The MBA application process is a grueling and stressful one, it is important to work with a consultant who not only helps you write great essays and put forward a competitive application but also one who helps you believe in yourself – SOP does just that!

Before speaking to Kathryn, I interacted with multiple consultants and the interactions made me feel stressed and underwhelmed. On our very first call, Kathryn spent nearly one hour getting to know me, my professional background, my requirements and posed thoughtful questions. This aspect was something that wasn’t done by any other consultant. Most importantly, Kathryn helped me see my strengths and persuaded me to apply to colleges I couldn’t have dreamed of! I eventually received an admit from a top program with a great scholarship!

During the process, the school selection with Kathryn was a highly comprehensive discussion with well-planned timelines. The mix of colleges Kathryn helped pick suited my needs yet pushed me to get out of my comfort zone.

For the career narrative, it was a pleasure working with Wendy, who helped me craft a compelling career narrative and helped me drill down my short-term and long-term goals with utmost clarity.

My advisor Lara was brilliant – she constantly challenged me to help bring out the best in my essays and provided clear, actionable feedback every step of the way. I couldn’t have imagined writing such strong essays without SOP’s help. The interview prep session with Lara was extremely fun and helpful. I am certain without the great interview prep session with Lara, my actual interview would not have been as impactful as it turned out to be (after receiving an admit, my interviewer actually emailed me telling me how remarkable and memorable my interview was).

Even after submitting the applications and receiving an admit, Kathryn and Lara have been extremely supportive and are available to provide realistic advice and encouragement every step of the way.

I would strongly recommend SOP to any MBA applicant (in fact, I’ve already recommended them to several friends)!

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I'm glad I chose Square One Prep for business school applications! From the start, I enjoyed Kathryn's honesty in our consultation. Coming from a background with no experience & connection to business school, I wanted a team that would be honest about my chances and how I could improve my application. Before we started on application work, Lara and I did a very comprehensive review of my experiences & resume, pulling out themes that we eventually used for the essays. We also worked with a career narrative expert, which I thought was super helpful--I always had an idea of what I wanted to do in the future, but found it difficult to put into words. The career narrative work prepared me well for that. Then, when we started work on the essays, Lara was a great thought partner. I am glad she focused most of her time on the themes and messages within the essays and not the superficial grammar & punctuation errors (although she caught and fixed those as well). For example, Lara was not afraid to tell me to toss out the entire essay and start over when I was not properly answering the prompt. Lara and Kathryn's support was integral to my acceptance to my dream business school!

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After interviewing several MBA Admissions Consultants, I finally decided I like the unique and differentiated approach from Square One Prep. From the outset, I liked their multi-person approach to consultancy, and they delivered. After an initial call with Kathryn, I met with Lara who I knew immediately would help me best understand my story and show it to ad-coms. Applying during an ultra-busy period of work, Lara and Square One Prep helped me stay organized and on top of my deliverables. Needless to say, I couldn't have done it without them. I applied to six schools and received interviews at five of them. I was waitlisted at three of them, and I was accepted to two of them (with scholarships). They did a fantastic job and could not recommend them any more highly.

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I would highly recommend Square One Prep to anyone applying to business school! By the time I went to submit my applications, I had no doubt in my mind I was putting forth the best version of my application I could. The entire team at SOP is extremely thorough and thoughtful and does not leave any stone unturned throughout the review process. They really gave me great peace of mind from start to finish. I initially came to SOP because I had a lower quant score and they were able to help me position all of my materials in a way to showcase my quantitative strengths throughout other facets of my application. I ended up getting into both top ranked part time MBA programs I applied to and could not have done it without SOP!

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I'll start with results - with good work experience, decent academics, great GMAT score, and non-existent extracurriculars, I was denied from 2 of HSW, waitlisted at 1 T10, and admitted to 1 M7, where I'll be matriculating in the fall!

I talked to 5 consultants on intro calls before picking SOP, and as many have noted, Kathryn blows them all out of the water. She spent over an hour with me assuaging my concerns, helping me pull out of a spiral with all that goes into the MBA process, and gave candid feedback that I was taking a high risk approach, but not one that was impossible to achieve (which looks prescient given my results!)

