I went through the entire application process solo my first time around and ended up with zero admits. If nothing else, Admissionado provided someone who was in my shoes before, who could provide advice and speak about the process from experience.

But we're not paying over two grand for just that. Most of you are considering dropping some serious coin for this service and it's important to know exactly what you're in for.

My consultant, Julie (who, although they seem to list everybody associated with their company on their consultant profile page, wasn’t listed leading up to, during, or after working with her) was great. She stayed on top of things and made sure I stuck to my deadlines in a way that made me feel like she was really concerned about my success. She made me think hard about my goals, my responses, and my story. Her feedback made me even more confident in myself. Her enthusiasm about my story made me even more excited to tell it.

My first contact with Admissionado was a profile evaluation and Julie gave me an "action plan" which, honestly, was the least valuable part of my investment. It restated much of which I already knew and had already planned on including in my essays. The recommended schools that came from the profile evaluation all seemed to be extremely safe options. I didn't feel this was really worth the money I paid for it. But through our call more than the action plan itself, Julie's enthusiasm was apparent. I felt like she would be able to help me sort through the clutter and create a better vision for myself. From there, I paid for a ding analysis to get some further insight. The ding analysis was, in my eyes, spot on. Julie took my essays, explained what they were looking for and detailed where I could have done a better job. This was worth every penny.

This whole process is on you, though. You can pay all you want for a consultant but if you don’t want to change your approach you’re not going to get anywhere. Admissionado is just one component of your application process. They’re not going to write your essays for you (nor should you want them to) but they are going to make you think about how you’re portraying yourself and push you in a new direction if you’re being too narrowly-focused, they are going to be able to answer just about any questions you may have, and they are going to help you write about the strongest parts of your profile. You will see a noticeable change between the first and final draft.

The junior deluxe package itself was valuable to me. I liked Julie being an email away (and REALLY fast/helpful at getting back to me). I NEVER had to send them a reminder email, though they may have had to send me one or two when I was slacking! I was really happy, not only with the progress I made but also with the introspection that came with the process. As I learned what parts of my essays were redundant, I was forced to examine my goals and my story and career possibilities. I went from having one specific goal to being excited about the many possibilities available to me, and I think that this approach made me an even stronger candidate.

Anyway, let’s get to the specifics. I paid for a profile evaluation, a ding analysis, and a Junior Deluxe packages for three schools and I received a significant discount due to a promotion they had going on at the time. I only used two of the three schools (please be sure to only pay for the schools you intend on using, I was talked into a third school but never ended up using it and was out that extra money, which pretty much meant I paid full price for two schools- so much for that promo!). I was accepted to both schools (neither school was a safety school). Aside from our initial call, all contact was through email which was always quick and thorough. I can’t stress enough about how helpful Julie was throughout the process. It was valuable for me to have someone who could give me input on the process, how to make the most of a visit, and all of the other one-offs that come up during the application/interview process.

I’m beyond happy I chose Admissionado. Their pricing is competitive but not bank-breaking. The only negative that came out of the entire process was that I paid for that extra school but didn’t end up needing it. I guess that’s a good place to be, though.

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I never pictured myself as someone who would use an admissions consultant. After all, I think I’m a pretty strong writer, and I had already decided to which schools I would apply. I wasn’t sure how a consultant could provide any additional value for someone like me. Nevertheless, when Admissionado hosted a contest for people who wanted to blog about their admissions experience, I decided to give it a try, and I was offered the Deluxe package for free for one of my applications.

It turned out to be a great decision. First, I was asked some questions and then paired with a consultant named Mark, who had a similar nontraditional background as my own. I most appreciated Mark for being an un-biased resource that I could turn to with questions. As I crafted my essays, there were numerous times when I worried how a particular story would be perceived by the admissions committee. Would they think I was too assertive, or perhaps not assertive enough? That’s when I’d turn to Mark, who would employ a tough-love approach, while always being incredibly prompt, insightful and thoughtful with his responses. He in no way wrote my essays, but he helped me to feel more confident with the content that I produced and the stories that I chose to share. I always felt that Mark was truly invested in my success, and he helped me to employ a strategic approach to my application.

Ultimately, I was accepted with a significant scholarship to a top 10 program.

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I came to Admissionado with big dreams and bad numbers. What can I say? I am just not the best test taker. With a 640 GMAT score and a 3.3 GPA, I know I had the odds set against me, but I wanted to go to a great school, a top-10 school.

