Hourly Consulting Services Reviews

TL;DR: Emma is absolutely amazing at what she does. About me: Stanford GSB Class of 2026 Admit from Private Equity (re-applicant). About her:
(i) Amazing at forming a compelling, cohesive story (while fully retaining my voice and story)
(ii) Incredibly responsive (even by private equity standards)
(iii) Perfect balance of empathetic and blunt (a rare find)

Full Review: Emma was absolutely incredible to work with. As mentioned above, I was a re-applicant to Stanford GSB (waitlisted previously, admitted this year with Emma's support), and can confidently say Emma's a best-in-class advisor. I reached out to her with less than 2 months to go before the app deadline, and in that time, she helped me put together the absolute best package I possibly could. She has this incredible ability to retain every story I told her (even from our first call prior to our engagement). Without changing my voice, she guided me towards a cohesive story and application I couldn't be happier with. The whole time, she balanced being unbelievably supportive with challenging me productively (did I really need that extra detail in my story? Of course not...). All of the back and forth drove a concise, compelling, and cohesive package - something I missed last time. As crunch time approached, she always had my back. I believe in the peak sprint, we worked through over 4 revisions of each essay and impact story in parallel in just 1-2 weeks - she never missed a beat. Overall, just an incredible experience - if I had to do it again, I'd pick Emma every time.

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Speaking to Emma in our initial call I felt right away she was the perfect match.

And that turned out to be just the case! I was a fairly late Round 2 applicant, just meeting the deadline, and I can say I couldn’t have done it without her! Emma improved my application beyond measure. I cannot stress enough the positive impact she had on my overall application – the quality of my application was levels higher as a result of her help and super expertise, and I gained an offer from my number 1 and only school choice (LBS).

Giving real steer and direction to the narrative of my background/application, piecing together the essays (I was in awe of her skill in advising on essay structure), advising on those small (but stress inducing) questions that come up during the application process, and giving me the perfect candid advice on my interview skills were just some of the numerous highlights.

Emma was also incredibly generous, supportive, responsive, and reassuring. She is really personable and you absolutely feel understood working with her. Overall, she made the whole process 100x less stressful. She was also flexible and catered to my circumstances which changed unexpectedly, which I really appreciated.

I honestly cannot recommend Emma enough - I consider myself super lucky to have had her help. She was simply a dream to work with!

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After chatting with ~5 admin consultants, I decided to go with Tatiana after a pleasant call with Judith - who believed in my success from the get-go. My experience with other admin consultants such as SBC and Menlo (which tend to downplay your achievements and encourage you to aim lower) was not good - Menlo wouldn't even honor their complementary consultation unless I pledged to apply to less competitive schools - but Fortuna seemed to understand and believe in my potential story, which was exactly what I was looking for.

For context: I'm at consultant at a T2 consulting firm and applied to 5 M7s.

Tatiana did a fantastic job - I was confident in my writing skills and had a good sense of which stories to use, so I signed up for the 8 hr program mostly for essay revision and support. Tatiana was straightforward from the start and helped estimated how much time we would need to meet my goal of writing essays for my top 3 schools.

Tatiana's support was instrumental in understanding what each school is looking for in an applicant and I can confidently say that the essays after multiple rounds of revision with Tatiana were indeed night and day. I also really appreciated how she did not press me for time. I heard other consultants would track closely and remind you x time was remaining - which would be an added stress as apps are due. However, Tatiana never did anything remotely of the sort. Further, I was able to utilize the lessons I learned from looking at her feedback to write essays for 2 more M7 schools.

At the end of the application stage, I was satisfied with our work together and even remarked even if I didn't get any interviews - I was happy I was able to put my best foot forward. At the time of writing, I interviewed with 3 of the M7 schools I applied to, and am waiting for results.

Huge thanks to Tatiana, who was incredibly knowledge and truly pushed me to write to the best of my ability and was with me at every step of the journey (even though I signed up for hourly)! I'm grateful for the experience and would definitely recommend her to anyone!

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My first experience with admissions consultants was not a good one. When I first considered MBA plans I spoke to a number of consultants early on, one of which told me that it was very unlikely with my background that I would get into LBS or INSEAD. "It's just not going to happen", were the words used.

Then along came Melissa. After researching several admissions consultancies, Fortuna stood out as adopting a more personalised approach, taking the time to delve into a candidate’s background to properly understand their story and strengths for the different MBA programs. Working with Melissa was less about the applications initially, and more an exercise in deep and considered self-reflection. Who am I. What experiences shaped me. What do I want in life. And why.

It wasn’t until I started working with Melissa that I developed any confidence in my ability to attend a top MBA program. Melissa was instrumental in drawing that out. She was clear, concise, realistic and, facing tight-deadlines, firm. She kept me honest and focussed throughout the whole process, gave clear instructions as to what was expected, and, importantly, ensured the responsibility for delivering rested with me.

