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Product Fortuna Admissions Comprehensive School Package
Consultant Sharon Joyce
I worked with Sharon during Round 1 applications for the current cycle (2022 start). I bought the 3-school package from Fortuna which meant that I had support all the way from refining my resume to essay editing and interview prep. I targeted 2 M7 schools and 1 T10 school and got into 2 of them, including my top choice (1 with a significant scholarship; waiting for the scholarship decision from the other).
Based on my experience, Sharon was amazing to work with and one of the main reasons I got in!
I was paired with Sharon on the recommendation of my contact at Fortuna and never actually spoke to her before we started working together. From the get-go, her working style resonated with me and I knew I made the right decision. Sharon took the time to get to know me and understand my reasons for pursuing an MBA. She was organized, detail-oriented and had a clear plan for helping me refine my application and have everything ready to submit based on our internal deadlines. Through Sharon’s previous experience working in admissions offices, she was able to provide unique insights into what schools were looking for and helped me refine my story to help me stand out.
I had spoken to one other MBA admissions consultant and felt that they were distant, unapproachable, and pessimistic about my odds of getting into a T10 school. Sharon and the whole Fortuna team were the total opposite. Sharon truly understands the MBA admissions process thoroughly and was able to provide honest feedback regarding my chances of getting into my target schools. As someone from a non-traditional background, there were many moments when I was unsure whether I made the right decision. Sharon’s optimism and empathy helped me during these tough situations and helped me get through the draining MBA admissions process.
Overall, I highly recommend working with Sharon!
Product Fortuna Admissions Comprehensive School Package
Consultant Rachel Erickson Hee
Rachel is an absolutely fantastic coach!!! I spoke to several admissions consultants and Rachel stood out from the start – she offered a well measured review of my candidacy and I felt confident she could add real value to my applications. Right away, Rachel invested many hours in truly understanding my professional experience, extracurriculars and goals. I believe this upfront investment enabled her to support me in effectively creating a cohesive and compelling narrative.
When it came to writing and pulling together my applications, Rachel’s support allowed my story to shine. She went through 30+ iterations of my core essays, providing often very quick and thorough reviews (much beyond what I had expected). She would always quickly understand what wasn’t working and was able to offer a very strategic perspective on how we could refine or alter my strategy to something that worked better. Her publishing skills were also extremely handy in trimming unnecessary wordcount etc. once my story was down. In short, I felt very confident that when I hit submit, that I had put my best foot forward in my applications. Rachel was incredibly supportive throughout the whole (and what can be a very demanding) process, always being on hand to provide guidance or help with even the tiniest question. With Rachel’s help, I have now been admitted into HBS and I am looking forward to keeping in touch and sharing updates during and after my MBA program. I can wholeheartedly recommend her to any future applicants considering the very top schools.
Product Fortuna Admissions Comprehensive School Package
Consultant Rachel Erickson Hee
I could not be happier after working with Rachel. She was extremely thoughtful and diligent through the 5-6 months we worked together. From the start, she asked deep questions to help me unpack prior experiences and some of my core values, which would go on to drive my application. As I worked on my 30+ drafts worth of essays, Rachel carefully reviewed them and came up with new thoughts/comments every single time. She constantly questioned whether the product was strong enough and even when I was exhausted, she continued to push me to keep going so I could submit the very best version of myself. She was incredibly helpful every step of the way, and I'm happy to report she helped me gain admission to a top school I'm excited to attend. The business school application process is tedious, but having Rachel on my side made my process 1000% better.
Product Fortuna Admissions Comprehensive School Package
Consultant Rachel Erickson Hee
First and foremost, Rachel was absolutely instrumental in helping me get into my dream school, Stanford. When I first started the process at the beginning of the year, Fortuna’s director suggested that I had a 12-15% chance of getting into the GSB, an estimate that I felt was fair. Stanford was a reach given my background.
