I wanted to attend the NYU Stern Part-Time program for Fall 2017; unfortunately, I was facing a major hurdle a low undergraduate GPA. I reached out to MBAMission and after reading the GMATClub reviews I decided that I wanted Katherine (Katy) Lewis to help me with my MBA application. Katy had glowing reviews, helped individuals with low undergraduate GPAs before, and was located on the west coast, which I felt made working with her outside of my working hours much easier.

Katy was extremely helpful throughout the process, she was very responsive and never missed the turn-around windows. We started off with a brainstorming questionnaire, to help craft the themes of my essays and was very perceptive, she was able to identify things about my background that I had never thought of before which made for very effective essay topics that highlighted the uniqueness of my candidacy. She was also able to help me analyze my undergraduate transcripts to identify patterns that laid the groundwork on how to address my GPA issue. With her help I was able to craft amazing essays, a powerful resume, and an impactful set of application answers that resulted in my acceptance into the NYU part-time program.

I would highly recommend Katy, who was amazing to work with, easy to talk to, insightful, and is very familiar with the nature of part-time programs and its students, and especially of how they compare to full-time programs and students. I would not have been able to gain admission to NYU without her, and when I told her the great news, and she was as thrilled as I was! She was helpful even after I was accepted and her job was done, by sending me resources and information that would help me finance my MBA.

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I have wanted to go to Harvard since I was 10 years old. Katy Lewis helped me make that dream come true.

I work at a private equity megafund in New York. A lot of people here didn’t use consultants because applying from a bigger PE firm is usually a fairly routine process. I decided to go with a consultant because my view was that if anything, it certainly couldn’t hurt. I was very happy I did; results speak for themselves - I got into HBS, my top rated school.

Hiring a consultant is expensive; I began interviewing consultants in November before the application year. After speaking multiple times to about 30 different people over a 3-4 month period, I decided that it was Katy I wanted to go with. She came with stellar recommendations and I had some very positive experiences with her before we were even under contract. I had some questions around GMAT score sufficiency and re-taking, around structuring my application process, as well as some random other items that came up every now and then – I would always shoot Katy a note and she’d always answer immediately or be available to discuss on the phone, without me having mentioned anything about wanting to go with her for sure. You could say that she was putting on her best face since she was trying to get hired by me, but I assure you Katy doesn’t need to worry about being hired. It is March now and I’m trying to have my friends who are applying round I this year work with Katy, but Katy already is hopelessly booked out for Round I! Booked out in March – way before a lot of people are even starting to think about the process. So, I truly believe that when Katy spent all that time helping me with no contract, it wasn’t some marketing plot, it was just generally her being the phenomenal and kind and caring person she is. If you’re going to share the most intimate details of your life with someone, knowing that they have a good heart (which usually tends to be accompanied with people being respectful and discreet!) is important.

I tend to be ruthless and while I appreciated Katy being a mentor and a coach who calmed me down at every point in the process, I would often shut down any supporting sentiments from her end (even though I’m sure they were well intended) to get straight down to business. My view was that her job was to tell me where I was lacking, and I wanted to work in a quick and efficient manner. Katy took very well to that desired style of mine; while I could tell that she tends to be very much of a cheerleader and someone who would act as a powerful encourager to people lacking confidence etc., she worked with me in a very financy-private equity style, completely cutting all the bullshit and just helping me produce great work in the most efficient manner possible. (at the same time, if I would have weak moments, like right after my interview, she would always be there for me with open arms and an open heart, I felt she believed in me at every point in the process even at points when I had given up belief in myself, and I felt I could always come to her – while I didn’t need this much it was nice to know it was there, unconditionally, always)

There’s a few very concrete items I want to call out were Katy decisively impacted my process:

