Coming from a technical background in the oil industry, far removed from the business realm, I knew that an outsider’s perspective, especially one grounded in the MBA process would be beneficial to help my stories come across. (This meant ensuring that my technical resume and stories about technical projects were approached in a way that could be understood by a variety of audiences.)

Initially, upon speaking with friends who navigated the MBA process, I reached out to a competitor consulting firm and after an initial conversation with a consultant, she provided lofty claims that they felt that I would absolutely get into the top 7 schools and that given my lack of a job title change that was what needed to be focused on. The more I dug into the competitor company, I felt that it was too formulaic and I was just another applicant in their system. I wasn’t given options of who I’d work with (it felt like a very “behind closed doors” situation) or any more personal interaction aside from this short intro call, but instead was pushed a plethora of emails about their packages and links of their former success stories. While I recognize that certain MBA programs look for specific things, I wanted to ensure that my story was heard and my consultant cared about my success.

I’d read about mbaMission online, through P&Q, and it had been recommended to me by a family friend. When I reached out to have an initial conversation with the recommended consultant, she went above and beyond connecting me with 3-4 profiles of consultants who she thought I would best work with (as she was no longer working as a consultant for the time being). I ended up having another intro call with Julie-Anne ,who I felt matched my energy and was very open and honest that she aimed to highlight her clients stories in the best way possible—that the individual aspect was more important than explaining a lack of job position change. Her demeanor was very appealing as I could tell she was invested in her clients rather than just trying to snare new clients with claims of an M7 guarantee. (Note all of these conversations happened before I event sent mbaMission a single dime. I truly felt they were invested in the human side of things rather than just the commission. I think that is apparent on when you realize just how many free materials/guides that mbaMission offers, among many other aspects of their approach.)

While certain individuals reflect that they perhaps could have navigated the process without a consultant, by having family/ friends read their essays, I disagree. Julie-Anne knows how to navigate the process in a seamless manner and acts more than just an accountability coach, challenging you to make your essays better every single time. She also brings unbiased feedback to the table, unlike your family and friends. I think Julie-Anne Heafey was particularly helpful in helping me preserve my story while ensuring my tone was always upbeat and positive (which can be challenging during trying work stories). She also listened to my concerns that my essays weren’t coming across the way that I wanted to. She worked as tirelessly as I did to help fix that until the 11th hour—this was honestly due to my ability to preemptively work on apps due to an intensive work schedule. The difference was not only was it evident that she cared about me as an applicant, and abated my last minute concerns, she also gave honest feedback throughout the process. She was incredibly diligent and really helped me hone in not only on my stories and quantifying why specifically I wanted to go to a certain school/ dual program, but she did so in a manner that felt like I was her only client.

With Julie-Anne’s help, I ended up getting interviews at 5 of the M7 schools, including HBS. She’s an incredible asset to mbaMission and it would a mistake on anyone’s part to consider someone else or beyond those on the mbaMission team. I truly stand by this opinion and could not think of a better individual with whom I would trust my stories, concerns, and experience the MBA process with.

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Background: Econ undergrad at Ivy, Product Manager, male, over-represented demographic. Applied to MIT, CBS and Wharton. Received interviews at all schools, was admitted to MIT and CBS.

When I first began thinking about applying for an MBA, I worried about my chances because I was an over-represented demographic and felt I didn't have a unique story (I had spent 4.5 at the same company in one role). I was looking for a consultant who was honest, could help craft my story, tell me my strengths and weaknesses, and keep me on track with the deadlines. Julie-Anne was fantastic and helped in every aspect of the application, even in areas that I didn't know I would need help.

She was honest in her feedback (my qualifications, strengths, weaknesses), spent hours brainstorming with me to find a way to uniquely tell my story, and made sure I met my deadlines. She was especially helpful on the essay portion of the applications, which I found the most challenging and open-ended.

Julie-Anne was extremely responsive through every iteration of my application no matter the question or amount of times I asked. Even as I moved on to the interview process of the application, she was there to guide me along and give me advice on how to prep, knowing each school as well as the next. Julie-Anne truly cares - even after I was admitted, she was there as a sounding board to help me decide on which school I should attend. She got to know me well enough over the application process that she was able to give me actionable advice on which school would be a better culture and professional fit.

Initially, I was concerned with the cost of a consultant, but I can definitely say that Julie-Anne was worth it, and got me into my top choice!

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I’ve been accepted to two M7 schools, and I'm almost certain I would have come up empty without Julie-Anne's guidance and support.

Compared to other MBA hopefuls, I was very late to the game when I realized I wanted to pursue an MBA. As an MBA was not on my to-do list, my profile/experience wasn’t geared towards MBA admissions. My stats were average to below average for M7 standards, and my work experience doesn’t jump off the page as remarkable.

I applied to five M7 schools, and only had a short amount of time to put together my applications. Julie-Anne helped me through the entire process – from validating why an MBA is right for me, to helping understand what each school values in their candidates, to putting together tailored applications that highlight my strengths and unique selling points. We went through my work/life experiences to find unique stories and achievements, many of which I would have never even thought to include in my applications.

Julie-Anne provided very honest and detailed feedback along the way and pushed me to put my best foot forward in every aspect of my application. The admissions process can be opaque and tricky to navigate. Julie-Anne’s guidance added a lot of clarity, and I was able to submit applications with a strong sense of purpose and confidence in my candidacy for a top MBA program.

I highly recommend Julie-Anne’s services to ensure that by the time you press submit, your application is as good as it can be.

