Fortuna Admissions Admissions Consulting Reviews

I was approved for MBA sponsorship by my employer close to the deadlines for round two and was very stressed and worried due to the time constraint.

The decision to sign up for the Comprehensive School Package with Fortuna was the best decision I've made this year. Jennifer did a great job in walking me through the process and setting realistic deadlines for each part. She was also very responsive and attentive to my concerns and worries all throughout the application journey.

It was evident that Jennifer has A LOT of experience with top program applications and her tips and feedback regarding my essays was invaluable. My GRE scores were not the best, yet Jennifer's help in putting together and polishing my overall application resulted in me receiving interview invitations from my top choices. I have so far received interview invitations for Harvard, Wharton, & IESE. My top schools of choice.

I greatly enjoyed working with Jennifer and the Fortuna team and would absolutely recommend their services to anyone aiming to get into a top MBA program.

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To start off: I got into my first choice school! M7 school, and I'll be starting this fall!

My background: I'm an Asian engineer with a low undergraduate GPA. I did well on the GMAT, but I had some serious disconnects in my story. I was having some real real trouble putting my essays together, as well as a complete application.

I applied to 3 schools, and each application was more daunting than the one before. The word limits were too constraining in my opinion. How was I supposed to fit my entire life story into 500-1000 words? How was I supposed to stand-out from the rest of the crowd? What should I even write about? What makes me special?

Jenifer helped me do just that. Jenifer, alongside her colleague Judith, at Fortuna admissions worked with me for an entire 6 months, from start to finish.

We kicked it off in June whilst I was putting applications together. I've never worked so closely with folks before who care so much about your personal story, and are so heavily invested in your success. They asked the most detailed questions that allowed them to gain insight into who I am as a person, and what is it that will allow me to stand-out. All I had to do was talk to them! They helped me with the rest:

1) We started off by developing a story
2) What differentiates me?
3) How does my story play out, and come together?

Jenifer was with me every step of the way, and helped me in piecing my essays together, in my own words! I was having trouble conveying certain sentiments, and staying under the word count. This is my entire life in an essay, after all. Jenifer was with me through dozens of edits on multiple essays.

Fortuna's services also completely re-did my resume.

Jenifer completed a very thorough check of every bit and piece of my final application, from career goals, resume information, to essays.

I was finally invited to interview, and the level of service from Jenifer shot-up. We had mock interviews, the feedback was phenomenal! I was able to practice feedback since she has interviewed many candidates in her experienced role as an admissions director.

Fortuna was with me every step of the way, and never did I once feel as if I was forgetting anything, or that I was mis-stepping. Jenifer, Judith, and the Fortuna folks know EXACTLY what they are doing, and their services were worth every penny.

I'm starting at my #1 choice school this fall, and I couldn't have done it without them. To be honest, I was quite lost without their guidance through this time-consuming process, and I attribute my success to their hard work.

Huge thank you to Jenifer, Judith, and Fortuna!

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Melissa is the best coach I could ever have. She went above and beyond what I had expected. The full package is truly worth every penny.

From the initial free consultation call with Matt, I was amazed by his comprehensive knowledge of MBA programs I wanted to apply. After talking with him, unlike other consulting firms, I was able to see strengths and weaknesses in my profile and felt more confident in my application. He put together a detailed action plan very quickly and connected me with Melissa.

Melissa personally took the time to review all my data and all my drafts essays and CV. She was very responsive (within 24 hours) and insightful. Thanks to her, I was able to create killer applications that bring the best out of me and appeal to adcoms. With her honest feedback and encouragement, I overcame my fear of interviews.

I got admitted into my dream school with a hefty scholarship. Thanks Melissa and Fortuna!!

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I had at least a dozen assessment calls with other consultants before I was referred to Heidi. I was told by all of them that my chances of getting into the two schools that I applied to were slim to none, and no one that I spoke to seemed excited to work with me. I knew that Heidi was the right partner for me for this process during our first phone call. She was encouraging throughout the entire process, and she did a great job identifying my strengths. Going into the application process, I had no idea what I wanted to write about, but Heidi spent a lot of time working with me to craft the story I wanted to tell. I was ultimately accepted to my top choice (Stanford), and I feel immense gratitude for her her help.

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I was initially referred to Michel by a friend of mine who told me that they owed their seat at business school to her. I must admit though, at first, I was skeptical. I wasn’t sure if the services Fortuna offered were necessary- surely I could do it on my own… how wrong I was!

It was during my very first call with Fortuna that I quickly realized that I lacked the knowledge of what business school adcom look for, how to answer the essay questions and how to stand out from the sea of other applicants. I was promptly put in touch with Michel who, from the outset, demonstrated an incredible level of application knowledge that you would only expect from someone that had spent years as Wharton’s MBA gatekeeper.

Michel was a terrific choice for me. She was responsive to questions I had, possessed a great sense of what each of the schools look for and had an exceptional eye for detail. In one instance, I even remember Michel pointing out a grammatical mistake I had made in a 31 page application. Michel considers each of her clients’ applications as hers, treating them with a personalized touch.

Thank you, Michel, for getting me into the business school of my dreams! I know it would not have been possible without your support, encouragement and knowledge.

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I worked with Heidi Hillis throughout my business school application process. She offered critical/actionable feedback and provided creative/interesting insights every single step of the way! She helped me to uncover and articulate my story and goals in a clear and compelling fashion. As a result of this support, I got into my top two programs (HBS and LBS) and received one of the largest scholarships possible at LBS.

