I realized I wanted to get an MBA around March 2023 - very close to the end of the admission cycle. In finding Karen, she was one of the few people I talked to who believed in me rather than encouraging me to wait until next year. She was willing to help me this late and she committed so much time helping me brainstorm essays, guiding me through all the steps, and of course being very punctual and timely with her edits. Going in, I felt overwhelmed with how I'd craft a great story given I had just been laid off but Karen eased those concerns in a way that added to my career arc. Karen is awesome at extracting every single detail in your story in a thoughtful way and then shaping them into a narrative that works.

Although it didn't work out with the two schools I originally applied to in R3, she quickly helped me devise a strategy to take advantage of the next round's J-term cycle. With a little tweaking in my application and intensive interview prep that Karen provided, I was able to earn admission into a top MBA program.

I would 100% recommend Karen to any applicant who wants to go to his/her dream school. She is invested in your success from Day 1, understands every aspect of the process and can provide valuable tips/tricks, and most importantly guides you into becoming the best version of yourself

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I had a great experience with Taniel, who helped me get admitted to my #1 target school!

Taniel provided highly valuable support throughout the entire MBA application process.

In the beginning, he invested his time upfront to make sure he understood my background and personal history. This enabled him to help me unpack my story, and craft the narrative around my MBA essay.

As part of the process, he provided strategic advice around recommender selection, and the key 'selling points' he thought I needed to highlight as part of my application.

He was also incredibly helpful in terms of helping me prepare for my interview. I walked away from our mock interview session with much more clarity on what and how I should try to communicate in response to potential interview questions.

Overall Taniel's help went a long way in making me feel supported throughout the application process. I'd highly recommend his services.

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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 $). Interviewed but dinged at CBS; interviewed and currently waitlisted at 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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When I began the MBA application process, I spoke with 8 different advisors. Ultimately, I felt Silpa was the best choice for my consultant & I am happy I chose her. She has the full package – an impressive background, is articulate and goal-oriented, and has a calming, encouraging personality. I’m fortunate to have worked with her for almost a year between Round 1 & 2.

She took an overwhelming process with many parts (career vision, LOR, essays, etc.) and made it easy for me to go step-by-step until I finished 3 applications. She kept me on schedule and provided meaningful advice on how to showcase myself in the best possible light. Because of her help, I’ll be starting at Wharton this summer! I would definitely recommend her as a consultant.

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To state upfront: Rachel is an incredible coach and I highly recommend working with her, to any aspiring MBA applicant. Before getting an admissions consultant, I was overwhelmed by the whole application process and found myself procrastinating and thinking in a very linear fashion. Ever since our first meeting, Rachel helped paint a picture of what the end-to-end process would look like, and we put forward a plan that I could hold myself to account. That said, she was flexible if some things items were slightly delayed, especially if communicated in advance. She invested the time upfront to get to know me and my motivations which really helped when we brainstormed stories for the essays. Some specific characteristics that made my experience with Rachel exceptional:

Practicality – she is very straightforward and clear in communication. It helped to know upfront what the strengths and weaknesses were in my application and obtain suggestions from her on how to best highlight my strengths (in my main essays), and alleviate my weaknesses (leveraging additional/ optional essays that the school provided)

Responsiveness – she was very responsive and always willing to help. Especially in the (rather stressful) lead up to application submission deadlines. I always felt that I had someone on my team

Thoroughness – she is extremely thorough but does so in an efficient way. Rachel is very good at calling out when elements/ ideas are out of place and asked provoking questions which helped me to reframe the next attempt. She also helped a great deal when it came to interview prep

Going the extra mile – there are countless somewhat “little” things which made my experience with Rachel all the more memorable. For instance, calling me after my GRE (2nd attempt) to see how it went, helping me navigate the challenging waitlist process, and in general displaying an incredible amount of genuineness and empathy during the ups and downs of the process

I had a lovely experience with Rachel, and fully recommend working with her. She has most definitely played a large part in me achieving my goal of doing an MBA at one of my top choice schools!

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I would HIGHLY recommend Heidi! She is truly experienced, super easy to talk to and work with. I first met Heidi 2 years ago when I was thinking about applying to MBAs then but later decided not to. Heidi was very understanding and said that we can pick up whenever I'm ready. I started to work with Heidi again this year and she helped me get into LBS! What I appreciated most about working with her was that beyond the applications themselves, her worksheets and processes helped me reflect on my skills and what I want to do. Throughout the process, she was extremely responsive - always there to answer my questions and help improve my writings. She really hears me and helped me frame my stories in the best way. I truly enjoyed working with her and would highly recommend her to any applicants!

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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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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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