Alice van Harten Reviews

From the get-go, Alice was completely invested in developing the strongest possible case for my admission to the best MBA program possible. Along the process, I was coached, motivated, inspired and even made to jump and dance (voluntarily) by the team at Menlo Coaching.

I was looking for one-on-one school-specific guidance on what can seem like a very daunting process and I got more than just that. The pre-work videos featuring Alice and David on Basecamp were a great way to get started to think about my journey, introspect and develop my line of reasoning for what I wanted out of an MBA and how I could add value to the MBA cohort.

Since I was part of the Early Bird Program at Menlo Coaching, Alice was there every step of the way as we got closer to preparing for the application essays and resume. In my case, the optional statement was a crucial part of the application, given my circumstances and I am convinced that without Alice, my submission would not have been nearly as strong.

While I thoroughly enjoyed the one-on-one sessions with Alice, the team at Menlo Coaching consisting of Ava, Leslie, Fearless Communicators and Obinna constantly encouraged and supported me to put my best foot forward. I cannot say enough about the value that Alice and her team at Menlo Coaching brought to my MBA application and to me personally. I am very happy with the result - I was admitted into two of the three programs I applied to and received a scholarship offer as well

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I had an amazing experience working with Alice and Leslie. Prior to choosing a consultant I spent countless hours researching the various options, and I came away with the conclusion that working with Menlo and specifically Alice would best set me up for success. Having now gone through the process I can confidently say that this proved true! We spent significant time going over items such as realistic career goals to crafting my life story that we could then leverage for my applications. At times when I was slacking on my applications, Alice got me back on track by having weekly calls with me think through what was stumping me. When it came time to interview, they provided a theatre coach to help me come across in my best light and connected me with other consultants at Menlo to have mock interviews with.

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I worked with Alice and the Menlo Coaching team for my R1 admissions this year and had a wonderful experience. With her help, I was admitted to Wharton and couldn't be more excited. Alice was the definition of a comprehensive coach - she was there for me throughout every step of the application process from picking which schools to apply to, crafting my career goal arc, and preparing for interviews. Most of all, her guidance and candid feedback on my essays were invaluable. Through dozens of iterations, she helped me bring out a genuine and unique side of myself. I can't recommend Alice highly enough - she's truly the best in the business!

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I started working with Alice back in December 2019 and worked with her throughout the entire round 1 application process. Even as I navigate the waitlist for one school Alice is still with me strategizing and working on my update letters to get through the process. Alice is extremely knowledgeable about the entire MBA application process. She helped me identify and present my career goals in a compelling way, craft phenomenal essays, and thoroughly prepare me for my interviews. She is incredibly responsive (always within 24 hours) and made me feel as though I was one of the only students working with her. However, beyond her incredible professional expertise & effective process management I believe what really sets Alice apart from other consultants is that she is truly invested in the success of her clients – she REALLY DOES care about you. This year was incredibly difficult for me going through a career change, moving countries, taking the GMAT, and of course applying to B school but Alice was always there to be a sounding board and give me perspective. She had this incredible ability to instill confidence in me when I needed it the most - I wouldn’t have gotten through the process without her. In the end I was able to gain admission to two top 10 business schools (Tuck and Yale). I sincerely believe that Alice is worth every penny and that if you are serious about getting into a top business school you should working with Alice and Menlo Coaching (try to contact her well in advance because her spots fill up fast)!

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Alice and the Menlo team have supported me through every step of the process from school selection in January to getting accepted by HBS in round 1. Most helpful were Alice's attention to detail in brainstorming and perfecting my essays, and also her vision on how to best portray my candidacy given my unique background and career goals. I trust her 100%.

I am a "non-traditional" candidate and Alice takes the time to get to know me and my career path in detail. Throughout the application process, she asked thoughtful questions, provided candid feedback on essays and resume while making sure I was my genuine, authentic self. This was my main differentiator to getting accepted to HBS.

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Alice came highly recommended to me by my partner who had a wonderful experience working with her and the entire Menlo Coaching team. His application process ended with a successful outcome and was accepted to his top choice school (CBS).

