Triple HSW Admit (ORM Female)

As someone who didn’t decide to apply to business school until June but still wanted to make the Round 1 deadline, I don’t think I would have been a triple HSW admit without Katy.

Katy didn’t just help me put my story into words - she helped me understand what that story actually was. She took fragments from different parts of my life that I had mentioned almost in passing and wove them together in a way I had never seen before. For example, moments from my childhood, my creative hobbies, and my professional path in PE somehow all connected around a central theme of my identity. Once she reflected this back to me, it felt obvious, but I never would have arrived there on my own. Working with Katy showed me that a meaningful part of the b-school application process is learning to see yourself as a complete person, sometimes for the first time.

Our conversations were also the first time I seriously stepped back to think about my long-term goals beyond the standard IB -> PE trajectory. That reflection alone was incredibly valuable, independent of the applications themselves.

From a process standpoint, Katy’s guidance on essay strategy was indispensable. She helped me prioritize the right essays in the right order, tackle the biggest pieces first, and then efficiently build on that work for subsequent applications. Balancing a PE job while managing multiple applications would have felt overwhelming without her structure. I firmly believe that “Katy’s way” of approaching concurrent applications has been optimized.

She also reviewed my application holistically to ensure that everything I wanted to convey was coming through. I appreciated her perspective on content (value insights as an ex-GSB reader and HBS alum), while still preserving my voice and the integrity of my story. For example, I initially struggled with Stanford’s “What Matters Most” essay. Katy pushed me through multiple iterations and wasn’t afraid to tell me when something wasn’t working - whether I just wasn't hitting the things the adcom really wanted to know, or if the tone felt off in certain sections. By the time I reached essay #3/4, it was smooth sailing, and I was churning out or repurposing responses rapidly.

Beyond essays, Katy provided support across every part of the process: helping me choose the right recommenders, keeping that process on track, and running mock interviews that prepared me for time pressure and unexpected questions. I felt like I was really getting the inside look on everything.

I can’t recommend Katy highly enough. Despite starting late, I felt supported, organized, and on track throughout the entire process. While many people in my industry typically panic as deadlines approach, I felt totally zen the whole time - from essays to interviews and final outcomes. Thank you, Katy! :)