Selecting the appropriate consultant is not an easy task. Some of you may have the luck to get someone refer a good consultant; but for others, you will have to select someone blindly.
In my case, I was lucky to know about Monica thanks to a friend of mine, who highly recommended me to contact her. He basically told me he got admitted to his top choice thanks to her. So, I trusted him and reached to Monica.
It is important to add that I had a low GMAT (640), so I knew I was starting the process with a disadvantage.
After having the free 30min consultation with Monica, I knew she was the perfect consultant I needed. First, she encouraged me to apply, regardless of my low score, but she made clear that I needed to have an outstanding application to offset the GMAT score. But she was confident we could achieve this if I dedicated time and effort. I accepted the challenge!
As you probably know, the application process is complex and time consuming. You are required to elaborate several essays, short answers, update your resume, elaborate on extra-curricular activities, etc. Basically you need to think carefully every answer. If you first think about it, you might get overwhelmed, overthinking what to say or write, and may be at risk to prepare an application without the proper structure or guidance.
Thanks to Monica, she helped me to straighten my thoughts, brainstorm, dig deeper not only in my professional life, but also in my personal one. This helped getting to know more about myself. She also managed to extract more interesting anecdotes, challenges, that I initially thought weren´t relevant to the essays. Another very favorable point is that her previous experience in HSB admissions helped me understand the viewpoint of the person from the admissions office who would read my application. So, my application ended up like a holistic description of myself. I can even say that she basically ended up knowing me more than some of my family members.
Another favorable aspect is that she helped me prepare with mock interviews which really helped me to loose nervousness, prepare myself, and know which kind of typical questions I would be asked during the actual interview. Thanks to this, I felt confident and when ended my interviews, I felt great!
In retrospect, I can personally affirm that I enjoyed the whole process. I think this should be the whole point, in order to happily dedicate a considerable amount of time, without getting overwhelmed or frustrated.
In the end, I got admitted to the top schools I applied: GSB and Wharton! A dream come true, that I can assure you; it would have never happened if I had not been coached by Monica.
Thank you Monica for everything!

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I decided to work with an admissions consultant mainly to (1) help me tell my overall story in the best way possible, and (2) keep me on track as I was applying to 6 schools all in Round 1. Overall, I was looking for support and a formalized structure to help me through what is by and large a pretty overwhelming process.

I purchased a two-school package and prioritized my top 2 schools of the 6 I applied to. Here are the primary ways that Monica helped me:

(1) Essay brainstorming and editing / refinement process: Going into the MBA admissions process, I knew the gist of what my story would be and had a lot of possible personal and work experiences to pull from. However, where Monica played a huge role was pushing my brainstorming process and lending her admissions expertise to determining the appropriate pairing of specific school essay prompts to the right stories. She also provided very on-point feedback -- through multiple rounds of essay edits -- to sharpen each essay so that it directly answered the prompt and very distinctly highlighted particular strengths or takeaways that would shine in an MBA admissions context (which is different from what most people think is typically "good essay" writing). She would call me out when my writing could be better, but my original voice and intent were never compromised. I believe that Monica really took my essays from good to great, and that was where her guidance helped me the most.

(2) Structure and guidance throughout the entire admissions process: Working with Monica as well as MBA Mission helped to provide a very clear structure and timeline through the entire process, from brainstorming --> essay writing --> interview prep --> post-interview strategy. In addition to the standard MBA Mission resources that you're given (which are all excellent), Monica provides her own tailored guides and supports. Interview prep was also great with Monica, since she delivered necessary feedback in a way that was warm and empathetic, yet still called out clearly what improvements could be made.

(3) Overall support and positive attitude: Throughout the entire process, Monica struck a great balance of providing guidance and insightful, firm recommendations while also maintaining positivity and serving as a supportive sounding board. It was important to me to work with someone whom I could trust and who I enjoyed working with, especially given how stressful the admissions process is. She felt more like a coach and thought partner as opposed to a consultant.

Result: I applied to 6 schools (all ranked in the top 12), interviewed at 5 and was accepted at all schools that I interviewed with, including the two that Monica helped me with. I will be starting at my dream school with a full scholarship in the fall and couldn't be more thrilled. For the other 4 schools that I did not work directly with Monica/MBA Mission on, I wrote slightly different essays but was able to translate overall concepts from Monica's essay feedback and her interview preparation to those programs as well.

Overall, I really enjoyed working with Monica. She was very thorough with her feedback, responsive to all of my emails and questions, and thoughtful about her edits and advice. I'm incredibly grateful to have worked with her through the admissions process.

