"Best" Admissions Consulting Companies - 2019 intake Season

WOW! Awesome Man! Fantastic job!!! Fuqua!!!
Congrats!

Review for MBADream

I believe MBADREAM.IN is the best MBA Admission Service at the best price available. Through this forum, I would like to recommend Rahul Sir from MBADREAM.IN as an excellent coach to your journey to a top MBA program. After excelling in the initial hurdle of GMAT in 2017, designing the MBA application strategy was a much bigger challenge than anticipated and I failed to secure any admit in 3 schools I applied to that year. This is when I decided to opt for professional support. After an extensive search, I came across Rahul Sir through various positive reviews on various MBA forums. It may sound cliché but I felt confident of my profile even after my first interaction with him. Still, I contacted a few of his earlier students and confirmed my decision to go with MBADREAM.IN. In the 2018-2019 application cycle, I have been able to secure admits in 8 US B-Schools in the top 30 with full-ride in 3 schools.

The journey during the application process has been smooth with Rahul Sir by my side. The school selection is as important as drafting an application, and this is where Rahul Sir scores way higher than any other consultant. Building on my unique personal and professional experiences so far, he helped me in paraphrasing my story into a brand and brought various facets of my application which I had never thought about. I could contact him as and when I needed, even had several calls at 1’o clock in the night. His essay proofreading and edit services have been phenomenal and raised my applications to a whole new level. Through a couple of mock interviews, he has made me confident in attending any B School Interview.

Working with Rahul Sir, things which really stand out are his calm demeanor and ability to comprehensibly understand student’s real needs and capabilities. The students also need to be a little proactive themselves during this entire time as in the end it’s their application and their future at stake. I am in a very comfortable position right now in my MBA journey and couldn’t have been without Rahul Sir’s guidance.

All my interactions with him had been virtual. Today in the digitized world, the location shouldn’t be a barrier to achieving great heights.

MBADREAM contact information - mbadream2907@gmail.com, 9560359123, https://www.mbadream.in/

PM me, if you need any other information, I would be happy to help.

Please use the following topic for 2020 intake reviews for Admission consultants. Locking this topic.

https://gmatclub.com/forum/best-admissi ... 25892.html

Review for Experts' Global.

I was already late for R2 applications and when I got done with my GMAT. In addition, veing relatively young, IT male Indian applicant, I needed all help I could get.
First day I started the process with EG, they shared me 4-5 weeks planner , clearly stating what I had to do. Being a procastinator, I realised that I needed those deadlines.
With EG, you don't start with nothing. They tell what points need to be shared and how to articulate these in points. So when I started writing essays, I knew the structure and specific points I needed to mention.
I knew beforehand that resume was going to be my achilles heel and we ended going back and forth until we got it right. Also, giving mock interviews helped me to structure my thoughts and help me to get my point across without running around in circles.
The best thing about them, is that I didn't have to wait for them to reply. They were very responsive with my queries and thoughts. With their help, I could submit multiple applications on time and even got few admits.

Review for Admissionado.

I chose Admissionado this year for my MBA application after reading the book "The Admissionado Guide to Elite MBA Admission", primarily because of their sense of humor and of course professional services. I have worked with Admissionado this June, and eventually received offers from both my dream schools (Kellogg and Booth$).

They are pretty fast in terms of response time, and have the flexibility to turn things around quickly if you are facing deadlines within a week. I personally purchased the essay editing services for 2 schools, Rose and Claudia have been following up with me closely during the entire time. They first started with a questionnaire asking 10+ questions for your background and life stories, and then based on the service you choose, you get the chance to talk to an MBA consultant (former Top school graduates) or starting 3 rounds of revisions right away. During each round the writer will get you specific feedbacks based on the topic, schools and your life stories to aid you in creating MBA stories most relevant to your target schools. It only took them a couple of days to get back to you with comments on your last draft and guidance on next steps. Very efficient, and I enjoyed the communication a lot.

I received my Kellogg offer call on 7/20 and Booth the week after. Both admission directors specifically told me that my essays were amazing. To say I'm happy with the results is an understatement. I highly recommend anyone who wants his/her essays to be polished professionally for the highest odds of getting admitted - just take a look at Admissionado website and give them a call if you are interested. Though it's some money but I felt my journey with them worth every single penny of it.

https://admissionado.com/

Review for ApplicantLab.

