session. I didn't know about this beforehand but you can sign up for a 30min free consultation with MBAmission and request Angela if you'd like to chat with her first and ask about the program.

Overall Value:
In addition to the course, we got the MBAmission application guide book and our choice of one detailed school report. Combined with 9 hours of class time and a 1:1 essay review, the total value for the price of roughly two application fees was an easy choice for me. I recommend it without hesitation, especially with Angela, whether you're just starting the application process or are only weeks from deadlines like I was.

I offer my highest recommendation to Akiba. I’ll try to sum up my experience with Akiba in 3 brief points.

1. Akiba helped me tell my story with integrity, creativity, and purpose. Always a patient listener, Akiba made the effort to get to know me. This paid off -- her in-depth knowledge of me and my experiences helped her deliver valuable insights throughout the application process. Often times her insights would be pulled and patched from conversations we had months earlier.

2. Akiba didn’t sugar coat anything. I was seeking honest feedback, and that is what I received. I was happy to hear “we need to re-think this… this could be stronger… I don’t really like where you’re going here.” This ‘real’ communication ultimately made my essays stronger. (She also offered tons of positive encouragement throughout the process). She was especially talented at restructuring sentences to lose the fluff and emphasize what was important.

3. I am extremely happy I had to the opportunity to work with Akiba. There is no doubt that my applications were stronger after working with Akiba. My partnership with her earned me interviews at 2 top 10 schools and a sizeable scholarship from a top 15. I am now reviewing offers from multiple schools. If you are going to work with MBA Mission, seek Akiba out. You won’t regret it.

Working with Jessica Shklar of MBAMission is the only reason I am headed off to the bschool of my dreams this fall. From the moment I first signed on with Jessica she was nothing but focused, dedicated and enthusiastic. Jessica was instrumental in determining what schools were appropriate for me to target, leveraging both personal and professional experiences to create unique and differentiated essay story lines, editing my resume/application and keeping me on pace to complete a number of applications. Without Jessica’s help I would have had a great deal of trouble overcoming my abnormally low GMAT score. I am far from “the perfect bschool applicant” but under Jessica’s tutelage I was able to write a well balanced and well rounded application…and as I already mentioned get into the top 10 school of my dreams!

Jessica’s intellectual ability and dedication to her clients is only matched by her knowledge of the MBA process and individual business school programs. If you are serious about giving yourself the best possible chance to be accepted, get serious and hire Jessica Shklar + MBAMission.

I was initially skeptical of working with a high-priced consultant, but MBAMission had me wowed after the one hour complementary consultation.

The consultant asked me to articulate the reasons for my “top choice” schools at the time, and then proceeded to rip them apart. After learning about what I wanted out of my experience, my background, and my scores/work experience, she was able to draft up a list of 5 schools – a couple “reach”, a couple “target”, and a “safety” program – all within the top ~15 US MBA programs. I was wowed at how quickly she was able to see through my bs reasoning and methodically select a target list for me. After doing extensive research on her suggestions, I ended up applying to 4 of the 5 programs she suggested, and using MBA Mission to help me with my application.

The consultant I initially spoke to matched me up with a senior consultant at MBA Mission with a similar work experience background to mine – Helen Summers. Helen is fantastic!! I literally cannot say enough positive things about her. Here are a few:

- Helen is a straight shooter. When she sees bs/poor logic in your essays, interview responses, etc, etc she isn’t afraid to tell you.

- Helen pushes you to think deeper. Very rarely is your first essay/short answer idea the best one. It takes iterations to find the best story to tell and the best angle to take. Helen consistently pushed you to go deeper instead of taking the superficial/overdone/unconvincing but easy to write route. The essays I ended up crafting with Helen’s guidance are some of my most poignant writing, where my personality really shines through.

- Helen doesn’t write the essays for you. You put in the hard work. She is simply a very honest sounding board and editor. This is especially important since business schools want to hear your voice, not the voice of a consultant.

- She is a perfectionist. Some of my essays were on draft 11 or more before they were considered done. She looks at word count, grammar, syntax, flow, content, how gripping the story is, etc, etc.

- Helen is great at resume assistance. I thought I was already a fairly strong resume writer, but she really helped me articulate my accomplishments in a role, rather than my responsibilities. She also helped me do it in a way that made my accomplishments clear to a reader that would not necessarily know about my industry.

- Helen does her research on the schools. She knows the trend in interview questions for a specific school/ round. This makes interview prep twice as effective.

- Helen is super-responsive. About 70% of the time, she responded to me well before the official turn-around period. Of course as application deadlines approach she’ll have more work, so budget your time accordingly.

- Finally, Helen was super invested in my success. She genuinely wanted to see me succeed. The application process is super successful and it was fantastic to her guidance and support throughout.

I opted for the all-inclusive package. It’s expensive, but for me it was well worth it. Here are a few reasons why:

- You get unlimited essay editing. I cannot tell you how beneficial this is. I would write a draft and get comments back, rewrite, and then get more comments back. Had I only been able to submit for editing once or twice, my essays would not be nearly as tightly-written.

