Are consultants really necessary ??

Hi again Amit,

I think that the decision whether to use admission consulting services is very individual. I personally believe that it is quite possible to prepare a decent app without any help from admission consultants. Let me explain why.

As far as I understand, consultants can offer you help in two areas:

1. To create a holistic perception of your candidature (the thing usually called 'positioning').
2. To help you edit your essays so that they not only were grammatically and stylistically correct, but also communicated the right message - the very story that is the part of your positioning.

But in fact (1) is completely defined by your life values and professional goals - so all you need is to systematise the results of our self-reflection and soul-searching. In other words, if you understand yourself well and are conscious about what you want in life, you will certainly create a believable and consistent positioning.

(2) can also be achieved without any professional help. It's not that hard - you only have to make sure that your story a) is indeed a good story - the one interesting to read b) corresponds to the image you're aiming to create. I know that sometimes it's hard to be objective about your own work - but you may read your essays to your friends or people whose judgement you trust. They not necessary have to be gurus of essay-writing themselves - sensible readers could be of much greater help here.

The adcom see thousands of our essays, and they in most cases are able to distinguish whether your writing is genuinely yours. And I also think that in the end, they would prefer an app that is perhaps flawed, but sincere, to a very polished but artificial.

As for me - I'm by no means a great writer , but I never used consultants or prep service at all. My essays had mistakes (and, naturally, I spotted them only after the apps were submitted ), but I still got interview invites from both my R1 schools.

But again, all this is only my personal opinion. The admission consultants exist for a reason; and there would not have been so many of them if they had not been at least a little helpful .

Hey Greenoak, You are too good. You cleared all my doubts. I was so confused as I had this fear that I might have goofed up something, of course after submitting (I actually did) I am sure you have written great application which is evident from your SAID offer.

A very hearty congratulations !!

I am using Richard Montek's "How to get into a top B-school program". Is there any other valuable resource that you could suggest ? I have heard great things about Paul Bodine's "How to write great application essays" but unfortunately I could not find it. I stay in India based in Pune and Mumbai.

I took 1 hr service of accepted.com and based on my experience I suggest to stay away from consultants. In essays you need write about yourself and best input will be your close friends and colleagues. You need to iterate to shape the essays well and you will be able to do it given you have sufficient time. Only people suggesting to get consultants for your essays will consultant themselves.

thnks,

As mentioned in this thread already, it is really a personal decision. You can craft great and unique essays without the help of any MBA admissions professional. It is good to show your drafts and discuss the main ideas with someone who knows you well and is able to provide input on the content of the essays and not only the writing.

It is a good idea to use consultants, IMHO, if you are an international applicant and no one of your friends and colleagues has any clue what the MBA admission process is like. They will read the drafts and say "wow this is impressive, you have written a great essay". So you have written something that is easy and maybe even fun to read. Maybe you have a superior writing style. But does the essay show leadership potential, teamwork skills, all that stuff that b-schools are looking for? Are all the claims about your strengths backed with relevant examples? Someone who has never written or even read a graduate application essay in their life may not be able to answer these questions.