• Initial brainstorm and continued work through the essay: a lot of people have mentioned this, but Katy has an unbelievable ability to draw a red thread through someone’s life and come up with that story to tell. I had my bits and pieces, but she provided the glue that fit it all together. She was the one who created one holistic, beautiful mosaic out of the different pieces of my life. I ended up absolutely loving my essay and simply writing it was a transformational journey. Katy has a beautiful ability to work with all the information you give to her and then arrange it in a logical manner, draw themes, etc. this had as a result that everything on paper is all mine, it’s all from deep within me, it’s my own work – but it is arranged in a logical manner, a coherent story, a story that people can follow – rather than the mess in my head. Please note by that I actually do a lot of writing in my spare time, have studied a lot of literature and consider myself very adept at language – what Katy brings is a whole different level. It’s not so much about being a good writer I think as it is her ability to understand what admissions wants to see, what you bring and what’s important to you to express, and how it can all be aligned

• Recommenders: Katy encouraged me to contact one recommender she felt strongly would be great to have. I would never have approached that person because I thought that there was a 50-50 shot that he would either write something great or meh, and I thought it was much too risky. Katy helped me put together a reach-out email that in a very diplomatically correct and polite yet effective manner asked for the recommendation and would also help crystallize right away whether the recommender would write the sort of stuff we would want him to write. Turns out the recommender was one of my biggest fans and my fears were completely ungrounded. He wrote an absolutely stellar rec. Had Katy not insisted I ask him, I would have never gotten that rec from him, and stuck to a much safer but probably less standout choice. Katy also helped me navigate another politically a bit tricky situation of getting a third person to volunteer to contact the university on my behalf and act as an informal recommender, without me actually ever asking that person to do so. Katy literally gave me instructions on how to just call that mentor person, have the catch-up conversation, mention HBS, and “wait for the recommender to offer.” Would never have thought this would work, but it did. I could barely believe it. I am convinced that it’s not just dumb luck this worked the way it did, but rather Katy helped me set it up the right way

• Reflection: HBS makes you write another essay within 24 hours of interview. Cruel. Looking back the thing that I had written initially was horrible. Katy helped me “see the light.” I need to be careful what I write, because if HBS somehow traces this back to me I don’t want them to withdraw my offer ;) but let it just be said Katy shaped this one decisively. Note she doesn’t obviously actually write anything for you (and there was a moment when I was really upset when at 1 in the morning after I had just landed back from Boston and the thing was due at 11am, she told me what I had written was bad, needed to be redone, and oh by the way she wasn’t going to line edit or give me specific detail since that was “against the rules” .. but she then in an incredibly practical and helpful way conveyed to me the sort of spirit this thing needs to be written in, and then offered to set her alarm for 4.30am (I could request any time I wanted) to do another turn). I literally went from feeling terrible about my interview, to in a confident and upbeat manner addressing everything in my reflection, to then as a result feeling pretty confident about my admission. ALL thanks to Katy.

In summary, I really cannot commend her enough, and I feel so fortunate to have gotten the chance to work with her. My only advice is book her early!!

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Being a second year applicant, I had already laid down my strategy and noted down my weak parts on the application. So, knowing that I needed work on my interview skills, I went on searching for an admission consultant. The search ended very quickly as just after I spoke with Katharine on the free 30-minute, I knew that she is the one I needed. And indeed I was right as she helped me a great deal and I had an amazing learning experience.

To start, Katharine consulted me for about 1 hour for free in the free 30 minute consultation. She, didn't just provide me the best consultation ever over that hour, but she also helped me out connect with people that can help me strengthen the application. This worked quite well for me as I got to connect with people from my country who have gone to schools that I was aiming at going at. And all this was even before I hired her. :)

Two months later, right after I got my first interview invite, I purchased Mock Interview Service with Katharine. The day I purchased it, she sent me a lot of materials to read about the interview, studied my application in detail and provided with ideas on how to construct my interview. She was great at identifying what might be considered as weak on my application and at what I should emphasize in the interview. After that I went on to sit on that and then did a introductory mock up interview that lasted well over 1 hour. Besides consulting me over the phone, she also took notes with feedback on improvement and sent them to me. The notes and feedback was just amazing. I studied them and prepared a schokingly great second mock up interview. I was amazed at how well I answered the many questions we practiced together. I became very confident on the things I was saying and loved the way I answered them. This turned out just great as she did not just help me out rock in one interview, but in all the others I received an invite on.

Aside from the mock up interview, Katharine also connected me with an amazing current student of the school I had to interview on. The current student met with me and gave me very valuable insight and information that were useful in the interview. He was a previous client of her.

