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Reviews submitted to GMAT Club's Review Section require GMAT test report and/or school email addresses for validation. This is the highest review validation in the industry to ensure you're seeing credible information. The posts on the forum below don't require any validation; so we encourage you to view the GMAT Club's Review Section.



IMPORTANT: We will only allow reviews posted in this thread from members who have at least 30 posts. If your profile is new - you are welcome to post questions or engage in a discussion but please do not post reviews as they will be deleted or hidden. If you don't meet the 30 post minimum, but had a great experience with your admissions consultants, post it in the Verified Reviews Area instead.


Congrats to all those who got into their desired schools this year. It's time to start a thread for members to share reviews/opinions of their admission consultants.

Suggestions for your posts:

1. Search for existing discussions before asking; your questions may have been answered a few times already
2. If you are posting a review/feedback, please post it in the format of (pros/cons/bottom line) or something along those lines
3. If you have used a consultant, please answer these 2 questions:

• What elements should one consider when selecting and Admissions Consultant
  
• What worked for you and what did not?

Rules:

1. Please do not rant!
2. Please be constructive whether you praise or you criticize and build your case - this will help others make better decisions and do better research
3. Please put your rating on the performance of the consultant (out of 5)
4. Please indicate if you have actually used a consultant for your applications or you have only gone through an initial consultation or if you have had no contact at all

We welcome any feedback from the members including constructive criticism/suggestions for improvement as well as positive comments. Take both positive and negative comments with a grain of salt.

You may also consider reading:

• What to select an MBA admissions consultant
• Tips for working with a consultant
• Suggestions from a "veteran" 9/9/2011
• For more reviews see Admissions Consulting Reviews

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My review for Experts' Global.

Based on my experience, I really have to commend Experts’ Global, who, in my view, are the best for GMAT preparation as well as admission consulting and charge very nominal fee (less than half compared to the other, similar, world-class companies). To begin with, their GMAT online program got me a 99th percentile (I will talk in detail about that in a different post). Then their application approach got me into my dream school, ISB. I also managed to secure admits into some of the US Top 25, with considerable scholarships to boot!

Here some of the main points I would like to emphasize about my experience of working with Experts’ Global.

Their organized and nonsense-free approach
A critical element of Experts’ Global’s success is how well thought out and clear their approach is. The very first day after I enrolled with them, Experts’ Global gave me a planner that broke my admissions process into 20+ simple goals. To their credit, the team stuck to all of their deadlines just as well as I stuck to mine. Thanks to this, all of the steps were completed, well before the deadlines. My team was always on top of things, so I never had to field repetitive phone calls. They were able to get everything done in one go.

Great theme building
Experts' Global has an admissions team that is absolutely stellar at theme building. They are quite capable of putting together a story that will cover your past, present, and all of your plans for the future. They do so through an organized process that begins with a highly detailed questionnaire. They then pick out details, from the answers that you give,to build a strong narrative that brings together your history, current ambitions, and long-term goals. In my humble opinion, this might just be the most valuable of the services that Experts’ Global provides. An interesting narrative is what makes the difference between a profile that gets attention and one that the committee ends up overlooking.

Their ‘mentoring’ attitude
I found Experts’ Global’s admissions teams approaching the work not as consultants as such but rather as mentors. Personally, I greatly appreciated this attitude. After all, the entire reason that I decided to take up professional help was that I knew nothing about the admissions process and was hoping to find someone who would share their knowledge with me and mentor me.

They were always approachable
I definitely appreciated how approachable my team always was. They were always ready to take a call, in order to clear up any complex issue that I was facing. Their emails were always on time and perfectly clear. The key thing to remember here is that at Experts’ Global you do not work with just one person, you work with a whole team. These teams are all close knit and highly efficient.

Their excellent training resources
One of the things that I liked the best about Experts’ Global is that they are very well-informed when it comes to the admissions process. They are also sure to share all the relevant information, with their students. Months of self-research would not have produced such fine results. On the day of enrollment, they provided me a series of 20 videos that taught me everything that I needed to know, about the process- regarding managing timelines, essay writing, schools shortlisting, and everything. Similarly, later at the interview stage, they gave me a series of videos that formed an excellent resource for the interview preparation.