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When considering B school and the application process, I was skeptical of the cost of admissions consulting services. After several free consultations with different firms, I immediately could picture the value that Julie-Anne would provide. She stood out among others for her sincerity and advice even before I became a client.

If you are on the fence about using a consultant, Julie-Anne was worth the cost and incredibly beneficial throughout the process, candidly evaluating my application. She was particularly helpful in refining my essays and Julie-Anne's experience made her an awesome sounding board. She helped take my application from good to great! The best part of working with Julie-Anne was that she genuinely cares and followed up with me to talk through my options even after my hours were up. It was all worth it as I was able to get into my dream school!

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A little bit of my background:
Chinese with an engineering degree and working in investment. I decided to apply for an MBA in the US to get more exposure in PE/VC. 720 GMAT, Near perfect GPA.
I could have brainstormed with a local consultant, but I believe that working with a US based consultant is a must so we can craft a story that would catch the eye of a top US school Adcom.

I started my application with another admissions firm 2 years ago, and was finally dinged without interview.

I did not lose hope and decided to have another try the year after. I was struggling between staying with the former firm or test a new one, and contacted mbaMission for a free consultation. Julie-Anne Heafey was strongly recommended to me, and she was willing to review my past application to pinpoint areas of improvement. She pointed out elements that could be presented from another perspective and I directly felt that she could strengthen my application substantially. I bought 3 schools packages and kicked that application journey off.

Julie-Anne was particularly helpful during the story draft stage. As a former consultant, she knew what questions to ask to find the root cause, all the why’s and external factors that led to any decision or accomplishment.
She really wanted me to write the story myself, so she kept introducing new questions to dig deeper.
At the end, I felt that my story was very unique and assisted me to stand out.

As compared to the former firm’s consultants, MBAMission’s consultants are working full-time. Julie-Anne was there, supporting me, and answering quick questions on the spot and it REALLY ease the process as I also have a busy work schedule.

I also submitted application on 2 schools on my own, and was invited to interview at HBS, MIT, Yale, and Booth - was so ecstatic! Remember, I was dinged without interview prior application cycle.

A word on the interview prep:
mbaMission interview guides are updated regularly and tailored to each school, so feel free to download them for free.

Julie-Anne’s support was crucial. I rehearsed couple times before the interview prep session with Julie-Anne, but there was still room for improvement.
As she knew every details of my application - just as an Adcom would for a non-blind interview - she always prepared a list of challenging questions to see how I react. We then reviewed my performance and she provided me insightful feedbacks and ways to sound natural and not scripted.

Finally, Julie-Anne is very resourceful, and by working with mbaMission, you have the support of the entire team as well.
Working with Julie-Anne is one of my best decisions, and thanks to her, I am attending my dream school this fall!!

She helped me make the impossible possible. THANK YOU!!

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Background: econ undergrad to investment banking to private equity. Applied to HBS and GSB. Received interviews at both schools (GSB R1, HBS deferred R1, interview R2), and was admitted to GSB (did not take HBS interview).

I was looking for a consultant who would a) walk me through the process of the application to limit effort on my end, b) provide constructive criticism on the essays, and c) keep me on track to submit so I don't pull an all-nighter the night before. Julie-Anne certainly filled all of those roles for me. I would say that she stood out the most in regards to the essay writing, where she was extremely helpful with brainstorming constructs, as well as giving me the hard feedback of when I totally needed to scrap an essay (which with hindsight, was the right call!).

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I had heard good things about mbaMission from online reviews but, unfortunately, my experience feel drastically short of expectations.

1) There were one or two instances of my essay reviews coming back with obvious errors. For example, I got feedback from my consultant and their draft had a repeated sentence. For the cost of this service I expect consultants to avoid such basic mistakes.

2) As round 1 deadlines approached I noticed that the feedback I was getting was increasingly minimal (accounting for the fact that essay quality increases with time). There was a couple instances when I only got a one sentence response

3) I also noticed that there was a lot of back and forth with the consultant's own advice. I would write A and they would ask me to write B; a little while later they would ask me to scrap B and write A again

Overall I was better off than I would have been had I not gone with a consultant but I definitely don't feel like I got my money's worth. The ideas I got from my consultant were okay at best. Additionally, I noticed a drastic drop in quality as application deadlines approached. I'm assuming the consultants here are overstaffed and couldn't keep up with the workload.

I recommend using a different service; I've heard great things about Expartus from my peers.

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I had a challenging story to communicate (white male, finance background, weak GMAT, career pivot, location pivot, etc.) but Julie did an amazing job of working with me to craft a compelling and unique story for each MBA program that I considered. In addition, I was an extremely demanding client (applied to nine top MBA programs) yet Julie always rose the occasion when deadlines arrived. She went above and beyond for me several times throughout the application process and I am very thankful that I selected her as my consultant. Highly recommend to any MBA candidates looking at hiring a consultant!

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Julie-Anne was instrumental in helping me secure a spot in the top MBA program on my list. I scored 700+ on the LSAT and had a good undergrad MBA, but from a non-target school. I graduated from undergrad in 2016 so had limited work experience. I was nervous about my chances of being admitted, but Julie-Anne helped me brainstorm essays that highlighted my strengths. Julie-Anne also prepared me for interviews by hosting Skype mock interviews, which I found very helpful. She was always quick to respond with helpful thoughts on my essays. I would highly recommend Julie-Anne to anyone applying to B-school!

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