Julie from Admissionado worked with me to bring out everything positive that I had done to tell me story, to show my assets and make them shine brighter than my numbers. She took the time to dig deep and ask me questions to get to know me during our initial call, which really seemed more like a chat with a friend than an intimidating interview (which I feared it might seem like!). At the end of the call, I felt like Julie gave me the opportunity to be vulnerable and really get to understand me and why I was trying to get an MBA.

Honestly, I started this process a bit scatterbrained. I was studying/panicking about the GMAT and trying to understand if I could even get into business school. I really just dumped everything on Julie, and she came back to me with everything I dumped tied into a logical package of my strengths, assets, notable accomplishments, important experiences, and career trajectory. She took everything I said and turned it into a story that made sense, which giving me the permission to refine the story along the way.

After the initial call, we started on the essay drafting. I was able to shoot emails back and forth with Julie to ask her questions as I went along, which was immensely helpful. I started off giving her essays that were about twice the mandatory word limits (I can be a bit wordy), and by the end of all of our rounds of editing, I was not only at the word count but I was also left with a finished product that was a beautiful, moving set of essays. Julie took the time to read these drafts over and over again, refining them, asking me to dig deeper and clarify my thoughts and goals. I promise you, these essays sparkled by the end.

I recently read an article about essay plagiarism in the MBA process due to consultants reusing essays for their clients. I can tell you with 100% confidence that this will never happen with Admissionado -- the service they give each client is so unique and personal to that client that there would be no way you would be left with anything but an incredible and distinct essays.

Admissionado was incredibly helpful and supportive throughout this, and customizing their program to me and definitely met high expectations. The turnaround was fast and I feel as if my Admissionado consultant is more of my friend/cheerleader now than anything. Now I am in the awesome position of taking a full-ride to Yale SOM or a 75% tuition scholarship to Kellogg -- and I know I couldn't have done it without them!

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I had a chance to attend Admissionado's Basic Boot camp - about a 5 hour (2,2,1) session spread over a week. They had covered every aspect of the admission process from GMAT scores how to compensate the low score to LORS. I really loved the way they kept things simple - from resume edits to essay edits. Dominic had taken us to every single aspect even the white spaces, ratios of past , present and future :). It was really interesting group to attend with as well. People from various backgrounds had participated which only enriched the boot camp experience. Dominic was patient to go through essays very slowly so that we would get certain points into our system. Anybody who is looking to begin their admission journey or in the middle looking a bit clueless, this is probably the best place you can be!

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I had bought the service of three complete applications with a local consulting firm well branded. Since I had received my GMAT a bit late in the game (7th January), I had not much time to focus on each essay and build a strong application. I decided to apply for at least four schools (NYU, McCombs, Cornell, and Tepper).

I did the application with the help of this first consulting firm, but I was not yet satisfied with the outcome and I had a short deadline, so I decided to try one shot with ADMISSIONADO, because I discovered that they could return the review of my essays in a really short time, especially with the “rush service fee”, everything that I needed at that time. What I discovered was that they were not only fast in returning the essays, but they also were really professional. They knew what they were doing and my essays really stand-out! I received and interview invitation from TEPPER and I was wait listed in CORNELL.

A little disappointed with CORNELL answer, even though I decided to hire the WAIT LIST SERVICE, which I thought it could be a waste of money, but it was not. I had depth conversation with DAMON CHUA (ADMISSIONADO consultant) and we together setup a really strong strategic approach to this sensitive situation. We worked really hard and I did all the correct moves. I got out of the waitlist, did interview preparation with the same consultant, performed well in the interview, and finally I received my offer from CORNELL.

In short, I highly recommend the ADMISSIONADO SERVICES, specially the essays reviewing, interview practice and wait list service.

For those in the WAIT LIST, don’t give up! Keep positive, work hard, show that you are really committed. It will pay off.

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I attended a 3 day Admissionado bootcamp in last week of May and got a clear sense of what it would be like in one’s b-school application process and how Adcom perceives it.

It was fantastic and thanks to Dominic (one of the most active and popular Admission Consultants on forums like BTG etc.) for making the session Interactive from the very beginning...He made it very clear that as an HBS grad he wants us to actively participate in the session and make it look like b-school class environment where you won't be able to sit to listen to only...

