I first learned of mbaMission from a close friend, who referred me to Krista Nannery. Since she was unable to take on Hourly candidates, she referred me to Harshad for a 30 minute chat. During that 30 minute consultation itself, he immediately made a positive impact on me and introduced new snippets of information even a well-informed candidate would not have access to.

I worked with Harshad mostly on essays for about 10 hours on an Hourly basis. I did not need in-depth help on other parts of the application such as interviewing, school selection or application strategy. Harshad is very honest with applicants, and I needed a lot of assistance both on content and style. I can't imagine going through this process without his constant feedback and candor. People often shy away from giving intellectually honest feedback to people asking for it, but he was always constructive and fair. Harshad deserves extra points for getting back to me in a timely fashion even when I would often send him materials minutes before the deadline.

I have secured interviews to the two M7 schools I applied to and gained admission to one. I am in perhaps the most competitive profile by any metric (nonminority, engineering, finance, male), and this speaks to his ability to help me differentiate myself with my essays.

I wish Harshad every success, and recommend him without reservation to any applicant seeking admission to a top program.

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Harshad was wonderful to work with. He was prompt, direct and helpful. While I only purchased a few hours of his time, he spent time getting to know me and my strengths. I had a terrible first draft of one essay. Harshad was direct with his feedback and have extremely useful comments about how to improve and where I should focus my efforts. We had 4 rounds of comments, and each time, I feel that my essay significantly improved. He really encouraged me to dig deep into why I was applying to school, and polity told me which paragraphs were not value adds and recommended their removal.

He was very quick at replying to my emails.

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After working with Debbie on my applications, I was admitted to a top 10 MBA program! Debbie helped me with applying to 10 schools in only 1.5 months! I realized late in the game that I wanted to apply in Round 1, and I approached mbaMission to be paired with a consultant who could help me with my applications. I was very fortunate to have been paired with Debbie!

For my first school, I had already prepared drafts by myself. I gave these to Debbie for review and confidently told her that these drafts were “near final” and only needed a quick read before submission. To my surprise, Debbie told me that my drafts needed a complete rewrite. I was shocked but appreciated her candidness and honesty.

In the next week, I heavily relied on Debbie to provide feedback on my drafts. What I like about Debbie's style is that she didn’t sugarcoat anything, always pushed me to reflect deeper on my experiences, and provided good advice to help me be more succinct in my writing. In my essays, I sometimes found myself getting lost in the details that the writing lacked the "so what?" factor. Debbie would redirect my attention to focus on the big picture and tell me to cut content if necessary. Further, her flexibility and positive attitude helped calm me down in times of stress and focus on the execution of the applications.

After finishing my first application with Debbie, we had developed a great working relationship, and the rest of my 10 applications went rather smoothly. As a demanding client, I sent her at least 3 essays to review every day (Each school had 2-3 essays, so in total it was about 30 essays that I had sent her way). She always provided prompt, detailed and high-quality feedback. I even wondered how she was able to do all of this in so little time!

Debbie is great at all aspects of the application, from helping me brainstorm ideas to outlining the actual essay and providing feedback. She was available through phone, skype, and email. I even did a mock interview with her over Skype two days before my actual interview and it made a tremendous difference. Before the interview, I was stuttering on the basic questions such as "Walk me through your resume". But she gave me helpful feedback that allowed me to structure my answers and practice effectively, which made me feel confident going into my interview.

In conclusion, Debbie is a stellar, seasoned, and top-notch consultant. Completing applications for 10 schools in 1.5 months was a daunting task, but Debbie maximized the limited time we had to help me craft stellar essays. If you work with Debbie, she will make sure that you are always submitting your best work! There were times when I submitted drafts that were weak, and Debbie held me accountable by asking me to rewrite the entire essay or think of new experiences to write about. I greatly enjoyed working with Debbie and definitely recommend with flying colors!

