My journey to Tuck; Admissions Gateway Review
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09 May 2018, 01:47
I am a business undergrad with 4 years of experience and an above average GMAT score. My work experience is in a field that is difficult to present well to business school so I decided to engage an Admissions counsellor for presening my story well.
Through friends and many undergrad peers, I heard about Admissions Gateway and joined them given all the positive reviews and the track record.
I reached out to Admissions Gateway early in the year but with little preparation. The year with AG on a micro level may have been about turning out standout applications to b-schools but on a macro level this was a year of introspection and some important choices. In round 1 I applied to Kellogg, Tuck, Ross and Emory. Schools picked for culture and strength in consulting and product management. TIP: Have a balanced strategy with reach (Kellogg Tuck), ballpark (Ross) and safe (Emory) schools.
The toughest challenge was framing my resume and goals aligning past skills and future aspirations. I worked with an AG consultant from Kellogg on my resume and my consultants understanding of my company and job helped me present my work at a strategic level and helped me articulate the business impact. The resume making process was a game changer and I began to understand how people think post their MBA. TIP: Focus a lot on your resume as this will set the whole tone for your application.
I enjoyed working with my counsellor from Booth on my school applications. Apart from being a great consultant she comes with relevant industry experience that was personally helpful as I was needed guidance on consolidating my goals. She spent hours and days on exploring goals and career paths, holding discussions and sending related research material. TIP: Research goals in-depth and understand what you need from the MBA in relation to reaching those goals.
My counsellor was persistent with her contribution to my process and would not accept lower quality. We would reach up to the 4th, 5th draft of an essay and I would feel satisfied with the work but she would suggest improvements. The stories we picked for the essays were not what I had thought as the obvious choice and this was the true value. TIP: Focus on brainstorming the right stories, writing them is simpler, knowing what to write is critical.
Before starting the process I had heard from friends that the process makes you spin things to present yourself in better light but with Admissions Gateway I never faced this. They helped me become confident of my actual story and dig deep into the learning from my experiences. I secured multiple admits while staying true to myself.
I gained admissions to:
Tuck School of Business (No Scholarships)
Ross School of Business (30% Scholarship)
Goizueta Business School (80% Scholarship)
And will be attending Tuck.
There are many good consultants but given the results and process at AG they are amongst the very best and most professional in the world. There are at least 10-12 people who gained admission at Tuck who worked with Admissions Gateway and almost double at Ross.
Wish you all the best for your applications, it is a lot of work but totally worth it!