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I worked with Nisha Trivedi on an hourly basis throughout my application process. She primarily helped me with resume review, essay review and managing my acceptance letters. One of the best parts of her help, was the efficiency. I was able to have one resume reviewed, three essays and the acceptance letter work done in under two hours.

The service was well worth the money and I would absolutely use it again. I applied to four schools and with Nisha's help, was accepted at all of them. I found it incredibly valuable to have a professional to help me navigate the admissions process and would highly recommend to any prospective students.

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I had a great experience working with Kate from mbaMission! She was extremely responsive and guided me through everything I asked for. I was never stressed out during the process and felt a lot more confident about my application after working with Kate.

I started off the MBA process early and did a lot of research and prep on my own but decided to try out a free consultation with mbaMission just to see what they had to say. After 30 minutes with Kate, I learned so much about what it really takes to be a strong applicant and realized I had much more work to do.

I used the hourly services because I was already at the resume and essay stage of the process when I first started working with Kate. I was a little worried about using the hourly services given I had no control over how long someone else took to look over my material but Kate was quick and timely with all her responses! I never felt like she was wasting my time and trying to get me to buy more hours.

Kate provided great feedback on both my resume and essays - she gave me tips to help me come up with better examples and stories that really showed the type of candidate I was. Having a third-party, especially one so experienced and smart, read my essays was invaluable. Kate's unbiased feedback helped me better understand which examples to use for which schools. Her notes were very easy to follow and she also got back to me with feedback way ahead of our set deadlines - allowing me to constantly make updates.

I'm very grateful to Kate for helping me get into one of my top choices. I'm glad I used an admission consultant because Kate's prior experiences gave me new perspective into how to tackle the process.

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I worked with Dan on an hourly basis to get overall guidance on structure as well as some polishing touches for the essays I was stuck on. Dan came highly recommended from a colleague and he certainly didn't disappoint. I appreciated his honesty and encouragement when I was struggling to decide to retake the GMAT (no one wants to do through studying for that again) and he offered great advice to strengthen my application and profile. I also knew I could call him at any time - which is crucial when you are slightly panicked if your essays are good enough. His guidance on overall essays structure was extremely valuable.

With all the voices and opinions out there, it was great to have someone with the experience to trust. I would certainly recommend Dan!

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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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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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Heidi is the reason I was able to turn my application around from a ding into an acceptance and get into my top choice MBA program. As a result, I only had to submit one MBA application. As many applicants, I realized that my Personal Statements / Essays and the Resume will need to be exceptional. Heidi was essential in helping me craft a differentiated personal narrative that was articulated in my essays and strengthen my resume by highlighting the impact of my role in my company.
Looking back and reading the first draft of my essays and comparing them to the final product strikes a difference of day and night. My essays contained an arrogant tone, which often appears as we write about ourselves, and would be considered application-denied material. However, Heidi was able to transform those first drafts into a powerful narrative that helped frame my unique differentiators. Heidi was also very successful in turning my resume from a job description and overview of responsibilities into a strong narrative of my impact, strengths, and success. Furthermore, her input into the other portions of my application based on her specific knowledge of what each school wants was invaluable and saved me from making multiple disastrous mistakes.
Along with Heidi’s superb eye and laser focus on creating a winning application, what I really enjoyed about working with Heidi was that the process didn’t become overly time consuming. Heidi was able to pick up where I left off and provide sufficient feedback for me to continue iterating my application. 100% of our collaboration happened via email, which was very impressive.
Working with Heidi was the best decision I made and I would highly recommend Heidi at MBAMission as your admissions consultant!

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After spending several weeks preparing my essays, I thought it would be a good idea to purchase an hour or two to make sure they were going in the right direction.

Even after many of my own revisions, Nisha helped me make the most out of my very restrictive word counts so that I could present myself in the best way possible.

By far the most important experience was that Nisha was able to get back to very quickly when I was approaching my deadlines, even though there was a 15 hour time difference between us. I felt that Nisha genuinely cared for me and wanted to make sure that she did everything she could to make sure that I succeeded.

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Katy helped me see the application process as an opportunity for structured self-reflection. There were two aspects to her coaching. First, she helped me understand what I value, where I want to go and what I have done so far. Katy facilitated that process through writing exercises and follow-up discussions. Second, she helped me create a narrative that communicated my story to an objective party and explained why business school is the obvious next step. Here, Katy supported me through the process by reviewing multiple drafts of my essay and helping me prepare for my interview.

Katy managed to remove much of the mystery surrounding the application process by helping me understand my motivations and how to effectively communicate them. Thanks to her support I was admitted to my top choice.

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