I worked with Silpa for 4 months and used her services for Round 2 MBA applications to Stanford GSB and Chicago Booth; her advice, guidance, and knowledge were fundamental to my admittance to both schools. I encourage anyone, particularly applicants with average test scores and/or a non-traditional MBA applicant profile, to employ her expertise early and enthusiastically!

Silpa’s superpower is her ability to help clients maximize the impact of their stories whilst ensuring those clients remain true to their experiences and values. Furthermore, her deep knowledge of the application process is incredibly reassuring and ensures applicants produce quality essays and short answers that demonstrate the attributes and virtues that top business schools are looking for.

In addition to her professional proficiency, Silpa’s kind and supportive demeanor make her not only a pleasure to work with but also a welcome ally during the arduous MBA application process.

Thanks, Silpa!

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Stats / Outcomes: 710 GMAT (lower quant score, higher verbal), 154 EA, Overrepresented Background. Accepted to Yale, NYU, and Georgetown (with some $). Dinged at CBS and Duke.

Melissa was an excellent consultant. She was very patient and a good listener as we refined my story together. She also offered great insight into what schools look for. Together we were able to delve into my backstory and goals and connect the dots into a thoughtful narrative.

As far as consultants go, I think Melissa is an amazing one! That said, I do want to temper expectations on how far a consultant can bring you. They are great at being a thought partner to sound ideas out and offer very valuable insight into what programs are looking for (Melissa did a great job at this and it really helped me shape my story to emphasize the right parts). However, you still have to put in the leg work to shape your story and sometimes be proactive in following up with them on key questions. It's a wonderful accelerator, but a big part of it is still dependent on how much you put in. (For example, I found it very helpful refining my story further by talking to friends rather than just with a consultant).

Melissa is kind, patient, insightful, and great at connecting you with other folks on her team when she thinks you would benefit from another perspective. She helped me connect with Matt to finalize my list of schools (a Fortuna pro who regularly interacts with all top 25 schools and gave incredibly helpful insight), and a couple admissions consultants who came from some of my target schools so that I could better understand the culture. She also convinced me to take a new test to make up for my lower GMAT quant score (something I truly never thought I would do because I hated tests so much, but that I am incredibly glad I did).

I wrote 5 total applications (Yale, CBS, Duke, NYU, Georgetown). I got Melissa's help via the "all in" package on Columbia and NYU, and a couple hours of advice on my remaining 3 schools. Overall, I was accepted to Yale, accepted to NYU from the waitlist, and also accepted to Georgetown with some generous financial aid.

One piece of advice that I would give potential applicants is that an admissions consultant is a great help - but remember to keep pushing your own path forward in tandem. Keep going to admissions events (even after applying), connecting with alumni and students to understand culture, and be proactive in your own journey. I also supplemented some of Melissa and team's advice by talking to very close friends about my story - they were able to share stories about my life / frames of reference that I never would have thought of as being relevant before.

I am very happy with my experience and would highly recommend Melissa, but I wanted to call out the disclaimers above because when I was first reading reviews like these, I remember getting somewhat of a wrong impression. As such, I wanted to share my lessons learned. Best of luck in the process - you got this!

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I had the pleasure of working with Melissa as my MBA consultant, and I’m happy to say that with her guidance, I was accepted into both Yale and Booth with scholarships of $100k and $90k, respectively.

Despite my initial concerns about working with a larger consulting company, Melissa’s personal approach made it feel like a true collaboration. She took the time to get to know me personally and helped me to craft an application that truly reflected my goals, aspirations, and experiences.

One of Melissa’s greatest strengths was her ability to draw out my strengths and highlight them in a way that felt authentic and compelling. Throughout the application process, she was a constant source of encouragement and support, providing straightforward feedback that helped me stay motivated and focused.

I believe that I wouldn’t have been accepted into my dream schools without Melissa’s guidance and support. She is a skilled and dedicated consultant, and I would highly recommend her services to anyone looking to make the most of their MBA application.

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Rachel was always focused on what was best for me. In our first couple of meetings, we began by exploring why I wanted to go to graduate school before even getting to the where or how. With her guidance, I ultimately decided that applying to less schools was a better fit for my circumstances despite the obvious incentives to apply to more. Her integrity made it easy to trust her, a trust that made the rest of the application process so much more comfortable because of its inherently personal nature. Rachel is also why I found my authentic voice during the application writing process itself. She was uncanny at helping me identify, highlight, and expand on the pieces of my journey and ambitions that are core to who I am. In our brainstorming sessions she listened intently and asked incisive questions that helped me uncover insights about myself that I had never considered. In the writing phase, she had an instinctive feel for which pieces of my writing were sincere and which were banal, and never hesitated to push me to promote the former and cull the latter to the tune of almost 40 drafts of one of my applications. From the macro broad themes of an essay to single word choices in a resume, she was a patient partner, never letting me compromise on sharing the most sincere version of myself. Even if I had not gotten into school, I was proud of the journey because I knew that we had left it all on the table. Fortunately, in large part because of her steadfast support, I was accepted into the Harvard Kennedy School's and Harvard Business School's joint MPP/MBA program.

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During my MBA application process, I had the absolute pleasure to work with Jenifer who truly surpassed all my expectations as a coach and mentor. Through her guidance, expertise, and unwavering support, I was admitted to HBS, Stanford GSB, and Wharton / Lauder. She has my unequivocal endorsement.

I worked with Jenifer through Fortuna's comprehensive school packages. Ever since my first conversation with her, she showed complete investment in me and my story as someone from a lower income, diverse, immigrant background. She dedicated a lot of time and energy to get to know ME - understand my journey, character, and aspirations - outside of just the applications, which made me feel like I always had a trusted friend and supporter in my corner throughout the process.

