Truly The Best of The Best - Look No Further

Strengths:

I had a team of 4, compared to working just with 1 adviser. There was Kathryn (the founder, who is chop chop I loveeeeeeee), Lara (my main adviser, my school alum, all in all so fire!), Pat (overall coordinator, so so encouraging), and Wendy (the lovely career adviser who went through the career narrative process together for months).

From the start to finish (even after I got multiple offers), the team (especially Kathryn! she honestly responds within hours if not minutes, I can't help but wonder how is her sleep hahaha) got me through the thick and thin. First, I had such a short timeline to prep - only half-decided to apply in June (yes 3 months before R1 deadline). Second, I was legit ready to say in my apps that I need to go now because my work visa is expiring and I need to remain in the U.S. Third, everything, and I'm talking about everything, went wrong with my GMAT preparation (which had nothing to do with SOP). In fact, because of Kathryn and Lara's sage advice, I didn't go completely stressed out over GMAT and was able to secure a 99th percentile 1st time attempt with 3 months of prep. Yes!

On Lara, I COULD NOT have asked for a better adviser. We clicked instantaneously. Honestly a word of advice is choosing your admissions consultant team wisely. I am beyond grateful to have found her through SOP. She saw something in me I truly had no idea of prior to going through this application process. She told me on Day 1 that success (in terms of admission results) is a byproduct of my journey, and that is in fact so so true. From 0 clue what I was gonna write about, to wow crafting a truly impactful and coherent story showcasing who I truly am from birth to now, Lara did some black magic.

On Kathryn, I am equally so so grateful to have had her on my team. Initially I was shock that she dedicated more than 2 hours listening to my life story. Who does that?! Then, I got scared (but also glad) when she was chasing me to talk to all her advisers hahaha. Honestly she took matters to heart - I joke with my parents and friends that she cares more about my own application journey than myself. And it's true! Without her advising me to start writing application essays while prepping for GMAT, and without the whole team at SOP with me, I could not imagine churning out the most robust application essays for 7 MBA programs. Kathryn is also kind and honest, which are qualities truly rare in the MBA admissions industry where people pray on applicants' fear. SOP is nothing like that.

I feel also fortunate that I've also encountered some of the most incredible people in this trade/the world. I could see on every single day while working with Kathryn, Lara, Pat, and Wendy that they love what they do. I'd gladly pick SOP all over again if time traveling back to last summer!

Would make the product better:

Honestly nothing. Kathryn and the team have dialed this process to a tee. All I can say is that if you are not ready to have the most responsive team with the most transparent pricing/experience/expertise, or you are not ready to work towards success through coaching and caring mentorship, SOP is not the right place for you. HOWEVER, if you want anything similar and/or beyond, SOP is second to none.

Full disclaimer - I'm not being incentivized in anyway for this review, besides paying it forward and hoping my review could help guide others in choosing the best admissions consulting team. I have interviews a slew of advisers, some are companies and some are individuals, and here's my takeaway.

I've talked to companies such as mbaMission to pretty negative experiences (Katharine Lewis), who wouldn't start working with me until 2025 October and said I might be able to only get into Anderson/Marshall type of programs (this could not be further from the truth). Comparatively, I got into every single school I applied to (including M7 with $100k scholarship) except 2 and SOP started working with me in June 2025 and we crafted out the best application roughly by end of October. I also chatted with multiple individuals from Leland - they were all pretty young and predominantly a 1-man/woman gig. I would NOT place my future in 1 sub-35 year old's hand, especially given the fact that I had multiple viable career pathways but not sure which one to pick for my application. Kathryn and Lara truly guided me through what could've been doomsday chaos, I'm not kidding.

Lastly, I care about the values of the people I choose to work with, and every single day I can tell without doubt that these are honest, supportive people. This made working with my team such a positive reinforcement that I'm almost always excited to click onto the SOP email for feedback and/or suggestions.