ApplicantLab amazes me with its concept - it's like a one-stop destination for all advices you need to get to most top MBA with just one-time subscribe!

I am an international applicant who has never studied abroad before, so I wasn't familiar with the concept of a well-rounded profile which is highly emphasized in most top MBAs and this is where ApplicantLab came in. The tool is full of explanation on how to make your profile as strong as possible at any application stage you are in - whether you are still 1 year away from applying, still researching career goal/essay, or already receiving interview invite!

Personally, I started using the app really early (like 1 year before applying MBA) and it was a really great decision since I had time to boost my leadership examples at work and do networking with alums (which the Lab recommended for early preparation).

The advices Maria gave in the lab and her videos are really top-notch, detailed, and structured. If you are a self-starter, start early, and actually do all of her advices, I don't see any reason not to have an appealing and strong profile for MBA. She basically covered most of the weaknesses, how to tackle them, and what traits to highlight on each specific school you want to apply.

If you need extra-help, I also highly recommend to try the add-on services. I personally used sanity check (2x), essay review (2x), and mock interview - all with Carin. With really affordable price than most traditional consultants, I received some really spot-on feedback on how to shape the stories in the most appealing way and which parts to emphasize.

In the end, I received a full-ride scholarship from a T15 school (despite having GMAT <700, coming from somewhat overrepresented industry, and not going to a top-ranked college), and I'm giving this review to show my gratitude for all guidance I have received from ApplicantLab. Thank you, Maria & Carin for your awesome help!

Review for ApplicantLab.

I was very skeptical at first because the idea of an on-demand service felt strange to me, but the Lab was the best investment I could have made. This is a self-guided system with tips and multiple videos by Maria. The videos are super helpful and, to me, served as a guide to help me write my application. She walks us in detail through all steps of the process, giving tips that were pivotal to my application, especially for the essays, resume and interview. In my case, I followed all advices from the ApplicantLab to craft my application and hired a consultant in my country to help me edit it and practice for interviews.

Review for Gurufi.

Brian helped me to revamp my essay to the next level while maintaining the storyline and proofreading the writing. I am genuinely satisfied with his service and fascinated with his writing. Really hope to work with him in the near future.

I am more than happy enough and please consider to hire him as your sole essay editing service. The affordable price and fast turnaround will surprise you. As a whole, Brian did a phenomenal job service. I must say Brian simply stands out while trying his best to help out. Also, he is true to the client's voices, and highly effective.

Awesome!!! Congrats BillyZ! Are you applying in R2? So, no results yet?

Review for MBAPrepSchool.

I recently heard back from my dream school (a top 7 US News program): an admit to their Full-Time MBA Class of 2023 with a sizeable scholarship!!! To put this result and Faisal’s contribution to it into perspective: I succeeded as a reapplicant, at one of the most selective business schools globally, in an unprecedentedly competitive admissions year and reduced number of seats due to deferrals (thanks to COVID19). It was only due to Faisal that I was able to overcome these impossible odds.

Coming into my second application cycle, having had decent success the first time around (two T15 admits with partial scholarships), I was looking to work with a consultant who could help elevate my applications to the next level for a shot at M7/T10 schools. I spoke to several consultants, most of whom did not seem confident that I could get into an M7/T10 school with my profile. Some were even hesitant to work with me since I already had two admits with scholarships from the previous year, and they perhaps saw more downsides than upsides in this endeavor for them.

After speaking to Faisal for the first time, I immediately knew that I wanted to work with him. What impressed me about him was that he showed great empathy and understanding when listening to my background, experiences, and goals. On top of that, Faisal’s experience as an admissions team member at Booth reflected his knowledge of what it takes to get into an M7 program.

In terms of school selection, Faisal struck the delicate balance between helping set realistic expectations through his openness and, at the same time, ensuring that I was applying to the schools that I’d really want to attend. In contrast, most consultants will ‘nudge’ you to apply to schools where you have better chances of being admitted so they can keep their records intact. Faisal didn’t discourage me from applying even to Stanford and Wharton, which even I knew were ‘extreme reach’ schools for me. We also decided to apply to three other M7 programs where I was a reapplicant (most other consultants tried to sway me away from reapplying since it’s always a high-risk proposition).

