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Product Fortuna Admissions Comprehensive School Package
Consultant Heidi Hillis
I had a great experience with Fortuna - I got in to my top choice program and received an almost full fellowship at another M7 school. In my experience, Fortuna's greatest strength is that they have consultants who have worked for the admissions teams of many of the top schools. As a result, there was always someone available to answer my school-specific questions in a very insightful way. Everyone I interacted with at Fortuna was professional, helpful, and reliable.
I worked with Heidi, and she was amazing! She did a great job perfecting my "story", coaching my recommenders, and helping me understand and articulate my goals. Heidi seemed to know more about my story than I did and she had great ideas and edits for all my essays. She's very good at constructive criticism - we rewrote my HBS essay probably 50 times. She was easy to communicate with (despite being in different, and constantly changing, time zones) - she always responded within a day and scheduled meetings whenever I asked. My applications were a million times better than they would have been without Fortuna, and I'm so happy that I chose this firm.
Product Fortuna Admissions Comprehensive School Package
Consultant Katherine Johnson
I worked with Katherine throughout the entire application and interview process. Katherine took the time early on to really understand my background and experiences. This enabled me to shape my story in a way that highlighted my motivations and stayed true to my authentic voice. With her marketing background, Katherine is a great story teller. She encouraged me to add creative elements to my essay openings which I believe helped them to stand out. Katherine was also an excellent interview coach, providing guidance for each school and conducting a remarkably realistic mock interview. With Katherine's guidance, I was admitted to both Stanford GSB and MIT Sloan. I am thrilled with the outcome and highly recommend working with Katherine!
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Product Fortuna Admissions Premium Package
Consultant Cassandra Pittman
I approached Fortuna Admissions wanting to work with the best consultants and resources to maximize my chances to attend a top business school. After interviewing multiple consultants, I was paired with Cassandra. From our first meeting to the last, she engaged me and my story on a personal level. She pushed me to understand my own story and challenged me in a positive way at every stage of the process. Outside of her genuine interest in understanding her clients at a personal-level, Cassandra is a master wordsmith. Through interfacing on multiple iterations of essays, we worked collaboratively on creating intellectually and personally-rewarding statements. Together with Judith, the team that I worked with at Fortuna exceeded my expectations. Every meeting was helpful, every question was answered thoughtfully with an underpinning of experience, and, most importantly, every interaction was a joy. I would recommend them to all.
Product Fortuna Admissions Comprehensive School Package
Consultant Michel Belden
From the initial consultation, Michel and Judith took the time to understand my story, answer my questions. They spoke with me about my candidacy with confidence and enthusiasm, which I really appreciated. I spoke to a number of other consultants prior to deciding to work with Fortuna but my initial conversations with Michel and Judith really stuck out. I worked with them over the course of 5-6 months on my application to Columbia.
From the strategy questionnaire to my essays and interview prep, Michel took the time to understand my background, strengths, and interests to help me craft a compelling story. Michel provided constructive feedback on my essays to ensure they highlighted my personality and experiences. Michel kept me on schedule and provided valuable advice at every point of the application process.
When I received an interview with a tight timeline to prepare, Michel was quick to make herself available to put me through a mock interview and I felt confident going into the actual interview as a result of that.
I felt Michel was truly invested in my success and was very excited for me when I was accepted to Columbia. I would highly recommend Michel, Judith, and Fortuna to future applicants!
Product Fortuna Admissions Hourly Consulting Services
Consultant Catherine Tuttle
While I am generally very organized with work, I knew navigating MBA admissions on top of a demanding job and other obligations would be a different beast. I chose to pursue consultation services to help with time management, "gut checks" on essay topics of choice, and guidance on resume and career goal positioning.
The main reason I chose Fortuna was because of the faith they had in me. When I was exploring consultation services, a number of places said they wouldn't take me as a client with my current GRE score, or that they'd prefer to talk after I took the GMAT. My school goals were aspirational, yes, but I knew I was competitive. Fortuna knew it, too.
Catherine was a calm, consistent, thoughtful and responsive guide. She balanced constructive criticism with encouragement and answered questions/concerns in real-time, even though I was on an hourly rate.
I am ecstatic with my results and highly recommend Catherine and Fortuna for anyone pursuing MBA admission.
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Product Fortuna Admissions MBA Interview Preparation
Consultant Malvina Miller Complainville
I didn't have the chance to work with Malvina on my applications, but had the pleasure of her help on my HBS interview. Despite her being located in London, she was highly responsive and flexible in accommodating to my work schedule to speak with me on the phone and answer my questions. Malvina was extremely knowledgeable of the HBS interview and was able to make the whole prep process very tailored. Based on my application, she was able to suggest areas of my profile I should highlight, what the interviewer may ask, and how to respond to those questions. The interview process is daunting, but Malvina was patient and honest yet supportive which made it all the more enjoyable. I couldn't have gotten into HBS without her help and I 100% would recommend Malvina!
