"Best" admission consulting companies?

I have been a GMAT clubber for a long time and would like to post my review on Betsy Massar from Master Admissions. I was in the zero admit club last year, and before I used Betsy, I used Admissionado(Precision Essay) for my essays. Sad to say, while I didn’t certainly have a negative experience with Admissionado , it wasn’t a fantastic experience either and I didn’t get into the schools I applied to (in Mar 2012).They sure have a cheap/affordable package but quality just isn’t there.

So when I was dinged for Fall 2012, I revamped my efforts and talked to other consultants who might help me. In fact I talked to a number of consultants in this very thread and one of them even mentioned that I have better chances of getting in the Top 8-ish B-schools in next 1-2 years and even advised me to wait.
Now my experience with Betsy was very different – she didn’t make any such comments in our first meeting and she is so easy and funny to talk to! She also doesn’t go by the clock in terms of billing by the hour(e.g she will probably charge you her 1 hour rate even if you talked for, say 75mins) – she is very flexible that way. Also her rates are very reasonable compared to the outrageous rate elsewhere.

On a side note, it’s very important that you choose are realistic about the schools you choose! I see a number of GMAT clubbers choose very unrealistic schools in the first place and put it on the consultant when they don't get in and Betsy can give you a clear idea of your realistic and stretch schools. She is also amazingly responsive, I have gotten reply within hours, in her early mornings and sometimes within minutes. She has patiently answered all my extremely trivial questions. She is however, booked quickly so its better to book her early in the season to get maximum benefit. Of course, she remembers every single detail about your life even when she is booked fully, something I really appreciated during the stressful rounds. She will also call your BS directly if you attempt it so I am not sure if that’s for everyone.

Also, don’t expect her to write anything for you – that’s highly unethical and not a consultant’s job, but she is an awesome sounding board! I was always highly inspired her after my talks with her and wrote my essays after talking with her. She will also ensure that you adhere to a timeline when completing your essays, so that you can meet the deadline. I was applying to 5 schools at the same time and Betsy really helped keep track of my apps and how I could meet the deadline.

Similarly for interview prep, what I found most helpful was not the interview in itself but the solid discussion we had, which really helped frame my answers properly. There were also patterns I didn’t notice/realize about myself, which Betsy did and that was eye-opening for me because I could clearly see why I was pursuing an MBA. Outside of the MBA process, I find myself having a much better thought clarity having come out of her guidance. All-in all I would recommend Betsy to anyone who is or is-not pursuing an MBA! It’s worth every penny!

Let me know if you have further questions, will be happy to answer them.
P.S. I applied to 5 schools in Top 5-15. Interviewed at all 5, accepted at 4.In fact, I didn’t expect at all, to get $$ but I did get partial money from some of them, which makes the decision now doubly hard.

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I worked with Aringo a few years ago and wanted to share my wonderful experience and thank the great professionals I worked with:
Thank you Aringo staff! It is mainly thanks to you that I was accepted to a number of top 10 schools with significant scholarships, and most importantly to Wharton - my goal from the start. You helped me in an extraordinary way - starting from the strategy and ending with essay editing.
For me, one of the significant advantages was the very structured and professional framework that carried me through the stages of application preparation in an organized manner. And of course - the amazing responsiveness during the stressful days and nights right before the application submissions. We made it together!

I spent a lot of time looking for the right admissions consultant and in the process talked to many of those on this list and went through assessments/interviews/conversations with many of them. Here is my advice for selecting the right admissions consultant (AC):

1) It's all about fit
You are going to spend a lot of time working with your AC - as you are assessing ACs, ask yourself if you could see yourself enjoying working with the person. Is there personality/style the right fit for you. Treat it as an interview where you are the interviewer - for me this process yielded one clear winner and I strongly recommend this approach to anyone (TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE FREE ASSESSMENTS THAT MOST CONSULTANTS OFFER)

2) Make sure your application gets to the core of your USPs
At the end of the day, the right consultant will help YOU articulate YOUR "unique selling points" This is the essence of any good bschool application. The originality, appeal, and fit of your personality will only come out of a deep introspective process - otherwise your application will tend to tell a story that you think the adcoms want to hear rather than the story you should be telling about yourself.
So avoid consultants that prescriptive right off the bat or who don't seem to want to get to know you on a deep level. If a consultant doesn't know you they will not be able to help you articulate your story.