Experience of Interview Prep with Experts' Global

It was quite late that I learnt on GMAT Club that ISB has a 1:5 success rate in the interviews! Experts' Global, I must say, has a very rich offering for interview preparation.

Starting early
Knowing that ISB gives just a few days' notification for interviews, my process was started quite early. This really helped me prepare at ease, without any undue pressure.

A great video series for interview prep
I was given a video-series for first training myself on the interview preparation. The content was really rich but crisp. In a matter of few hours, I could attain a strong, broad approach for how I was going to face the interview. The tips around softer aspects- mannerisms, body language etc were particularly helpful.

A rich set of frequently asked questions
I was given a rich questionnaire to answer with my ideal responses, keeping my application essays in mind. I prepared answers to these questions and rehearsed in my own space, sometimes against a mirror. This really helped.

Mock interviews followed by feedback
I then underwent mocks with Experts' Global. The first mock was nervous and I was telling long stories. The strict but constructive feedback, together with the recommendation to watch the videos all over, was given. As a good mentee, I worked on the feedback and was happy to see a rich improvement in the second mock. The third mock was quite smooth and I was given a go-ahead by my interview mentor at Experts' Global.

I was told some specific questions that I was likely to be asked (being a bit late for MBA, not needing it at all for my projected career goals) and to my pleasure, when these questions were asked in the ISB interview, I was able to answer them confidently.

This combination of standard training (videos and preparation of answers to FAQs) together with the personalized training (in the mocks and suggestion of likely, askable questions) is a great approach for interview training.

Experts Global, you sure are experts in your field! Keep up the good work!

Review for Sia Admissions.

The service that SIA has provided to me was simply top notch. From the first moment I got in touch to the final submission of my application I received amazing support coupled with personal touch.

Susan was always there for me when I had queries regarding my application. She always responded within a day with very detailed feedback. When I was working on my essays and application Susan asked the right questions that made me reflect on my past experiences and get the best stories for my essays.

I also received unlimited support from Susan and Sia. Not matter how small the query was, Susan was always willing to help and guide me through the process.

I cannot recommend Susan and Sia high enough. I don't regret purchasing this product from Sia. On the contrary, I can't believe anyone else would have provided me with better support. Sia has exceeded all my expectations.

Review for August Academy.

Coming off an unsuccessful application season I decided to work with August Academy on 3 schools (1 reach T5 school, 2 competitive T10 schools). Karthik was very encouraging from the beginning and I really appreciated his systematic ways of working (using Asana to manage tasks, delegate, and follow-up). We revised the career narrative, spent a ton of time refining the resume and then moved to essays. The inputs provided by Karthik were very useful and he seemed deeply invested in my success. I succeeded in getting 2 interview calls from the T10 schools and eventually received 1 admit with scholarship and 1 waitlist which are great results given my profile.
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Review for ApplicantLab.

Did you ever feel, ' He finally heard me. Things are falling into place.' This was exaclty my feeling when I heard from Darden's admission office that I'm being offered a place in the class of 2021. You'd expect me to think of my loved ones first after hearing that. Well, quite literally yes. I thought of Applicant Lab and Maria.
Applicant Lab is want I needed. I was an MBA aspirant who wanted a shift in industry using an MBA but had no idea about admissions process. After my GMAT, I started talking to different consultants and taking free profile evaluations. The funniest part was, I couldn't get a proper genuine evaluation from any one of them. Some of them tell me I should be applying to HBS and Stanford. When I tell them I myself donot believe that I could get into HBS they start selling their service. I was fed up with everyone. But suddenly I came across someone who for the first time gave me an honest review of my profile,didn't try to sell me her product and genuinely wanted to help me. Maria.

