Still waiting for my phone call-not sure why its taking so long.. meh :/
Still beaming over the news of my acceptance !! Wow this feels great! In the spirit of the holidays, I'm gonna do a little giving of my own & give a review of the consultant I used: Sandy Kreisberg.
Before I started my app I realized I needed a consultant. I was so far behind the game when compared to the info those at prestigious firms and schools had gotten. I did NOT know how to present myself best to the bschools adcoms.
After calling a bunch of consultant with cheesy lines who all sounded the same (for those people who watch Entourage-it was exactly like when Vince was shopping for a new agent after he fired Ari-just way less glamorous). My call with Sandy was different. At first I told him my stats and my version of the story I would apply with-which he dismissed as mediocre. Instead he had me tell him EVERYTHING I had done since the start of college. The best way to describe him is like a bloodhound-he listened to everything, and sniffed out the stuff which I had assumed as ordinary, but in reality were impressive and the info that needed to be presented to the adcoms.
I came to him with a mess of a story, and left with a solid picture and message. The rest of the process was tailoring this story to make it uber crisp and clear.
He also served as a bit of a stress relief which I really needed. He has his own info and stats of bschool acceptances over the past 10+ years based off his clients and others, and also a significant portion of the applicants who interview at the top school use him, so by interview time he had an even better idea of where I stood. Whenever I worked myself up too much-I shot him an email with a nervous question-and he responded with a solid email outlining where I stood and what I should be expecting going forward.
Another unintended consequence of using his service was the benefit to my job search. I've been applying to jobs for awhile, and even with my impressive experience, I didn't even get a nibble. It wasn't until AFTER we hammered out my story that I started getting callbacks. The criteria these bschools use are similar to the criteria used by the prestigious firms for interviews. I have final round interviews with XXXX, XXXX, XX (edited here) etc. all of which didn't even call me back the year before. No one has noticed this added benefit on the forum but its true and something to think about.
Can you get in without a consultant? Of course. How many other people use em? I would guess ~40-50%. At my HBS interview, about 3 out or every 4 people there had used one-but that is obv a small sample size.
Should you use a consultant? You need to decide that yourself. But considering a lot of people spend upwards of 1000$ on apps alone, and the cost of tuition-the cost of a consultant begins to seem less insane. I had to cut back a little after using his service-but it was all worth it when I got my HBS acceptance letter! My advice to you: if you're going to use a consultant, your best bet without a doubt is with Sandy. If you can only afford to pay for 1 school (like me) have him decide which school he should help you with-and ask him for general advice for the other ones. He was nice enough to give me general advice for my other apps. Book him early-cause he is in high demand and for good reason.
Well thats all from me. Good luck to everyone and happy holidays !!
21 Dec 2011, 13:01
