GMAT Club

Sharon Joyce Reviews

Company: Fortuna Admissions

With over 25 years of experience in admissions and student affairs, Sharon is a seasoned professional in higher education who has been lauded for her innovative approaches in streamlining interview processes at multiple institutions and her efforts to create inclusive communities in graduate education. At UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, she served as the Associate Director of Admissions for the full-time program MBA program, while also collaborating on the overall strategic plan for Haas admissions as a member of the Senior Management team. While at Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business, she contributed to the success of the MBA program in a role that encompassed admissions and career services. Sharon received her BA from Chatham University and holds a doctoral degree in Administrative and Policy Studies in Higher Education from the University of Pittsburgh; her doctoral research was focused on first-generation college students and their rise into graduate programs. Sharon is also a Certified Coach in CliftonStrengths, and specializes in early stage planning with many of our Fortuna clients.

5.0 /5 Average Rating
Based on 68 reviews
January 08, 2023
mbs97

Joined: Jan 01, 2023

Posts: 0

Kudos: 0

Verified GMAT Classic score:
720 Q44 V45

Highly recommend working with Sharon Joyce!

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I could not recommend working with Sharon Joyce more highly! I purchased a 1-school package and then added on hourly essay reviews as needed. With Sharon’s support, I was admitted to Wharton, CBS, Dartmouth Tuck (with scholarship), Yale SOM (with scholarship), Duke Fuqua (with scholarship), UVA Darden (with scholarship), and NYU Stern (with scholarship).

Sharon helped me with the lift of applying to 8 schools R1. In addition to helping me get acceptances at 7/8 of these schools, Sharon made me feel supported throughout the entire admissions process. I was particularly impressed with how she took the time to get to know me as a person outside of my career journey alone. It meant a lot to me that she remembered what I shared and later brought up these points as I was crafting essays or preparing interview answers. This made me feel she was truly invested in my success.

In our first few meetings, Sharon helped me think strategically about how to position my story. During this phase, she shared exercises to think about my strengths and brainstorm what career environments would be most appealing to me (ex: more established firm vs. startup, etc). This foundational work became the basis for my application and paid dividends throughout the entire process.

Beyond the initial application crafting, Sharon eliminated a lot of stress by helping me engage with my recommenders most effectively, craft the most impactful essays I could, and prepare for interviews. She gave me a lot of tips I could not have found anywhere online, which removed anxiety from each milestone in the application journey.

I would recommend Sharon to anyone applying to top MBA programs for not only her expertise, but also for her kindness, empathy, and dedication to what she does. You can’t go wrong working with Sharon!

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December 22, 2022
nnnnnnnnnnn

Joined: Dec 21, 2022

Posts: 0

Kudos: 0

Dream Acceptances thanks to Sharon's guidance and encouragement!

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Working with Sharon made applying for B-School an absolute breeze. I knew that this would be a big task to take on, on top of a busy work schedule. I was also applying to a good amount of reach schools - so I knew I wanted to do the process right! Sharon made it so easy - I knew what I needed to complete each week and breaking down the process into these bite-sized pieces made the process much more manageable. Sharon helped me with the monumental task of applying to 5 schools R1. We had a few brainstorming sessions, then jumped into essay drafting and revising. It felt easy to get my ideas down and refine them after we had the brainstorming sessions and I complete Fortuna's assessments. Sharon's use of the Gallup profile is also very helpful in the process. Then she helped me with the form submissions and refining my online presence. After submissions, Sharon helped me prepare for each one of my interviews with a recorded mock which really helped me nail my interviews.

I got admission offers to 4/5 schools, most with a substantial scholarship. (Duke Fuqua w/ scholarship, Michigan Ross w/ scholarship, UCLA Anderson w/ scholarship, Northwestern Kellogg)

The most important is an offer from my DREAM school Kellogg. I truly did not even consider applying to Kellogg until Sharon suggested it, I never thought I would get in and was expecting a waitlist decision at best. I'm thrilled at the outcome of an R1 admit here and would work with Sharon again in a heartbeat! You can't go wrong!