From our very first discussion, Alice provided me with a clear plan forward to best position myself for my future application. As a participant in the Early Bird program, I worked with Alice for more than a year in a very structured and organized manner. I struggled with the GRE until late in my application process, and her help navigating the test while balancing all aspects of the application was truly invaluable in being able to apply by the Round 1 deadline. I also appreciated that Alice provides her clients access to working with additional members of the Menlo team, especially with interview prep. Mock interviewing with both Alice and Obinna made me feel confident and prepared going into the real interview.

Alice cares deeply about her clients’ success and that is evident in her work. I cannot thank her enough for her guidance and patience throughout the entire application process. She exceeded all of my expectations, and I would not be attending my dream school in the fall without her support.

She is an extraordinary and knowledgeable resource for prospective business school applicants, and I can’t recommend Alice and the Menlo Coaching team more strongly.

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I am thrilled that I decided to work with Menlo coaching for my applications - it was such an energizing and educative process. The team has a deeply personal approach; Alice pushed me to go deep in developing my story and helped me craft this to each school in the most compelling way. I received lots of conflicting sources of advice from friends and colleagues - having Alice's informed expertise was incredibly reassuring as I could trust that every detail and perspective had been considered. I was astonished by how swiftly and thoroughly Alice and the Menlo team would come back with comments or responses to my questions - the level of attention and care made me feel like their only client. I had studied humanities as an undergrad and thought I knew how to write an essay, but working with Alice has made me a much sharper writer and interviewee! I definitely could not have achieved these two admissions without Alice and I'm so glad that I chose to work with Menlo.

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I finally made up my mind to apply for MBA in August, which was kind of late in the application process. Alice and David came highly recommended by a friend of mine who worked with Menlo R1, so I got on the free consultation call with Alice. Here were my impressions after the call that made me decide to choose Alice as my MBA coach:

1. Alice is really honest and personal: she obviously came prepared during my call and I felt that she was really trying to get to know me and understand why I want to pursue MBA. Unlike other MBA consultants who kept selling about themselves, she was trying to help me understand my options and even suggested that I apply next year as she believed I would have better results and be more prepared. Although I ended up applying R2 this year, I really appreciated her honesty and how she sincerely hoped me to achieve the best MBA results.

2. Alice is highly qualified: When I was searching for MBA coaches, they normally fall into two groups. One group is professionals who went to a top MBA and are doing MBA coaching part time. I found them to be impressive people to work with, but they are really doing it part time and they have other priorities with their career. The second group is Ex-AO from top MBA program, they understand the MBA process and are usually super nice, but I don't feel the connection. Alice has both things I was looking for - super impressive professionals + fully committed to MBA coaching.

3. Alice had extensive experience with international/over-representative applicants: She had extensive experience working with MBA candidates around the world. During my conversation, I got the sense that she really understood the challenge international applicants have, especially from an over-representative group.

After working with Alice in the past few months throughout R2 application, I am truly convinced that choosing Alice to be my MBA coach was the best decision I’ve ever made and I see Alice as my mentor now who I hope to stay in touch after my MBA application process. Here are the reasons:

2. I received great offers: I applied to 5 schools in the top 10 MBA programs, received four interviews. I got accepted to 2 schools and waitlisted by 2 schools (Alice is still helping me off the waitlist)

3. This is truly full service and totally worth the cost: Menlo is a powerhouse and their team will help you with every aspect of MBA application even though Alice is my main coach. Starting from figuring out school selection, enhancing GMAT score, school networking, developing personal story, preparing for interviews, all the way to discuss school decisions and work on the waitlist.

4. Super responsive and perfectionist: Alice and Menlo team were super responsive throughout my application process. She is also a perfectionist as well. I can’t remember how many iterations we went through for my resume and essays. She would make sure any materials I submitted to be the best my ability.

5. Good at help you navigate this emotional process: MBA application process is an emotional process. I felt Alice is on my side as a friend who understands my feelings but more importantly, as a great mentor who helps you navigate this emotional process.

I am writing this testimonial not just because of the fantastic MBA results I received. I am recommending Alice and other consultants from Menlo because they are the best in class and will help you achieve your full potential with your MBA application.

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I am really pleased that I got to know of Alice through a friend and I decided to engage Menlo Coaching for my 2019 MBA applications.