I also liked that Faisal works with a much smaller number of people (usually 4-5), compared to some of the other full-time consultants who take on 12-15 applicants each round. I knew that this would guarantee that I was getting the personalized attention that I wanted for my applications.

Once we started working, I could see why Faisal has enjoyed such an impressive success as an admissions consultant. Instead of immediately plunging into essay writing and building application packages, Faisal guided me for the first few weeks to dig deeper and helped me articulate a personal brand story that was authentic, unique, and powerful. Once I started writing the essays, I’d always get feedback that led to significant improvements to my drafts without taking the authenticity or uniqueness away, a testament to Faisal’s exceptional story-telling skills. We went through at least three (and sometimes even up to five) drafts for each of the essays I wrote for the six schools, and I never even once felt that Faisal wasn’t 100% committed to improving my essays and resume. He even took the time to review my application forms to ensure that all parts of my app were up to the mark.

On top of that, Faisal’s project management skills are top-notch. He always responded within the 72-hour turnaround time (and sometimes even earlier) that he had committed when we started working. Thanks to all this, I was able to submit six competitive applications in Round 1, with an admit + scholarship at my dream school as the result.

Business school admissions can be incredibly challenging. You want to work with a thorough professional with ample experience and past success who is willing to personally commit to and invest in your success, just as a friend would. If you go with Faisal, you will get all this and more!

Review for mbaMission.

When I began my journey of looking for an MBA admissions consultant, I was told multiple times to hold off and wait to apply till I had a better GMAT score. However, when I met Devi Vallabhaneni with mbaMission, my experience with her was different. She looked at my overall profile and told me where I needed to focus on - aka, my GMAT score. She advised me on how to make my application show that I was strong in quant through things such as my work experience and recommendations since my GMAT score was not portraying that.

Additionally, I struggled with the timing of when to submit my application. I was moving from India to the states in the midst of the pandemic and didn't know if I had it in me to go for round 1. Devi helped me pace myself and set achievable goals so that I could meet the round 1 deadline.

Where Devi helped me the most (which, in my opinion, was not her responsibility, but she did from the goodness of her heart) was the in between of submitting my application, going through interviews, and waiting to hear back from the school. I was extremely anxious, like extremely. Devi lifted me up every time we talked. She reminded me of my strengths and encouraged me to stay optimistic.

Sure enough, I got into the only school I applied to, my dream school - London Business School. And when my anxiety set in about thinking that LBS may have given me a handout and that I did not match up to my peers, I got a scholarship for half my tuition, which solidified my candidacy even more.

Devi not only helped me get into my dream school but also helped me map out my future to achieve my full potential.

As you can see, I highly recommend mbaMission and Devi Vallabhaneni.

Review for Fortuna Admissions.

When I decided to apply to Wharton, Columbia, and Chicago Booth, I thought getting into any of these programs would be next to impossible for someone with my background. Now, after working with Karen for my Round 1 admissions-class of 2023-I have offers from both Wharton and Columbia in what was the most competitive app cycle in years. I still can’t believe it.

Throughout the application process, Karen was phenomenal and supportive, especially because I didn’t believe in my own candidacy. She did. Karen sharpened my resume, drew out my personal history and stories and had me tell them as clearly as possible in my essays. More, her understanding of what it takes to get into these top programs gave me a significant edge. This manifested in her relentlessness in ensuring that each draft of my essay and resume strengthened my candidacy and ensured that I stand out in the broader applicant pool.

Karen was also quite hands on with my interview prep for all three schools. I remember, she went to great lengths to ensure I was familiar with Wharton's Team Based Discussion and organized a mock TBD just so I could get a feel for what to expect on interview day. With her guidance, I scaled all three interviews.

Honestly, what I am most sure of is that I likely wouldn’t have received any of these offers without her guidance. Thanks Karen.

Review for Stacy Blackman Consulting.