Furthermore, Heidi is very responsive and flexible - she worked around my hectic schedule and took calls on weekends and before/after work as needed. The Fortuna team as a whole is very talented, professional, and enjoyable to work with. Although Heidi was my consultant, she pulled in experts for particular parts of my application and questions as they come up. Everyone was very helpful!

I highly recommend Fortuna and Heidi Hillis in particular!

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As a reapplicant and a slightly 'older' candidate compared to the average age of MBA aspirants, many of the consultants that I initially spoke to showed half-hearted enthusiasm about my otherwise competitive profile. Of the one's that were optimistic and keen to work together, I finally decided to go with Fortuna Admissions post the more than heartening conversations with Matt and Heidi.

It was clear to me from the start that Heidi knew what she was doing. From our association over the past few months, her knowledge, experience, perfectionism and affability have stood out!

With her experience of having served on Stanford's admissions committee and working as an MBA consultant, Heidi had detailed knowledge of the entire application process and a keen eye for loopholes. From Day 1, she asked me to do thorough research on my post MBA plans. The Fortuna templates that she asked me to fill were extremely helpful for guiding my research. During this time, Heidi also went out of her way to connect me to her previous clients who were involved in similar career tracks. By the end of this first step, I knew that I was in good hands and that Heidi will be able to help me see the areas of improvement that I wasn't being able to.

Once we got into the essays, I was impressed by Heidi's perfectionism. Not only did she help me see the weaknesses that I had not spotted, but also helped me identify the strengths that I was underplaying. Through her guidance and insistence on talking about "real" experiences, my essays sounded better than my previous attempt from the very first draft. But, Heidi wouldn't give a green signal to an essay unless she was convinced about every single example, word, punctuation! It wouldn't matter if we had to go through 20 drafts or start again after coming mid-way with one line of thought. At the end of this process, my essays sounded so authentic! I finally understood what the MBA blogs meant when they spoke about "letting your personality shine". My essays were 100% mine in story, language and sentiment!

A few months into working with Heidi, I realised that I felt comfortable talking to her about anything in my life. Her genuine understanding and warmth allowed me to discuss anything that I wanted to and she always gave me the most sound advice, be it on the applications or anything at all regarding the MBA experience.

This entire experience ended with me securing admission at one of the top US B-schools! I cannot thank Heidi enough for her guidance, support and encouragement. She's phenomenal as an MBA consultant and a blessing as a guide and mentor (that's how I started seeing her after a while).

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I cannot more highly recommend Sharon - with her help I got into Ross, Anderson, and McCombs, with generous scholarships to each school. Sharon helped me through the R1 process with resume review, essay review, gut checks for all of my communications with adcom, interview prep, and ultimately school decision-making. Sharon gave no-BS advice which made me feel like I could really trust her, and was such a pleasure to work with. She was incredibly flexible and quick to respond, which is VERY helpful when you're pushing up against deadlines. Something I really appreciated was that I never felt like she was wasting my time - she told me if she felt a review/prep could get done in 10 mins even though we had scheduled 30, which is really nice when you're spending $$ by the minute. Sharon is also certified in the Clifton Strengths Assessment tool, which was surprisingly helpful in generating wording and insights for personal strengths - it's hard to talk about yourself! Overall, Sharon is a delight and on top of her game - if you are looking for help at any stage of the application process, she's your gal!

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After my first consultation with Matt Symonds, I immediately knew I wanted to work with Fortuna. I could tell the entire Fortuna team had a knack for noticing the most compelling aspects of an applicant’s profile and making them shine. Matt talked me through Fortuna’s platform, their experience working with clients from similar backgrounds, as well as the flexibility I would have in choosing a coach.

I chose to work with Michel because of her extensive experience working in admissions. I came to Michel with a vague idea of my “story”. She patiently talked me through how my background, past experiences, and extracurricular interests could create a cohesive, compelling application. I initially bought the three school package, but shortly added additional hours for other schools to which I was applying. I immediately saw the “edge” Michel’s guidance added to my applications, and I wanted her guidance to put my best foot forward.

Michel was with me every step of the way. She was responsive, thoughtful, and honest. Michel always found a way to make herself available, even though my work and travel schedule was very unpredictable.

Thanks to Michel’s guidance, I was admitted to Columbia and Booth, two of my top choices! I am absolutely certain I would not have arrived at this outcome without Michel’s help. I highly recommend working with Michel – you will not regret it!

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When I was researching into the application process I came across Fortuna Admissions. Initially I discovered them from online searches, however an old friend of mine was a former client and confirmed they were a great service.

I was paired with Sharon and it was a great fit. We started just before the Summer with a goal of first round applications being completed by start of September. I am very busy with my career so having a strong supporting team to help organize my application efforts was a tremendous help.

I work best with goals and schedules. Sharon quickly adapted to my working preferences and helped me set goals and dates to accomplish various tasks. At the end of every session I would have my "take aways" and a set date I needed to have it done by. At the start of every session we would review the work I completed on my own time in an environment and pace that worked best for me.

When I received my first interview invitation it was almost unexpected. The deadline had been a few days prior, so to hear back so soon was quite shocking (albeit a great one!). That being said, I had a business trip already planned and had to opt for their earliest time slot. This gave me a little over 24 hours to be fully prepared. Sharon was able to accommodate my rushed time frame and I walked into the interview confident.

Overall my experience with Fortuna Admissions was great, and I will be recommending them in the future to my colleagues. Thank you Sharon!

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