As a late applicant, I sought support from Melissa Blakeslee at mbaMission. Melissa began providing thoughtful immediate feedback during our consultation call, identifying areas of improvement for my resume structure and diction as well as overall weaknesses in my application. This first discussion was critical in guiding me to think about my essay topics and ensuring a well-rounded application.

As we began working together, Melissa's genuine interest in helping me reach my goals was evident. During our brainstorming session, Melissa asked thought-provoking questions and made meaningful connections between my stories. Melissa's ability to understand my motivations and connect the dots enabled me to develop more thoughtful essays over a short timeline.

Finally, Melissa was always available to discuss my thoughts or admission concerns. Essays, resumes, and questions were promptly answered. Melissa provided honest feedback on an array of topics related to admissions and was consistently open to sharing additional information.

Overall, I highly recommend working with Melissa Blakeslee if an applicant is seeking a COACH to guide you though the entire application process.

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I really need to sit down and think through my stories in the past year – stories that both Angela and I developed together. It was June 2015 that I finished my GMAT test and wanted to talk to a professional about my overall competency to a top MBA program. I had initial 30-minute call with two consultants, including Angela. Both of them were supportive of my ambition but with different approaches. What made me decide was the video done by Angela posted on Mbamission website. She wrapped her introduction up with a statement “I want to help people and make people successful”. It touched me because I know that we share the same value. In the next couple of months, I realized the great skills that Angela possesses – the ability to know and understand people, always approach people with supportive manner, integrate pieces of information into a complete package, summarize people’s characteristics into a high level, smells from a small story or simple statement the opportunity to elaborate and expand – innate skills that also take tremendous exercises and hard work. I remember how she captured my intuition when I saw the pictures of Booth’s essay and helped me frame up the two pages document. Beyond her pure hard and soft skills is her willingness to help me at all levels. I was hesitated to ask her to advise me on other schools which are not covered in my purchase package. But she always promptly replied with her clearly structured guidance and advice. I can’t explain how much I appreciate that she has been flexible about the line in the sand. The fruition of my application process is not only the admitted decision from my dream school built on refreshed, solid understanding of my traits and goals but also the luck to meet a coach, a mentor and a friend. So thank you Angela!!!

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I initially decided to do my free 30-minute consultation with Jen because I saw that she had done her MBA studies overseas (at Cambridge) and might possibly have better insight than other consultants with regard to my background (I had spent half my career overseas and didn't want to just come across as "the international guy"). Jen told me in that call, that any of mbaMission's consultants could help me present a solid narrative with my background, but I stayed with Jen because she came across very professionally and agreeably and came into that meeting with some great feedback prepared.

I was only applying to one program - Fuqua's Cross Continent MBA, so I didn't take advantage of any school selection or program compatibility services (Jen did advise that the program I'd chosen was a good fit, though).

I worked through the brainstorming exercises, which are used for all of mbaMission's school package consultations. The exercises were very thorough and got me to reveal to myself all the content I needed to put together my application, essays and all. After brainstorming on my own, Jen helped me explore the content I'd generated from many different angles, to create an even more robust collection of information to draw from when it came to essay writing.

Essay writing was an iterative process, where each draft and round of feedback brought my application closer to the story I wanted to tell. Each essay needed 3-6 rounds of revision and feedback, each round taking 1-3 days. I really appreciated the quick turnaround and thoughtful feedback on the essays. The extensive writing and revision process, along with the brainstorm material used as the basis, allowed for very rigorous essay creation.

Jen also advised me on choosing and reconnecting with recommendation writers, and everything went very smoothly on that front.

When it came time to interview, Jen helped me prepare for a mock interview with her, again using the brainstorm material. The mock interview gave me a chance to get my jitters out of the way and get comfortable talking about myself and keeping responses within my overall narrative. The interview with the adcom member went as smoothly as possible and I felt confident and prepared throughout.

To conclude, I hired Jen via mbaMission with a clear goal in mind - to put in as much time and energy as I needed to put together the best application I could for the program I'd already chosen. Jen was an insightful and responsive coach throughout the process and gave , me tools which were extremely helpful in telling my story. I was looking for help primarily with essays and the interview, but Jen helped me make sure my application was strong on all fronts, and I was admitted to my program with scholarship.

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I contacted Jen because I was experiencing a lot of uncertainty about my resume and admissions essays. Because I come from a non-traditional business background, I wanted to make sure I was working with someone who understood my position. Jen was incredibly helpful and very efficient. She is great at both line edits and general direction edits. She was glad to answer both vague and specific questions that I had. In addition to her technical expertise, I also found her to be genuinely positive. When I heard back about interviews, she was very supportive. I would not have been able to juggle all of the applications without her.

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I used Jen to apply to 2 MBA programs, 1 reach school and 1 target school, I purchased the total start to finish application product and worked with Jen for many months including additional essays and preps during the waitlist period. I was waitlisted at my reach and accepted to my target school. At the time of this posting there are only positive reviews of Jen...which is not surprising at all. My experience with Jen was amazing and I second all of the comments regarding deadlines, knowledge of the application process, encouragement, her general attitude while working together, worth the money, ect...I really have nothing negative to say about the experience. One aspect of my experience that I did not see mentioned was Jens ability to work with my learning disability. She was very understanding about my unique needs in absorbing feedback, clarifying goals and clearly articulating our plan. It certainly seemed like she adapted her approach to get the best out of me...not an easy task. It was also clear that she truly cared about the results of our work together. I could not have done this without her.

