GMAT Club

Cindy Montano Reviews

Company: Admissionado

Cindy Young Montano is a branding expert with over 16 years of experience marketing everything from detergents and canned tomatoes, to specialty cheese and luxury spirits.

She attended The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania where she double majored in Strategic Management and Marketing. Cindy also minored in English to satisfy her passion for Victorian literature and thousand page novels. Later she earned her MBA from Harvard Business School where she rounded out her business education. Procter & Gamble is where Cindy began her marketing career after college, and has since worked at numerous other top CPG companies from mass to luxury, including LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy). Cindy is well versed in working in different environments with people from diverse cultural backgrounds, having worked in various types of corporate structures (public, private, private-equity owned, cooperative) at American, British, French, and Danish companies.

When she’s not helping MBA applicants develop winning application strategies, she can be found either in her kitchen hugging the latest addition to her extensive appliances collection, or chasing sea turtles while scuba diving off the coast of a tropical island.

Cindy loves traveling and learning about different cultures and languages. She is fluent in English, Mandarin, Taiwanese, and proficient in French. After dabbling in a few other languages, she is currently learning Danish.

5.0 /5 Average Rating
Based on 2 reviews
April 15, 2020
spb2

Joined: Oct 12, 2019

Posts: 1

Kudos: 0

Verified GMAT Classic score:
730 Q45 V45

Thoughtful, Personal & EFFECTIVE Advice

REVIEWER IDENTITY VERIFIED by score report [?]

I cannot recommend Cindy and her team more.

I came into this process knowing that I wanted an MBA but not knowing at all how to tell my story to an admissions committee. I shopped around with different application consultant agencies – and Cindy and Admissionado immediately stood out to me. The personal touch is evident in the time that was taken to really get to know my goals/interests, but I was most impressed by the laser-sharp diagnosis of how I could refine my ST/LT goals into something that would appeal to an adcom while remaining authentic to my interests. In this, Cindy helped me refine not just my MBA story but my true post-MBA and career goals.

Across the course of working together, Cindy and her team’s edits to my essays were very pointed and specific, and I ended up with five sets of essays that I am very proud of. The application process is a stressful one, and Cindy was also very receptive to every question or doubt that I had along the way.

As of writing, I have been accepted Kellogg, Fuqua, and INSEAD and waitlisted at Columbia. I have gotten significant scholarships from all programs that offered me spots. I could not have gotten anywhere close to that without Cindy and Admissionado’s help. Especially considering how competitive their rates are as compared to other MBA consulting services, I will be recommending Admissionado to anyone that will listen to me gush about their team!

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May 08, 2018
jacampbell8

Joined: Apr 02, 2017

Posts: 0

Kudos: 0

Admissionado Review!

REVIEWER IDENTITY VERIFIED by score report [?]

I sought out a consultant to support in the MBA application process because I had weak test scores (GRE score in GMAT equivalent was 640) and a GPA that didn't set me apart (3.33). However, I had great work experience and knew I could get into schools provided I could reach the interview stage. I felt that a consultant could help me craft a cohesive narrative that could get me to that stage.

When I first started working with Cindy, it felt like a conversation. She wasn't scared of working with me, despite my low scores, and I felt she sincerely wanted to help me get into Tuck, which was my dream school (I enroll in the fall!). Cindy recognized my strengths and helped me ensure my essays brought those out so that the admissions committee could see them as well. I believe she was extremely successful, as I was also accepted at several other schools, including Ross and Darden.

My favorite aspect of working with Cindy and Admissionado was how well they prepped me to begin writing my essays. Their MBA Action Plan assessment helped me recognize my areas of strength as well as my areas of weakness. While I had short and long-term plans, they helped me crystallize these ideas and articulate them in a manner that was cohesive and engaging, which is critical for any application. They also helped me identify aspects of my background that would be useful for some of the less traditional essays (e.g., Fuqua and Darden).

Cindy was straightforward and honest with me. I would often send her multiple versions of essays to get her read on which worked best and she always responded promptly and with very helpful, constructive feedback on the relative strengths and weaknesses of each. Additionally, if I was struggling with an essay, Cindy would send me a really useful outline, which laid out how many words I should write about X and ask me a slew of questions to make me really think about what I wanted to say.

The entire time I felt like the process was completely unique to me. Additionally, I loved how Admissionado has fun with the essays and it’s not as much a calculation. My finished product was awesome! I never expected my essays to be so polished and perfect.

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