Katharine, while not obliged to do it, she helped me out with the pre interview essay, the thank you note and finally with results and decisions well after the interview.

I highly recommend Katharine for the services she offers especially the mock up interview service as she indeed helped me truly get very confident on the interviews and got out of her way to help me out in all the steps. The best experience ever.

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Working with Kate during the MBA application process was nothing short of a fantastic experience! I signed up for a complete start-to-finish package with her, and would highly recommend it. From brainstorming, to essay writing, to mock interviews, Kate was with me every step of the way, and she made the journey so much less stressful.

When I first spoke with Kate, I knew I had the grades, the test scores and the work experience for my top choice MBA program, but I had no idea how I was going to “tell my story”. The mbaMission Brainstorming guide and my 90-minute session with Kate really helped me reflect on experiences that shaped my education and career so far. Kate had this incredible way of helping me connect stories and experiences from my past to my future goals, and before I knew it, I had already outlines for all of my essays.

I usually dread essay writing, but with Kate, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Her suggestions were always so useful - she constantly probed me to dig deeper and explain “why” a program was right for me, or “why” an experience from my work was relevant. Additionally, I felt so much more prepared for my real interview once Kate completed a mock interview with me. She certainly helped calm my nerves and gave me constructive feedback that I could apply when the real interview rolled around.

I am so grateful to Kate for helping me turn my MBA dream into reality! She was an amazing support system and I would encourage future applicants reading this to choose to work with her too.

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For starters, a bit about myself - I was a re-applicant this year. Last year, I worked on my MBA applications for two weeks (yes, I was clearly not very serious) and only applied to two schools - Yale and Ross - eventually getting interviews from both but not getting through at either school. This year, I was more prepared and I worked on Round 1 applications with Krista Nannery for two schools (CBS, Wharton) and was admitted to CBS. I wanted to share some thoughts on my experience with Krista.
 
In short, Krista was absolutely amazing but I would be remiss if I didn't tell you what really made her stand out for me:
 
1. Krista was extremely structured and clearly knew what she was doing:
• Resume structure: Being an Indian male consultant at a Big 4, I felt my resume was strong but also very generic. That was before it received Krista's Midas touch. Krista had a very structured format that separated my client work from my internal projects and helped each of them shine in their own light. It was brilliant to see how easily she understood exactly what I was trying to communicate through my bullets, and enhanced them to significantly heighten their impact. I've genuinely never felt better about my resume than I did after working with Krista through it. We did three drafts of it in 5 days and it was the first "deliverable" we knocked out.
• Essay Structure: After reading my introductory document, Krista knew exactly which stories we should convey in the essays and came prepared to our brainstorming call. She not only had a clear view of the overall essay flow but she had even planned out the first and last sentence of each paragraph! She was always very clear in her instructions and laid out exactly what she needed from me well in advance so we never had to rush to meet our timelines. Krista really helped me bring out my personality and character in my essays, especially in two essays I found very challenging and could've easily gone south (CBS #2, 3). Her best practices for brainstorming and moving on to the actual essay writing made it clear to me that she knew what she was doing and made me not only feel, but also realize that I'm in very good hands.
 
2. Krista always maintained a very prompt turnaround time:
• Even though her mandatory turnaround time for anything I sent was two business days, more often than not, Krista returned the essays to me in less than 24 hours. It almost became a game at one point for me to see who could turn the essays around faster (while maintaining high quality of course). It was great to see how efficiently she was able to pinpoint areas I needed to work on and provide constructive and actionable feedback so that I could implement those changes. Having Krista based in London was a huge blessing for me (living on the East Coast in the US) as anything I sent to her at night was reviewed by her and ready for my edits again in the morning.
• I also want to add that Krista made herself available for a phone chat on each and every occasion that I requested. There were times when I wanted to speak about some resume/essay edits over the phone rather than over e-mail and Krista made sure we were able to grab 30 minutes to an hour each time. Even though she was swamped with other clients, she never made me feel like I was not her only client.
 