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Monica helped me gain admission to a very top MBA program with scholarship. This is of course what every applicant cares about the most, but getting admitted hardly explains what I've gained through the application process with Monica.

Monica was knowledgeable, embracing, and yet never afraid to ask critical questions. Not only did she understand my goals and aspirations, she also fully appreciated my non-traditional background.

Being an older applicant with a very nonlinear career path, I needed to present my journey clearly so that the admissions would see the reasons behind my choices. Monica's patience during the process of working through so many drafts of essays really paid off for me in the end. I didn't know how it was possible to show all the turning points in my life within word count, but somehow we made it happen. After the application process, I learned a great deal about myself. This is perhaps the even bigger gift from pursuing an MBA--I felt the personal transformation had already begun before the program started. And Monica was a great counselor in this stage of my life.

Monica was the first person I emailed when I found out I was admitted. I will always remember receiving her reassuring email on the morning of the interview and the incredible day that followed.

Working with Monica during the five-month application process changed my life in many ways. Monica became a dear friend who supported me in moments of indescribable joy and anxiety with her wisdom, honesty and grace.

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I had a lot of anxiety going into the MBA application process. My work experience is in a field where not a lot of people go to business school, so I was worried about how admissions committees would view me. With Rachel’s help, I was able to tell my story in a compelling way and effectively convey my leadership and teamwork skills in the applications.

Rachel was there every step along the way to provide helpful feedback, from our brainstorming calls to the many versions of my essays, my resume and all the short answers on the application forms. She helped me prepare outlines of my key accomplishments at work to guide my recommenders, who had never written MBA recommendations before. She was also hugely helpful in preparing for interviews, helping me tailor my responses to each school and giving me a much-needed confidence boost in the days leading up to each interview.

I can’t thank Rachel enough for all her help in the application process and helping me get into my dream school! I highly recommend her!

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With PhD in engineering and working as a researcher, it was tough for me to apply to B schools but even harder was to prepare an application that can justify my career path. When I attended one of Jessica Shklar’s session on admission process, I felt that I should definitely discuss my unique case with her. The best thing about Jessica was she never timed the 30 minute free consultation. She made me feel comfortable and at the same time posed questions that were very critical for the application process. She never pressurized me to sign up with her. Instead she asked me to work on ways to improve my application before even deciding to go with her.
I wanted to apply to only top 5 B-schools. My biggest challenge was that I had no clue how to connect dots from my professional and personal life. Everything looked very discrete and was not sure how to put them as a story in my essays. I think signing up for start to finish package was very useful. Once I reviewed my brainstorming document with Jessica, she knew exactly what examples we should focus on. The advantage of Start to finish package is if you are working on more than one application with a different essay prompt, your consultant already knows the key professional and personal parts of your life from the brainstorming document. Thus, it was easy for Jessica to suggest stories we should be including in essay 1 vs essay 2.
Jessica is very well organized. She not only keeps a track of her time but also ensures that her clients meet their deadlines. I got all my essays with edits from Jessica on or before the expected 2 day deadline. If it is a quick question, Jessica will definitely reply asap. I remember discussing some behavioral questions with her over email before one of the top school’s interview. Even though those were not quick questions, she understood my need and was very willing to respond quickly over emails. Even though it was a professional relation with Jessica, I felt a personal touch.
The other advantage of Start to Finish package is that we also get a chance to do mock interviews. Jessica’s expertise in interview preparation was very helpful. She advised that never practice your answers because you don’t want to memorize your answers. This is very true. The best advice she gave me was to read several behavioral questions and think about multiple scenarios so that I have enough examples from my past to tell during interview. It really worked for me because for one interview question I was asked to tell more than one scenario in which I showed a certain behavior. At that time I did’nt have to take that awkward pause because I already had thought about so many different situations from my professional and personal life. All thanks to Jessica for asking me do this rather than rehearsing my answers.
When I started thinking about signing up with a consultant, things were hazy. I wanted to do MBA from a top B-school but was not sure if I have done enough in my past to get admitted to the schools I want. Jessica helped me at every step of the application process and with her support I got admitted to three top B- schools. Thanks Jessica for making this happen.

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Rachel is an extremely engaging and really good at helping you find a good "spin" for your MBA stories. She will not only help you honing in on worth-while stories to tell–but how to create those attention grabbing phrases that really lure the reader in, and make for an MBA essay that will stand out to the adcom who reads through dozens of essays a day. She is also extremely clear and diligent in getting her comments and edits back to you in a timely manner. Honestly, there are a lot of good stories out there, and it really is just a matter of how you tell the story–Rachel is fantastic at this. After working with Rachel I am now going to a top 10 program with a scholarship.

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Jen worked towards tight deadlines to help me to submit outstanding applications to LBS and Imperial Business School. She took the time to understand my personal story and helped me to shape essays and a video that brought out the best in me. When I was invited for interviews, Jen provided me with comprehensive mock interviews and followed up with very detailed feedback.

I was offered a place on my dream course at LBS and I was also offered Imperial College Business School’s highest scholarship. Jen was a pleasure to work with and I can’t recommend her highly enough!

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