My experience led me to selecting Laura Freedman at Access Education MBA Admissions Consultants in Singapore. Simply put, I don't think that I could have worked with a more effective partner for completing my (now successful!) application to INSEAD. Here's why:

Laura took the time to hear about me. And asked questions. And more questions. Whereas most other initial conversations I had with ACs went something like this "well you seem to have strong extracurriculars but your GPA might be slightly low so maybe you should consider taking some classes to boost your grades"... Laura, very refreshingly, did not offer any cookie cutter suggestions. I immediately got a sense that we would have good working chemistry - she's smart, she cares, and relentlessly keeps you focussed on reaching your goal.
Her approach starts with several sessions of getting to know you so that she can speak from a place of knowledge about you in context of your application. I really can't emphasize enough how important this process was in helping me create a truly unique, self-representative application.

Access Education was without question right for me. Follow the approach I outlined above and you'll find the right one for you. But do yourself a favor and talk to Laura Freedman and do the free diagnostic as part of your AC evaluation process.
https://www.accesseducation.com.sg/

After enjoying a relaxing holiday break where I could finally stop worrying about b-school admissions, I thought I’d share my experience with the admissions consultants with whom I interacted during my application process.

As background, I am an American with work experience in consulting and private equity. I applied to HBS, Stanford, and Kellogg, and was accepted at my top choice, HBS. I got dinged at Stanford and withdrew my app from Kellogg once I found out I got into HBS, so not sure if I would have been accepted there or not.

I’m sure some people here are wondering whether admissions consultants are worth their high fees in the first place. I was initially dubious as to the value of admissions consultants, as I assumed I could choose the “right” schools and write reasonable essays on my own. And since I was coming from a fairly traditional background (“a dime a dozen” in the words of Sandy Kreisberg over at Poets and Quants!), I didn’t think I’d need help “packaging” myself in my apps. But I figured I’d check them out just in case, and am glad I did.

I setup preliminary interviews with several consultants. Here are my thoughts:

Alex @ MBA Apply: his best quality is he’s a straight shooter – no BS. Some people may not react well to his bluntness, but if you’re the type of candidate who needs a kick-in-the-pants to get moving on your apps, he could be a good choice. Appreciated his preliminary thoughts on my profile, but ultimately didn’t choose him because I connected better with other consultants.

MBA Exchange: they were my least favorite. Instead of a phone call consultation, they wrote me this super-long email evaluating my profile and explaining their service offering. Despite its length, their evaluation of my profile was void of much content, and in some instances didn’t make a lot of sense. For example, they said my extracurricular activities were an “addressable vulnerability in my current profile,” and that they could “help [me] identify the gaps and present meaningful leadership roles that require only minimal time and won’t appear expedient.” First of all, my EC involvement is one of the strongest portions of my profile. Second, I find it difficult to imagine any new EC I could sign-up for literally 4 months before R1 applications are due that would enable me to secure “meaningful leadership roles” but “would not appear expedient.” Long story short, it was clear that they had a template email that they dropped my profile into without giving it much thought.

mbaMission: my preliminary consultation was with Angela Guido, who then referred me to Akiba Smith-Francis. Angela was great, but our conversation was fairly cursory (that is not a criticism – that was by design). My conversation with Akiba was great – she was extremely articulate and clearly understood the nuances of the various schools I was considering. She’s also a published author, which says something of her writing talents. mbaMission was my second choice, and I’m sure they would have done a great job had I chosen to work with them.