I would say it's a great head-start for one's application in all possible fields where an Admission Consultant can help you in - Resume, LORs and those suckers..yup! I'm talking about the essays...Dom will make it shining better and better by compelling you to get involved in it with some serious efforts. He would show you the right path in this short session (5 hours total in 3 days)...

I would rate it the 5/5 for what it has been in these 3 days but I think it would have been much better in terms of 'getting best out of these', if it could be organized these for couple of more days or at least one more day while increasing the time duration of each day by 1-1.30 hrs..This way we could have got more in-depth analysis for resume and LORs or any other part of the application (except GMAT..ha ha).

These are certainly the areas of improvement they should focus on going forward. And to implement this if required, I won't mind if the bootcamp costs a bit more by $50 or $100 because for GC members it's now @ $100 only whereas a few Admission Consultancies charge around @$500 for a stretched (re: incorporating the extra days/time duration I talked about here) bootcamp session.

So, overall considering this improvement-required part, I would rate it 4.5/5 and once this is incorporated I think it'll be simply above & beyond in terms of both Quality and Pricing. It’ll be then a bit more than just giving you a head-start in your journey.

I highly recommend this to the folks who want a head-start in their application….especially Indian applicants would be immensely benefited from these considering its high quality and low price.

P.S : Lauren-without whom this session wouldn’t have been such what it has been. I would call her a supersonic lady. She sends your work during the bootcamp @ 20Mbps may be-I didn’t get to test her speed :)
And I Selected 'No' in the below drop-down that asks you "if you were admitted to your schools"...as it's not applicable for this bootcamp I think and there should have been an option like ‘NA’ for this kind of a-la-carte services...

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First of all, if you have already gone through all the review comments about this company. You will get mixed message and you may get confused, is it really good or mediocre? Well, it really depends on the reviewer's expectations. So be prepared, any admission consulting service can't do everything for you. They can help you find the best out of the best, but you have to dig deep yourself to find your own best first before presenting them to the consulting service. So that is basically what Admissionado did for me. They will first give you a questionnaire to list your accomplishments and achievements. It is a brainstorm process. By doing that, you have to think really deeply. No one can do that part for you since they don’t know you. Then you need to make the draft essays. And they will comment on your essays a couple of rounds depending on which service you choose.

For me, Admissionado meets my expectation.

Now let me summarize what I like them:

1. Quick turnaround. I started my application very late, really late. But they still helped me edit my essays through the holidays. I really appreciate it. And usually they would send back the essays to me very quickly.

2. Beautiful work. Since I am not a native English speaker, I sometimes can’t precisely express what want to say. After discussing with the consultant, they can make some good recommendations. What’s most impressive is, after their work, my essays are much more concise and smooth.

3. Very nice people. You will see if you use their service.

4. Since my background is nontraditional MBA applicant. They helped me find the best matching schools for me as well as making the application strategy for each school. That is one of the most valuable parts in this whole consulting process.

If you can see my ID, you can guess that I applied in 2010 but got no interview and admission at all. This time, I got interview from every school that I applied, finally got two AD and two WL. I am already quite satisfied. Had I used their service, I would have probably graduated right now. That is why I highly suggest to those who are not sure about their writing skills paying some money and hiring a consulting service. Time is much much more precious than money. That is a painful lesson that I learned until I realized.

Overall, I am quite impressed by Admissionado service and I recommend it.

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Last year, I applied to only one school - M7 BSchool. I did not use any consultant then and managed to get an interview with school. However, I could not find a place in the program. After reading forums and talking to some MBA friends, I realized some mistakes in my application but even so, I was decently happy with my performance, considering I had no guidance except Paul Bodine's book.

This year, I took Admissionado's two bootcamp classes ($199 each or so) just before R1. After the two classes, I thought that I would apply to 1 school (ranked 8th-13th) myself and 4 schools (M7 schools) through Admissionado. And I jumped after they offered a 15% discount on the JrD package.

Over the next 2.5 months I worked with the consultant who an ex-M7 MBA. He was a really nice guy overall and very approachable.

At the end, I got into the school that I applied to myself and to none of the ones I applied through Admissionado. I reapplied to the M7 school I applied the year before, this time through Admissionado. Like last year, I got an interview call and (again) could not find a place in the program. I realize I might have deficiencies, so I'll try to restrict the review to the actual services provided and not just the outcome of my applications.

Positives
+ Biggest positive: That I could bounce off a story to someone without having to spend time writing and polishing it, only to have it rejected. Consultants are great for this (v/s using a busy friend or family member).
+ Consultant was nice and likable.
+ Quality of my apps improved.