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December 16, 2022
jr2194

Joined: May 08, 2021

Posts: 0

Kudos: 0

Verified GMAT Classic score:
730 Q47 V42 (Online)

Sharon and Fortuna were absolutely amazing - highly recommend!!

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Sharon, and Fortuna, were an absolute joy to work with and I highly recommend Sharon to anyone applying to MBA programs. From day one, it was abundantly clear that Sharon was an expert on the MBA application process and immediately relieved the stress I had about the process. She helped me narrow my list of schools, develop speaking points about my past experience and strengths, craft my essays, prepare for interviews and everything in between! I cannot emphasize enough the level of detail and personal attention that Sharon spends on each of her clients. We reviewed every part of the application in detail as Sharon knows that every word makes a difference. Sharon made the process so easy for me and I would not have achieved my goals without her help. From the outset, my main criteria for my MBA was receiving a scholarship. With Sharon's help, I was able to achieve this goal. Sharon helped me get admitted to Cornell Johnson (with scholarship), UCLA Anderson (with scholarship), and UVA Darden. I truly cannot speak highly enough of Sharon and everything she did for me! If you are looking for an Admissions Coach to get you into your dream school, look no further!

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December 15, 2022
jle04

Joined: Oct 10, 2017

Posts: 6

Kudos: 3

Self-reported Score:
680

Sharon Joyce is THE BEST COACH EVER!

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Sharon is the best coach that I can ever ask for! I believe that without her guidance, I would not have gotten into the schools that I applied to (Haas/Anderson). It’s been a pleasure working with her. Sharon is thorough, down to earth, and very knowledgeable. She made herself available constantly, answering all my questions and addressing my concerns. She set the timeline and developed a plan so we could have everything done before the application deadline, easing the stress throughout this process. I really appreciate that she took her time to understand my background/stories and helped me incorporate those into my essays. Sharon went above and beyond, helping me to know the real me and highlight the areas that would make me stand out as a candidate. I can’t thank her enough for what she has done for me! Amazing coach!!!!

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July 06, 2022
asingh04

Joined: Aug 22, 2018

Posts: 0

Kudos: 0

I happened to connect with Sharon through Fortuna Admissions. Sharon has been extremely insightful while reviewing my credentials and my life story. She gave my application a unique perspective and a highly personal touch. The best part of working with Sharon was that she is very detail-oriented and laid stress on the impact every single word would have on my application. She has a lot of experience consulting and helped highlight aspects that could bring out the best in my profile, increasing the admission chances. She pushed me at times to delve deeper into my life experiences and think from an alternate perspective, bringing out more examples to aid my application. I, without a doubt, highly recommend her for the MBA admission process.!

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May 22, 2022
KLMTEAM

Joined: May 13, 2020

Posts: 0

Kudos: 0

The Best MBA Coach!!

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I cannot express enough how fortunate I was to consult with Sharon as I navigated the MBA application process. Sharon has a vast wealth of knowledge and experience to leverage, and her insights were always incredibly helpful whether it was regarding my essays, letters of rec, or resume. In addition, Sharon was wonderful in terms of flexibility and ability to help me build out a plan of attack for my applications. Further, Sharon really took her time in getting to know me and my goals so that she could help craft the best application and what school would be the right fit for me. By the end of the whole process, I got into both of my target schools (Anderson and Haas)! I truly don't know how I could have gotten through everything without her. I highly recommend to anyone who wants help with any part of their MBA application!

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May 16, 2022
semery

Joined: May 16, 2022

Posts: 0

Kudos: 0

Verified GMAT Classic score:
730 Q47 V44

The best MBA application partner out there!

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I cannot say enough good things about Sharon and the Fortuna team. She has an awesome wealth of knowledge about the process and did a fantastic job articulating what each school individually was looking for at every step of my applications. What really stood out to me about Sharon is the time and effort she dedicated to getting to know me on a personal level, which made the whole process feel really personalized and genuine to me and my goals, values and strengths. She (and the whole Fortuna team) went above and beyond - whether it was bringing in different experts from Fortuna to give me feedback or spending 2.5 hours on a Friday night to talk through an essay, she really pushed me to put out the best, most creative applications I could. I ended up with multiple scholarship offers from T15 schools - I cannot recommend Sharon and Fortuna enough!

