School Package Reviews

I did my research when selecting a consultant to help me navigate the MBA admissions process. I read many positive reviews on mbaMission’s Kate Richardson. If this review helps you choose Kate, then I will feel as if I paid it forward!
Kate Richardson is among the best, if not the best. Never did I feel alone during the daunting MBA admissions process. Kate has the unique ability to make you feel like her only client. Kate, of course, provided invaluable feedback during the resume reviews, essay edits and interview prep. But, where I found Kate's guidance most helpful was with the intangibles. For example, no question about logistics or timeline was too small or unimportant for Kate to answer. It was really important for me to have a clear picture of expectations and a manageable schedule to complete all the steps of the application. Kate was a great partner in this. I found Kate was always encouraging while providing realistic perspective. Kate is a serious bright spot throughout the MBA application process. If you want an advocate who will help you realize your goals, look no further than Kate!

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Working with Jessica was my highlight of not only this whole process, but my year. Jessica takes an incredibly stressful, arduous, and long process, and simplifies it into something that is so manageable and easy to follow. Going into working with a consultant, I had no idea what to expect, but Jessica makes you feel so comfortable and right at home from the moment you she picks up your first phone call for the 30 minute free consultation. Just after those 30 minutes, I knew that she was the right person to work with. We connected so easily, and she really expresses her excitement and enthusiasm from the moment you meet her. She is a gold mine of knowledge of every school, and really understands the intricacies of each application and what to highlight to make you shine. I can say without a doubt that I would not have made it to this point without her.

Jessica listens to your story, understands the smallest details, and knows how to ask the right questions to really dive deep and get to the core of what's important. She also never tries to change your story, she only works towards getting every detail out so it sounds as strong as possible. As someone applying on the younger side, I was a bit worried but Jessica was so motivating and encouraging along the way that I really never felt that it was a weakness in my profile. She had encouraging but honest answers to every question I asked, and even was there for me to get me back on track when I was lagging behind in the early stages of essay writing.

Jessica is truly your champion, and supports you like no other. She holds your story and profile so close to her heart and you can see the time, effort, and care she puts into making it become the best it can possibly be. She is tough at times, and is very direct and candid with her feedback -- but this is what I was looking for in a consultant and what I believe made my work the best it could be.

If you want someone who is truly on your team, who supports you through all the highs and lows of the process, and really cares about you, Jessica is all of this, and more. There is no end to what I could say about how great of a consultant, and even more than that, person, she is.

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I would highly recommend Kim to anyone on the fence about hiring an admissions consultant, or unsure of which consultant to work with. I took a chance on Kim and mbaMission after a brief phone consultation, and will be forever grateful that I did. Kim invested an extraordinary amount of time and energy into getting to know me as a candidate (and person), and channeled that understanding into helping me craft an incredibly well-packaged narrative highlighting my strengths and personal brand. Kim guided me through the admissions process every step of the way, acting as a coach, cheerleader, and teammate in one from our kick-off call to the day I received my acceptance letter from CBS. Most importantly, Kim clearly believed in me as a person and cared deeply about my success. As a result, the application I submitted was distinctly my own, rather than a contrived attempt at following some prescribed “CBS formula,” and this fact gave me a great deal of confidence going into my interview. Overall, working with Kim was an overwhelmingly positive experience, and it is safe to say that I would not be headed to my dream school next fall were it not for her guidance.

One final note: I myself was a skeptic of admissions consulting prior to working with Kim and mbaMission. After all, how much value could a consultant really add on top of what I would gain from completing a “self-guided” tour of the latest admissions literature and MBA applicant forums? As it turns out, a great deal. For example: I was by no means the perfect applicant, and had a gaping hole in my application in the form of a 710 GMAT score with a 40 on the quant sub-section (yikes). Although I had decided to hang up my cleats on the GMAT after several failed attempts at improvement, Kim talked me out of testing retirement for one last Hail Mary on the Executive Assessment. After two weeks of brush-up studying, I took the home version of the EA and walked away with a 95th percentile score. Instantly, the biggest weakness of my application transformed into a strength; not only did my EA score represent an improvement on a percentile basis, it also enabled CBS to focus on the other, stronger aspects of my profile, since EA scores aren’t factored into school rankings. Despite the confidence I placed in my own “self-guided” admissions research, I had somehow missed this incredible opportunity that ironically exists somewhat uniquely for CBS (that is, applying with the EA for the full-time program). That Kim was familiar enough with the school to catch this technicality (along with the fact that she was able to coach a very reluctant standardized tester back into the game) speaks volumes about her abilities as a consultant. If you were initially skeptical about bringing in outside help for your applications, I hope that I’ve now convinced you.

