While an interview invitation may feel like an exhale, I’ve come to realize that it’s merely a half-way point – while a strong essay/application might get you ‘in the door,’ the interview is an opportunity to get in front of a member of the admissions committee and make a personal and direct case for admission. As a somewhat ‘vanilla’ candidate (graduated from Big 10 public university, 750+ GMAT, white male), I was determined to make the most of my opportunity.

I sought out an admissions consultant to conduct ‘mock interviews’ for HBS and Stanford. Through this process, I hoped to receive a strategic read of my application to identify likely interview directions, blunt feedback on my presentation style and anecdotes used, and support for HBS’ post-interview reflection.

Greg Guglielmo from Avanti Prep provided all three, far exceeding my expectations and going above-and-beyond the call to support my candidacy and contribute to my ultimate admission.

In advance of our first interview session (for GSB) I sent Greg my application materials. Through the course of our 1.5-2 hour mock interview via Skype, Greg’s familiarity with these materials, far beyond a cursory glance at my resume, was evident. His style closely followed the anecdotal nature of the GSB interview, and struck a balance between being informal and professional.

Following the interview session, Greg provided pointed feedback on my stronger and weaker answers, as well as more holistic feedback on my delivery, storytelling and the organization of my thoughts. His advice was actionable, and given the 1-2 week lead time that Greg recommends between mock interviews and the actual thing, implemented in the interview itself. The HBS session was both similar in its professionalism and different in the interview style itself - though again, very much akin to the actual HBS interview.

Following both conversations, Greg provided a very helpful summary of the key takeaways from our conversation, and pointed me in the direction of helpful resources available online. Rather than trying to upsell or get me to commit to more hours, Greg truly maximized the hours that I paid, and never made me feel as if I was imposing or requiring of additional spend.

Greg’s support of my post-Interview reflection was similarly no exception, as he provided significant push-back to the initial draft of the reflection sent, leading me to ultimately scrap my initial approach after considering Greg’s considered feedback. Even leading up to the busy Thanksgiving season, Greg was available and supportive.

After receiving admission to both HBS and Stanford, I reached out to Greg to see whether he would be willing to acquaint me with a dual admit client of his. Greg put me in touch with a HBS student who went through the same decision as me the year prior. The student provided insights that were very helpful towards my ultimate decision, a point-of-view that I would have never gotten if not for Greg’s support.

In a crowded field with no shortage of generic and impersonal consultants, I found Greg to be an enthusiastic breath of fresh air. I wholeheartedly recommend Greg based on my interview prep experience with him.

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I'm an Indian applicant with seven years of work experience and a GRE score of Q164 / V157 (GMAT equivalent of 660). I applied to following schools.

1. Questrom- Accepted with 70K
2. Georgetown McDonough- Accepted
3. Kellogg- Dinged after Interview

I was looking for comprehensive service that would help me prepare my MBA application. I researched about many consultants that would be cheaper as well as effective. Finally based on my friend's suggestion and talking to fellow mods, I decided to reach out to Greg.

I was applying in R2 but started my application very late (after Christmas)

Greg and I discussed my profile, goals and target schools. We initially started with my resume. I was in an assumption that my resume was good enough. But the first edit by Greg was brutal. He pointed out all the flaws in my resume. It took the total of 7 edits and more than three and half hours to finalize my resume.

Questrom- I did apply last year with poor test score and the same resume I had before Greg edit. So I decided to reapply. Greg helped me to prepare a story, edit my essays and provided suggestions that would fine tune my essay. I received an Interview Invite. No matter what, the first interview always makes us happy and nervous after getting rejected previous year. Greg helped with the interview prep as well. The question by question rigor for the mock interview helped me prep for the actual interview. And finally, I was accepted into the program with the 70K scholarship.

Georgetown- I initially did not have plans to apply to Georgetown at all since I was targetting other schools. But I received an email that extended the deadline by a week. I immediately emailed Greg about it. He was happy to help with short notice. We created a story from my professional & personal life to write the essay. He was able to edit the essay in short notice, and I was able to submit my application in four days. He also helped me the same way he did for Questrom Interview. Result- Admitted to Class of 2020. And I will be matriculating in Georgetown this fall.

Kellogg- I wasn't sure to apply, and Greg as well since my scores and profile are well below average for Kellogg. But I decided to go for it anyway. So we decided to put in the application. Kellogg often waives interviews for Indian applicants, so I wasn't expecting an interview invite. But I was excited that when I saw the email with an interview invitation. Greg helped me prepare for the interview. I guess we had our Mock interview for over an hour discussing the plan to answer the questions.

His mock interview session for all the schools was almost perfectly accurate, and I was able to prepare for the curveball questions and create a template to answer any questions.

Greg was super helpful and he would respond to my emails within a day even though he was busy with his other clients. And always made himself available for phone calls and questions.

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Choosing a Consultant:
I had a pretty traditional & solid background when I applied, but really needed help with telling my story. I had spent a lot of time preparing for the GMAT and not a lot of time on researching, so I felt a bit rushed applying to 5 programs in Round 2.
I was looking for someone who was experienced with the MBA process to help me brainstorm story ideas, solidify my goals, and improve my essays.
I had a few meetings with a few MBA consultants from larger firms but ultimately decided to go with Greg due to the thoughtfulness of his initial profile assessment.