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At first, I chose to utilize the 30-minute free consultation with mbamission to get some pointers on application prep, and I quickly found their feedback to be incredibly helpful in the short amount of time that we had. mbamission wasn’t pushy like some of the other groups I had spoken to. Though the woman I spoke to was booked for consulting services, she strongly recommended Dan Richards (based on our backgrounds, my school choice, etc.) and I am SO happy that she did. I used hourly consulting services with Dan to receive guidance and feedback on my essays and resume for my top choice school in Round 1. I had about 2 months to improve my test score and write compelling essays. Dan exceeded my expectations. His feedback was always honest, direct and quick (usually within 1 day). If you decide to work with a consultant, I highly recommend that you first spend 20-30 minutes with Dan brainstorming your essay themes before diving into the writing- his feedback on my outline was valuable as it helped me to develop a structured set of essays. He worked with me to pull out important themes in my essays and helped me to tell a story about my short and long term goals. With Dan’s help, I was accepted to the one business school I applied to (top 10)! I couldn’t have done it without his guidance and support. I strongly recommend Dan’s services- he is a trusted professional with years of experience helping candidates get into their dream schools. It was 100% worth the investment- I strongly recommend him!

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I totally recommend Jen Kedrowski to you to brush up your candidacy and create the best application packages.

I am a non-English native as well as a re-applicant aiming at British business schools. Before starting the collaboration with Jen, I took several free consulting sections offered several consulting service providers. Then, I found that Jen would be the best to revise my applications, and decided to choose the Hourly Services at mbaMission.

There are 2 main reasons why I recommend Jen to you as your partner.

First, she has splendid analytical and editorial skills to cover your weaknesses and stand out your strengths. It is hard for most applicants to differentiate your candidacy from others. Additionally, almost all of the candidates who attempt to enroll in business schools have piled up similar careers. So, her analytical skills will help you in finding your uniqueness, and editorial ones will strongly contribute to brushing up your applications sentence by sentence, along with each school culture. In my case, she always identified points that I had to deepen or reconsider clearly. She gave me a hand to construct stories of applications as total packages accompanying consistency in the last applications. In some cases, she asked me to reconstruct whole sentences along the latest career progress, but in other cases, she simply improved part of the essays I’d hand in the last term in order to consolidate my candidacy.

Second, you will gain experience about how cultural differences should be expressed on your essays. I live in a more high-context society than the UK and the USA. In my country, people require reading between the lines, which prevented me from writing suitable sentences or showing connections of each sentence clearly. But, through the communication with Jen, I found these were signs not only to fit my sentences to each school, but also to improve sentences to best reveal my experiences with cultural differences (I did not notice this when I asked a consultant in my country last year).

If you feel you might be the lack of confidence to create best sentences for admission committees, Jen's skills to enhance your candidacies and edit your applications will become the best to bridge the gaps.

Finally, this book will help in understanding cultural differences between countries (you and admission staff), or in improving your sentences along experiences in diverse cultures (international exposures are a key for every candidate).
"The Culture Map: Decoding How People Think, Lead, and Get Things Done Across Cultures"
http://amzn.to/2xKoZMs

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It is an understatement to say I would not have gotten into business school without the help of Nisha from mbaMission. Throughout our one year working together, Nisha was a guide and thought partner I could count on. Her thoughtful feedback, rapid turnarounds, and ability to leverage other mbaMission resources made a huge difference in my candidacy.

Nisha got to know me pretty well, despite just working on an hourly engagement. Thus, she was able to give me personalized feedback at all levels: from clarifying and tightening essay language to guidance on how I could improve my overall applicant profile. Nisha provided this feedback consistently much faster than the 2-day turnaround requirement. To drive this point home: Nisha returned feedback on an essay to me within 24 hrs while on the flight to her wedding. Nisha also went above and beyond by pulling on other mbaMission resources to help me. For example, Nisha asked her colleagues for feedback on one of my video essays and shared valuable content on what specific schools look for, which was not something you could find anywhere else.

In summary, Nisha was an essential partner on my journey to business school, someone I could rely on to have my back at a moment’s notice. I can’t recommend her or mbaMission highly enough!