During the 2010-2011 application season, I applied to four schools (Ross, Anderson, Marshall, and McCombs) in round 3, received an interview at McCombs, and was denied at all four schools. I worked with an admissions consultant from a company that I will not name out of respect. The consultant was nice, personable, and got my essays into top shape, but looking back I feel that the consultant was simply out to make a quick buck. If I was rating my experience with this consultant, I would give it 2 stars.
Anyway, after I was denied I spent the next two and a half years slowly working to improve my candidacy and preparing to give business school one more shot.
I initially decided to go it alone based on my last experience. After about a week of pounding my head against a wall, I realized I needed help and ultimately chose Stacy Blackman Consulting. I think this is really the key for people debating whether to hire a consultant. If you are organized and can push yourself you can probably do it alone, but I tend to procrastinate and needed someone lighting a fire underneath me. I reached out to SBC, did the intro call with a representative from the company, and was given three options for a consultant to work with. I chose Sarah after reading her bio because I felt her background would be a good match for me.
Sarah was very friendly and more importantly honest. I wanted to do the “all in” aka comprehensive package and thought about a five school deal (Ross, McCombs, Marshall, McDonough, and Kenan-Flagler) that would have cost me over $8500. I asked her straight up whether I had a chance at any them because I had several weaknesses to overcome (low GPA, older applicant, some gaps in my resume, and what I would consider mediocre work experience) and didn’t feel like throwing my money away like I did with my previous consultant. She said that I did with the exception of Ross, which would be a challenge. Ross was my dream school so I had to give it a shot no matter what she said, but her honesty was refreshing. Compare that to my previous consultant who suggested I apply to Booth, Kellogg, and Anderson in addition to Ross, Marshall, and McCombs.

Before I made the hefty investment with SBC, Sarah and I discussed a game plan. Instead of loading me up on five schools, Sarah suggested I pick three schools for round 1 and to use what I learned from her to apply to the other schools in round 2. She could have easily signed me up for all five, but she didn't and I respect that. One of the most helpful things we did was our second phone call that lasted about an hour. She grilled me on a variety of topics: my background, some of my accomplishments, what I wanted to do, stories from each of my jobs/extracurricular, a time where I showed creativity, a time where I learned something, I time where I led, the list goes on and on. She then took all of my responses and came up with five themes known as the “application strategy document”, which became the backbone of my essays. This was a really useful process. It gave my essays a clear message and gave clarity to my career goals. I didn’t do anything like this with the previous consultant.
Once Sarah got a hold of my essays, they changed completely. She pushed me much more so than the previous consultant. It was frustrating and there were times where I just wanted to be done with them, but she kept pushing and pushing and churning out multiple drafts (9 drafts for Ross, less drafts for McCombs and Marshall). Throughout the process, Sarah was very responsive and always had feedback for me within 24-48 hours. She also told me to visit the schools beforehand and to reach out to students to give my essays some uniqueness. This seems obvious but my previous consultant never mentioned it.
I ended up getting interviews at McCombs and Marshall. Sadly, Ross did not show me the love. Sarah worked with me on interview prep (included in the “all in” package) and we did mock interviews for each school. I can't say that my interview at McCombs went well (I'm not the best interviewer). My interview at Marshall went better (but wasn’t great) and I think the end results supported this since I was denied at McCombs and wait listed at Marshall.

Now, you are probably wondering why I am so positive about Sarah. It was upsetting to not get an admit after spending a lot of money, however the waitlist result at Marshall represented progress and without her help there is no way I get waitlisted. Secondly, I ended up applying to McDonough in round 2, interviewed (and had my best interview after incorporating the same techniques I learned from the mock interviews) and got admitted. Although I did not work with Sarah on my McDonough essays, they were essentially the same as my Marshall essays so I have to give her credit for that. And had I taken her advice about Ross, I would have likely applied to McDonough instead and got admitted. In the end, I did manage to get off the wait list at Marshall, so while it took a few months, my goal was achieved. Right now I am deciding on McDonough or Marshall.
Choosing the “all in” package is a big investment if you are doing 3, 4, or even 5 schools. I found some elements of the package to be extremely helpful, (the application strategy document, the mock interviews, the online resource that includes past essays from former clients), and others not so much (the flight test, which sounded good, basically your essays get read by a former admissions representative who then gives you feedback, which in my case wasn’t really different from what I was getting from Sarah and didn’t result in any major changes to my essays). I think you may be able to save some money by going ala carte and picking individual services, but if you are looking for a comprehensive package, I would highly recommend the “all in” package at SBC and I would choose Sarah to work with. I thought I could do it alone, but without her I would have been lost.

Review for Accepted.

I worked very closely with Jennifer for my INSEAD application and I ultimately secured an admit from the school with a scholarship!

