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Product mbaMission School Package
Consultant Susan Kaplan
Susan is a fantastic admissions consultant. I can't say enough about her contribution to my applications.
She spends a lot of time upfront clearly laying out her process so that working with her is efficient and methodical. We spent a lot of time brainstorming my story and how it will fit with my target programs. I did not have a safe school and she respected that decision - her goal is to make your application the best it can be for each school you choose. Within the framework of my story, she pushed me to adapt each application to the specific schools to increase the likelihood of success. The application has to be genuine and has to align if/when invited to interview, so she is careful not to draft actual text. She NEVER missed a 48hr turnaround deadline and frequently sent through comments earlier. During crunch periods when I needed things turned around more quickly she took the time to explain what my options were and her availability to accommodate. Her guidance is always clear, helpful, and specific when it needs to be. She must have turned my HBS essay 30+ times and the 4 others 15+.
Applied to 5 schools; Accepted to 4 (HBS, Wharton ($$), Tuck, Kellogg ($$$)), wait-listed at 1. White male in finance.
She is not stressful to work with. She can seem 'tough' at times, but in the best way possible: only because she knows if your application does not yet fully reflect your potential in the context of each school's values. She will insist that the essays can get better and will give you the guidance to help you get there.
Finally, she's on your side. She cares about your success and will be anxious with you when decision are released!
I highly recommend choosing Susan as your admission consultant.
Product mbaMission School Package
Consultant Krista Nannery
When first contemplating an admissions consultant, I was very hesitant as many others probably are due to the cost. I took the jump after my initial consultation with Krista and think it was the best decision in gaining admission to a program that will change my life and well worth the investment.
Krista worked with me in essentially every step of the process except GMAT prep. The three things that benefited me the most were school selection, crafting my story, and her personal interest in my success.
School Selection: Krista and I talked in depth about school selection. She introduced me to a wide selection of schools that she thought would be a good fit for me that I had not considered. Through our conversations, she opened my eyes to how school fit could effect my future career and experience at a school and ultimately helped shape the list of schools I applied to.
Crafting My Story: Coming from a non traditional background, I was at a point in my life to transition to a new career but wasn't exactly sure how I would make the transition. It's important to have your own broad vision but not knowing what you don't know makes it hard to paint a complete picture. Krista's experience really helped fill the gaps in my story and allowed me to better communicate the "where I've been, where I'm at, and where I want to go" story. She also helped to translate the essays we worked on together to fit prompts for other schools that I worked on myself.
Personal Interest: I think the most important part of my relationship with Krista was her personal interest in my success, her professionalism, and dedication to what she does. Krista is deeply passionate about what she does and it shows. She has always returned my documents with corrections early, sometimes same day depending on her workload. She is extremely responsive to email for quick questions and easy to schedule skype calls with to talk about progress throughout the application process.
Having Krista and the resources of mbaMission by your side through your application process is probably the best decision you can make. With Krista's help, I have acceptance letters from two top 10 programs with scholarships. It was truly a pleasure working with Krista this past year and cannot recommend her enough.
Product mbaMission School Package
Consultant Katharine Lewis
At the moment I’m writing this, I’ve just finished and sent my applications for HBS and Wharton R2, it’s still some weeks before interview invitations and a couple of months before final decisions.
Even with that said, I cannot recommend Katy enough. Ever since the free consultation she went further and beyond than what I expected and even experienced with other consultants at their respective free consultations. She was very open with me about my initial GMAT score which was not good enough for the schools I wanted to apply, furthermore given the date where I achieved a “decent” GMAT she was also very clear to me that I wouldn’t be able to land a 1R application and that we should better work towards R2. This very honest and mindful advice was key for me and I’m sure that many other consultants could have tried to seize the opportunity to rush an application and free one more client spot for R2, but not Katy.
So we started working for R2. The very first day of work she sent me all of the material I would need for the whole application process, which proved to be much more challenging and burdensome than what I had anticipated, but Katy helped me to go, firmly, one step at a time, putting attention to all details. During the first sessions she helped me define which schools I had a better chance given my profile (so I changed from Stanford and Berkley to HBS and Wharton…). As I am a Latin-American applicant coming from a family business, the differences in these programs were not very clear to me, so her insights for this initial and crucial part of the process were invaluable. Furthermore, and specially for someone coming from my background she helped me identify how should I present myself to the AdComs, what stories should I bring into my essays, and very very importantly how to choose and coach my recommenders.
