I was recommended by a friend to work with Square One, and the experience working with them was fantastic and well-structured. From the initial call with Kathryn, Square One stood out to me as an organization that would be extremely forthcoming and honest with me, as well as being truly invested in my individual success if I were to work with them.

The team helped me develop a custom working plan that held me accountable to specific deadlines in their process, which was crucial as I decided to apply under a compressed timeline. My primary consultant was Lara -- I appreciated how direct she was and she really pushed me to be my best. During our brainstorming sessions, my ideas were often rough clay and she showed an incredible ability to help me turn them into a legitimate story. Most of all, I was a big fan of how human the process of working with Lara felt. She was very open about her own life and helped guide me through this introspective journey.

Horatiu and Pat were great contributors to my experience too, helping craft my career narrative story and ensuring I was running in-line with our schedule. Sincerely grateful to all of the individuals mentioned above for their help!

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Working with Square One Prep was easily one of the best decisions I made during the MBA application process. The process can be nuanced, daunting, and unforgiving, but my first conversation with Kathryn immediately put me at ease.

What stood out to me early on was how genuinely invested the team was in my success (beyond just the MBA application). It never felt transactional. I always had the sense that they truly cared not just about the outcome, but about helping me put forward something that actually reflected who I am.

Lara, in particular, made a huge difference. She was incredibly encouraging, but also wasn’t afraid to give me tough, honest feedback when I needed it. I spoke to many consulting firms, but I felt a natural click with this team from the start. Lara pushed me to be sharper, more introspective, and more precise in how I told my story.

The broader team kept me accountable and on track throughout. There’s a lot of ambiguity and second-guessing in this process, and they consistently cut through that noise. I always knew what I needed to be doing and why. I am so happy I went through this process with them!

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I’ve been extremely pleased with Square One Prep’s service in the last half year. I was admitted to my dream program with scholarship as a result of months of collaborative work with Lara and the rest of the team.
What stood out most to me was their structured approach to the MBA application process and the ability to work with multiple members of the team throughout. A big part of the value was also accountability — I had an ambitious school list and am terrible at personal accountability. Realistically, I wouldn’t have been able to apply to all the schools I wanted to without Square One's structured timeline and team pushing me to reach my own goals. And that's before even getting to the quality of the work itself!

Lara, my primary counselor, really helped me dig deeper into my application profile, challenging me to reflect and think about my background and goals before going into essay work. The product of these work sessions are polished essays that feel authentic but still higher quality than what I would have submitted on my own. Throughout the process, I appreciated Lara’s ability to push my own thinking, her responsiveness, and her wonderful feedback on every part of my application.
The clarity in my own story and self-awareness around my goals that Square One helped me develop showed up not only in my essays, but also came through in my interviews and my overall confidence going into the MBA process.

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If you're reading this, you still have time. I met with a managing director at another consultancy (one of the big ones) and she told me I wasn't HSW material. Well, as a HBS class of 2028 admit, I have bad news for her...

SquareOnePrep believed in me, supported me, and turned me into the professional I am today. It's expensive, but it's absolutely worth every penny. Kathryn Lucas is the Nick Saban of MBA consulting, and if she's in your corner, you're winning a national championship. At first, I did have doubts, but I have no regrets. SquareOnePrep is world-class service with a world-class team.

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After processing all of the exciting news and going 3-for-3 on schools, I wanted to take some time to share my experience with Square One Prep. I would absolutely, without a doubt, not be where I am today without their help, support, cheerleading, and constant encouragement. From my struggles with the GRE to multiple iterations of certain essays, they were in it with me until everything was absolutely perfect. I don’t have the words to express how grateful I am and how much I valued their support.

Horatiu stuck with me through my career narrative journey. Before speaking to him, I was all over the place on what I thought I wanted to do with my career and what made sense. He listened, pushed me, pressure tested me, and helped me take the time to research and really become even more passionate about my startup. I can confidently say that I feel better set up to start my MBA because of all of the work we did together in shaping my path.

Pat helped me stay on track and ensure I got everything done before my family trip in December. He was always incredibly responsive and encouraging.

Kathryn was extremely helpful in being an extra set of eyes on every single one of my essays. This helped me feel even more comfortable moving forward with them! She always pressure tested my themes and specific points and encouraged me to think differently. I will never forget the very last “essay” we worked on, the Booth interview video. That was one of the toughest ones for me, but Kathryn never gave up in helping me get it to the right spot. I absolutely felt more at ease knowing she was there every step of the way.

Last, but not least, LARA!!!!! When I was working with Lara, I told every person that would listen to me how amazing she was. She pushed me, held me accountable, worked late nights with me, made me feel like my story was worth listening to, and just truly made me a better writer. She is so skilled in what she does and I truly enjoyed all of our calls and work together. By the end of our work, I absolutely felt like a better writer and could articulate more interesting stories and moments about my career and life to date. Lara made my small stories, memories, and moments stand out and helped me connect them to the essay themes. This is something I never thought possible! Before working with Lara as I thought about business school I was concerned I wasn’t interesting enough and that my stories were not worth sharing. She made me feel heard and I can’t recommend her enough!

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I had a great experience working with Kathryn and Lara during my MBA application process. From the start, Kathryn really stood out for how personally invested she was. She checked in often, kept me steady when things felt overwhelming, and made it clear she genuinely cared about me as a person, not just an applicant. That level of support mattered a lot during a high-pressure season.