I paid for the 2 school package after fantastic conversations with the sales consultant from Fortuna. I think the fantastic ended there.
I was applying to the mid career programs and I wanted guidance on the whole process as I am away from the academic scene for 15 years. A big questionnaire came in the email once the fees was paid. I filled part of it asking for help in filling it more based on discussions with the coach. A call was scheduled which never happened. (I am on UTC and the coach on UTC-7 i think). And then no response. I tried restarting conversation with some more info from my side - resume, etc. Got partial feedback from another team member. But then the coach has no more response. My admission deadlines looming, I put together the application with my own understanding of the process based on webinars and blogs. Just 1 school. 2nd school is not on track anymore.
The main reason for me for choosing Fortuna is to be able to help with the process itself, finalising schools, putting a framework to bring all resources at one place and then finally the right cases/anecdotes to use. None was achieved.
I wrote to them after a few months telling them that no service was rendered to me and explaining my disappointment. After 3 weeks, Matt wrote back saying he could have been more involved and that this was a partnership and letting me know they are there to help. After 3 weeks. I responded the same day with more clear response showing why I thought Fortuna failed me. And asking for a refund. Well it has been 4 weeks and I wait for the super fast team at Fortuna to write back. My usually lightning fast sales consultant on copy has not had anything to add.
Overall, if I had to spend 6,500 bucks on a consultant, I wouldn't chose Fortuna. I saw great reviews for Fortuna from regular MBA aspirants. I would assume they still hold true. After all Fortuna is the most premium service on the market - they must be doing something right. With me though it was all downhill. And my general advice will be to pay in parts to at least have a service guarantee.
Edit: Fortuna has been very responsive to my comments and I was contacted by Matt Symonds who had tried reaching me earlier at an incorrect email address. Fortuna has refunded my fees and also offered coaching for the 2nd school and interview coaching for the 1st school free of charge. It is heartening to see the effort even though they missed the mark first time around.
Product Fortuna Admissions Comprehensive School Package
Consultant Michel Belden
I worked with Michel from early on my decision to apply for B-school. I knew that I was going to apply Round 1 and that I would be on the younger side if accepted by the schools I wanted to get into. So I did my extensive research and chatted with 6 different consulting agencies before finally choosing Fortuna.
What really set Fortuna apart from the other agencies is the level of care and detail Michel went into crafting my story. I come from a traditional consulting background but I was looking to make a career pivot with my MBA to go into something a lot more untraditional. Michel spent hours on the phone with me really dissecting why and how I came to the conclusion that business school is the right move at this stage of my career. Once that was set, we went about creating the right narrative for my applications.
Throughout the process, Michel was extremely responsive and provided strong feedback on my essays, resume, video interviews, in person interviews, recommender selection etc. Along every step of the process it became very obvious how experienced and knowledgeable Michel was with this entire MBA process. And because we started very early in the year, the pace was very manageable and at no time was I overwhelmed or stressed out.
I found it very helpful that Michel knew me very well and was able to call back on all of my extracurriculars in order to help prep me from the essays to the interviews. After each interview, Michel and I called to debrief and prep for the next one.
Ultimately I was admitted to 2 schools and waitlisted for my third! All top 10 programs! I'm thrilled and could not have done this without the expertise of Michel. If you're looking for a compassionate, understanding, patient and knowledgeable MBA consultant, Michel is the way to go!
Product Fortuna Admissions Hourly Consulting Services
Consultant Jessica Chung
My experience working with Fortuna and Jessica was fantastic! Despite purchasing a limited number of hours fairly last minute, Jessica was extremely responsive and hands on in her approach. She was thoughtful from both a strategy and editing perspective, and it certainly helped me get my apps done on time.
Jessica was also helpful in providing resources to assist with the interview even if it was not the primary focus of my work with her. If there were any area to improve, it would be more recommendations about content. However, overall it was a truly fantastic experience and I would recommend her and Fortuna to any applicant applying to business school.
Product Fortuna Admissions Comprehensive School Package
Consultant Sharon Joyce
I enjoyed working with Fortuna from my first interaction with Matt. They provided loads of advice on the first intro call - far more than other consulting firms I spoke with - and sold me quickly. My consultant, Sharon, was personable and helpful throughout the process. It was tougher than usual because we lived in time zones 14 hours apart, but she regularly scheduled calls in her evenings because it was more convenient for me. I appreciated her pushing me to re-work my essays multiple times. Would recommend the services, particularly for school selection and keeping me on a steady schedule to get my applications in on time.
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