In summary, Monica is incredible!

Back when I started looking for admission consultants to apply to HBS for Class of 2018, I spoke with over 8 different ‘top’ admission consulting firms based in the US. Given that no one can guarantee success in as-subjective-a-process-as-MBA-admissions, I was looking for the right fit, a trustworthy partner and most importantly, someone who felt confident about helping me achieve my goal.

I found all of that in Monica, during our free discussion (also came to know of how amazing her track record was). And much more once we started the process. Safe to say, working with Monica was one of the best decisions in the anxious period. She was a wall providing strength along the way, apart from paving a path to a solid application for HBS.

I also believe mbaMission has a very robust methodology to provide structure to the application process and some great reading/reference material to look at. The Complete Start to Finish Guide and individual School Guides are amazing and Monica makes additional webinars / guides to top it all.

I still remember how the first brainstorming discussion with Monica (starting point of the engagement) was so thorough and rigorous, I’m sure Monica knows me as well as anybody around me. She never shied away from going the extra mile by setting up follow-ups when she felt we were not able to complete the discussion in our original schedule. She had some excellent feedback every time she reviewed my essay versions and pushed me for ever more iterations. The final result being, I was quite happy with submitted essay.

Monica puts in a lot of effort to each aspect of the application – from the resume to the questions in application and looks for avenues to better the whole package. She’d remember such minute details from our conversations and probe me on them to build out some very integral portions of the application. And that’s the kind of person you need to guide you. Someone who can look through gaps and crevices to discover gems you wouldn’t have identified yourself.

A huge positive about Monica is that she’s candid and disarmingly friendly. One of the big issues many of my friends had with their consultants was that they couldn’t trust enough. With Monica, that will come naturally, as she clearly knows what she’s doing and will adapt herself to your personality.

Lastly, I’d like to add that unfortunately, I did not get an opportunity to interview with HBS in R1, but Monica readily offered to help with my interview prep for the R2 schools I applied to, even though I was working independently in that period. She was actually the one who helped me vet the schools I applied to in R2. At first, I bombed the mock interview with her so bad, but I was eventually accepted by Wharton, MIT Sloan and Kellogg schools. All credit to her for the interview prep! Thanks Monica for everything.

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Anyone that has embarked on the B-School admissions process knows it can affect you in MANY different ways. When I finally found Kate Richardson, I had just finished an unsuccessful and incredibly frustrating year of applications. B-school acceptance was still my goal but the prior season had made me feel completely debilitated and I had no idea how to jump back in the saddle of a horse that had just finished throwing me off.

One of the first things that made me realize I’d found the right consultant was that Kate’s first priority was providing services in a way that worked specifically for me. I’m someone that can fall into laziness and passivity VERY easily and needed a consultant primarily to check-in, keep me on track, help me set and keep deadlines, as well as brainstorm how to approach each step in the process from essays to communicating with admissions departments.

Kate helped me identify realistic goals for my target schools not only in terms of which schools to apply to, but also the specific order to complete the many tasks for each program to ensure I not only worked efficiently, but had the best quality for each submission – because you do lose energy after each step.

Hourly services worked best for me because we were able to set goals at the start and check-in periodically when needed. I reached out to Kate not only for essay edits and strategizing timelines, but also when my brain would explode as it does during this process and I just needed a sounding board/cheerleader to get back on track.

I was ultimately accepted to one of my top 3 programs with a scholarship for half of my tuition based on the essays and personal statements in my application. Even better than that, with Kate’s support and feedback I realized this program was an even BETTER fit for me than the other programs I had been considering prior to our working together. I would definitely recommend that any B-school applicant sign-up for services with Kate, whether it’s your first try or you’re coming back to tackle this beast again she will absolutely help you stay on track and reach your goals.

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I worked with Jessica on an hourly basis on my three applications for Round 1. Jessica is sharp, honest, and really passionate about her clients. The perfect combination for a bschool admissions consultant.

She was incredibly considerate of my time and always made sure we worked on things efficiently. For example, she was honest with me about which essays she thought needed another pass, and which she thought were fine as is. She was upbeat, and was sincerely committed to getting me in to my schools.

What I personally appreciated most about Jessica was her ability to talk openly and honestly with me about the parts of my application that gave me a lot of anxiety - the GMAT and my interviews. She logically weighed the pros and cons of retaking the test, and walked me though the admission committee's mindset during interviews.

I got interviews at all of my schools, and ultimately got to choose from two of them. I cannot thank Jessica enough for her help with my applications, and for helping me remain calm (or, as much as possible) during the process.