I was fortunate to be able to start the process early, about eight months before the deadline. At the beginning, Rachel took the time to really understand my story, my motives, my strengths and weaknesses, and helped me strategize which attributes I needed to highlight, and through which stories I could best share my strengths. Rachel was one part MBA coach, one part therapist, as she dug deep into my motivations and helped me find meaningful answers to questions about purpose. Rachel is an incredibly kind and caring person, and I really enjoyed the opportunity to develop a strong relationship with her.
Rachel worked with me on the Stanford essay for 26 drafts, continually sending feedback paragraph by paragraph, then sentence by sentence, then finally word by word. By draft 20, I was ready to throw in the towel and hit submit, but Rachel insisted we could make the ending stronger, really pushing me to the next level. In the end, I had a much better final product than I expected, and I felt at peace because I knew I put in my best possible work. I am so appreciative of the amount of effort Rachel put into my application. She sent me ideas and edits way past a normal bedtime, and always had a quick turnaround time on any new material.
When it came to the interview stage, Rachel helped me tremendously by teaching me how to frame my stories to highlight the attributes Stanford was looking for. She drew upon her decades of experience interviewing candidates, and it made the interview seem much less scary and opaque.
This whole process has made me a much more confident person, as I now understand myself much better. It’s also helped me define and refine my vision and what I want to do in the next decade. I felt that even if I hadn’t gotten into any MBA programs, I still would have found this experience to be valuable for these internal gains. It was so valuable in fact, that I would still want to repeat this process in ten or twenty years (even without applying to schools), when I’m at the next fork in my career, because it gave me so much clarity in my life.
I honestly don’t think I would have gotten in without Rachel’s help, and for that I will be grateful for a lifetime.
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Product Fortuna Admissions Comprehensive School Package
Consultant Heidi Hillis
I’m incredibly grateful to have worked with Heidi from start to finish during my MBA application process, and I’m excited to attend Kellogg thanks to her guidance! It was clear from my introductory call through calls even after submitting my applications that she cared so much about me. She consistently pushed me to dive deep into my experiences to make my story as unique and strong as possible in such a thoughtful way. I was amazed how she’d share feedback within 24 hours consistently that was always so detailed and mindful of the other parts of my application.
When deciding on a consultant, I thought about individual consultants versus larger groups like Fortuna. I’m so happy I chose Fortuna as a group because I got 100% individual and dedicated attention from Heidi (she was always available to provide advice via messaging or zoom) AND guidance from a director at Fortuna, in addition to leveraging the learnings and experiences from Fortuna’s entire network of clients.
Without hesitation, I’d recommend Heidi. Almost a year after my first call with her, I can say that I have a far better grasp on my goals and values thanks to her guidance and even if I hadn’t gotten into business school, my time with her and Fortuna’s support were incredibly worthwhile.
Product Fortuna Admissions Comprehensive School Package
Consultant Malvina Miller Complainville
My experience with Malvina was amazing! I can confidently say that choosing her as my consultant was one of the best decisions I made during the application process. With her assistance, I was admitted into all 5 M7 schools I applied to, including HBS and Wharton.
I spoke with three other companies before I spoke with Fortuna. In my fit call with Malvina, I found that she was both encouraging and realistic. Her calm demeanor really put me at ease. In working with her over 8 months, I found a lot of value in her coaching on how to explore my short-term and long-term career goals. Malvina was very organized and very responsive throughout the whole process. Despite our time difference, all my materials were turned around very quickly and I never had to follow up or wonder if she would get back to me. Malvina also provided feedback to my recommenders as I come from a background where writing MBA recommendations is not common. The extended Fortuna team also provided great interview prep which helped me feel less anxious for the actual interviews.
Malvina had incredible insight into what the admissions committees would find interesting or valuable, and where things could be edited out or framed better. I feel that she really helped me deliver the best version of myself in my applications, without taking away my own voice and personality in the process.