3. Most Importantly - Krista was genuinely interested in my success:
• Scholarship Essay: Being an international student with a management consulting background, I never thought I would be given need-based financial aid. Hence, I never kept up with the timelines. However, just a week before the deadline, I received an email from the school and I finally opened the application 3 days before the deadline to see what was required. Despite my extreme tardiness and irresponsible behavior, Krista showed up for me when I desperately needed her. She was about to leave for her vacation and was running to catch her flight when I finally managed to get a first draft of my essay to her. Even though she didn't have a chance to prop open her laptop and type up a long email to me, she read my essay on her phone, took down hand written notes, and sent me a photo of what she had written down. As always, her feedback was constructive and actionable - I knew exactly what to change and how to change it too. Once she landed at her vacation spot, she scoped out a wi-fi spot and immediately responded to my second draft, while being on vacation! Her turnaround was so quick that despite all my tardiness, I was able to submit my application more than 24 hours before the deadline. This "above and beyond" attitude of Krista's just reinforced how genuinely interested in my success she was. To top it off, I recently found out I received a $24,000 annual scholarship from CBS! I cannot describe how grateful I am to her for all her help.
• Interview Tips: Krista was so invested in my success that as I was preparing for my interview, she made every effort to help me cross the finish line with flying colors - even going to the extent of jumping on the phone with me a second time to do another mock interview. Our first mock interview went well but I was still nervous and knew I could answer a few questions better. Krista gave me some crisp and concise feedback on how to tackle those questions and when I expressed that I wanted to jump on the phone a second time with her, she did not hesitate even once before scheduling the call. Her fine tuning here was absolutely phenomenal. After our second chat, Krista helped me feel so confident that despite a crazy interview (probably the most difficult interview of my life), I got into CBS within 5 business days of my interview being completed.
 
Overall, I'm so thankful that I was paired with Krista for this process. Working with her was an absolute pleasure - she was always very professional and had great tips to share. Everyone I speak to in the future about the application process will hear about mbaMission and Krista from me in the best possible light. Thank you for all your help, Krista!

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I could not recommend Harold Simansky and the Stratus Prep team more for their MBA consulting services. Stratus Prep was incredibly professional throughout the entire process and Harold was extremely knowledgeable on the application processes at top business schools. Harold helped me refine and perfect my career story, objectives and overall application. Harold is an expert in helping people properly position themselves within their competitive category to maximize their chances of being admitted. He was immediately available any time I had questions or concerns, which was frequently throughout the process. If you want to put your best foot forward and increase your chances of being admitted to a top school then I highly suggest working with Harold and the Stratus Prep team.

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Things you shouldn't do during the MBA application process:
- Wait until 3 weeks before the deadline to start your essay
- Not have schools picked out that fit your profile

I took longer than expected to get my GMAT score to where I wanted it to be. Round 1 passed and Round 2 was quickly approaching and I freaked out. It's been ages since I've applied to schools and I wanted someone to help me through this process. With only 3 weeks until Round 2 deadlines, many other admissions consultants said that it was impossible or would refuse to help me, which was totally understandable given the short notice. I was luckily paired with Harshad and he was certainly the life raft that I needed to complete my application. We started with a brainstorming document where I listed my background and all my experiences. After reading the document and meeting with Harshad, He had a very good idea about who I was and how to present myself to each school. Since we were on a very tight deadline, he gave me a strict timeline and assured me that if I stuck with the timeline, we would be on target. He worked tirelessly to provide feedback and edits; some of his turnaround times were less than 1 day! I submitted all 3 of my applications on time and I received interviews from all 3 schools. I've already been accepted with a 75% scholarship from one school and I am still waiting to hear back from the others. I can honestly say I could not have done this without Harshad keeping me on track and helping me tell my story in a succinct, coherent fashion.

School update: Accepted to all three schools - including a 50% scholarship at a top 25 school!

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Came from a pretty blue-chip background, but was concerned about differentiating myself within the very competitive cohort of management consultants. I chose Katy after completing free 30-minute calls with several different consultants across several different firms. I chose Katy because of three main reasons: one, she had substantial experience at HBS and Stanford (alum of one, reviewed applications in the other), which were the only two schools I was planning to apply to; two, she seemed to have a thorough grasp of what business schools were looking for at a level deeper than what I was getting on forums, books, school profiles, etc.; and three, she had a much more friendly, down-to-earth attitude and approach than other consultants I spoke to, which really resonated with me.