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My experience with Kim Hoey at mbamission was amazing! When I was stressed about my past, Kim always encouraged me to look at the positives. With her innovation and experience, she was able to refine my story into a clear and concise narrative. She was always meeting my deadlines and always checking in on me. One thing to point out especially when you are applying to 4 or more schools is that from brainstorming to drafting essays, before you know it, the deadlines are approaching. Kim took the time to create a detailed schedule for me to stay on track. She has a special quality of empathy. I would recommend her to anyone considering an admissions consultant. Last but not least, mbamission is a rockstar firm with many great resources for its clients. Jeremy Shinewald is leading the best team in the industry.

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Rachel was invaluable in my application process. I applied to only one M7 program and can’t fathom the quality difference between my final application and the one I had started out with on my own.
Business school applications are like training for a marathon and Rachel was the best coach I could have asked for. She took the time to learn about my past, present and future in all aspects of my life, not just educational/professional. She was always honest yet gave me the opportunity to push back when I felt strongly about something. She was warm, inquisitive, and sympathetic.
Rachel always responded well-within the guaranteed time, even on vacation. She held me to deadlines without being too pushy and was able to pivot with our strategy when we hit a roadblock. We are both perfectionists; I had comfort knowing I could ask her opinion on anything, no matter how small.
When I told Rachel about my acceptance, she was genuinely as excited about the news as I was. I would recommend her to anyone looking to apply to a top-tier MBA.

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I work in investment management and will be attending a part-time weekend MBA program. I worked with Kate on a two school package and she was an incredible resource in making my applications as strong as possible.

She helped me narrow in on the strengths to highlight in my applications but also helped me identify my weaknesses and developed a plan to address them. One of my key weaknesses was a lack of community engagement.

Kate kept me on task throughout the process. Her help in tailoring my story and providing constructive feedback on my writing resulted in extremely strong essays.

We did mock interviews that made me much more prepared and confident in my interviews. Ultimately I got into both of the schools that I applied to and both offered me merit scholarships that exceeded my expectations. Going into my MBA applications, I was somewhat naive to the process and all that it entailed. Kate helped me navigate all of it and prepared me better than I ever could have on my own.

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I worked with Debbie on the 3 School Package. She was an excellent partner throughout the MBA Admission process.

Our beginning sessions were focused on shaping my holistic story that I would tell admissions. She spent the time to get to know who I was to better recommend what my essays and resume should highlight. This was a critical step that we took before diving into the deliverables and made the rest of the process much smoother and effective.

Debbie was immensely helpful in the editing process - she provided effective feedback in a timely manner and was always available to help answer all the questions I had through the admissions process.

I would highly recommend Debbie to anyone who wants to pursue their MBA!

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In just 1.5 months, Devi helped me prepared 4 applications from scratch! I had a lower-end GMAT core 680-700 with a non-traditional background and decided to apply to the second round very late. Devi investigated my profile on a personal level, help me build my story, and gave me so much confidence to apply for my dream schools. We worked at Harvard, Standford, Wharton, and MIT. I received interviews from HBS and MIT. I eventually got into my dream school - HBS!

Devi is highly experienced in the application process, responsive in providing feedback, and professional in our interactions. Her instincts for what the admission teams are looking for are dead-on for my essays! Devi is incredibly smart to quickly point to the spotlight of my experiences and a brilliant great storyteller to sharpen my stories. Devi gave excellent guidance on the order of school applications to work on. Following her strategy, I can thoroughly reflect and delve deeper into my story efficiently using our limited time. I truly appreciated that Devi showed some "tough-love" and kept me on track with applications during stressful times.

