Hourly Services Reviews

When I first started looking into admissions consulting services, I had a specific idea of what I needed. I was confident I was applying to the right schools, but I knew my essay writing skills were a bit weak. I was matched with Kate and my entire experience working with her was very enjoyable. I never imagined how much I would get out of the experience. She was always cognizant of what I needed and was very accountable in the usage of time.

The concise feedback I received on my essays was tailored to my specific concerns. The comments really helped me focus my ideas. By the time I was working on my 5th application, I had a sort of writer's block. Kate provided the combination of constructive feedback and "cheering section" support that I needed. This 5th application was for the school that I ended up choosing to go to. I am forever grateful for Kate's help in getting through the application process.

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Debbie was a fabulous consultant during my b school application process. The most valuable part of our time together was the brainstorming process. After reading through my brainstorming doc, we got on the phone so that she could ask me probing questions about some of my responses and help me think through which experiences were most formative and important to include in my applications. She has great insider’s knowledge of how admissions committees will evaluate applicants, which meant she was able to tell me directly, “Yes, experience X will resonate with adcoms, but experience Y seems less interesting and/or relevant.” That firm guidance was incredibly valuable—she wasn’t afraid to tell it to me straight. Although our brainstorming call was pretty short (more on that below), I came out feeling like I had a good plan of attack for my essays. The next time she and I spoke, we went over my short and long-term goals after business school. She helped me craft a compelling and ambitious vision that explained how an MBA degree would help me achieve my long-term career aspirations.

One big consideration for me when signing up for mbaMission was cost. I work in the social sector, and hiring a consultant was a big investment. I knew I couldn’t do a “start-to-finish” package because it was simply out of my budget. I was a little wary about whether the hourly consulting services would be a value-add, but Debbie did a fabulous job at providing high value in the short amount of time that I could afford.

Debbie also had an extremely positive attitude throughout, which made a huge difference for me while navigating the stressful application process. Her support was invaluable to helping me get into two of my top choice programs. Thanks a million, Debbie!

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I used mbaMission for my bschool application a few years ago. I worked with the consultant Adam Grossman doing hourly consulting. We had an initial phone call to understand my background and he spent a lot of time reviewing my essays and giving me ideas. I really liked the changes he helped me change on my address and he was very easy to reach and had really fast turn around time. He brought up some good points to add to my address that I did not think of, and he helped me polish the essay to make them sound consistent.
I think his guidance really helped me succeed in my applications. I would definitely recommend them.

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Applying to business school was an overwhelming experience for me. I was a non-traditional applicant and struggling with how to present myself. I knew what I wanted schools to know about me, but wasn’t sure how to express all of that eloquently in essay form. When I contacted mbaMission, I specifically requested a consultant who would be comfortable working with an unconventional applicant, because it was important to me that I stay authentic to myself throughout the process.

Working with Kate was such a pleasure from day one. She is incredibly insightful and knowledgeable when it comes to what various schools are looking for, and is an outstanding editor. I applied to a giant number of schools (a total of seven in round one). She was extremely organized and kept me motivated while I was nearing the finish line, especially given all those different deadlines and essay topics. Kate was full of very honest and straightforward feedback, while still managing to be kind and encouraging. Most importantly, Kate was really able to draw upon my strengths to create compelling applications, and asked me all the right questions while I was working through the essays. After submitting each application, I was certain that I had put my best foot forward, and that confidence in myself and in my story would not have been possible without Kate’s help and expertise.

I am 100% convinced that I would not have had the same successes in being admitted to top business schools if I hadn't worked with Kate on every application. I’ve already recommended Kate to friends of mine going through the business school application process right now. Kate is such a gem for anyone applying to business school, and it was truly a pleasure to work with her.

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I had availed myself of mbamission essay editing services 2 weeks ago and didnt know if i would be able to submit my applications in R2. Having consulted with 4-5 top admissions consultants/consulting boutique ,I decided to ahead with Tanya Gaskins from mbamission.
The turnaround time was pretty quick, sometimes even a day or few hours. Tanya provided me with several docs and went over several drafts before coming up with an essay that completely justifies my journey so far. Her emails were detailed and clear to the point of how we should go about to best utilize her time and experience in editing essays.
Her valuable insights into mba applications helped me add several key points that i had initially missed in my essays.
Now that i think of my essays,i am sure that without Tanya's help,I could not have crafted a compelling essay.

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My experience with Katy from mbaMission was really wonderful!! Be prepared to spend money (mbaMission is great - but expensive!), but overall it was definitely worth the investment.

I originally decided to take the GMAT as kind of an afterthought to keep my options open since I was feeling pretty dissatisfied with my job. After taking the GMAT, I went to sit in on some classes at Bay Area schools and was sold on applying.

Immediately I contacted Katy, who I had spoken to during my 30 minute free consultation. I was pretty upfront in that I wasn't sure exactly what my future goals were or how business school would play into those goals (key components for business school applications). I come from a non-MBB consulting background with a non-traditional focus, which I think could have worked against me during the application process. During our first brainstorming session, Katy identified patterns in my extracurriculars that I would never have seen, helped me define my goals in that light, and even suggested firms that focused on what I was passionate about! Katy was equal parts life coach and admissions consultant!