Amerasia: I ultimately chose to work with Adam Hoff from Amerasia. I’ll go into more detail below, but it was a fantastic experience overall. In terms of preliminary consultation, Adam differentiated himself by demonstrating a clear understanding of the unique aspects of various programs (btw, this is actually more important than I realized), brainstorming unique and interesting ways to tell my story (despite my very traditional background), and building a strong connection with me that led me to believe we’d work well together. So I pulled the trigger on a 12-hour package with Amerasia.

Like I said, I had a fantastic experience working with Adam, and would definitely work with him again. Here are some key highlights:

Knowledge of the schools: One thing I came to appreciate throughout the process was how much Adam knew about the different programs. My original plan was to write fairly similar essays for each program, but Adam taught me the unique nuances between each program that I’d never pick up on my own. In some cases I used different stories as a result, while in other cases I simply told the same story through a different lens in order to highlight a slightly different aspect of my personality/professional background. This is a key part of the application process that I didn’t think much about beforehand and would encourage all of you to consider.

Idea generation: I thought Adam did a wonderful job of helping me craft my “story” so that it best conveyed my prior accomplishments, yet also set the stage for what I wanted to accomplish both during and after b-school. He helped me brainstorm strong essay ideas that revealed unique aspects of my personality while also being sure to demonstrate strong evidence of professional achievement. Because schools keep reducing the number of essays/word counts, making each essay really count becomes even more difficult, so I really appreciated Adam’s skill in this area.

Technical writing skill: first of all, let me be clear that Adam will not (a) tell you what you should write about or (b) actually write anything for you. If that’s what you want, look elsewhere. But I would caution you that doing so is not only unethical, but adcoms are also very adept at identifying false or manipulated applications. Anyway, Adam is an incredible writer. A lawyer by training, he is very skilled at structuring essays and communicating through writing. His input was extremely valuable in helping me convey the ideas I wanted to convey through my essays. In other words, the idea was always in my head – he just helped me write it in the best way possible. He’s also great at picking up grammatical errors, odd syntax, etc., although as a native English speaker this wasn’t a huge issue for me.

Response time: I have read on the forum that many applicants have issues with their consultant’s response time. Adam was always great in this regard – he always got back to me within 2 business days, and usually within 12-24 hours. He keeps somewhat odd hours – usually working really late at night – but I typically had a response back from him the next morning after I sent him an email.

Motivation: I didn’t really need his help to push me to turn in my next draft of essays, etc. But he was great at really pushing me to make my essays the best they could possibly be. He wouldn’t stop after 1, 2, or 3 iterations – we worked the essays as much as they needed to be worked until they were done. Let’s just say I was sick of reading them by the end of the process! That said, he also always let me know when it was done … meaning, he’d tell me to stop editing it! You can drive yourself crazy by endlessly editing those stupid things, so getting his explicit stamp of approval that it was ready to submit was very reassuring.

Working relationship: an added bonus of working with Adam is that he’s a fun guy! We talked about sports, family, and other random topics throughout the process. Not only did this help Adam get to know me better (which enabled him to provide more value advice), but it also helped make what is a very stressful process slightly less stressful. I feel like he and I are friends now, even though we’ve never met in person.

Final note: while I loved working with Adam, we didn’t always agree on everything, and there were times I elected not to take his advice – I knew my application was ultimately my responsibility.

Earlier I mentioned that I was initially dubious of the value admissions consultants can provide. I hope this review illustrates that I completely changed my mind on that after working with Adam. There is no way my applications would have been as good (or even nearly as good) without his help. If you’re considering using a consultant, I highly recommend Amerasia, and Adam Hoff in particular.

GMAT Club - This may be a little long, but I hope my unique experience, process for selection, and feedback is helpful to those choosing an admissions consultant.