Katy's number one strength is her RIDICULOUSLY uncanny ability to draw a trendline in your life -- to figure out "what matters most to you and why" by listening to the choices you've made in your career and personal life and the experiences that have shaped you. This is the foundation of any great business school application, and its importance cannot be overemphasized. As someone with a fairly strong writing background, I probably could have managed most of the essay writing and editing myself, but her services were worth the cost for this thematic identification alone. It was something I was struggling with, and it wasn't until she said "this is what I think matters most to you" (after two hours on the phone talking through my life) that it all "clicked." I think it's what ultimately differentiated me, and I'll be headed to Stanford in the fall. Would enthusiastically recommend Katy to friends and family.

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Last year, I came tantalizingly close to my dream schools...but could not make it. After that experience, I started looking for a consultant to help me figure out specific weaknesses/ shortcomings in my application. After reading all the reviews, choosing Angela was a no brainer. However, I had no idea then the degree of value she would add to my application and to my career.  

Her greatest strength is her deep understanding of applicants background and their aspirations. It goes beyond theoretical answers to common goal related B school questions. I am from a non traditional background (I have another advanced degree) and after learning more about my experiences and strengths, she was the first person to make me realize that management consulting will be a great fit for me. Not only that, she leveraged her own network at a top consulting firm to help me connect with people at the firm and interview there right away. The experience helped me gain lot of internal clarity about my short and long term goals! Angela's personal and professional experiences and her passion for helping people uniquely positions her to be one of the best career counsellor that anyone can hope for.  

She is also great with all the basic skills required from a good consultant- from sound editing to innovative essay edits. At the same time, she knows very well the thin line between being meticulous and overthinking it. At multiple times, she helped me relax and enjoy the process by making me realize where I was obsessed with unimportant minutiae.

And her methodology was a clear success! I made it to both of my top choice schools, including Wharton!! 

Working with Angela was an exciting journey of self discovery. I gained confidence and self belief in my career goals. Everything else followed from there. That makes her a very unique consultant and especially right for people who are pursuing an MBA as a means to self discovery and not 100% decided on their goals. Thank you Angela! 

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The MBA application process, as it stands today, is challenging - it requires huge amounts tactfulness, perseverance and optimism. Katharine’s coaching through the process helped me realize the importance of several subtleties (in addition to obvious aspects) in presenting my case, and her enthusiasm helped keep my morale at elevated levels through the process.

Tactfulness: While there are several aspects of your application you can’t change (GPA, GMAT score, Demographic group, Brand affiliations) there are several other aspects, obvious and obscure, that you can play around with to affect you candidature. Katy, armed with her years of experience coaching applicants, helped me champion every available open lead. For instance, she helped me sort through my aspirations to identify a long-term goal that was ambitious, yet achievable given my background and recruiting at HBS. She then helped me articulate my goals in a meaningful way and encouraged me to model my essays, around life events that were generally aligned. She made several other golden recommendations regarding referrals, essays, interviews etc.

Perseverance: Writing an application is hard work. I did 10-12 iterations on each essay/response following feedback from Katy, my wife and friends. Katy was patient and quick going through my drafts and gave me succinct directional feedback on each iteration. She was always available to discuss ideas and helped me understand where each idea could fit into my story. The same before and after each one of my interviews.

Optimism: Time and again, during the process, one tends to wonder whether the effort is worth it. The anxiety of doing well at work, taking tests, finding time to write your essays, attending networking events, figuring out your career and most importantly enduring the long time-gaps between steps in the process can be tough to deal with. This is where working with Katy helps the most. Her cheerful persona and perpetual enthusiasm helped keep up my morale and focus. I’d often chat with her just to find enjoyment in the process while looking forward to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

If I had to apply again, I’d do it under Katy’s mentorship all over again. I wouldn't have made it to my schools of choice (HBS, Wharton, Booth) were it not for Katy's coaching!

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