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April 21, 2022
nkpng2k

Joined: Apr 21, 2022

Posts: 0

Kudos: 0

Verified GMAT Classic score:
710 Q45 V41

Sharon Joyce Is Fantastic

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Sharon Joyce is an excellent coach. I believe I would not have even had the number of interviews I received if not for her guidance, let alone acceptance at CMU Tepper and Alliance Manchester Business School. She listens very well and provides informed and accurate advice. What impressed me the most was that she took the time to get to know me as a person and incorporate that information into her guidance during essay writing and interview prep. Sharon did what I’d expect most coaches to do:
– review my essays, LinkedIn profile, and resume
– set a clear timeline for each step in the process
– help with interview preparations
BUT it was the extra steps that she took that make her such a good coach.

She not only helped by providing guidance about how to leverage my experiences to create a unique and intriguing story for the applications, but she also pushed me to reevaluate myself and my experiences in order to get down to the “who”, “what”, and “why”. Helping me to understand my own motivations for applying to an MBA program in the first place not only helped me craft better essays and interview responses, but motivated me to truly apply myself to the application process.

Overall, Sharon was supportive, positive, and someone I enjoyed working with. She has all the knowledge and experience of the MBA admissions process to help an applicant be successful, AND the ability to translate that knowledge to the applicant in such a way as to allow them to best showcase themselves to the schools they are applying to.

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April 09, 2022
sattar138

Joined: Jul 02, 2020

Posts: 0

Kudos: 0

Highly recommend Sharon Joyce from Fortuna!!!

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Sharon is an excellent coach. Without her guidance, I would not get into Berkeley Haas. I am grateful for her guidance during my application process. She is very friendly, easy to communicate with, and has excellent leadership qualities. She spent a significant amount of time with me on Zoom, phone, or email. In addition, she reviewed my application diligently in each section, like supplementary information, resume, essays, and interview.
Some of the actions that she took that made a difference in my application:
- She listened to my stories and reviewed my resume, LinkedIn profile, and draft essays.
- She provided strategy action steps with a specific timeline
- Her approach provided accountability for me to stick with the timeline.
After learning about my life experience, Sharon guided me to write my essays with a unique vision and objective. With her suggestions, I identified a few weak points in my essays. In addition, she helped me identify a few of my life stories to write as storytelling, which would appeal to admission committees. Finally, being from an overrepresenting engineer category, I wanted to distinguish myself from the pool of similar applicants; Sharon's suggestions helped me do that.

She also helped me immensely with interview preparation:
She delved into each possible question and spent a lot of time preparing for an answer, and then we did a dry run.
She pointed out a few weak points in my responses, such as my voice, pronunciation, and filer words.
She asked me to practice, practice and practice.

I had a fantastic experience with her, and I strongly recommend her to other applicants who want to get an excellent return for the bucks that
you would pend with a consultant.

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March 31, 2022
souryamukherjee

Joined: Sep 11, 2020

Posts: 3

Kudos: 1

Verified GMAT Classic score:
730 Q50 V40 (Online)

The ever-supportive coach 'Sharon'

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This is Sourya Mukherjee from India. I worked with Sharon my MBA applications to a few schools this year. I had a great experience and have received offers from the Kellogg MBAi program, and full-time MBA programs at Haas, Ross and Tepper.

It was great working with Sharon. I felt that her understanding of what the schools are looking for was extremely thorough. This was escpecially relevant for my reapplicant essays to Haas, Kellogg and the MBAi essay at Kellogg. We started out by doing an online evaluation that helped me identify my key strengths, which formed the foundation for a lot of my essays. We then worked on strategies on how to highlight growth and development in reapplicant essays.

The process was very smooth and Sharon made me feel extremely comfortable. She gave me the confidence to truly express the creative side of me (as a musician) and I feel that made my essays and application very genuine and unique. I'm really thankful to her for this. Although we had an 8-hour package, which was exhausted pre-application, she continued supporting me post-admit as well, helping me secure a $40K scholarship at Tepper.

Overall, I had a great experience and would highly recommend Sharon and Fortuna Admissions!

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