- Having a consultant forces you to keep momentum. I am a huge procrastinator, but having manageable chunks (ie. edit v7 of my essay, edit v2 of my resume, etc) helped me not get overwhelmed and keep going.

- The package includes help with and edits of all the fields in the application. This is a huge area for minefields as you have very few characters to articulate your biggest challenge in a role, etc. Definitely take advantage of this part of the package.

- The package includes resume help, mock-interviews, and all sorts of other super-helpful guidance.

All in all, I had a very positive experience with MBAMission and Helen Summers and would recommend both highly. One final thought – if you are having a hard time justifying the price, remember that after all is said and done, b-school will cost you roughly $200k. It is a huge investment. Spending a little extra to make sure you have the strongest application possible and upping your chances of getting into your preferred programs is well worth it.

I'm a busy lady and I decided to do this whole MBA thing last-minute - and woefully underestimated how much time and energy it would take.

I took the Boot Camp course to get oriented in the process and understand how I should be approaching the application, essays in particular. The course did that and more - it actually forced me to start in on actual essay work, which got me moving far ahead of when I would have started otherwise, and really motivated me once I understood how seriously I needed to take the essays - i.e. just being a "good writer" doesn't get you terribly far, it's really a specific writing craft that takes a lot of thought, time and revision - this course certainly prevented me from shortchanging it.

Angela is simply fantastic - she's the reason I actually took the course content to heart. I am skeptical of services like this and she was immediately credible, authoritative and clearly passionate about helping people do the very best they could with these apps. She sold me on the service and I used mbaMission for even more help subsequently.

I think this course gives you the tools you need to pull off the most important written aspects of the application well. I have gotten interviews at both schools I applied to (decisions havent come out yet) - they were extremely competitive and this program gave be very sound footing towards a real shot at both.

I was a little nervous in singing up for mba missions start to finish package. Most reviews I had read were from those seeking entrance to top tier institutions, whereas I was just hoping to find somewhere that would accept me and needed help in everything from school selection to navigating the entire process. With the aid of my consultant, I was able to find a school that was a perfect fit for mend get accepted, which is no small feat given my prior record in academics. Emails were always promptly returned no matter the time. I couldn't be more pleased and believe it was a wonderful investment for person's in my position as well as those trying to get into an ivy league school.

I was fortunate enough to take mbaMission's first ever "Constructing a Standout Application Boot Camp" this summer in Chicago.

To say it is money extremely well spent is an understatement. There are probably people out there that may not need this class to get them over "the hump," but for all of us mortals that have aspects of their applications to be worried about, this is THE CLASS to take. Get your GMAT score out of the way a good six months before your applications are due, and then focus on the application by taking this class.

My instructor was Angela Guido. Angela is a former Admissions Committee member at Chicago Booth that has made assisting MBA admissions candidates her life's work. She is EXTREMELY passionate about what she does, and there was not one point in the class where I thought, "I wonder if she really knows what she's talking about?" There is no question that you are getting exceptional advice from her. She manages to make the class fun, and even thought-provoking, which I did not expect. Applying to b-school forces you to put all your cards on the table, and I learned a lot about my strengths and shortcomings in so doing. Angela leads the way, but you also learn a lot from your peers in the class.

Here's what you get:

1. What admissions committees are looking for
2. Pitfalls that you must avoid
3. What about your and your experiences will standout to admissions departments
4. How to tell your "story," and make the admissions committees understand why they should give you a chance

The experience was invaluable, and in my opinion, it is every bit as important as taking a GMAT prep class.

5-stars. Bite the bullet, pony up the cash, and don't look back.

I started drafting my essays alone and took the free 30-minute consultation to ask for a few hints. I ended up using many hours of my consultant's time, Susan Kaplan. Susan was simply incredible: she really put her vast experience to profit by helping me transform my essays, with a turn-around time for her comments that was more than I could ask for. I could not have done it without her.

After completing the MBA Application Boot Camp with mbaMission I was incredibly inspired and actually excited to continue with my business school applications. As someone looking for a career transition, I had many uncertainties about even applying. The course is a huge self exploration process and I left with a better sense of who I was, what I wanted, and where I stood as an applicant. As a result, I gained the strength and confidence I was lacking in order to persevere with the application process.

Consultant Angela Guido is absolutely fantastic! She has you do various exercises that pull out the qualities about yourself that you either forgot or didn’t realize existed, and helps you articulate these qualities effectively in the essay writing. She beats you over the head (with love) with the “show don’t tell” method of writing and once you get it, the essays instantly become easier and actually enjoyable to write as well as much more exciting! Angela has a wonderful “can do” attitude and is extremely knowledgeable, enthusiastic and supportive while still providing realistic expectations.

This has to be one of the best values out there in terms of MBA application consulting. You will see a huge improvement in such a short amount of time and will feel much more comfortable with continuing the process on your own if you are not able to afford additional consulting. You also get the benefit of hearing your classmates’ stories and goals which helps for your own essay ideas and defining your own goals while still getting a significant amount of personal feedback. The best of both worlds!

I highly recommend this workshop. It was a truly great experience that made all the difference.