I want to thank Jennifer for her guidance and expertise in this incredibly challenging process. With only 1.5 months to INSEAD's deadline, I had little time to meet the submission timeline while overcoming the challenges of developing my first application.

I first read reviews of Jennifer on Accepted, GMATClub, and several other sources prior to meeting her over a call. She assessed my initial odds given my profile and career goals in relation to my target and reach schools (INSEAD, Wharton, HBS, MIT) and gave useful tips on how to navigate applications for US B-schools given my age profile.

Jennifer lives up to her reputation as a star consultant. Here's why:

1) Exceptional empathy
- When going through my personal stories, Jennifer helped me see my endeavors in a different light and highlighted select key influences, which ultimately formed the fundamental cornerstones in writing a genuine, persuasive, and original application. She also helped me stay on track in tackling the highly rigorous application process for INSEAD, all of these within a very tight 1-month timeline.

2) Service excellence
- Jennifer had an extremely quick turnaround (on top of navigating other client applications), mostly within 24-48 hours. She was also very professional and provided very prompt feedback, and was readily available through text, calls, and emails. Knowing that Jennifer was accessible and very quick in her turnaround helped allay my anxiety and gave me confidence that I could work with her closely to turn in a winning application.

3) Sharp and effective feedback
- Jennifer demonstrated a very high level of attention to detail as well as objectivity, helping me look at the stories I wrote through the school's perspective.
- Most importantly, Jennifer was ready to give you that tough love on your application through her direct and clear feedback. This helped me push my application to new levels and ultimately, a winning one.

I am very appreciative and thankful to Jennifer for helping me realize a long-time personal goal.

Congrats on your INSEAD admit tinytiger! That’s fantastic.If you don’t mind me asking, it will be helpful for other prospective applicants to get a sense of what were you looking for in a consultant when you were evaluating them?

Posted from my mobile device

Review for ARINGO.

I am writing this review in the middle of my ARINGO experience, which is terrific. At first. I was intimidated by the daunting application process but after speaking many times to Shimri who answered all my doubts and calmed me down I jumped right into it. Shimri and I spoke on a daily basis and he is an awesome advisor. I decided to work with Gwen Dreilinger and could not be happier with our joint efforts. Shimri and Gwen devised the application strategy so that I am not overwhelmed with the process. They made it simpler and their extended knowledge of what each school is looking for made the difference in my essays. My final applications were reviewed by other ARINGO school experts and everything was up to the mark and the interview preparation was excellent.

Thanks to ARINGO, I will now be attending the Fall 2021 class of the prestigious school – INSEAD (my number 1 choice). I did get interviews to Chicago, Wharton, and LBS as well (but who cares, INSEAD is the best 😊 )

Review for Experts' Global.

I am from Brazil and I applied with a Brazilian consultant in the 2020 cycle with a 630 GMAT to a number of top 15-30 schools. I got 3 waitlists (Cornell (no interview), UNC (with interview) and Georgetown (with interview). For the 2021 cycle, I saw the deal that Expert's Global had with GMAT + Consulting, and the price was in close to my budget. I enjoyed the process because the team is very straightforward, organized and flexible to changes and discussions. The team works very well trough email, and for those who like to get phone calls, they will do it a lot if you wish to! The team met my expectations because they improved a lot my essays and helped me create my re-applicants and optional essays in a structured and solid form. One challenge for those who are international (US not first language) is the Indian accent through the calls (I had some difficulty in some cases, but hey! I am international as well, so I think it worked both ways . With the Expert's GMAT prep I managed to get a 660, and I believe that because of that I managed to get accepted in Georgetown, Esade and Bocconi. In the end I just applied for these 3 schools, so I got a 100% application success. I believe that if I got a more competitive GMAT score, they would definitely help me to get into one of my dream schools (Cornell, Yale or Oxford), but I did not want to spend $250 for each school, since GT, ESADE and Bocconi are top tier schools!

Pros: competitive price, very good communication (emails, phone calls, skype, interview prep) and objective driven.

They will do everything they can to help you get a Scholarship!

Cons: GMAT online course was very good, but I think that the quizzes and questions are not similar to the real GMAT questions.

Personal Opinion: if your budget is moderate, definitely Expert's Global must be in the decision picture. However, for those who has the ways and means $$$$$$, I believe there are consultants that can provide a more intimate and strong application prep in general.