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Brian Eng and I worked over the course of roughly 2 months on the application process to get into my desired MBA program. I was working roughly 10-14 hour days at the time in consulting and was very burnt out of having to wake up even earlier than normal or working later in the evening on writing papers. Brian made the process both manageable and as painless as possible. His fluid style and targeted suggestions allowed me to not only create the best possible application that I was capable of, but was also instrumental in having me achieve my target dates at each predetermined interval. On top of making me a better writer and applicant, Brian was personally a delight to work with. Maintaining a positive attitude and adding personal color to conversations helped me keep my sanity on nights where I would be writing well into the morning. Brian is world class at what he does and he is proud of his work, as he should be. I wouldn't be in my first year at Cornell (my top target school) without his dedicated help and guidance.

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I wouldn't have been accepted to business school without Katy's advice and perspective. I only applied to four schools (Stanford, Haas, Ross, and Foster) in the 2nd round. As a military applicant deployed to Korea, Katy always made sure to accommodate me despite the fifteen-hour time difference and my hectic schedule. Katy understood and explained how to polish each piece of my application. Katy's insight into translating military experience into essays and in my resume, were particularly helpful.

Ultimately, I was accepted to my top school. I can honestly say that I do not think I would have been admitted without Katy’s help. I strongly recommend her service, particularly to applicants with non-traditional backgrounds.

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I booked an hourly package with Dan Richards because I had a pretty good idea of essay topics but needed some help putting it all together and making the essays flow together. I was hesitant to use a consultant at first, but after talking to several friends who recently went through the MBA process, and after my 30 min consultation, I was convinced this would be well worth the investment -- and it was! Dan and mbaMission exceeded my expectations and helped make the application process feel much less stressful.

Dan is an extremely gifted writer; my responses would often be verbose and all over the map, but Dan has the unique ability to cut through the weeds and say "this is what I think you're trying to say, let's try to frame it in this way...". We went through 5-7 drafts on each essay, and each was significantly better than the last thanks to Dan's feedback and guidance. I am confident I would not have submitted such strong essays without his help.

What was even more valuable was that Dan really helped me map out my career path and think through what each job (and responsibilities) meant. This was key both to my essays as well as my own, personal growth. Dan is clearly very familiar with all types of career paths and can offer many details and insights to roles, responsibilities, etc.

Going into the process, I thought my resume would need minimal work - boy was I wrong! Dan helped make it MUCH stronger and cleaner. I learned that a business school resume is different than a professional one, but I also took away some tips to use in a professional context as well.

Lastly, Dan helped me decide when enough was enough, and to just submit and stop worrying :-) I think you can go on forever refining essays, resumes, etc., but at one point that becomes more detrimental than helpful! Dan helped me decide when that point was reached.

With Dan's help, I was able to get into my top choice school!!

I felt Dan was very respectful of our time together and I would not hesitate to recommend him, or mbaMission, to a friend. Well worth the investment!

A side note about mbaMission:
I originally spoke with Katy from mbaMission during my 30 min consultation. When it turned out she was booked for hourly work, she was quick to recommend Dan based on my background and choice of schools. I get the sense that mbaMission has a lot more camaraderie than some of their peers -- which I think is great! I had several 30 min consultations and was most impressed by mbaMission's professionalism, breadth of knowledge, and superior recommendations. I would certainly use them again.

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During my admissions process, i spoke to many different consultants to see which was the best fit for me. One of my favorite things about MBA mission was that i was able to get my free 30 minute session directly with Katy. I quickly got a sense of what she was about and realized that she was the best person to help me on this journey.

She quickly understood my story and helped me find the best way to express it. I come from an nontraditional background so for me it was very important to get the right story on paper to show my best qualities. Katy was extremely helpful in the planning and brainstorming sessions and was able to ask all the right questions. She was truly interested in my story and made me feel like I was her most important client every time we spoke.

During the application process she was also outstanding, she did a fantastic job of reading and editing the essays without being invasive and making them sound as if they didn't come from me. She was very timely in her responses and was available during weekends and even during Christmas break.

Overall, I was very pleased with Katy's guidance and I am sure that she is a big reason as to why I will be attending Columbia Business School this fall!

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