On the strategy side, Kathryn and Lara helped me bring structure to my timeline and sharpen my overall story. Their feedback was clear and practical, and they pushed me to be more specific, more reflective, and more consistent across my materials. They also helped me tighten my positioning and improve the flow and readability of my writing. I appreciated how responsive they were and how easy they were to work with. I felt supported both personally and strategically, and I’m really grateful for their guidance. I’d recommend them to anyone going through the MBA process who wants a team that is truly invested in your success.

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I had an excellent experience working with Square One Prep and cannot imagine having gone through the MBA application process without them. I was fortunate to be admitted to my top choice, Stanford GSB, in Round 1, and I genuinely believe that outcome would not have been possible without the Square One team.

My experience with Square One was strong from the very beginning. When I first reached out to Kathryn, the founder, she responded almost immediately and mapped out a tailored, day-by-day, multi-month plan on Square One’s customized online portal (this was on our intro call, before I was even a client!) Her continued involvement until I received my acceptance added clarity and polish at key moments in the process.

While Kathryn was my first interaction at Square One, I had a full team supporting me, which was incredibly helpful and left nothing uncovered. Lara Avsar served as my primary advisor and led the day-to-day of my process, from resumes to essays to interview preparation. Additionally, Wendy focused on my career narrative development, Pat managed logistics and deadlines, and Kathryn provided strategic oversight and a second set of eyes throughout.

More specifically regarding Lara, she was absolutely exceptional, and I would recommend her without hesitation to anyone. She is extremely smart, creative, and genuinely kind, and she consistently challenged me to think more clearly and deeply about how I framed my experiences. This is critical to note – this was not a quick process, as Lara pushed me heavily by challenging assumptions, digging into details, and consequently helping to meaningfully elevate the quality of the narratives I was conveying throughout my application. This was possible for her to do because she, along with the other Square One advisors, take on only a handful of clients (no more than ~5-6) per application cycle. This was highly differentiated relative to what I saw from other advisors I had looked at, and it was what I believe drove a material amount of the value in working with Square One.

Overall, Square One is a unique, high-touch team, and I would strongly recommend them, and specifically Lara Avsar, to anyone serious about applying to competitive MBA programs!

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I started working with Lara a month and a half before the deadlines, while I was still due to write my GMAT.
Lara truly stands out,
- She brought out the best in me
- Held me to a high standard and made me produce work that I was proud of irrespective of the result. She did not give up when I was stubborn about inaccurate points, and work really hard alongside me even when I was being "difficult" in a traditional sense. She is also blazing fast with her responses.
- Open to ideas, being challenged and taking risks together
- Mega helpful for interview prep, I did not use any external consultants for the interview
- Genuinely cares about long-term growth beyond applications. I became a better communicator and more reflective person in the process.
She's amazing, I'd trust her on helping me on topics beyond college apps.

Kelsey worked as a sounding board to us, she is amazing as well!

Square One has a unique but very structured and thought through approach. By the time you end up writing the application you are well prepared for the interview.

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The Square One process was seamless and truly a highly personalized experience. Working with Kathryn and Lara, my advisor, was incredible. I received admission to HBS, my top choice, and three other top schools I applied to, and I know this would not have been possible without their support.

My process began with an initial introductory phone call with Kathryn, followed by a very detailed call with Lara, where she asked thoughtful questions ranging from personal to professional. She genuinely cares about getting to know you. Square One’s process is unique in that they spend the first few weeks deeply fleshing out your career narrative and story. I had initially signed on with another advisor, and we immediately jumped into essays, which felt rushed. Square One understands that full alignment with your story creates the strongest application and ultimately leads to the most authentic interview. As a result of their process, my authenticity was able to truly shine.

Square One also stands out in how they guide you through every step. I had support from Kathryn whenever I had general questions about the business school process and support from Lara for anything related to my resume, essays, and interview preparation. They are intentional about not taking on too many applicants at once, which clearly shows in the level of attentiveness and care. Having worked with another advisor previously, the difference was immediately noticeable. My other advisor was clearly spread too thin.

Most importantly, Square One challenged me. Kathryn and Lara brought out the best in me and were honest when I needed to step up or make changes. That accountability was critical to my success. I received real time feedback and was able to improve my work daily, which directly led to my results. With their support, I was admitted to four top MBA programs, including Harvard, Columbia, Kellogg, and Booth, and received scholarships at some. I am incredibly grateful to Kathryn and Lara and would recommend Square One to anyone!

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Before working with Square One Prep, the MBA admissions process felt confusing and very very intimidating. I had a good profile for an MBA, but I struggled to translate my story to the page and understand how admissions committees would view my background (or how to explain a technical background to an admissions committee.) Square One completely changed that - they helped me develop a clear narrative, improve my essays, and approach the admissions process in a scheduled, paced, and strategic way. Throughout the process, I felt consistently supported, challenged, and guided. My advisor's feedback pushed me to improve and she wouldn't accept anything but my best work. It felt like my advisor and the entire Square One team (you get to work with a whole team of amazing people) truly cared about me and not just my outcome. However, thinking back on the process, I know I would not have achieved the same amazing results without Square One. I would highly recommend them to anyone serious about putting their best possible application forward.

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