Negatives
- Biggest negative: The consultant stuck to 72hr turnaround time clause of the contract. Initially, I had a lot of time so this didn't matter. However, during the crunch time of last 10 days or so before the submission deadline, I expected him to respond more quickly (meaning 36 hrs or less), especially for the smaller edits. Upon asking, he recommended that I pay more $$$ to 'expedite' my reviews. Now I know they are busy people, but it was still a ridiculous ask for something that would take him 10-15 mins to review. Not cool and definitely costed me in the quality of the app at the end.

- Sometimes the consultant would not be clear with what he wants me to change. You'd have to email a few times to get him to commit to the weakness in your essay.

- My expectation was that I would get ideas for great openings or closings for each essay. No such thing. I had to search for ideas there myself and he would just green/red flag them.

Overall:
I'm about 60% satisfied, hence the 3 stars. Since I did not have any MBA friends who had gone through the process and could review my essays, I chose to go with a consultant. If you don't have this handicap, I'd recommend tapping a current MBA student instead of spending money on a consultant.

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I knew precision essays from before, but I first came in contact with Admissionado when I wanted to take services of an admissions consultant

After a lot of thoughts, I finally decided to take services of a consultant for MIT LGO application. I first went for AcceptU.com, after attending their seminar on BTG. While I was evaluating their offering, I came in contact of Lauren of Admissionado and almost immediately was hooked on to their professional approach.

Their initial questionnaire was quite thorough and made the basis for preparing good essays as it brought out nice themes. When I finally paid for their service, only 15 days were left for the MIT LGO application and it was a race to the finish. It took me another couple of days to submit their questionnaire as I wanted to make sure it properly brought out my past

With just over 10 days left before the application submission and the 12-hour time difference between me & the consultant, it was a tough & stressful ride. I worked with Damon Chua, he might not have known a lot about MIT, but he made sure that those 10 days were as stress-free for me as possible.

Though their committed turn-around time was 72-hours, but Damon almost always came back within 24-hours. We properly utilized the 12-hour time difference, I would submit the essays in Damon's day-time and he would return them in my day-time :). This flexibility really helped me squeeze in 3 reviews & a final polish with Damon and also a review with my sisters (to ensure the story-line reflected real me)

Damon also ensured the whole process was action-packed. He gave me thorough comments which were really helpful in shaping the essays. The final essays were a real good read, unlike the initial submission which was very-very loosely written. Damon's limited knowledge of MIT had little impact over the whole process, but he was really passionate in his work

Their support over the whole period and even after that has been really commendable. It is still to be seen if I am able to make into one of the 5-6 international students of LGO, but I am satisfied with our efforts. And I learnt one thing, be very open with your consultant, as then they can really surprise you with how they can present your story.

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My initial interaction with Admissionado (Precission Essay) was through their free profile evaluation. I submitted my completely un-edited / un-formatted resume to them & then got a call within 24 hours. This is something I have really come to appreciated through my interaction with them, Punctual LIKE HELL. They have made me at times feel embarrassed about my follow-up etiquettes.

The profile evaluation was a completely wonderful experience. They highlighted my stronger as well as weaker aspects, without giving me those cold shivers with the whole application package. I had spoken to a couple of Indian counsellors & I would have probably just scrapped my plans to apply if I hadn't spoken to the guys as Precision Essay. They were able to connect with me at a much deeper level than the other quacks I had spoken to. They knew why I wanted an MBA, what my profile looked like to an adcom & why my school selection stood where it was. This is something I came to miss later during my applications (I applied using an Indian Admission Consultant for my applications)

In editing essays & providing feedback, these guys are the best. I don’t think anyone else even matches up. Unfortunately for me, greatly thanks to the INR - USD conversion I couldn't use their services for all my schools, but the essays that they did help me out on really changed the perspective I had focused on during my earlier applications. The feedback I got was candid and thought provoking but still had room for discussion, which they were always open to.
Lauren has been my one point of contact at Admissionado & I hands down rate her as THE PERSON you have to talk to if you decide to take admissionado's services. She was able to connect not only with my perspective but also with my problems, which was something I really appreciated through my interactions with her. If you have a problem or question including anything under the sun, Lauren had the answer and never in that hum drum tone that most other consultants used.

Bottom Line, You want a MBA from a IVY League School, then you Need Lauren and Admissionado.

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