Like many of you are doing right now, I spent a lot of time deciding whether or not to pay for an MBA consultant. It’s certainly not a cheap endeavor. If you are able to afford it, I would highly recommend working with Malvina. I am very grateful for her support throughout this application process.
Product Fortuna Admissions Comprehensive School Package
Consultant
I first heard about Fortuna Admissions through my sister, who had engaged their services years ago in her own MBA journey, and spoke highly of their level of professionalism and high quality of their services. I contacted Fortuna and after a short period of deliberation, I decided to settle on Lisa Bevill as my personal coach in my own MBA journey based on the list of programs I had planned to apply to. This choice of mine was probably one of the best I have ever made in my life.
Words alone does not do justice to Lisa for her invaluable contributions to my own journey. I was concerned when I first embarked on my journey that I might not possess the qualities that my desired programs was looking for. But Lisa never once doubted that I had what it takes to be a part of those MBA programs. Throughout the application process, she was extremely attentive, being responsive to requests for help whenever it was possible, consistently reviewed my applications, gave helpful hints and insights as to the admission process of each school and what the school wants from each candidate, provided feedback where necessary to add impact to my applications, and most importantly of all, provided motivational support that encouraged me to put my fears aside and move on; that last point is something I cherished the most, for it gave me the courage to move on when fear threatened to overwhelm me.
For these reasons stated above, I would highly recommend Lisa Bevill, and by extension, the team at Fortuna Admissions, for providing such personalised and fabulous service to clients!
Product Fortuna Admissions Comprehensive School Package
Consultant Cassandra Pittman
I had an initial call with Matt Symonds, during which we discussed my background, goals, and school choices. Given my focus on Europe, Cassandra’s experience with top European schools really stood out and made me interested in having her as my coach. I therefore asked to be connected with her and ended up working together as part of a CSP for LBS and during a few additional hours for some other schools.
The greatest benefit that I derived from working with Cassandra was belief. I was nervous at the start of this process and didn’t completely acknowledge the strengths of my profile. However, Cassandra was able to not only steer me in the right direction in terms of the application but also was always available to address my concerns and questions - over messages, emails, calls, and video meetings. As someone who didn’t start with having MBAs in my network, I also greatly benefitted from Cassandra’s support, expertise, and big-picture perspective in ensuring that my essays were always logical, aspirational, and human. The nice thing about the CSP was that my full application was also reviewed by a director, who has tremendous knowledge of the school. In addition, I was able to make use of a mock interview with Cassandra, during which she gave me actionable feedback around both things that I was doing well and things that I could do better, and helped me go into my interview with confidence.
To anyone who is willing to drive their own application, but would love to have a champion and expert by their side, I would highly recommend working with Cassandra! She truly helped me in my moments of self-doubt and helped me communicate my story in the most impactful manner!
Product Fortuna Admissions Comprehensive School Package
Consultant Jenifer Raver
I worked with Jenifer for my Wharton application. She was really helpful with helping me build my narrative, create a differentiated profile for myself, and working with me to build a network with the school. She is very good at seeing exactly who someone is and finding the best in them. Although I did not get into Wharton, I think she did a lot to help me create a much, much better application than I would have been able to create otherwise.
Additionally, she went the extra mile and helped me build a working plan for next year on the best way for me to improve my profile further for these highly competitive schools.
Product Fortuna Admissions Comprehensive School Package
Consultant Jenifer Raver
My journey with Fortuna started a couple of months prior to the INSEAD application deadline and I worked with Jenifer throughout the entire INSEAD application process. Jenifer was able to provide a wealth of knowledge alongside bespoke advice to help me achieve an R1 offer. Through our detailed initial consultations, Jenifer was genuinely interested in my life and as such, was able to guide me in crafting my own story, showcasing and balancing both my strengths and weaknesses. Additionally, Jenifer pushed me to improve my GMAT score from 700 to 740. I would recommend Jenifer to anyone that is looking to achieve their MBA admission goals.