Should I work independently or hire a consultant?

Congrats on your GMAT score and welcome to the forum! Hopefully you look around and find it useful. To give you a snapshot of some of the things we do as consultants, below is a list of items I make sure to tackle with every applicant

- Story development- This is arguably one of the more important parts of the process (watch for a blog post I will be publishing soon on this). Crafting the right messages both from a personal and a professional standpoint to be sure you come across in the right light

- School selection and advice - I have been on the phone all week with R2 applicants to help them make decisions about where to go. Besides picking the right set of schools up front, my clients rely on my advice in choosing at the end. For instance, clients received a lot of fellow money so it is important to know when the trade-off is worth making (going to a school that might not be the perfect fit because it is cheaper or free)

- Essay content advice - After doing this for 10 years I can tell you what essays work and what do not work

- Essay editing - This is the biggest part of the process. Basically a consultant can help you improve the quality of your writing to ensure the right messages comes across in the right way. This requires many many revisions of essays and a while to get it right

- LOR advice - Who should you ask? What points should they focus on?

- Interview prep - Once you get the interview, be sure to ace it. Consultants have interview guides with questions that you are likely to get asked and advice for how to answer them

Feel free to reach out to learn more about Personal MBA Coach - www.personalmbacoach.com - I am a Wharton MBA and MIT BS grad and I have been running the company since 2008.

Best,
Scott

In many ways, this is an advertising campaign with you as the product. Is that function within your core competency?

Even if it is, I feel everyone needs the expert and impartial feedback. From a strategic perspective, there are a lot of wrong turns to avoid and from a communication perspective, you need feedback from an experienced professional. We all do.

I do so many ding analysis for reapplicants with high GMAT scores, who did not work with consultants, that it behooves me to say it would be wise.

If you're tight on budget, try www.applicantlab.com....

If you can afford then by all means go for a consultant. In almost all the cases a consultant will be better than going by yourself alone. These guys have been doing this for years, while you'd be doing this for the first time. In pretty much everything in life an experienced guy beats a fresher. At least in the first attempt if not in long run.

Thank you for your help GMAT2k17. I will explore them certainly.

if you have any other recommendations if I am not too tight on budget, please let me know.

Thank YOU !

Thank you Shaifali, Veritas, and Scott. You have been very helpful, and have shared good insights. I am going to explore this for another 30 or so days, and then will zero in on one.

I have heard that a lot of applicants get dinged even after a 760 or even more. I do not want to rely on a GMAT Score completely, and I know that I need help in streamlining goals too as I do not know if I am thinking right.

I am also going to PM you for more details and take it up with you on the phone.

Sounds great - looking forward to hearing from you!