Early-stage applicant: Booth, Ross, Darden with $$

I am an engineer with 2+ years of work experience in the technology industry. I was not sure of applying this year as it was early however I decided to take a crack at it and if I did not succeed I would apply again next year with more experience.
Choosing a consultant:
Initially I started with a US consultant but after the first few sessions, I was not sure what value I was getting or what to expect. I was talking to a student at Kellogg and she mentioned reaching out to Rajdeep Chimni and Admissions Gateway to get some advice. When I spoke with Rajdeep during our intro call, his approach and expectations were exactly what I were looking for. I appreciated that they made time for me even though I was a client. Rajdeep suggest using the tips and working with my US consultant and also how to get more out of the engagement. However after the call I then did a lot of research and after talking to many students I gave up my $3500 deposit with the US firm and joined AG. Rajdeep encouraged me to write to the counsellor asking for a refund as not much had been done but that did not materialize. This whole episode was a slight setback but I looked to the future and carried on. My advice would be to do counsellor selection very carefully and be sure of your decision.
School selection and execution:
Since I was an early stage candidate I decided to apply to a mix of top-10 and top-5. Wharton, Kellogg, Ross, Darden and Cornell in round 1. This gave me a shot at my dream school while giving me enough chances to get into a top-10.
The resume building process was key as I learnt to look at things from a managers perspective and articulate the big picture. A must do for early stage candidates as you come across as mature for your experience.
For the behavioural essays the resume building really helped. I know new my examples and the situations challenges and courses of actions I wanted to depict. Here again I focused on showing what I did rather than telling and tried to give an insight into how I work.
For schools research I reached out to students, alumni and the Admissions Gateway network and really dug deep into what I want from the school and what I can contribute.
Research is key as it really show on paper that someone has the interest and passion to go to a certain level with their research.
Interview preparation:
I would focus a lot on interviews. I got 4 of them together and they were difficult to handle. Feel free to request a new time that works for you and don’t rush in unprepared. Kellogg, Ross, Darden and Cornell. The resume and essays had already made me understand my pitch and examples so now I practiced those and the interviews went fairly well.
Round 1 results
I got admission to:
Darden - $65,920
Ross - $20,000
Cornell - $20,000

I was very happy to get top-10 admits with scholarships! At the same time I wanted more (that’s the way it works) . So for round 2 we focused on Booth, Stanford and MIT.
Round 2 results:
I got interviews from all 3 schools. I felt my creative skills really helped me out for the Booth ppt and all the work on my applications came together for Stanford.
I finally got into Booth with a $40,000 scholarship!

A word about my counsellor:
I find AG to be one of the very few counsellors out there who are good at channelling their energies into doing their job well rather than trying to impress students with fancy branding, promises, and complicated administrative procedures. They had an approach to everything including wailists and negotiating scholarships! I got 4 scholarships by the end of it! Their commitment whether it was 1 a.m. or Sunday was as if they were applying themselves.

My final advice would be to enjoy the journey and really learn from the application process as in my case I improved many skills that will help me. Our association genuinely improved my thought process, writing, networking, interviewing, and decision making abilities – skills which I feel make me ready as I confidently step into the B-school of my dreams with scholarship!