I came to know about Applicant lab from an e-gmat webminar. Thanks for Rajat and Payal. In my first interaction with Maria over e-mail. She clearly told me not what I want to hear but the actual scenario in admissions. She told me where I should go and not where I can go. There's a lot of difference. She only talked to me about my post-MBA goals and life ambitions and not where I want to study. She then told me how I should select my schools. I never thought I'd say this, but I started thinking, "Nah! I would choose Darden over Wharton" She recommended me no schools but taught me how I chose my schools perfectly.

This is exactly what's great about applicant lab. Applicant Lab makes you competent to say your story the best way possible. In my experience with applicant lab, forget about writing MBA essays. I learnt a lot about myself, my traits, my stories, my character, my strengths and my weaknesses. It was like a 2 month introspection into myself.
Applicant lab's process is the most streamlined I ever saw. It is as smooth as it can get and you'll never feel stressed. All the material in the lab is hand crafted specific to each school by Maria and it is amazing to see specific strategies for each essay question in each school. You'll get surprised by the amount of detail that's put into the material.

The best thing about Applicant lab is, you are doing everything. Today I have the satisfaction of writing my own essays and still getting admitted into one of the best schools. Applicant lab doesn't craft your essays. It makes you capable of writing the best essays. Applicant lab helps you choose which one of your stories to go with which essay. This will in turn make it easy for you in your interview, because you are going to be the same person on writing and in person.
Applicant Lab's greatest strengths are it's process and school specific material. I can assure you, you can never get so much information and guidance from anyone other than Maria.
For people like me, who couldn't afford a full time MBA admissions consultant for thousands of Dollars, Applicant lab is a boon. You may have to put in a little more effort than you would with a full time consultant. But for what you are saving economically and mentally, it's not even a tradeoff that you should think twice about before making.

I very strongly recommend Applicant Lab to everyone, especially those who are starting your application from scratch. Believe me, you'll never regret your decision. Applicant Lab and Maria are the best thing that happened to me in my MBA admission process.

Journey to B-School for me, had been short (relatively) but a very rigorous one nonetheless. It started off around March 2018, when I decided to appear for GMAT. After 3 months of preparation, I appeared for GMAT in June 2018. Fortunately, I ended up getting a score of 740 in the first attempt itself.
But then came the difficult part, Shortlisting B-Schools and researching about them. Application process in itself felt lot more tedious than preparing for GMAT. Soon, I realized I was out of my depth and I felt I need a mentor to guide me through the process.
So I started exploring consultants in India and having discussions with them. When talking to Jatin, What I felt very different from all other consultants was that:
1. He was very open about my strengths, realistic targets schools, etc in our very first discussion itself. This caught my attention since all other consultants I had talked to, till that point, were very reserve in suggesting me target schools unless I start working with them.
2. He was also very open about possible weaknesses in me or my profile. I liked this particularly because I felt I was approaching them particularly to help me tackle my weaknesses more than anything else. It felt reassuring.
3. He was not sugar-coating his opinions which was just opposite to every other conversation I had till that point with anybody else.
So, I finally decided to go ahead with Pythagurus. We levelled down on ISB. But due to too much pressure at work, I couldn’t start my application process till last week of August 2018. Due mid-September deadline for round 1, my hopes were diminishing as days were quickly passing by but Jatin was quite adamant on making it work for me. His constant inputs helped me become very clear about my goals. I became more aware of how I can use my strengths and experiences in my application. He was very prompt and straight forward in pointing out issues in my essays. His relentless push ensured high quality application. In fact, by the time I submitted my application, I felt very confident about my chances of getting an interview call.
The mock interviews with Jatin were very insightful and a unique experience in itself. I made me a lot more self-aware. He touched so many wide varieties of topics that after his mock interviews, the actual interview felt a bit like cake-walk to be honest. In fact, everything in the real interview felt like déjà vu.
Fast-forward to this date, I will be joining ISB CO 2020.

Jatin: Sorry for being late. You have been a source of constant motivation through-out this journey. It surely wouldn’t have been possible without your help. You have been a great mentor.