I was quite sure about pursuing MBA since 2018 and I was lucky to have quite a few friends who had gone through the process to guide me. Honestly, looking at people’s stories and career goals was a bit intimidating and having applied earlier in 2016 to a bunch of schools with no success deterred my confidence. I had a huge weakness in my profile and being in one of the most competitive pools of applicants, it definitely did not help my case.

Bottom line was that I needed expert help to guide me through my applications and maximize my chances at top 10 schools. Fortunately, I started my search for a consultant in January 2019, which I believed was quite early but as it turns out it was actually the right time, if not late. I talked to multiple consultants before deciding to go with Alice.

I was quite impressed with Alice from the get go. First of all, Alice and David are the top rated consultants on many forums. In addition to that, the note I received from Alice when I reached out to her was extremely personal and warm. It showed her genuine interest in helping candidates, even prospective clients who had not signed up with her yet.

The candidacy evaluation call with Alice was quite different as compared to other consultants. Instead of selling herself and talking about her services she was more interested in my point of view, my profile, my reasons for applying to an MBA program and my career goals. She provided a candid evaluation of my chances at different schools, she had done her homework on analyzing my resume and coming up with a plan of action to address weaknesses in my candidacy. She also provided an honest opinion on why different people choose to pursue MBA and whether it made sense for me to do the same. Alice and David are quite selective in choosing their clients and they enjoy a bit of a challenge, which my application definitely provided. Soon after my chat with Alice, I did some cost benefit analysis on choosing the right consultant - the fees, number of schools I could apply and the historical success rate. I knew that getting in a top 10 program would be very challenging and Alice, with her flat fee model and personalized approach to shape each candidate’s application, was perfect for me.

Working with Menlo Coaching was a pleasure and a true partnership. Here are a few things about Alice and her team that you should know which make them stand apart:

1. They make you work and are on your toes to make sure you make progress - helps you not lose sight in the bustle of work and personal priorities
2. They have the experience and understanding of what the admissions committee value in a prospective student - helps you clear the clutter and focus on the important parts of your story
3. They start early - extremely important to get ahead of the curve; also helps you plan out school visits and other things that can bolster your application
4. They are very methodical and structured - their succinct video tutorials, reference materials and project management tool help you keep on track
5. They are super accessible and extremely prompt in feedback - it feels truly collaborative and personal; I have been on one-on-one calls with Alice and Leslie for many hours to talk about my personal stories, education, work and goals
6. They help you think about your own story without spoon feeding templates - helps you come out as a true one of a kind candidate
7. They are perfectionists - I have had at least 20 reviews of my resume and more than 6 to 7 edits on each of my essays for all of my 8 school applications
8. They help you get into the networking mindset while you are applying - through their former clients, existing clients and affiliates (peer reviews, reports on campus visits, interview notes, etc.)
9. They go out of their way in many ways like helping candidates with their GMAT / GRE prep by providing the right resources and connects
10. They are not machines, they care about their clients and do everything to accommodate their client’s requests - I had a pre-commitment after application deadlines which meant I needed to finish all my interviews in a very short window of time, and Alice helped me expedite the interview preparation in a way that worked best for me
11. They are excellent at helping candidates prepare for interviews - professional help with speech delivery, interview presence and interview preparation through multiple mock interviews and feedback sessions
12. They do not stop at resumes, essays, video essays or interviews, they help you through all that follows as well - scholarship negotiation, waitlist updates and even pre-MBA preparation

As for my results, I got interview calls from all the schools I applied to, got accepted at 2 top-10 schools with scholarships and was waitlisted at 2 other top-5 schools. It was a total shocker for me to have turned around my profile into a compelling application and being accepted at schools of my dream.

Although my contract with Menlo Coaching was for R1 applications, Alice is such a gem of a person that she even helped me with one R2 application for a very ambitious school that I really wanted to apply to. Alice truly values the relationships she develops with each of her clients and I would not hesitate to turn to her for advice anytime in future too.

I cannot stress enough how happy I am with Menlo Coaching. They are true professionals but at the same time equally personal in their approach. Alice is a pleasure to work with and someone who I would love to be in touch with going forward.

If you are still deciding on the choice of an admissions consultant, Alice and David would be my sincerest recommendation.