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When I first started the MBA application process, I really had no idea where to begin. I was one of the first of my peers to apply to business school and was coming from a somewhat non-traditional background (family business).

After doing some preliminary research, I decided to reach out to MBAMission and set up an initial consultation with Jessica Shklar. In our first meeting, I was immediately blown away by how much interest Jessica showed in my story and how much it genuinely seemed that she cared about my future (and admission to the business school of my choosing). Even in our first consultation, she was already coming up with the best possible ways to tell my "story" and present my accomplishments.

Throughout the admissions process, Jessica was there every step of the way. From reviewing my resume until it was absolutely perfect to going through iteration after iteration of my essays, Jessica was always willing to help and guide me through the process. Jessica was especially helpful during the "waiting" process, always willing to calm my nerves and answer any calls/emails/questions I had (no matter how often and I'm sure annoying!).

In summary, I really could not be happier with the consulting experience Jessica provided for me. I would not be where I am today without her help and truly believe that she is the reason I was accepted to Columbia Business School.

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I was unfamiliar with the MBA application process and decided to choose mbaMission (Jessica) to guide me from start to finish. I evaluated several consultants at the time and, after talking with Jessica, I felt that she was the right person! In the 30-minute free session, Jessica tried to help me as much as she could within the time limit. If you have a chance to evaluate many consultants, you will certainly know that the free session is actually the marketing session. However, this is not the case for Jessica. I bought 5 school start-to-finish package and eventually got interview at HBS (post-interview waitlisted and dinged), Wharton (admitted), and Booth (admitted). So in this review, I would like to tell you 3 key points about Jessica that eventually led to my successful applications.

1. Identification of Meaningful Personal Stories

In my case, I was able to list out personal stories that really shaped my life but, at first, connection among them was relatively weak. Hence, I was so tempted to write about my job, initially. Jessica was an expert in identifying meaningful personal stories and she would keep asking you to explain those stores in details. During the process, you would start to realize by yourself how much impact those events were. In the end, a few personal stories represented the core part of my essays and were used for 4 schools (out of 5) and accounted for at least 70% of word counts. I wrote only 1 paragraph about my job for each essay and its role was to support my personal stories.

2. On-Time Delivery and Perfection

Jessica always commented my drafts, on time, and she would not stop doing it until the essays are perfect. She would ask you to write as much as possible up 50% more than maximum word counts and gave you tons of comments that, sometimes, took me a week or so to address. This is a very efficient process. You overwrite it first and then remove certain parts, one by one, so, in the process, you will see the big picture and force yourself to consider each point in depth. You would likely run out of energy before she does. On each school, I worked with her at least 8-12 drafts. And even my final draft sometimes still had her pending comments that I needed to remove because of limited space.

3) Genuine and Authentic

My essay got me an interview at HBS so it was great, although I couldn't convert the interview to the offer. The essay question was "Introduce yourself to classmates" and was the great opportunity to show your personality so I wrote it in a very personalized and funny way, while mentioning some of my achievements but not too many (imagine you brag for 10 minutes. How could that be interesting to your classmates?). Before I submitted my essay, I sent the essay to my boss (and my recommender) for review. And he said "this essay is so authentic. It feels like you are speaking to me..... It's alive". Jessica helped me set the tone for my essay and, in my opinion, I like HBS essay the most.

So in my opinion, I strongly recommend Jessica. You need experts who can look into your stories and express independent opinions. During MBA application, you will burn out. So better invest now and get the best shot.

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I was paired with Krista Nannery from MBAmission as my admission consultant. Right off the bat she assisted with my decision of what schools to apply to. We decided that given my academic history, professional career, and GMAT score, I would be best off applying to Harvard, Wharton, Booth, and Kellogg.

Applying to 4 schools is a ton of work but Krista made the process extremely smooth. She set a very organized schedule and always kept me on track with essays, short answers, and the online applications.

The most helpful aspect of Krista's consulting was in the essay brainstorming and drafting. She has a lot of experience quickly and effectively giving comments and helpful guidance and made the process go smoothly. I would have been lost without her help in this area.

Overall, I can't express how essential Krista was to my success. I ended up getting into 3 of the 4 schools I applied to and know for a fact that it was due in large part to Krista's guidance.

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I chose mbaMission and specifically Jessica on the recommendation of a friend who applied to business school the year before me and thought that mbaMission was the reason that he was able to get into a great school and complete his applications on time, and I could not agree more.

I was extremely impressed with Jessica from the start of my consultation and have recommended her to friends already. The consultation is a free 30 min session and I assumed that she would mainly sell me on mbaMission. However, she did so much more than that. I did my consultation 6 months prior to starting the application process and I asked her what I could do to strengthen my application. Because she had spent time looking into my resume and activities, she gave me actionable items which I did over the next 6 months that really strengthened my application with tangible examples – and that was even before I hired her!