What elements should one consider when selecting and Admissions Consultant: My key criteria was whether the consultant can add value to my application, so I compared their initial assessments of my profile to see which is more critical
What worked for you and what did not? Was able to iterate on my application multiple times within a short time frame. It was stressful but worth the investment in my opinion.

Review for Access Education

I used the comprehensive service package at Access Education admissions consulting and worked with Laura Freedman for about 3 months. I was admitted into INSEAD, my choice of MBA program, and I would like to thank Laura for helping to bring out my best sides in the application.

After taking the free diagnostic sessions with several admission consultants, I chose to work with Laura because I felt she exhibited excellent knowledge about the admission requirements and was able to propose a new angle for my profile. In the diagnostic session, it was clear that she listened and was able to quickly process what I shared about my background. Her comments were personalised from the start, which gave me confidence that she could bring out the best in my application. My initial assessment of her proved to be right.

In my consultations with her, I was constantly marvelled by the level of insight she provided. Laura’s a 1992 INSEAD alum whose knowledge about the INSEAD application and vast work experiences in various industries and functions were apparent in our conversations. She pushed me to refine my essays, often resulting in me re-writing key parts after our consultations, for the better. I appreciate her frank comments, which kept me grounded throughout the application process in search for better answers. Even under crunch time, I felt she refused to compromise the quality of my application, pushing me to dig deeper to answer the why-s and how-s in my life.

The result was not only a polished, high-quality application, and improved interview skills, but also a better understanding of myself and my own personal development. This level of clarity about myself would not have been reached without the effort put in by Laura to understand me and push me in the right direction.



Please put your rating on the performance of the consultant (out of 5): 4.5/5

Review for mbaMission.

I first approached Katy through a free 30 minute consultation and immediately knew I needed her support and experience throughout the application process. Katy was the one consultant who truly boosted my confidence that I could meet my target programs despite self-reservations around my GRE score and relatively young age. I chose to purchase the 5 hour package. I knew which schools I wanted to apply to and wanted some guidance around essays, resumes, and mock interviews. One of most important, yet sometimes overlooked document is the resume. I was struggling immensely to fit all my experience in one page. Katy provided timely and efficient feedback, and provided insider guidance into what schools look for in a resume. She helped me fit what I wanted in one page. Then came the essays! I first started with a robust brainstorming document and gave my first drafts to Katy. What Katy truly excels at is allowing you to retain your own words and template, but optimizing it in a way that resonates with schools. Every essay I wrote, I retained 100% my thoughts and beliefs and Katy helped me articulate that in an efficient manner. Lastly I conducted a mock interview with Katy. She came prepared with school specific interview questions and gave me tangible feedback to improve upon after the mock interview. Katy has a knack for capturing real-time guidance and providing you that document to serve as a guidance moving forward. All in all, working with Katy was the best investment I made. I knew from the first free consultation that Katy would not only be my consultant, but a genuine mentor looking to help me achieve my dreams. I was able to get admittance and several interviews in the top 20. Without Katy's guidance, this entire process would have been exponentially more stressful. Choose Katy, you won't be disappointed.

Review for Admissionado.

This is the first consultant experience I had that I enjoyed, which resulted in my first successful application since many years of trying. I saw Admissionado had good reviews on GMATClub so I set up a free profile eval on the website. Claudia got back to me almost instantly (she really responds very quickly) and started the process of connecting me to a consultant.

Mark Lellouch reviewed my responses and scheduled an introductory call with me where he shared his thoughts on my profile and my application strategy. I liked what I heard and how it seemed customized and realistic for my situation, so I went ahead with the Deluxe package. Immediately I filled out a very detailed questionnaire so that Mark could come up with a succinct summary of my strengths, weaknesses, and plan for my target school. Having an assessment like that on the front end really helped me clarify how I wanted to present myself across the entire application - resume, essays, forms and all.

After getting the front end down, we then started working on the application components - resume, essays, etc. Throughout this, Mark never wrote for me, but rather challenged my drafts as a cold eye and gave me clear prompts on how to modify my material to best present myself to the school. This is Mark's best attribute by far - he is able to give you the right instruction and advice for you to articulate the best image of yourself clearly. I was stunned at how good my materials looked after reviews with him compared to my initial drafts...especially my resume.

