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Product Admissionado *** Deluxe Package
Consultant Connie Chen
I am a Chinese applicant who needed to stand out from a fiercely competitive pool. My consultant, Connie Chen, guided me through the whole application process and helped me receive admission to my top choice of school. During our collaboration, I found that she was very accessible, conscientious and an expert. Whenever I raised a question to her, she would respond to me with thoughtful advice in a timely manner.
She provided me strategic guidance on how to put my personal stories and essay questions together. More importantly, she knew how to motivate me to discover personal highlights, as well as my uniqueness. Although some of these are normally overlooked by ourselves, it turns out they did help me stand out among those applicants with similar applicants. Connie is awesome!
Additionally, she is really good at motivating me to go through everything to find what I truly want to do. This enlightenment closely connected the dots of my personal files together, resulting in a well-prepared application. Moreover, she held a mock interview with me and provided detailed insight. I can confidently say that without her help, I may not have gotten into my top choice of school.
Overall, Connie is not only an excellent person, but also a professional consultant. Our collaboration went well and smoothly. Thus, I highly recommend Connie to other applicants!
Product Admissionado ** Junior Deluxe
Consultant Julie Bowman
I had a great experience using Admissionado to help with my essays for one school. I didn't choose my top school, but instead chose the school that had the longest career goals essay so that I could really flesh out my ideas, and then re-work in a shorter form for the other schools' essays.
Julie and I had an initial phone call and then the rest of our correspondence was over email. During our call Julie asked me if I would consider another career path to discuss in my essay. This career path wasn't something I had thought about before but did make a lot more sense for me given my background. However, Julie didn't push me at all and I felt totally comfortable saying no. I went forward with writing my essay about this new carer path and after going through the process, I realized that it is actually what I want to do post-MBA!
I was a little concerned about doing so much of our correspondence over email (you have to pay more for phone) but this actually worked out fine overall. Julie is very detail-oriented and I felt that she was able to address all of my thoughts/questions well over email.
I sent her an initial rough draft of my career goals essay after the phone call, and I couldn't believe the extent of edits that they sent back! The pages of edits were much longer than the essay itself...but this shows how much work needed to be done. I guess if I had one complaint, I would've preferred to work in Google Docs instead of Microsoft Word so it would be easier to share comments back and forth.
Ultimately I got into 4 out of the 5 schools I applied to. I ended up on the wait list for my top choice school UCLA. I received significant scholarships to UW Seattle, USC, and a full ride to BU. I got into UT Austin with no $$. These results definitely exceeded my expectations.
Julie was not only helpful with writing the essays but I did ask her the occasional odd question throughout the process and she was very helpful.
If you can afford the investment, I'd highly recommend working with Admissionado! The money I got back in scholarships more than made up for the cost.
Product Admissionado *** Deluxe Package
Consultant Regina Altaras
I am an Indian applicant coming from a highly competitive pool. Hoping to apply in Round 1 for the Fall, 2018 enrollment, I reached to about 20+ top admission consulting firms from all over the world. Of all the consultants I spoke with, my interaction with Regina from Admissionado was certainly the best. Even though I had a good GMAT (760), I liked the fact how she was interested in my story and my aspirations contrary to many of the other consultants who were mainly interested in numbers. Our conversation was very personal, and I felt that she believed in my story. It was extremely important for me to work with someone who is positive about making things happen than with someone who’d tell me to aim lower and focuses more on data points/GMAT.
I signed up for the Deluxe package as I knew nothing about the whole MBA admission process. Thankfully, Regina was patient with me, educating me on the entire process step by step. It started with me filling out a long questionnaire, which pretty much captured every important aspect of my life. After which, I had a discovery/strategy session with her wherein we discussed what my goals are, how do these goals relate to my prior experience, why do I want an MBA and what schools would be a good fit for me. That call really helped me in finalizing the schools I could apply to and to begin researching on them. To top that, Regina was super responsive in putting up an application timeline to make sure that we meet individual college’s deadline comfortably.
Once I had some clarity on the pointers we discussed, I put up the first draft of my essays. Now that I look back, I will admit that the first draft of my essays was horrible. After reviewing the first draft, Regina dissected every single line of my essay, questioning my plans and asking clarifying questions. I was amazed to see the level of thought she had put in those essays. Given that I never wanted someone else to tweak my choice of words, I appreciated how she put her questions in comments instead of making any direct edits. We went back and forth for about 6-7 drafts, but every time, she motivated me by saying that we are getting closer and that we will do this as many times as it takes to get it polished nicely. I got multiple interview calls after I submitted my Round 1 applications. I was sort of nervous about those as the last time I sat for an interview was around 4 years ago when I got recruited in the firm I currently work with. To help me overcome that stress, Regina scheduled mock Skype interviews with me, making sure that I get that interview experience and be aware of how I come across.
My interviews went great, and I converted my top choice with scholarship – The Wharton School. I could have never done this without all the help and support I got from Regina and her super awesome team. Throughout the entire process, I found her like a friend with whom I could discuss all my silly questions. I can confidently say that she now knows me as much as most of my close friends and family. Overall, a five-star service!