I decided to apply to 6 schools and I do not believe that I could have done it without Jessica. The ability to send an essay off to Jessica and have her look at it with fresh eyes and a different and honest perspective was so valuable. Not only did it help me stay on track with timing throughout the process, but she also had a different perspective and would point out when I said something that didn’t make sense due to company/industry terminology, didn’t answer the school’s question or was not my best work.

Her ability to answer quick questions that would have taken me valuable time to research (and who knows if I would’ve gotten the correct answer) and help me with interview prep kept me sane through the process and helped me feel confident and prepared during the interviews.

I think that the brainstorming sessions however, were where Jessica really went above and beyond my expectations. My brainstorming doc was a total of 26 pages full of disjointed random things and stories. I was so impressed how Jessica was able to connect my work, health situation, volunteer, and family experiences all into one strong story full of rich, measurable, tangible examples. She even pulled some great quotes from my doc that I used as my intros to many of my essays! The story she helped me create really painted the best picture of me as a candidate and enabled me to get into one of my top schools which I am so excited to attend!

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I had finished my GMAT and was in the essay-writing phase of my application when I first spoke with Jessica. I took the 30 minute trial to see if speaking with a consultant (specifically one who had helped others get into my dream school) would help me structure some of my thoughts. It did so much more.

My call with Jessica was very warm and friendly, but we actually didn't spend time "small-talking." Instead, Jessica asked how she could help and, when I told her that I needed some help organizing my thoughts for my essay, she asked why I wanted to go to school. I spoke for a few minutes (with Jessica listening intently and asking a few questions here and there). As soon as I rambled through my explanation, Jessica matter-of-factly followed with: "Okay, here's what I would do. Make your intro about X. Take this angle or that angle, whichever feels better. Follow with points A, B, and C, and conclude saying Y. That's how I'd structure it. What do you think?"

It was the most productive half hour I'd had in my whole experience applying. I ended the call action items, to-do's, feedback, and more from someone who I had just met but who knew exactly what I needed to make my application better.

I ended up purchasing more hours so that I could get Jessica's help trimming down my very long essays. She did so much more: she called out examples that seemed weak, encouraged me to elaborate on ideas that made my essays unique, and helped me clarify the main points of each of my essays. From that phone call all the way through edits of letters while I was on the waitlist, Jessica guided me in a way that was incredibly constructive and efficient.

I am so grateful that I met Jessica and had her help. She went above and beyond with my timelines and, when I eventually got in, I could practically hear her shouting in excitement with me!

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I started working with Melissa on a 4-school package but ended up adding a 5th school based on my positive experience with her. From helping me think through what schools I would apply to and encouraging attendance of various MBA info sessions to interview prep and follow-up, she was there every step of the way. I was able to hone my story and get an objective perspective from someone with experience working in b school admissions. I had 7+ years of work experience when I started working with her, so I often had competing ideas for what direction to take my essay responses. She gave pointed feedback on what worked and what didn't, helping me create better and more focused applications in the process.

A sample of some of the other things Melissa helped me with:
-help in turning my resume into something that highlighted results instead of responsibilities
-mock interview prep, particularly in helping me highlight certain areas that may not have come through in my applications. She wasn't just asking sample interview questions. As someone who had become very familiar with my background, strengths, weaknesses, etc., she was able to give great feedback on how I responded.
-set deadlines for me. I am a procrastinator, so Melissa offered to set deadlines. I managed to turn in my applications early, which still amazes me.
-helped me address some of the deficiencies I had in extracurriculars. It's not as though she could have retroactively made me participate in more organizations outside of work, but she helped me think through how I could present my hobbies/interests in a compelling manner.

Overall, I had a great experience working with Melissa that definitely exceeded my expectations, and I would recommend her to anyone looking for help throughout the application process.

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Helen Summers is fantastic! Helen encouraged me to dig deep and really pushed me to a level of introspection that I did not think I could ever reach. She helped me recall stories from my childhood that I had forgotten about for over 15 years which really helped me better understand my personal journey and how that journey has molded me into the person I am today and shaped my goals for the future. My first draft of my essays were horrible! Through Helen's support and constructive criticism, I got to a very polished finished product of which I was extremely proud and that was genuine, reflective of my personality, and attention grabbing for admissions officers, resulting in admission into the two schools to which I applied (HBS & Wharton). I highly recommend Helen for helping you dig deep in crafting your story and for helping to keep you organized throughout the stressful process.

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