Working with Greg:
I began with 10 hours and added a couple more hours later on. From the get go, I felt like Greg was on my side. He made sure that we were making good use of the hours I purchased and I believe he spent more time on some tasks than he charged for, especially when it came to "crunch time", which he did a great job of turning around edits.

I spent most of my time working with him on my Wharton essays. Greg did a wonderful job of helping me tie seemingly unrelated topics into a unique, cohesive theme. He also helped me strengthen and articulate my “why Wharton” piece, which was immensely helpful.
When I interviewed for the TBD, I was able to leverage some of the info from my essays to prepare for the prompt. The brainstorming session that I did with Greg in the beginning went a long way!

Results:
I was accepted into Wharton Round 2. I'm excited for my next two years at my dream school and I couldn't have done it without Greg!

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It has been amazing working with Greg from Avanti Prep. The quality of service I received and results that I ended up with were way above my expectations. I worked with Greg on an hourly basis for my resume, essays, and interview prep and received a full scholarship to a top ~40 U.S. program.

I am an Indian IT Male with low GPA and ~680 GMAT. Greg helped me bring out positives in my profile and highlight them in the best possible way. He was kind enough to offer me a free hour of service to finish the process for one essay we were working on. In the beginning, I had some issues with the payment, but Greg was kind enough to start working even while he awaited payment.

In the resume, each of my bullet points were made much more direct, concise, and result oriented. Greg edited each of the points and even asked me for more specific information so that we could include those in the resume. He also helped highlight elements of my personal experiences that I had overlooked but that others would find interesting. After 3 complete round of reviews, my resume was completely transformed and strong enough to be submitted to any bschool .

Though my essays were already in good shape, Greg helped me to structure the content and bring out the “school fit” aspect. Greg helped me add a lot of school-specific content about fit with the culture, location and academics. These are the things that I had overlooked in my essays.

I reached out to Greg for interview preparation just 4 days prior to my actual interview. Even with such short notice, Greg was kind enough to help me. He conducted two very thorough mock interview and feedback sessions. The questions very closely reflected what I was asked in the actual interview, and thus I felt fully prepared to give clear, confident, specific, and concise answers.

Greg gave great feedback and helped me to refine and structure each and every one of my responses. He discussed every single one of my responses to the mock questions and offered detailed advice on a question by question basis. I cannot imagine it being any more thorough.

After the second mock, I had gained my confidence and was ready for my actual interview. Greg helped me put my best foot forward to get the dream result I had always wanted. He was extremely kind, friendly, and full of positive energy. Though I had availed just 3 hrs of interview preparation, the actual session went way beyond 4 hours. He also helped with post-interview thank-you notes.

Greg was always available for any questions and concerns I had during the process, and he remained available for the some email questions even after our time was up. We got a lot of queries resolved via email and all his responses were very quick. His response time was always less than 4 hours.

These services helped me to get an admit from Questrom School of Business with a full tuition fee waiver for the MBA plus MSDi program. I am extremely grateful to Avanti Prep for the guidance throughout the application process and would recommend Greg to anyone looking for an admissions consultant. Without Greg’s help, I would have never got into a business school with such a huge scholarship.

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I got an hourly preparation service for mock-up interview with Greg and found it very useful for my upcoming interview with HSB and GSB. The good things were:
1) very close to the real experience the type of questions Greg asked and similar pace to the real interview;
2) thorough feedback and detailed analysis of the performance with comments on both verbal and emotional performance, as well as specific wording and stylistic element;
3) willingness to spend the time to cover everything I had concern with.
I would mention Greg balance of friendliness and professionalism, which created perfect atmosphere for the mock-up interview.

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*Please note, I worked with Greg Guglielmo while he was a consultant with Critical Square*

I couldn't be more thankful to Greg Guglielmo for helping me realise my goal.

I engaged a very well-known admissions consulting firm for my round 1 applications. I was rejected from three M7 schools, and received a waitlist invitation to a top 20 school. My objective metrics were reasonably strong (3.5 years' work at top tier law firm, 770 GMAT, strong extra-curricular involvement). While I felt my consultant did provide some useful pointers, I felt that perhaps his reviews were rushed and quite high level. He did not drill down into the content of my essays or provide meaningful suggestions; and I did not feel I put my best foot forward.

I dusted myself off and re-applied in round 2, this time to a further three M7 schools and one more top 15 school. After an initial free consultation (during which my consultant, Greg Guglielmo, spoke with me for nearly 90 mins - well over the allotted 30 mins), I signed up for 12 hours of service. Even though I had only purchased hourly services, I could immediately tell Greg was completely invested in my cause. The feedback on my essays was wholly different to what I'd previously encountered - I could tell that my unique position had been critically and carefully analysed, with extremely insightful recommendations made. Greg was incredibly responsive (even over the Christmas period). He delivered difficult advice candidly, but also warmly and professionally. I completely reshaped my career goals, and framed my past experience far more effectively.

Ultimately, I was fortunate to be admitted to two M7 schools - on 100% and 80% scholarships - as well as the top 15 school to which I applied. I honestly believe I wouldn't have had this success without working with Greg Guglielmo. Just the other day I signed a full-time offer for my dream firm - and I emailed Greg that same day to thank him for his (huge) part in getting me there!

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