Before continuing, I have to address Katy’s amazing skill to help me trim my essays, reducing a lot of clutter and to make them very clear, concise and directed specifically for the programs I had chosen.
Regarding the recommenders, given my background, it was the part of the application that I had the least idea on how to approach. Katy helped me identify my best fits given the stories I shared with them and how the fitted the rest of my application. Furthermore, she was in contact with them and guided them through the daunting recommendation writing process. If you are a Latin-American applicant, coming from a family company or even a regional company, I cannot stress on how important is that someone guides your recommenders during this process, as the very concept of Letter of Recommendation expected by the AdComs is very very different to what is/was in my recommenders heads.
Finally I have to recognize and thank Katy enormously because she went trough the whole process with me being available practically all the time, even despite all the holidays that come just before R2: Labor day, Columbus, Veteran’s, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s… And I didn’t even had to use express services nor anything like that.
Even if I don’t get admitted to any program (I applied with Katy only to HBS and Wharton, because that’s as far as my budget could go, but I applied to 3 other programs on my own) she helped me to give my best shot possible at ALL my application processes, because I learned so much about me and how to go through the application processes in general. I am sure that working with Katy was the best decision I could make, she really pours herself completely to help you; your application matters to her as much as you, as simple as that.
tl;dr: Katy is an amazing consultant, your application matters to her as much as to you. Amazing support. As LatAm applicant from family business background, LoR support was key for me. Tip: book early w/her.
Product mbaMission School Package
Consultant Daniel Richards
Dan was so helpful from the very beginning to the end. During our first call, I was very unsure about the schools I wanted to apply to and whether or not they were the right options for me. He spent a lot of time researching the programs and understanding what I wanted to get out of an MBA to help me narrow down my choices. He also connected me with several students which also helped my decision making process.
During the application process, he spent a lot of time suggesting ideas and helping me rework my essays. There were times I didn't even know where to begin with my essay and he was able to give me suggestions on what to talk about. He was also extremely patient and he always responded to my questions / provided edits for my essay in a very timely manner, making this daunting process a lot easier.
The MBA process is very challenging. Going into the process, I knew that even crafting the perfect application might not guarantee admission into the school I want. But I didn't want to have any regrets and I knew I wanted to take advantage of all the resources that were available to develop a strong application, and with Dan's help I was able to do that.
Happy to say that I got into my top choice and I couldn't have done it with him!!
Product mbaMission School Package
Consultant Harshad Mali
Harshad’s help throughout the whole process was incredible and it was with his help that my application was as strong as it could be. Even though my age is younger than the average age of most MBA students, I was still interviewed by all the schools I applied to and got accepted into a top 10 school. I know I would not have been as successful without his help! His support is very strong and he is extremely good at breaking down and polishing your experiences to create a compelling message for admissions. As I have a technical job, it was through this that we clearly broke down my achievements so they could easily highlight my fortitudes for an MBA. Furthermore, as others have stated his feedback is concise, straight to the point, thorough and insightful. He will make sure your application components are the best they can be and succinctly express your achievements – extremely useful when you want to capture your story in word limited essays! Finally, he always provided feedback in a very timely manner allowing me to submit my applications without any rush. The whole process, from brainstorming for the essays to submitting the applications was definitely made easier by his help! I am extremely grateful for all his support and apart from being great at his job he is also a friendly fun person to work with, making the whole process a lot easier and enjoyable. I have absolutely no doubts about recommending Harshad and am extremely thankful for all his support!
Product mbaMission School Package
Consultant Heidi Wiese Granner
I worked with Heidi during 2018 Round 1 and 2 cycles and came away extremely disappointed with not only the result but also the process. Considering how much time and money I invested into the services, I was unhappy with the level of effort Heidi put into reviewing my materials especially after the first school was done, and also with the level of expertise in managing my expectations as a client. Both of these reasons led me to have to reapply this year and despite Heidi having the audacity to ask if I wanted to pay for more services, I of course declined and was fortunately able to gain acceptance on my own without using any of the materials that we worked on together. I now know that hiring Heidi and mbaMission was a big mistake and I would never recommend them to any future applicants.
Product mbaMission Hourly Services
Consultant Nisha Trivedi
Nisha far exceeded my already high expectations of an mbaMission admissions consultant. Her assistance drastically improved every phase of my applications. She transformed my resume and gave stellar feedback on my essays, focusing equally on the content I included and the way I presented it. She has a remarkable way of pulling insights out of you and making you think critically about the impact you've made on the job and within your extracurricular pursuits.