In preparing for the interview, Devi is unquestionably the pro with years of experience working with the admission team. Not only was Devi giving me mock interviews, but she also taught me how to verbally structure my stories better on each of my resume items and work on the strategy to lead the interview conversation to my advantage. I have to admit that I also tried to work with other consultants on mock interviews to get more practice hours. However, I was getting much better insights from even a 30 min session with Devi than a 2-hour session with other consultants (also are graduates of HSW). Devi is great at predicting interview questions and does not just focus on the resume. Most questions we practice ended up coming up in the actual interview! I was always met with encouragement when we practice. I strongly recommended working with Devi on your interviews. The quality would be beyond what you paid for!

Personally, I have learned so much from Devi in her work ethic and effective communication. Her communication was direct, concise, and articulate to get the story right. I am incredibly fortunate to have worked with Devi. She brings Harvard caliber dedication and professionalism to her work. I cannot thank her enough. You will be lucky to work with her too!

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I had the good fortune of working with Harold every step of the way of my MBA application process. Since I was embarking on the ambitious journey of putting together an entire application package from scratch, in a matter of just three months, I knew I sorely needed the around-the-clock attention and targeted advice of a seasoned expert. Harold, recognizing the tight timeline I was navigating, really came through for me in playing out this exact role. Above and beyond functioning in a mentor/advisor capacity, though, Harold also came across as a close friend/supporter throughout a lengthy and arduous process. His consistent words of encouragement were much needed, especially in the inevitable moments of self-doubt as I hammered out draft after draft in a seemingly endless cycle.

With respect to the essays, Harold provided very timely (typical turnaround of 24 hours, sometimes less) and comprehensive feedback. We went through multiple (>5) iterations for each of the essays until we were satisfied with the final versions. With each iteration, I recognized a notable step-up in how the content was presented in a compelling yet succinct manner – Harold clearly understood which life examples were most salient in building out my narrative, and helped me find the optimal angle through which these examples were highlighted. Ultimately, Harold’s stringent review of the materials conferred a high level of confidence as I hit “submit” on my application packages – I could safely say there was nothing more I could have done to polish the essays.

For interview prep, Harold took extra care in considering my unique background and objectives when helping me rehearse for a fairly unpredictable stage of the application. Perhaps where he helped deliver the most value was in being a solid thought partner in anticipating questions that would be posed during the actual interviews. Harold also demonstrated a brand of professionalism in proactively recognizing opportunities for me to do mock interviews with his colleagues at mbaMission instead, if he truly felt that that was the best path of preparation for myself. This was a clear signal that he prioritized having a game plan tailored to my personal needs / situation, and was willing to toggle between “stepping in” and “sitting out” based on what made the most sense for my preparation in that moment.

Overall, I would highly recommend Harold for anyone contemplating business school. I truly appreciated his expertise and guidance through many phases of the process, which includes advice that I can still carry and apply in contexts outside of just the business school application.

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Gavriella helped me get into my dream MBA programs and get admitted with scholarship offers! I opted for a start-to-finish package with 4 schools and am so glad I did.

I knew that I really needed to hone my essays to make sure I had the best shot at getting into my goal schools. Gavriella has a very strong writing background and she really took the time to understand my personal story, motivations, and passions to ensure that we were able to create a story that would be appealing to the admission team while staying true to me.

I also had a tighter than optimal timeline to meet school application deadlines as I chose to apply later in year. Gavriella got us organized from the first call with a comprehensive summary and next steps. She was then extremely present and available throughout the entire process, both for application support and mental support through the uphill battle of the admission process. She kept me on track for all the schools and was always on top of essay edit turnaround times. I really appreciate that she was able to provide insight into what stands out to the admission committee at each school and what exactly an essay question is asking for.

I found the mock interviews really helpful before going into the actual interviews. They always gave me the extra bolster of confidence and preparedness I needed. Her interview prep also helped me to pace my answers and be succinct and impactful.

I highly recommend Gavriellea to anyone looking for an MBA admissions consultant!

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