Product Admissionado ** Junior Deluxe
Consultant Julia Hazen
I worked with Julia Hazen and the Admisisonado team using their Junior Deluxe package and I cannot recommend them enough! I went 3 for 4 on admissions decisions and got accepted into UVA-Darden, Northwestern-Kellogg, and Berkeley-Haas. I highly recommend this package for the following reasons:
Attitude:
The application process is obviously very stressful. However, the Admissionado team does an amazing job of being incredibly positive, which helps soothe any anxieties and pumps you up to take on the monumental task of submitting apps. This is something I did not even consider in a service prior to signing up but is probably the thing I valued the most throughout the process.
Value:
I had a good fundamental profile and am a confident interviewer. I mostly wanted help navigating the process and writing the best possible essays – so I did not want to pay for things such as LORs and interview prep. The junior deluxe package was by far the most cost-efficient and flexible package I found, which allowed me to get exactly what I needed without breaking the bank.
Quality:
None of the above matters if they service wasn’t up to standards. However, the resume review process was efficient, transparent, and very effective. My essays improved immensely due to their help, and they helped me hone in on the experiences and narrative that best shined through to the admissions committees.
I cannot recommend this service enough!
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Product Admissionado ** Junior Deluxe
Consultant Lee Rom
I first heard about Admissionado from two close friends who had purchased Junior Deluxe packages last year - they were both subsequently admitted into top 5 schools. My friends had overwhelmingly positive things to say about the consultants at Admissionado, so I was already 99% sure I would sign up even before my intro call.
I knew that I would need a lot of help crafting my story and working through my essays, especially given my rather hectic work schedule. I was paired with Lee - she came highly recommended by one of my friends. Lee was incredibly helpful throughout the application process. She really invested a lot of time and effort in getting to know me and understanding my career trajectory, long-term goals and aspirations. She was incredibly thoughtful in singling out the stories and experiences that best highlighted my strengths as a candidate. More importantly, she was very candid about the aspects of my profile that required a lot of work. She was right there with me every step of the way, and her input was invaluable in my application.
The interview preparation process was equally daunting and stressful. Lee was very accommodating of my erratic schedule. We had several mock interviews via skype (even at odd hours of the day) - Lee made sure I was mentally prepared and confident in my story.
I had an incredible experience working with Lee and Admissionado! As challenging as the application process was, we had a lot of fun navigating it together. I would highly recommend them to everyone (regardless of level of familiarity with MBA applications) contemplating an MBA!
Product Admissionado ** Junior Deluxe
Consultant Julie Bowman
Bottom Line Up Front: I'm a vet and Admissionado was vital to me gaining acceptances to HBS and UVA Darden. It was also key in gaining interviews with Penn and MIT (which I didn't convert to offers but got valuable interviewing experience).
I started my MBA admissions journey about a year ago. As an active duty Army junior officer, I was looking to transition out of the military and realized that an MBA was the best exit strategy to maintain the lifestyle and level of growth that I had achieved up to this point. Soon after I made the decision to get an MBA, I decided to shoot for the moon.
I had a GPA and extracurricular stats in line with HBS norms, less work experience than typical military applicants with some unique jobs, and had a GMAT below average at first which I then was encouraged to improve by Julie (which was a great suggestion) to a level still below but closer to average. All this lead us to believe it could be done.
Julie was excellent from Day 1 and was there to answer literally every question about the process that I could think of (and there were many). She really helped me craft my story that got across who I truly was and what I brought to the table. I was definitely put off by the sticker price, but man I would spend it again in a heartbeat. I had zero experience in selling myself because of my military career and REALLY needed help presenting my unique perspective.
They didn't ghost write anything, and I know that if I had asked they would not have entertained that thought. I really appreciated the integrity they brought to the process. I did the work, they just helped me explain myself clearly, concisely, and eloquently.
I didn't realize how badly I needed Admissionado until I had my free call with Julie, but once she explained what they were all about and gave me some very valuable (and free) advice I was all about it and don't regret my decision in the slightest.
Product Admissionado *** Deluxe Package
Consultant Ben Koren
I met Admissionado by chance. I had a chat with a cousin's friend from HBS and he told me that he was one of the consultants. At the time, I had hired a consultant from Brazil, but I wasn't having any support at all.
After struggling to decide whether I would try another consultancy, Claudia fixed me up with Ben. We had a long talk, and Ben helped me out with a plan.
All my achievements that I had throughout my life and the path that I chose made sense. Even though at the time, my decisions seemed just as a reactions to each opportunity that appeared.
Honestly, my first drafts were garbage, and the essays were coming back all red with many comments. After a lot of effort (I believe Ben had a even worse time than me because of my unfocused writing skills), the final product was great with the exact word count.
I had a great experience with Admissionado. Even after each rigorous review, they always motivates and get the best of you.
Product Admissionado ** Junior Deluxe
Consultant Marcela Pipitone Rodrigues
I learned about Admissionado from a friend that used their services last year. Admissionado helped him get admitted at the MIT and he referred to their services as the best cost-value consultants in the market.