Once we had established a strong foundation, Jenifer amazed me yet again with her incredible talent for storytelling and coaching. She spent countless hours between R1 and R2 helping me reflect on all the pivotal moments and meaningful experiences in my life. Given her extensive coaching experience, Jenifer always knew the exact probing questions to ask to get me to reflect further and bring out truly authentic stories and ultimately helped me craft essays I was proud to submit. Her comments were always timely, thorough, and thoughtful, and made a meaningful difference in my writing process.

Jenifer is truly a one-of-a-kind coach, and her expertise, passion and dedication are unparalleled. I will always 100% recommend her to anyone going through the process.

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I worked with Melissa over the past few months on my INSEAD application. I am happy to announce that I've been admitted to INSEAD!

I chose to work with Melissa and Fortuna Admissions because they are truly the experts when it comes to global MBA programs. Melissa has worked at INSEAD, and Caroline, one of the co-founders of Fortuna, was the Admissions Director at INSEAD for several years.

I was really nervous going into the application journey - MBA application process can be quite overwhelming! I felt reassured while working with Melissa - she is truly an INSEAD expert and knows exactly what the school is looking for in candidates. We worked together to craft my story that would make me stand out from other candidates. I felt that Melissa is superb when it comes to strategizing and communication - I was able to build a strong and impactful story thanks to Melissa. Melissa is highly effective too- she always responded to me within one or two business days!

Melissa is also very accomodating. Much of my work with Melissa was done through an online platform that Fortuna uses. I am someone who likes to build relationships over calls. Melissa was willing to meet me virtually to discuss my application and I appreciate that she was able to adapt to my working style.

I also liked how Caroline reviewed my application towards the end. Given her experience as an Admissions Director, she added great value to my application too.

I loved working with Fortuna because the coaches I've encountered at Fortuna work with great integrity. If you're looking for an admissions coach who will write your essays for you, Fortuna is not the right partner for you. Melissa didn't write a single sentence for me, but gave extremely detailed feedback on all of my essays. I truly believe that Melissa helped me to become a better writer.

Working with Melissa and the Fortuna team was truly an amazing experience. If you're looking for an MBA admissions coach, especially to get into top global MBA programs such as INSEAD and London Business School, I highly recommend that you work with Melissa.

Thank you Melissa and the Fortuna Admissions team!

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I was so lucky to be able to work with Melissa Joelson. I had a difficult timeline for my applications and she worked with me to make sure we could achieve what I needed to in a short window. When reviewing my essays, Melissa was amazing at asking the right questions and prompting me in different ways to think about how to further flesh out my thoughts or to get to the heart of what I was trying to communicate. She never tried to change my voice or vision, but rather to help me present it in a more effective way. She showed so much kindness, compassion, and support along the way. I really felt like she was invested in my success and not just in the application process. Thank you, Melissa!

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After deciding to pursue an elite MBA, I was admittedly skeptical of admissions consultants. Where they worth the cost? How much of an impact would they truly make? These were all questions in my head. Now, I know without a doubt that Emma Bond was responsible for pushing my MBA application above the pack and let to my ultimate acceptance into my top-choice program.

Emma brings an incredible amount of professional expertise, from interview coaching to essay phrasing & styling. Her warm demeanor, coupled with excellent wordsmithing and encouraging suggestions/support throughout the process leads me to only have positive things to say. We're maxed out at 5-stars, but Emma deserves 10-stars!!! I cannot recommend her enough to future MBA applicants.

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After speaking to several local and international consultants and being discouraged by a few, I was fortunate enough to have connected with Jenifer. When I reached out to Fortuna Admissions, I was very impressed by their approach of letting me have chemistry calls (also known as the free consultation call) where I was able to speak to 2 recommended coaches based on my profile and requirements. Both my chemistry conversations were remarkably positive, but with Jenifer, I connected instantly because of her genuine and warm personality and the fact that she took the time (and even went beyond the scheduled time) to get to know ME and MY expectations, even in our free consultation!
From the very beginning, Jenifer was incredibly insightful, organized, and professional - qualities that I was looking for in my MBA coach. She took the time to get to know me as a person, my history, my goals, and my unique strengths and weaknesses and then crafted a personalized plan that catered to my needs, including recommendation reviews, essay reviews, and interview preparation.
I received an acceptance with a $20K scholarship from one of my top 2 schools.
I truly believe that I could not have achieved this success without her help. Jenifer was instrumental in helping me find and articulate my vision and story, something that I had been struggling with for months. Jenifer was also very flexible with her approach. For example, there were times when I wanted to brainstorm some stories/ideas with her and felt that a call would be a better use of time as opposed to sharing a draft and she patiently agreed. Also, I appreciated the fact that she connected me with another Fortuna coach for the Mock interview since she was from one of my target schools.
There were times in this journey when the nerves got to me but my favorite quality about Jenifer was that throughout the process, she was a constant source of encouragement and support. Conversations with her would instill in me a sense of calm and confidence, which I think was the game changer in my MBA application journey.
Overall, I would highly recommend Jenifer to anyone seeking the perfect combination of an expert guide and a support system in their MBA application journey. She is truly exceptional, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with her!

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Jessica Chung was an amazing coach! She was able to give me all the help I needed under a tight deadline. She really helped to highlight my strengths and pushed me to go deeper in some of the essays that I wouldn't have worked on so much had I not had her guidance. I also really liked how Fortuna has a second counselor look at your resume and essays so you have more than one opinion before you submit anything. They did a fantastic job of helping demonstrate my strengths after receiving slightly lower than average GRE scores and I was successful in getting into all schools, including my top choice, Anderson.

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