The consultant selection process was somewhat frustrating for me, so I'll try to save you some time - the massive advisors were pretty clearly not as invested in my success after putting the deposit down, while the small advisors seemed pretty disorganized. I narrowed to the more mid-sized providers of Veritas, Fortuna, and Square One Prep, but the differentiator for me was the specificity of SOP on how much time they will spend with you – and I think they actually may have underestimated that amount of time. This was never self-driven either – if an essay or career narrative wasn’t complete, we set up another call or another review. Lara, my day-to-day advisor, pushed me where I needed more help (essays and career narrative), while not wasting time where I was already relatively well prepared (resume and interview). She was equal parts taskmaster and champion, which made getting to the end of a difficult essay particularly rewarding.

Other Pros:
• Access to Founder – Kathryn read every essay I sent through to SOP and participated on every career narrative call. I’m honestly not sure how she finds the time
• Organization – Bailey really kept me on track and scheduled, which for someone that also has a busy work life was vital for staying focused. She actually created a proposed schedule for me while I was still deciding what consultant to go with as well

Cons:
• Costs – SOP is just more expensive than some of the other options out there. I personally think they do more with you relative to other consultants and make it worth it, but that’s a personal choice I was okay with.
• Career Narrative – I was encouraged to look at traditional post-MBA roles for my career narrative given my background. It’s impossible to know without the counterfactual, but I think I may have been more successful at getting an interview for some of my target schools if I had adjusted my career narrative toward something that would have more real-world impact, particularly for Stanford.

Overall, would definitely use SOP again, and have already sent a few friends their way!

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Square One Prep came highly recommended to me from a friend who had also worked with Kathryn and team in the past. I wasn't sure where to get started with the business school application process, and Kathryn helped me understand what to expect and to prepare during our free consultation call. I was really impressed by Lara, Kathryn, Luis, and team on the dedication to help present my best self in my application. In 8 weeks, they helped me through resume-crafting, career narrative strategy, essay writing, interview prep, and more. I ended up getting admitted into both HBS and Stanford GSB, all thanks to Square One Prep!

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As was everyone else, I was faced with the decision of choosing my admissions consultant (or not!), which I feel dictates much of how one navigates the admissions process. I learnt about Square One from my cousin (who, btw, also enthusiastically recommends SOP!) and was curious to understand what Square One does differently.

Prior to my conversation with Kathryn, I had already spoken to several other consultants I was considering, and was almost frustrated with the industry and very unsure of whom I wanted to work with (at all?!). My first conversation with Kathryn, however, changed everything! Halfway into our discussion, I knew I would work with SOP. While most firms tried to pitch themselves frantically and paid little heed to my interests, Kathryn took ample time on our first call (really, our conversation went WELL over what we initially planned!) and focussed on getting to know me better and understand what I was looking for. She explained how it was important that I differentiate myself in the applicant pool and highlight my strengths. At the end of our conversation, I had a clear sense of what to expect and how SOP would help me.

And, SOP delivered more than they promised! The daunting admissions process didn’t seem as intimidating anymore, thanks to their meticulously structured approach. Kathryn and Luis helped me build a strong career narrative by asking me questions that led me to consider potential career paths and set ambitious goals that I’m truly passionate about. I wouldn’t have been as driven and composed through the process if it weren’t for Lara, my consultant, who was an absolute pleasure to work with! From the multiple essay revisions to countless questions on interview preparation, Lara inspired me to give it my best shot and was truly invested in my success as both a mentor and friend. The whole SOP team works so cohesively - Lara guided me at every step through the way, and Bailey held me accountable to my timelines, without which I doubt I would have functioned at my fullest ability at a comfortable pace. And, at every stage, I could visually track my timeline and progress on the several components of my application - right from my resume, all the way to the leadership review of my final essay - on their online portal (which was immensely helpful for me!).

In the end, our efforts paid off and I made it into my top choice school, with a scholarship!! I’m glad I got to work with SOP and had much to take from this experience. What would have otherwise been a stressful process, ended up being a thoroughly planned, meticulously structured and well executed pursuit.
If you are at Square One, you’ve already taken one step in the right direction! Rest assured you’ll get all the guidance and support you need!

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I spoke to several admission consultants before signing up with one and chose to go with Square One. Kathryn spent more time than the stipulated 30 mins, and didnt spend a single minute hardselling her firm or badmouthing the competition, but rather understanding me as a person and my motivations / story. She actually asked me hard questions to rethink the reason for doing an MBA, and I only signed up some 6 months later when I was more informed of the path I was choosing.

