Read more at: http://topdogmba.com/2015/01/01/fixing-a-hole-admissionado-review/

I am a re-applicant so writing this from the perspective of someone who has been through the pain once before and didn't want to make the same mistakes the second time around.

I first learned about Admissionado as their founder, Jon Frank, hosted a free webinar about 'Dealing with a Ding'. I was one of the lucky few chosen to be critiqued in the webinar and, while not a pleasant experience, I really appreciated the straight talking, no nonsense approach employed by Jon.

This is not a service for those of you wanting someone to praise you constantly and tell you what a good job you're doing - this is tough love! My consultant was a former Admissions Fellow at my top choice b school. We had a great free Skype session which overran the allotted time, but I just had a lot of questions and she was in no hurry and did not rush me.

After the call, I tried to imagine finding time to not only figure out my strategy, but also to write my resume, essays, manage my recommenders, all while having to check my own work and try to find friends who would help me out and review it. I decided I wanted a paid consultant, someone I could jump straight in and start discussing my stories with, someone who was always available and would push me to do more and better.

The Junior Deluxe package was great for this, it wasn't cheap but in line with other leading consulting firms. Best of all, I could bolt on additional services like Skype calls and urgent reviews of my essays (sadly, I did have to resort to this once or twice!), all in a very transparent way.

If I had any negative comments to make, I'd say that it took several days to get comments back on essays. This is because not only my consultant was reviewing them, but also an editor who added a lot of comments on how to improve the writing style, what else I could talk about, how to build the story more effectively etc. It was only a problem because I was busy for weeks at a time (with non-MBA stuff) and when I was free I liked to focus in on my essays for days at a time. If you're like me, then just make sure you spread the essays out - one school on Monday, another on Tuesday etc. - once I figured this out it was easy to adjust my schedule. Like I said, this is really not a major issue but I struggle to think of anything bad about Admissionado.

And, now for the results: well, I applied to three schools and got three interview invites. One is converted into an offer(!) and the other two I'm still waiting to hear from. Could I have got the same result on my own? Possibly, but why take that risk for the sake of 1-2% of the cost of your MBA programme!?

Thanks to Admissionado I am going to be doing my MBA next year, no matter what.

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Long story short, I got a 710, solid GPA, but weaker than avg experience. IT Proj Mgr in biotech with some exposure to strategy, but nothing like consulting or i-banking.

Shawn and the team tailored a story and strategy around the fact that I couldn't compete based on raw strength or quant ability against others looking to get into a Top 20 school. There's no way I would have got into my dream school if they hadn't helped me form and completely revise my strategy. I'll be honest, I had a "good" story before, but they pushed me to make sure everything aligned: my past exp, why I want an MBA, and my future goals. It sounds basic, but it needs to be immaculate.

Once I got my big interview, I felt super confident about my entire story, because it truly did all add up. I was able to tell it very naturally, because each piece lined up, all the way to my 20 year plan. And I didn't even use them for interview prep!

The whole team was very laid-back (not a bad thing), and it allowed me to really divulge every piece of information about myself. Some of which I would not have told many people, but that ultimately became an important part of my story. Also, I got a late start (began in mid-Aug for Oct 1 deadline), and the editors turned my drafts around literally every 3-4 days.

Can't say enough great things about Admissionado, would highly recommend for anyone looking to get into a Top 20 school. If it looks expensive, well...you're about to invest $150-200k. Do you want to spend that getting in a "mediocre" program, or would you rather be in your dream school and freakin' stoked on where you're spending the next 2 years, and WHO you're spending them with. I can't even explain how excited I am for the school I got into, such a great feeling compared to "settling" for a backup school and attending because, "well, now is the time" and "I don't want to go through that process again".

If anyone has questions about my experience, I'd love to answer, because I seriously owe it to Admissionado for the milestone that I've reached.

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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 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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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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