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I hired Menlo Coaching to help me with my 2019 MBA Applications

I decided to hire a consulting firm for 3 reasons

1. I didn’t know anyone who got their MBA so I needed someone who could guide me
2. I was facing significant weaknesses in my application
3. The financial ROI of a top MBA program was high (3x my salary)

I did consultations with about 8 consultants. 6 were cliché and a waste of time. Ultimately, my decision came down to Menlo Coaching and a consultant from MBA Mission.

MBA Mission was enticing for 2 reasons

1. I come from a niche industry and he’s the only consultant I found who shared my pre-MBA background and post-MBA goals.
2. He was about 40-50% of the cost (depending on how many schools I applied to) and since I didn’t make much money, cost was an important factor to me.

In the end, these were the 3 reasons I went with Menlo

1. I felt like Alice & David genuinely cared and wanted me as a client (they are selective) despite my weaknesses. And that was reinforced in the reviews I read online. Every consultant has 5-star reviews. But read the contents of those reviews and you’ll see a real difference in the detail and quality of Menlo Coaching.
2. While the MBA Mission consultant might’ve been a good career coach, I realized my target audience (admissions officers) wouldn’t have an in-depth understanding of my industry either so I actually wanted someone who could translate my experience into a language they would understand.
3. As I mentioned, the ROI was high and the total cost of attendance was also going to be high regardless of where I went so might as well spend a little extra money to maximize my chances. Hiring an admissions consultant is one of the few times in life where I didn’t want the best value. I wanted the best.

Looking back, I definitely made the right decision. Be prepared to work hard, but here’s a look at some of my biggest ways Alice added value.

Taught me how the game is played. And trust me, a bit of it is a game. As I mentioned, I didn’t know anyone who got an MBA and I didn’t work at a feeder firm. But thanks to Alice teaching me the value of “influencers”, I found at least one person who vouched for me at each of the 9 schools that I applied to.

Starting early. All the other consultants I talked to didn’t want to start working until June. I started working with Alice the moment I signed in February. We wrote resumes, personal stories and career goal statements in the Spring that made writing the individual essays much easier when applications were released.

Always available. I felt like I could ask Alice about anything – from campus visits to sending the perfect thank you email. None of my questions or concerns ever felt unimportant. Being overseas in Europe was never an issue either. If you send an essay at night in the U.S., you can expect a response in the morning.

Unlimited means unlimited. Some consultants charge per school but Alice charges a flat fee and doesn’t cap how many schools you can apply to. Because I was a non-traditional applicant and we couldn’t properly handicap my chances, I ended up applying to 9 schools spread across the Top 20. That meant a lot of extra work for her but she believed it was the right strategy so we did it. We literally went through 20+ revisions on some of the essays and she never complained.

Access to reports. Menlo Coaching has a strong network of applicants who share detailed notes over the years of campus visits, interviews, etc. which I found to be more helpful than the guides available on other sites.

Crisis management. Something came up before applying that could’ve seriously jeopardized my ability to apply at all. This is where I really gained respect for her. She could’ve easily quit on me and focused on her other candidates who had strong shots at M7 schools. But she stayed loyal and doubled down her efforts to make sure I overcame the setback and could finish strong. She had the perfect balance between empathy and pushing me to get tasks done. Even later, when the coronavirus hit, she was able to assess the situation and give me insights into how it would affect my MBA experience.

Interview Prep. I can’t speak highly enough about her interview coach Obinna Arizor either. He was always well prepared, came with tough questions and gave me instant feedback on how to improve. Even though interviewing was my strength, he was always available to hop on the phone and chat so I felt 100% confident going in.

As for my outcomes: I got accepted into 4 schools:

A Top 10 school (off the waitlist), Top 15 school (off the waitlist) and 2 Top 20 schools (including 1 with a 2/3rd scholarship)

For me, this was a wild success. I went into the process hoping only 1 school would take a chance on me.

Finally, Alice is just a genuinely good person who I actually hope to stay in touch with.

I met Leslie when I visited the Bay Area on vacation and if it weren’t for the virus, I planned to meet Alice & David in Amsterdam during my pre-MBA Eurotrip.
Our contract was for Round 1 applications but I feel like she’s the type of person who if I reached out for advice about MBA recruiting a year from now, she wouldn’t hesitate to offer her insights.

There are so many people who will be involved with your MBA journey from the moment you decide you want to apply to the moment you graduate. I really feel Alice is one of the few people who will always be an important part of that process.

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