After months and countless hours scouring the site for tips and feedback, I've decided to add something of substance of my own. Namely, my experience with admissions consultants. About a year ago, as I was preparing (and deciding) to apply to b-school, I began by identifying schools that made sense for me. While I (in no means) work in what many b-school admissions boards would consider a "prestigious" job/field, I am well compensated - better than I'll likely be immediately out of b-school - and therefore agonized at the "cost/benefit analysis" of going. After speaking with many, many people in my target industry, I decided to try to take the plunge, but I could really identify only about 4 or 5 schools that seemed "worth it," both in the short run and the long run.

I was pretty familiar with those schools and the stringent admissions process, but upon further research, I realized I had a problem. My GMAT was good but under the median for each, my GPA was WELL under the median for each, I went to a mid-tier state school, and although I had extracurricular activities, I was downplaying their importance. Most importantly, while I had an idea of my future career path and "story," I was having a difficult time articulating it to myself. That's when it dawned on me - perhaps I should look into getting an admissions consultant. I soon realized admissions consultants weren't cheap, but I decided that if one made sense for me, I'd go with the entire 4 (or 5) school package. Ideally, I was hoping to find TWO separate consultants to take advantage of two different viewpoints on everything. I would just work with them on different schools.

I immediately set about "interviewing" various consultants (i.e. taking advantage of their "free" hour consultation). Prior to the interview, I sent them a lengthy profile of myself so they'd be adequately prepared, and asked them questions about my chances at the top schools, how to frame my background, strengths/weaknesses, what their process was, and some other general things to get a good feel for who I may be working with. After interviewing 15 or 16 (literally) consulting firms, including MBA Mission, ClearAdmit, Stacy Blackman Consulting, MBA Prep Advantage, MBA Prep School, etc.... etc...., I wasn't feeling great. Each interview was pretty similar, and while I liked a few of the consultants, they weren't convincing me the money was worth it. Desperate and trying to whittle it down to two, I stumbled on Amerasia and Paul Lanzilotti on the GMAT Club website, and decided it was worth one more hour of my time to chat with Paul.

That decision helped me get into one of the top schools in the world.

Even on our INITIAL phone call, Paul was much different than every other consultant I'd spoken with. I could tell he had taken the time to read my bio, and came with ideas on how to shape my story. Our first phone call ran 90 minutes, with Paul asking me to elaborate on the bio I'd sent him and then him spilling out ideas for my story, even how to apply themes to various essays. I was frantically taking notes the whole time, even though I realized within the first 10 minutes that I had to hire him. Most importantly to me, we clicked fairly easily. Paul was not only clearly knowledgeable about the admissions process and extremely creative and resourceful in that he already had essay/story ideas (and was sharing them with me on our "free" call), but he was laid-back, casual, and much frank/honest than the other consultants I'd spoken with.

I told Paul even before we hung up the phone that he was hired, but due to my extremely, extremely analytical approach to this process, I still had to re-visit my "admissions consultant spreadsheet," and decide whether to go with Paul on the whole package or hire another consultant as well. I ended up sticking to my guns, and decided to work with Paul on two of the top schools, and another admissions consultant I'd previously interviewed on the two others.

Over the course of the next few months, Paul and I built a very comfortable relationship, working for hours weekly (Paul never complained about our two hour phone calls) on crafting my "story" and essay ideas based on my background. Within a few weeks, we were already shooting essay drafts back and forth for editing, and had knocked out my target school within a month or so. I was quickly beginning to realize the difference between Paul and the other consultant I'd decided to work with - I genuinely felt Paul WANTED me to get into these schools as bad as I wanted to and more importantly, he was going to tell me how to do it. While my other consultant had a fantastic system/structure in place for identifying references, crafting essay ideas, and identifying my own strengths and weaknesses, among other things, I was starting to wonder whether I had paid for the "system" itself or his advice. I had paid for an admissions consultant for a reason - I needed input! Ideas! A definitive opinion now and then! With Paul this was never an issue - he always let me "drive" the process (it was my application after all), but he was a wealth of ideas, opinions, and expertise along the way.