I was invited to interview and Mark supported me through that as well with the same excellence as in the writing phase - by telling me HOW to think when responding rather than WHAT to say when responding. It is this crucial difference that has helped me grow as a person, not to mention getting a successful admission to my dream school - one that I've tried multiple times for many years to get in with different consultants who were not as effective. Claudia was also very supportive throughout the entire process, and as mentioned above, responded very quickly.

I would definitely recommend Admissionado and Mark. They were very helpful and exceeded my expectations of what a consultant can really do for you. Mark's greatest skill is being able to guide you to articulate the best version of yourself.

Review for Sia Admissions.

I have tried to make this review informative, clear and most of all authentic because no one has time to read BS. Please PM me if I can be of any help. I recommend Susan and SIA because:

1. Susan went above and beyond to help me. She accommodated me in ways no other consultant will. She understood my life circumstances at the time and was lenient with her service fee and terms.

2. Susan helped me with the entire applications. Such as essay, post-MBA goals, resume, short answer questions, data questions, optional essay, extracurricular activities, awards, relevant coursework, etc. The edits and iterations will go on until each of the application components meet Susan's standard, and her standards are high. After all sections of the application are complete; she will review the whole application and make corrections. Trust me. It takes a lot of iterations, emails, and phone calls before the application is finally complete. Tip: Make sure to either ask a family member or hire a proofreader to double check spellings, grammar, and meaning because sometimes with so much back and forth things can get overlooked.

3. Susan also helped me in my communication such as emails, phone calls and in-person interactions with my target school’s admissions team, professors, and current students as well as alums. She also helped me navigate my way through attending events at my target school.

4. Susan will not write for you, but she will unfold your deepest layers to dig out what matters to you and why are you writing what you are writing. She will force you to add depth in anything you write. Yes at times it will be annoying, but when it's all said and done. You will be thankful and happy that glad Susan asked those questions. Tip: Tell her your complete story as is. All in one go with no fabrication. She will help you project your story in a way that’s beneficial to you.

5. Look there is a sea of consultants out there, and some of them have hundreds of reviews on GMAT club, have glamorous websites of their own, and have ex-admissions officers working for them. If that’s what you are looking for, then SIA is not for you. You might have heard this quote “ Never make someone a priority when all you are to them is an option.” Susan will not treat you like just another number in her client list; you will be a priority. At least that’s what I felt.

6. Frankly, when you call one of these big companies, none of these companies will let you speak to the person who you will actually be working with. Additionally, Some of these well-known consultants won't even work with you if you have low Gmat score, have not worked for a well-known firm and have below average GPA and then they tute about their high admission success rate. I mean, to begin with, they buy gold, and then say that anything we touch turns into gold. I am not trying to undermine the credibility of well-known consultants or companies. They must have their systems and criteria, and for some of the MBA applicants, it might be a better choice to work with a famous admission consultant. Anyways, In the case of SIA Admissions, I directly spoke with Susan, and she is a listener. Look, At the end of the day, it's your application, and you will have the final say. I can tell you all the great things about Susan, but it's you who has to see if Susan can help you prepare an incredible application, prepare you for an interview and give you the time and attention that you need. She did it for me so I think she would do it for you as well. My advice: Give Susan a call. At most, it will be 15mins of your life, and in this long journey of GMAT, Application prep and an MBA degree we can spare 15mins. Just don’t go by reviews and other flashy things these admission consultants show you. See how you feel once you communicate with them.

7. This MBA journey for some of us could be long, tedious and demanding. So try to find someone who can listen to you, pick you up when you are down and guide you on what to write when you are clueless. Keep your head up because one fine day when this GMAT, MBA applications and interviews are over you will step into the doors of your dream school as an MBA Candidate!! Yeah!! Do I see a hopeful smile on your face? Now, stop dreaming and get on with your search and let's get to work!
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