I worked closely with Lara Avsar, and it was an absolute pleasure working with her. We hit it off from the first call itself, because of some common elements in our backgrounds and experiences. Lara took time to thrash out the story with me, and often pulled out elements that I would’ve downplayed or overlooked. She did a great job pushing me to think deeper and also meeting deadlines, in order to get the essays out on time. We did the application set for 4 schools in 4-5 weeks and I couldn’t have asked for a better partner to have worked within such tight deadlines. Interview prep was also very useful since Lara pointed out very specific areas of improvement before my final interview.

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When I was looking for an MBA admissions consultant, I set up multiple successive intro calls so I could do my due diligence before making my decision. Kathryn from Square One was my first call but before the conversation was over, I'd already made up my mind to work with her and her company. She was kind, considerate, let me ramble on about my uncomfortable life story (taking up MUCH longer than the free 30 min consultation!). But she took the time to understand me and my objectives, and was very honest about my chances of getting in given my unique context . I emailed the other consultancies as soon as I hung up and told them I’d be happy to keep the appointment but in order to be respectful of their time, I wanted to let them know that I'd almost surely decided to work with someone else and it would be hard to change my mind. They all kept the calls, and to be honest, all of them were fantastic and gave great insight so would have been a no-brainer had I not already met Kathryn. But I had already met her and she’d set the bar far too high for them to pass it!

Choosing Square One Prep was the best decision I made. You're a person to them, not a number. They know you, they know your story, they will challenge you and push you to be a better version of yourself and to present a better version of yourself that authentically represents who you are to the adcoms.

Anxiety is a huge part of this process and Kathryn appeased my anxiety about the process from that first call. Her entire team is phenomenall - I once had a stressful morning when I learned of some info that may affect my chances of being considered at some of the schools I was applying to given my unique context. Bailey (the amazing Chief of Staff) ) emailed me right away to let me know that she would spend the morning PERSONALLY CALLING each of my ~10 potential target schools to discuss the situation and clarify. So II went into my morning meetings reassured that she was on top of it and came out a few hours later with a vert clear answer and path forward. This isn't really part of any package, but just an example of how Square One will go above and beyond to make this process as easy as possible for you!

And after choosing SOP, I suggest LISTENING to their advice them~ Kathryn tried to warn me about some of the mistakes she could see me about to make, but I thought I could push myself, as I’d always had, and could do it all anyway. But I had an incredibly stressful job that was unsupportive of my application to B-school and my optimistic plans were prone to chaos, as they always are - things can go wrong, stress increases your propensity to sickness, sacrificing sleep = sacrificing quality of output, etc. All culminated to an incredibly stressful time where I had to deal with a full time job, made sure my personal life didn’t implode and finish the MANY things required to finish a stellar application. But once again, Square One Prep was there for me every step of the way.

Another piece of advice - start engaging with them early! It may seem like you'll only need a few months but the truth is, the more you build in time to reflect and introspect, the better things will be. Some of the essays are quite personal and if you need to reflect on challenging and difficult times in your life and how they’ve shaped yo, it can be psychologically exhausting and emotional experience that will further exacerbate the stress. But having the fantastic Square One team by my side, ready to answer any question, ready to appease my anxiety, encouraging me and supporting me every step of the way, made ALL the difference!

Tl, Dr: Square One Prep is your personalized coach, buddy, confidante, mentor. I knew exactly what I needed to do and when, they were with me through every step of the way, they challenged me to write better and think deeper, and they were there to check it twice. If you have no idea where to start or you think you know exactly what you need to do, you need Square One. You have no idea how hard this process is going to be, but THEY do and they will guide you and support you every step of the way!

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My process was a bit different. After unsuccessful applications in Round 1, I knew it was time to switch consultants - I must have interviewed over a dozen but Kathryn and the team at Square One prep stood out like no other. The first conversation with Kathryn was revelatory - from the length and the content of the discussion, it was obvious that Square One was invested in my success. This was a really refreshing change!

I was so impressed that I selected Square one prep even before learning of their program for candidates in need of financial support. As someone from a development background, I was so grateful when I found out that Square one offers a discount to candidates in low income brackets.

Working with Kathryn, Lara (my consultant), Wendy (my career advice expert) and the rest of the team was an incredible experience. I’d worked with a consultant before but Square one was clearly miles ahead and helped me transform my narrative, my essays and my resume! The level of responsiveness combined with the in-depth knowledge on the admissions process Square One brings to the table is truly unmatched.

With Square One’s help, I’m happy to report I was accepted into three schools of my choice (one on a full scholarship!) and now face the difficult but fortunate situation of deciding. I had a 100% acceptance rate in Round 2 of my MBA applications and I couldn’t have done it without Kathryn and her team!

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