The bottom line for me in selecting an admissions consultant and working with an admissions consultant had always been "Who can help get me into the school?" In my case, Paul fit the bill.

After working feverishly with Paul last summer, I was ready for Round 1 applications. I can't tell you how pretty I thought those essays looked. Paul had helped me shape my background into some fantastic essays, and most importantly, he helped me realize how to not only ARTICULATE my story, but how to tailor it to the schools for which I was applying. Lo and behold, I received an acceptance to my school of choice Round 1. I had swung for the fences, both with the schools I applied for and with my decision to work with a consultant, and it had paid off.

Looking back, I can't say that I REALLY regret hiring two admissions consultants, although if I had to go through the process again, there's no doubt in my mind I'd hire Paul and only Paul. When I called him, ecstatic, after my first acceptance letter, he was more excited than I was. After we hung up, he texted me, "This is why I do what I do." I think that sums up Paul pretty well.

I've taken the time to write this (way too) lengthy summary and feedback on my experience because last year at this time, I was clueless. Apprehensive. I was pouring over threads like this one trying to figure out the best way to approach my applications. Moreover, I'm taking the time to write this because of the extra effort and time Paul spent with me, and because I'm that confident that my GMAT Club peers reading this will have a fantastic experience with him.

Good luck with applications!

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This is my first post here, and in all honesty I do not spend a lot of time on forums at all because they usually bring me more anxiety than calm! Having said that though, I would like to post for all of you my review of Amerasia and Paul Lanzillotti, and hope that it will help you as you decide whether or not to use a consultant and if so, whom to choose.

When I first decided 2012 would be the year I apply to B-school, I had barely heard of admissions consultants and was certainly not planning to hire one for myself. I have an impressive GMAT score, solid work experience, strong writing skills, and several MBA grads in my extended family to help me so I figured I was all set. When I got down to choosing my schools and looking at the essay prompts for each one, I idly browsed a few GMAT/MBA forums to see what others were doing. That’s when I got seriously intimidated. I realized I was up against a very varied pool of applicants from completely different backgrounds and professions and unlike applying to engineering grad school (which was much more straightforward), I had no idea what I should do to appear unique and compelling in my B-school application. I was encouraged by a couple of friends and by my husband to look into getting a consultant and after some initial sticker shock I decided it was worth the money. I interviewed 3-4 different companies (including Stacy Blackman) before I had my free initial call with Paul Lanzillotti (Amerasia). Within the first 15 minutes of that 90 minute call, my decision was made and I signed up for the 3 school package with Paul immediately! Paul had taken the time before our free consultation call to pore over my resume and profile, and he got straight to the point on the phone discussing what areas of my background I should emphasize versus play down. This was in sharp contrast to the other consultants I’d spoken to earlier, who were clearly learning about me for the first time on the call itself.

My first impression of Paul was excellent, and it never lessened through the many months we worked together on my applications. He came to every single call we had each week fully prepared and we always hit the ground running. I credit him especially for listening carefully when I discussed my experiences, identifying things unique about me and my background, and encouraging me to represent those in my application - which I wouldn’t have done otherwise because these are things I generally take for granted and wouldn’t necessarily think are my best strengths. He also really knows his stuff on what each school wants and how each one is different from the others, which is super useful when you’re applying to multiple top schools and want to tweak each application to be just perfect for the target school. Some schools care a great deal about which clubs you will join, while others just want to hear that you’re going to make a difference in a third world country. I certainly didn’t know who cares about what, so his experience and advice was invaluable. His turnaround time on essays was solid, and his comments were always very detailed and easy to take action on. He never tried to put words in my mouth or write my story in his way, but at the same time was very candid and honest when my stories or ideas just weren’t compelling enough for the essay prompts. He helped me prepare well for my interviews, and was always available to read or review something even at the last minute.