Katy offered great advice at every step along the way, from school selection to picking my recommenders. Katy thoroughly reviewed my essays and helped me to dramatically cut my word count (which was SO helpful for me). During mock interviews, Katy helped me to define my story in a few concise points. She helped me frame my behavioral answers in the same way, which allowed me to avoid rambling!

Overall, I don't think I would have done nearly as well without Katy's help. Now I am in the stressful position of deciding which school to attend - definitely a good problem to have!

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This is a review for using the hourly services at mbaMission. I worked entirely with Rachel, beginning in early June, until my acceptance into my first choice school in late September. We had a kick-off call to discuss which schools I was applying to and she gave me really helpful feedback on my list, and suggested a few that I hadn't really considered.

I mainly used the hourly services for help with my essays. Throughout the writing process, Rachel gave really specific, detailed edits and feedback - I hadn't written in years, and when I wrote my first drafts, a lot of important details/aspects of my story were missing. I felt like Rachel really knew me, and knew where I wanted to go with my MBA, and so her comments and revisions were completely in line with my overall story; with her help I was able to translate my story into 250 or 500-word nuggets without losing important elements. Throughout it all, Rachel was very, very supportive but never shied from pushing me to deliver the best possible versions of my story to the Admissions Committees. She was incredibly responsive and was always willing to schedule a call if I felt like I had more questions. In the end, I was accepted into CBS early decision, and I give Rachel's guidance and coaching a lot of credit with helping me get there.

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I chose to go with the hourly services so that I could spread the consulting time out over a number of different schools. I had very little traditional business experience so I really needed someone to help me frame my story and experience in a way that would speak to the admissions committee. Today I'm happy to report that I got into my TOP school, and I really could not have done it without Melissa.

From day one she was very professional. She never wasted any of my time on our phone calls and was completely transparent about the amount of time spent on assignments and emails. Not only did I appreciate this level of transparency, it helped keep the costs down by allowing me to only buy as much time as necessary. I used every minute that I paid for.

Melissa initially helped me with school selection, which wasn't easy because I was aiming for Columbia with a GMAT of 640. But when I decided to forge ahead anyway, she was nothing but supportive.

We then spent a considerable amount of time on my resume. Like other people have stated, they do not write the documents for you. But that wouldn't be authentic anyway. Melissa's guidance on my bullet points, style, and structure transformed my resume.

When we worked on the essays every draft I got back from her had lots of helpful edits. Additionally, Melissa was particularly good at turnaround - I got most of my documents back in 36 hours or less, and everything definitely before 48. Again, the level of professionalism here was top notch.

After a lot of back and forth I ended up with a very strong application. I feel that mbaMission helped me communicate my story in the most relevant and convincing way possible. I would have ended up with a totally different set of documents had it not been for their guidance. When the time came, I felt very confident hitting "submit".

Then when I got an interview request, Melissa made time for me even though it was last minute. We spent an hour on the phone to prepare and the next day I interviewed extremely well.

Overall, I felt that Melissa was genuinely interested in my progress. It was especially great to get encouraging emails when I was struggling with the GMAT! I would definitely recommend hiring mbaMission. Even if you are someone who has been through graduate school admissions before, MBA admissions is a totally different game. You need someone who "gets it" to look over your documents and steer you in the right direction.

Finally, yes they are very expensive. But so is business school. A little investment upfront might make all the difference in how your tuition dollars are spent. It most definitely did for me.

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I used John during the essay & short answer portion of my application process. He was very diligent and thorough with his feedback and insights on building the best narrative that would draw the attention of the AdComm. John would not only edit my essays but also offer ideas on the structure of my story to make it efficient and effective. He was very timely in his responses as we worked through 3-4 versions of each essay. From the first draft to the final submission, I saw an incredible improvement in my story that I honestly would not have achieved otherwise. Highly recommended and worth the investment.


responding within 48 hours

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First off, mbaMission allows you to read up on bio's of the many consultants they have on their team. This is great because it allows you to choose someone who may have similar experiences to your own and makes it easier to connect with one another. That's why I chose to go with mbaMission and it worked out perfectly.

My experience with Helen Summers met all my expectations and in fact exceeded them (more on that below).

I used an hourly service and went in with a particular goal. I had my application to HBS fairly complete. I wanted Helen to essentially review my full application as if she were an admissions counselor at HBS. Based on the premise of not having any other information other than what I have provided in my application - what would her take be? Understanding that we'd be missing the recommendations component, how could I improve the overall application and chances to get to the next interview stage?

Helen provided amazing feedback on my application which helped guide me towards my final submission. Where she exceeded my expectations was that I originally asked to receive this feedback while anticipating that all my paid for hours would be used up with that round of feedback. However, Helen provided feedback on my HBS application and still left more time which allowed me to get her take on another school's application! She doesn't waste any of your precious time paid for!

In the end, I got into HBS - the school of my dreams!

Thanks Helen. And best of luck to future B school prospects!

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