I got in touch with Admissionado and they offered me a free consultant call with Marcela, one of their advisors graduated from Harvard. Marcela turned out to be a really nice and helpful consultant. I decided to buy the Junior Deluxe package.
Marcela helped me applying to 4 full time MBAs in top-10 schools... In about 2 months! I'm 32 years old, well above the average; my GMAT was 720 and my GPA 3.3. Marcela's support throughout the process was consistent and helpful; just what I needed given the time constraint. She made me work harder than I had expected, asking the proper questions in order to better develop my essays and my CV. She always kept pushy and committed to the answer time. In the end I managed to build 4 cohesive and competitive applications that made the best out of my traits and experiences. I got called to interview by 2 out of 4 schools and got waitlisted in another one prior to interview. In the end I got admitted in Booth!! I would definitely recommend Marcela as a great advisor.
Product Admissionado *** Deluxe Package
Consultant Mariane Hotta
At first I had my reservations in hiring a US service since I am here in Brazil so all the interactions would be using Skype, E-mail, etc.
Are they going to be responsive? Are they going to understand my background? If I am not happy, will they listen my complains and act accordingly so I could met the b-school deadlines? Will we work as a team or in a scheme "shut up and listen" because they are the expert here?
Well, after the first interactions with the whole team of admissionado and the call with my future consultant, I got convinced that they truly wanted to help me. They cared to listen my background, my desires about the right bschool and culture fit, so they could create a tailor made plan to put me in my dream school. Considering my background is not so often found among the applicants as well as my personal desires were a little peculiar, they succeed in understand me as a whole person to take it into account while building the "application plan" for me.
They knowledge about the application process (essays, LORs, resume, interviews) is fenomenal, they provided me lots of e-books with essays that worked, great LORs, how to do an great interview, mock interviews, etc. Besides that, I also received a huge help in how to manage my time during this process in order to meet the deadlines. This was key because it enabled us to work back and forth until reach the strongest application possible before the deadline.
Everytime I needed a quick help they answered me online, they were very very responsive. This made me confident that they were doing the best they could. And in the end, we did! I got accepted into my dream school.
I can't recommend more Mariane and Admissionado team. I am glad I picked them and thanks for everything guys!
Product Admissionado ** Junior Deluxe
Consultant Stefanie Barlow
Stefanie is the greatest gift that I have received this year. She is friendly, smart, endlessly patient and knows everything about all things MBA. I'm a nontraditional business school applicant with a decent but below-average-for-top-20 GMAT score, aspiring for the top 20 while anxiously and rather cluelessly navigating the field. I am a really tough (read: annoying) client who asks a million questions and Stefanie always responded remarkably quickly to all of my wacky queries, from volunteering questions to odd networking happenings. Even though we worked together on Stern specifically, she always answered my countless questions with a cheerful attitude, including a ton of questions about other schools. She is a treasure trove of knowledge. And her ability to answer such a broad range of questions definitely made the process a lot less stressful and speaks for her expertise. She's a problem-solver, a therapist, and an MBA superstar all wrapped in one.
I came in not knowing much about the MBA application process and thought that the Discovery package was an excellent way to narrow down schools, pinpoint strengths and weaknesses, and create an Action Plan to move forward. Of course, you can say that one can do these things on their own (and I felt that way too at first). But Stefanie helped me translate key components of my HR/law job into MBA-digestible strengths. She helped me realize that certain things that I was taking for granted at work could turn me into a unique and desirable candidate. Later, these gold nuggets came handy at my interviews. In other words, Stefanie provided an invaluable third-party perspective. She also helped me pick the MBA programs that were best suited to my strengths and goals - something I deeply struggled with.
I liked her so much after the initial call that I signed up for Admissionado's (one school) essay and resume help. And I'm completely immune to marketing gimmicks - this was all thanks to Stefanie's stellar performance! As a former lit major, I thought I could pop the essays out all on my own but Admissionado was very insightful in guiding my essays in the right direction (but never writing them - that's your job!). They know the target audience. They know what skills and experiences would make you a good candidate and how to gracefully relate the missing gaps in your knowledge/reasons you want an MBA.
I must also note that Admissionado's entire team is incredible. I also worked a lot with Claudia, who is of course very knowledgeable about the MBA world and, like Stefanie, supported my journey from day one. I've had consultations with several consulting agencies and some of them try to mold you into a boiler plate candidate that you're not. One of them told me that I had no chance at a top 20 school. But Stefanie believed in my success and made sure that my work experience resonated with adcom while carefully preserving the unique aspects of my background. In the end, I got into all three schools I applied to (Stern, Booth and Fuqua with scholarship). And the one time I had an issue, it was resolved before I could blink an eye.
In short, Stefanie is a hard-working champion for her clients. I am so grateful to have had her on my team! If this reads like a love letter to her, it's because THAT's how fantastic she is. I'd highly recommend her and the Admissionado team to anyone struggling with any aspect of the admissions process.