Overall, Paul is just a really nice and easygoing guy, he is very easy to work with and I felt like I was chatting with a friend during our weekly calls. Also, best cheerleader ever. He was genuinely disappointed with me when I didn’t get into Stanford, and incredibly happy with me when I did get into Kellogg. I highly, highly recommend him as an admissions consultant, and I wish him and all of you every success ahead.

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Hi All,

after the tough last year that i had, i got in to a top 25 school with a scholarship. I realized working with rahul from mbadream was very useful. My latest admit, from another top 30 school, i received yesterday that too has a scholarship. I suggest, mbaaspirants for next year should speak to mbadream.in. They are top class. .

Hi Experts,

I have gone through all blogs/posts on GC for admission consultants.
Now i have narrow down my choices to Aringo, Mba Exchange, and Stacyblackman
But i have read negative reviews in one of random side about Stacy blackman, Athough my first discussion was not bad.
I have already first meet with all these consultants.
Now I need your help to give more insight as there is not much about Mba exchange.
Also i could not find any negative about Aringo even in admission411
Kindly provide your input

Thanks\
HS

Did anyone ever use Square one prep? i have only seen one post about them thus far.

thanks for everyone! can someone share more about negative experiences?

Does anyone have any experience working wth Jennifer Wald ?

Not the first poster with zero credentials/previous posts to spam the board 'vouching' for this company. If anything it shows that this company should be avoided.

I also decided to use an admissions consultant. I spent over a month research different firms. Ultimately, I used Paul Lanzillotti at Amerasia. I did a couple of pre-emails and pre-calls, specifically with Dan Bauer at MBA Exchange and Aimee Pearlman at MBA Mission. My pre-call with Paul was great - I was looking for a more boutique experience where I felt that I would be more of a focus for the consultant that I might be a larger firm. In a lot of ways I felt that I was a borderline candidate that could really benefit from the help and direction of a boutique admissions consulting firm. My bought the four school program with Paul. My results:

Tuck: Admit
Columbia: Admit
Yale: Waitlist
MIT: Ding

You can't really argue with results. I went into the process with a dream school and that's the school I'm attending. Paul was very realistic with me during the process. Going in, he thought there were schools I should get into (I did) and a reach school that was my number one that he wasn't so sure about (and I got it). If anything, I would use this as a example of the fact that Paul won't blow smoke up your ass. When you're shopping around for a consultant and he tells you sure, with his help, you can get into HBS and Wharton, sounds good. Paul didn't. He took a realistic approach to my strengths and weakness and helped me frame a story that put me in the best light. Paul is excellent at figuring out what your best story is and how to tell it to admissions consultants.

On a side note, one of the most valuable parts of my package with Paul was the interview prep. I interviewed at three schools and with each his prep was instrumental. We did two - three mock interviews before each interview. I went into each interview with a great sense of the story I wanted to tell the schools. Not only that, but for each school he helped me tailor it to that individual school based on his knowledge of what that school looks for.

Agreed with scleraxis - The post by bpmbaquest definitely looks like a shameless plug by Rahul/mbadream.

Has anyone worked with Kyn Chaturvedi from Admissianado ? please pm

Also, has anyone faced a situation where the consultant himself/herself wasn't willing to work with the candidate because he/she felt the candidate wasn't a strong applicant and was probably aiming too high.

Yes, I have. While I wish I could say that I got admitted somewhere to prove him wrong, I'm unfortunately on waitlists. But I guess waitlists are a better result than what this particular admissions consultant predicted for me.

I somewhat feel that it was a hard and honest call to make for the consultant. One they are passing money and two pissing some one off. At the same time they felt they could not help.

I am sorry about this rejection. Must have felt terrible to have that stamped on even before applying. Though it sounds it only made it more invigorating for you. Fingers crossed - probe them wrong!

Good luck!


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