Melissa genuinely believes in the candidates she works with and wants them to succeed. Even when Melissa had to travel between the US and France for family emergencies, she remained online and connected through every step of the way – late night calls to match time-zones, email exchanges from airports ahead of deadlines – Melissa was unstoppable.

I hadn’t even planned to apply for INSEAD – I had already ruled myself out. After working with Melissa to understand my strengths as a candidate we were able to rule INSEAD back in.

I am truly grateful for my time working with Melissa. She was critical in helping me put my best foot forward and receiving offers that I never thought were possible. Thank you so much!

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I enjoyed working with Bill, and he was nothing short of fantastic. He showed genuine interest from the beginning and took the time to get to know me. He was able to help me craft my story and succinctly tell it because he understood who I was and how I worked.

I've met with other consultants, and I won't say they were terrible, but I will say they didn't take the time to understand who I was, which made me feel like they were guessing when they made suggestions for my essays and interview practice. I never felt like that with Bill, and he helped me pinpoint areas I could improve on and areas that I should focus on.

I highly recommend Bill to anyone, especially if communicating your story is complicated. He'll take the time to help you understand your why and how to express yourself effectively.

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As a US applicant, I applied to multiple top full-time US programs with Emma's help. It was 1,000% worth every penny, and I'd recommend you stop reading this review now and hire her immediately. I got into a variety of M7 and T10 schools with extremely generous scholarships, proving that Emma has obvious expertise over the American schools, in addition to the European ones. She was responsive, informative, and all around delightful to work with. I don't think there is anything she could have done throughout the process to make it go smoother. If she's not ranked #1 in the 2024 Poets & Quants ranking for MBA consultants (after being ranked #1 in 2023), we riot. 10/10, simply the best consultant on the planet.

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Silpa was an amazing consultant for me. She helped me get into some top programs and was willing to go above and beyond in helping me. I really appreciated all her help and would definitely recommend her to others! If it wasn't for her help and strategy, I probably wouldn't have gotten some of the MBA offers that I received. She was very kind and supportive along the way. Initially I was skeptical of whether or not I should spend money on this service but it was well worth it. Navigating business school apps is tricky and it always helps to have a consultant.

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I am an applicant in the final round of the MBA application process. Among the various consultants available, I chose Melissa. I made this choice because she responds promptly and has a very organized approach to structuring my essay. She meticulously reviewed my life and work experiences and provided tailored advice for the schools I wanted to apply to. She also understood the potential weaknesses in my experiences and helped me address them in the optional essay, allowing the admissions team to better understand who I am through my application documents. The essay was completed in just about two weeks, which put my mind at ease for other application matters.

During the interview process, Melissa also shared some interview tips to help me prepare with confidence. I am genuinely thrilled to have successfully applied to my dream school in the final round, and I am very grateful for seeking Melissa's assistance from the beginning.

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I consider myself incredibly fortunate that I got to collaborate with Emma as my admissions consultant. Her expertise in this field is truly exceptional, and I can confidently say that my achievement wouldn't have been possible without her guidance. She has an outstanding work ethic and consistently went above and beyond what I expected of her, in terms of both time and effort. I'm immensely grateful that I trusted my instincts and selected her because not only did I get accepted but I received a scholarship as well on the only program I applied to - LBS Sloan.

Emma is a true expert at this. She knows exactly what should and shouldn't go into your application to make it stand out. She is sharp and crisp and knows how to cut the fluff. Not only did she help make my application so much more cohesive but she was there to support and guide me through my extended waiting period even after I had submitted my application. During moments when I felt discouraged, she helped ease my nerves. Just knowing that I had her on my side on my journey made me feel so reassured.

Her support was so much more than just transactional, she really wanted me to succeed and she put in extra effort to that end. If you have the opportunity to work with her on your applications, consider yourself extremely fortunate.

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I worked with Matt on my Round 3 application to the Stanford GSB, MIT Sloan and the Wharton School. I was a non-traditional applicant with a government background, applying a bit later in my career than the average - and had previously received some less than enthusiastic advice from consultants encouraging me to consider safety schools or delay applying. This made sense on the face of it: the odds are very low for those schools as a R3 applicant, and they didn't want to set me (or themselves) up for failure. But Matt took a totally different tack: I felt he took a real interest in me as a person, understood my goals and rationale, and went beyond the stats to see the strength in my application. He totally understood the reasoning behind going for it in R3, put himself on the line to tell me what he honestly thought, and provided me the vital encouragement to keep going. Close to the deadline, he was available over the weekend to iterate my essays and review the final elements of my application. I felt that his advice was always helpful - and crucially, helped to bring out my authentic voice, not just what adcoms want to hear. Matt's advice and encouragement were crucial to getting me over the line and securing offers from all 3 schools. Thank you Matt - you're a good man and a pleasure to work with!

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