I held a mock interview with her, which was exceedingly helpful, and when given multiple (yes, MULTIPLE!) scholarship offers to top schools she even helped me to navigate between my acceptances. Her turnaround time is fantastic and she gives incredible advice whenever asked.
Nisha didn't only put me in the best position to succeed with my applications. She taught me how to truly sell myself, a skill that will benefit me even beyond business school. If there's one thing you should do to improve your chances of getting into the school of your dreams, hire Nisha Trivedi.
She's the best!
Product mbaMission School Package
Consultant Jen Kedrowski
Before deciding which admission consultant company to choose, I conducted several free consultations to get a sense for the different approaches and also for the consultants I would be working with later on.
I found it very helpful that Jen, who conducted the initial consultation, was also the actual consultant who helped me create my applications later on - at some other firms the initial consultations were not conducted by the actual consultants. From the beginning I had the feeling that Jen was very knowledgeable and that she provided exactly the advise that I felt I needed. Therefore, I decided to work with her.
This decision turned out to be perfect, as she managed to help me demonstrate my strogest self in my applications. She took several hours in the beginning to understand my background thoroughly which allowed her to probe my application at later stages, as she always hat alternative situations in mind that I could possibly leverage.
I found the process extremely smooth and not stressful at all. Jen was approachable and always replied within the company's turnaround time. Quick questions were answered much faster.
Therefore, I can only recommend Jen to anyone applying to business school. Jen's knowledge, experience and communication style made her the perfect consultant to work with. Her support exceeded my expectations by far.
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Product mbaMission School Package
Consultant Debbie Choy
From the get-go, working with Debbie was a fantastic and seamless experience (and I'm not just saying that because I got into my dream school, HBS, with her guidance). When I started the process early in the summer, I had an extremely vague idea of how to approach my application. I had a rough sense of what type of work I wanted to do post-MBA, but I wasn't sure how I'd draw a direct line between my professional, academic, and life experiences and the amorphous concept of my future career.
From the moment I began working with Debbie, that began to change. During our kick-off call and brainstorming sessions, I began to delve much deeper into the experiences that I've had. I think most people (or at least would like to imagine) aren't predisposed to constantly think about how great they are, or the great things they've done, but the application process requires you to do so. Debbie expertly coaxed these details out of me and helped me construct an application narrative that still felt deeply authentic; she never tried to impose anything on me or my application that felt uncomfortable.
As we continued through the process, Debbie was responsive and respectful, and ultimately guided me through an extremely introspective period of my life. Debbie also helped me prep for my interviews and set me up with her colleague on short notice for school-specific interviews (i.e. HBS). She always felt like a genuine partner who was most interested in my success and, if I had to go through the entire process again, I would do it the exact same way with the exact same counselor. I learned a lot about myself along the way and I'm certain that my experience would have been much different (see: worse) without Debbie's expertise.
Product mbaMission School Package
Consultant Jen Kedrowski
Background on me: White, male, finance, small school (GPA 3.9 / GMAT: 680 / 5 years of experience upon matriculation). Pre-MBA I worked at a relatively unknown firm. So all in all, I felt like I had a somewhat weak profile compared to the whole of the applicant pool.
I knew that I would need to use an admissions consultant to differentiate my self from a competitive applicant pool. I spoke to a few consultants and told them my background. However, Jen truly stood out because she generally understood my background and on a free consultation helped me start to craft my story. She seemed to be generally enthusiastic about the process too. Ultimately I signed up for the complete package.
Working with Jen helped me tremendously throughout the entire challenging process.
Jen helped me tremendously when finding and developing my story - taking what I said/wrote and crafting it into a coherent story. Jen's main strength is her story telling ability. She has a unique talent of transforming somewhat incoherent details into a compelling narrative. She helped me uncover both personal and professional stories that I had forgotten/didn't think were relevant and helped me make them come to life. I believe that my applications were sent in with a clear cohesive story that helped me stand out as a unique candidate. Also, the mock interview prep was thorough and very helpful. And most importantly, I felt that she was truly invested in my success. We were a team and by the end of the process, I felt that we had built a strong professional relationship. She was one of the first people I notified when I got into my top choice and I could tell that she was genuinely thrilled for me. That meant a lot. I couldn’t have done it without you, Jen!
While certainly not a cheap investment, it has paid itself back tenfold.