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.

Read More

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!

Read More

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!

Read More

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.

Read More

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!

Read More

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.

Read More

Working with Karen was great, she was hugely supportive, knowledgeable and helpful. Additionally, I got into my top choice and I am thrilled about that. Would absolutely recommend working with Karen in the future. She responded quickly, happily answered all of my questions, and had a lot of background on the program and plenty of insights into the strategy for managing applications and prioritizing programs. So thankful to Karen for all of her support and insight during this lengthy and time consuming process. Really appreciated all of the help during the application process because there were moments when it was challenging and difficult.

Read More

I was hesitant to pay the hefty price tag for the full package with Fortuna, but they have delivered over and above what I expected.

I was lucky to work with Melissa Jones who has unparalleled insight into the admissions process which is clear in her invaluable feedback on the essays.

However, I believe that Melissa's true strength as a coach was her ability to get me through the self-doubt, writer's block and the numerous other obstacles that had almost caused me to give up on the application entirely.

Melissa showed a balance of patience and persistent encouragement, intuitively knowing to send amazing motivational videos and mental hacks that helped me work through the things that were holding me back.

With her support, I actually ended up enjoying the application process and was very proud of the final result. I also got admitted into my dream school!

I could not have asked for a better coach.

She genuinely cared, was very insightful and knowledgeable, and showed diligent attention to the slightest detail.

Read More

I enrolled with Fortuna admissions to help with my applications to MBA at INSEAD and LBS. I found their consulting service very professional and organized. Nonie Mackie was assigned as my coach and she worked with me on my applications over a period of 3 months. Nonie was especially approachable and is a very passionate individual. She made it very easy for me to work with her, allowing flexible timings for our meetings and usually with a quick response time. She was very persistent in getting the best efforts out of me in terms of the right stories and in organizing and structuring the content for essays to suit the admission criteria of the school. Nonie gave very honest feedback on the application and was in full control of all the aspects from resume to interview prep. Yet another positive aspect about Nonie is that she goes an extra mile to pull out information and reference materials that helps with the application. Overall I am very pleased with the coaching Nonie provided me and with the services of Fortuna Consulting.

Read More

I am from a non-traditional MBA background and believed a coach is necessary to help me navigate the highly competitive and complex process of MBA application.
Thanks to Nicola, Matt and Caroline, the journey was instead really enjoyable.

I chose Fortuna because of the recommendation from a good friend and the fact that, as ex staff from INSEAD, some of the coaches have deep insights about my dream school.

Nicola and I are in nearby time zones across the Tasman Sea(AU and NZ), allowing the communications being very timely and convenient.

As I said, the entire process was very well planned with a clear timeline. I was able to focus on tasks in hand and knew everything is under control. There are specific tools and guidance for each step along the way. For example, the initial comprehensive questionnaire was extremely valuable as a tool for self-reflection and gathering material for essays.

For the whole time, Nicola was extremely helpful. She had enlightened me to discover the meaningful stories of my life. In terms of the application, the essays and forms were carefully reviewed by Nicola and Caroline for dozens of times. Nicola also helped me with interviews and the scholarship application.

In summary, Nicola is a great coach and I highly recommend anyone choosing her and Fortuna Admissions. Without their help, I probably wouldn't survive the admission competition and eventually receive an offer from INSEAD. A big thank you to the team.

Lastly, I have to mention the Youtube channel and the website of Fortuna Admissions, which are great resources for MBA applications.

Read More