I used
Paul Bodine - from Paul Bodine Admissions Consulting and writer of the highly acclaimed book
"Great Applications for Business School."This guy is a genius. (Literally - he went to University of Chicago and Johns Hopkins University)
The story:
Last year I applied to a few business schools and got denied from all - not even an interview was granted. I knew I was going to reapply (this year ) and wanted some professional help. Soon afterward I started looking into all of the top consulting companies -
mbaMission,
Amerasia,
Stratus Prep, MBAPrepSchool, Veritas Prep, HBSGuru and
Admissionado. I had phone conversations with consultants from the companies and met in person with two.
I was looking for someone who was honest and who would get right to the point but was not a bulldog like Sandy Kreisberg from HBSguru. I wanted someone who would listen to my story and help me pick which pieces paint the best picture of myself. I also wanted someone who has been in the industry for a while and who takes his clients seriously. Some consultants out there do consulting as a side job - I have had a few side jobs in my life and no matter how dedicated I plan to be I can never find enough time in the day to give these jobs the attention they deserve.
I initially came across Paul's name here on gmatclub.com. He has the top rated business school book on one of the lists here. I thought "hmmm this guy wrote the book about admissions maybe I should check him out." I then found out that he write frequently on the Businessweek forums and read a few of his posts. He seemed to really help direct people.
I contacted Paul and answered a few questions for him about myself via email and then set up an initial phone call. During the call I was shocked at home much he knew about me. He brought up things on the questionnaire that I totally forgot that I answered - it was almost creepy how much he knew! haha On a serious note, my point is that he obviously paid deep attention to me and I wasn't even a paying client yet. He had me convinced to work with him.
After I enlisted his services--he was everything I was looking for. He also has many connections in the industry since he has been working in it so long (since 1997).
We decided to map a plan of attack. He took a deep dive into my background - I think the call lasted 2 or 3 hours. Then came up with a few things I could/should do over the next few months to polish my application. He even told me exactly which GMAT score he thought I should get to make up for my low gpa. This was the type of detailed feedback I needed. On these forums many people say things like -- "ohh 710 gmat is good, over 700 and your fine." But this may GENERALLY be true but it doesn't take into account your demographic, or what type of industry you work in, or whether you had quant classes in college...Paul was able to take into account all the aspects of my application and based off of the many idiosyncrasies of my application suggest certain things. I trusted his decisions also since he as an extensive history of helping many applicants over the years.
Another thing which made Paul awesome was he connected me with someone from a school I was targeting. He helped many people get into top programs and he would call them up and ask if they'd speak with me. This gave me deep insight into these programs. One person gave me little tidbits of what I should say in my essay that would show how much I knew about the program! Additionally, he knew a few people on some of the schools admissions committees and would share how he thought I should approach them based on their personality.
Work Product:
Paul's editing is absolutely top notch (Master's degree from Johns Hopkins - cant beat that). He can edit a 3 page essay down to 250 words and somehow capture exactly what you wanted to say and not drop a bit of detail. It was magical. One day I was in a rush and I asked him to do a quick edit just so I could have a clear essay to work on again (my version was too convoluted) he managed to whip it out in minutes...literally like 30 minutes.
He also asked all the right questions. When I wrote an essay he would not only edit the essay but say something like "why don't you mention that thing you told me about that happened 2 months ago...." or " I think this story does not work as well as the story you told me about a few weeks ago..." This is the type of direction I really loved. This constant back and forth really helped me understand myself, my story and I am certain it helped me kill the interviews.
He also did mock interviews with me. He would ask different questions based off of which school I was interview with. He knew which schools ask which questions. Many of the questions he asked I actually received in the interview.
Timeliness:
As I mentioned above, he is very quick. He would always respond within a day and generally within hours. But the best part was, he would often email me saying "..I have a dinner this Friday so I may not be reachable until Saturday morning.." or 'I am out of town Wednesday so don't expect emails until Wednesday night" This was soo important to me because it allowed me to plan my work schedule.
He was also always open to a quick phone call or skype. I remember a few occasions where I would be freaking out about some little worry in my head and I would email him "Got a minute for a call" and he and I would be on the phone minutes later discussing my worry.
Attitude:
You can already get an idea of his personality from everything I wrote above but I also want to point out that he is super super nice. He is always very friendly and open and willing to talk to you about anything. He will talk to you about the same thing numerous times and give his advice on what he thinks you need to do.
Bottom Line:
Paul is the complete package. I purchased a 3 school comprehensive package from him and I was accepted to all those schools. I also then purchased some extra hours for 4 other schools and was accepted to those as well. Do I think I could have gotten in without his help - no. I struck out last year and this year he helped me win the World Series. It is right train of thought that he gave me that helped me have many little wins along the way which lead to the ultimate acceptance.
You got to check this guys out - google his name.