The MBA process is tough! It's even tougher if you are from Africa and have never written a college admission essay before, are a non-standard applicant and have a less-than-ideal GMAT score.

Before I got hold of Admissionado I had spoken to around a dozen other admission consultants, many of whom were doubtful that I would be successful in my process because I had such a unique profile. I was also skeptical about the cost involved to use an admission consultant. It was only after I decided to apply on my own to a Top 5 b-school, and got dinged, that I realized the value of a strong story and got in touch with Admissionado.

The first thing you notice about Admissionado is how friendly and nice they are. Everyone, from Lauren who heads up their marketing to Kyn my consultant is completely relaxed and extremely helpful. Speaking to Kyn was the first a consultant actively engaged with me to found out what made my application unique. Kyn was an absolutely awesome guy who worked around my schedule even when my work commitments made me impossible to work with.

In my mock interviews I also worked with Mark Lellouch, who I believe was a critical factor in my almost flawless interview with my dream school. Mark challenged my thinking and identified key flaws in my reasoning. I worked on these areas and when they came up in my actual interview I was able to come across as calm and confident.

Admissionado was critical in me not only being accepted into my dream school but also being offered a full scholarship. Admissionado turned out to be one of the best investments I have ever made. I would recommend them to anyone.

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It was the best decision (and investment) i made this year to choose to work with Admissionado on my dream school application. Admissionado has a tailored approach which I really appreciate – they try very hard to understand your situation and exactly what you need and pair you up with the best possible consultant.

My consultant is very friendly, responsive and patient. He knows the application process inside out and always tried to work around my schedule. He also got me very well prepared for my interview and predicted lots of the questions that eventually came up. He was very patient in answering my questions and was supportive and encouraging all the way through.

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When I started planning for my MBA applications I knew I had lot to offer but I also knew that I wasn't really good at talking about myself, which is what admission essays are all about. So I consulted mbaAdmissions and Admissionado. My consultation with mbaAdmissions was disappointing. The mbaAdmissions consultant timed the entire converstation and didn't followup with me regarding our conversation until few days later. The experience made me feel that mbaAdmissions was too busy for my business and left me with a bad taste.

My next consultation was with Admissionado and it was completely opposite to what I had experienced with mbaAdmissions. Admissionado stayed on the call as long as it was needed to answer all my questions. The consultant also followed up right away the next day. I later found out that the consultant was actually on a vacation when he talked to me. I was extremely impressed with Admissionado team members and with their diligence in helping their clients (even on their day off!).

As I mentioned before, my schedule was always extremely busy. By the time I balanced work and took my gmats I had limited amount of time to get my essays done. Admissionado worked closely with me to not only help me tell the right story through my essays but they also helped me get them done in a timely manner.

At one point I misread the essay instructions on the application and ended up being short of one essay. Since the application deadline at that time was only one week away, I started to panic. Admissionado really pulled through for me in that situation. The team helped me get everything done with the same level of high quality.

The feedback on the essays were fantastic! They dug deep and asked some great questions allowing me to paint a detailed picture for the adcom. Needless to say the process also allowed me to learn a bit more about myself. English is my second language. Admissionado helped not only shape the content of the essays but also with how the story should be told. Best of all.. Admissionado made the stressful process of applying to MBA school a lot of fun!! The team was extremely approachable, helpful, and lot of fun to work with!

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It was start of December and I was really struggling to kick start my essays or to be more precise I was not able to locate the starting point. I need some help desperately,but from whom??. There are lots and lots of advertising and opportunity cost is not limited to couple of grand’s it is more in terms of a year of failure. Being always a low key event I cannot discuss this in public, one of my best friend advised me of 'AdmissionAdo', as he himself experienced them while applying to 1st round of business schools. I was only gonna apply to my dream school and I cannot afford to lose on account of poor consultant service.

Mid December - I applied for free consultation of 'admissionado' and after series of mail and careful analysis of my profile their administrator 'Lauren Hersk' referred me to 'Mark Lellouch' - a dynamic stanford passout - as consultant and after an hour long discussion with Mark on the same day I, having no doubt about 'Admission Ado' took their service in the form of 'Junior Deluxe' package.

The unexpected thing - I thought after hiring the consultant I can relax and most of the work would be done by him. But I end up putting thrice the amount of work that I would have done without a consultant, end result - the best application that I could ever manage.

Mark with his excellent soft skills and precise analysis have always pushed me harder in terms of writing essays. One thing that I really admired about him is his 'honest feedback'. I clearly remember the time when he told me after seeing my first draft that you need to change your one of the essays otherwise you are not getting through. He gave me an independent and thorough review of my profile followed by detailed analysis of the essays and pushed me really hard to think about 'n' different things that I would have simply ignored without him. The last but not least since I was running really short of time and Mark made sure that he delivered me the reviewed draft asap.

I am really thankful to the full team of admissionado and especially Mark to be such a great contributor to the application.

Oh and I forgot to tell - I have received the interview call from 'the one' and preparing for it.
If you are serious about your application and don’t want to take any chances, I advised you to have a free consultation with ‘AdmissionAdo’

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If you are considering using an admissions consulting service I am here to highly recommend signing up with Admissionado. Upon first contacting them you will notice immediately how colloquial and confident the people who work there are, and this is not just a marketing technique, it continues throughout the entire process. Additionally their services are very affordable in comparison to other consulting companies, without skimping on any of the quality.

From the very beginning they will attempt to pair you with a consultant that can best meet your needs and in my case it worked out perfectly. Mark Lellouch is extremely bright, honest, and caring. He will challenge you at every step of the process, and that tough love is the key to developing clear goals and presenting your best achievements while minimizing fluff. Engaging with your consultant in an honest and open way is paramount to a successful partnership and I felt comfortable at every step doing so with Mark.

Applying to business school is a stressful process for most, and while consulting will not totally alleviate that stress, it does offer invaluable piece of mind and expert advise at all stages. Admissionado adhered to their turnaround times every time and even exceeded them as deadlines drew near. It is important to remember that the harder you work on the applications, the more you will get out of the consulting process.

Admissionado and Mark in particular met and exceeded my expectations. I was already confident in my writing capabilities, but they helped me immensely in crafting an honest and believable application to b-school. While I have not heard back from all the schools I have applied to yet, I feel 100% confident in saying that Admissionado helped me put my best foot forward in each application we worked on together (and absolutely elevated the other applications I completed on my own).

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First of all, I have to say that Lauren is very persistent. She's pretty much the reason why I used Admissionado, because all the other agencies I contacted kinda forgot me. I have an extremely busy work schedule, so I had to take my time to write the first draft and then pick out the consultant that I want. I had contacted several consultants, and did the normal 30 min consultation, but forgot about them. Lauren was the ONLY one who consistently emailed me to remind me that she still had consultants available.

I thought my first draft was pretty good until Miranda went through them and red inked everything! I am an emotional person, so I was sad at first, but I made myself look through the edits and her suggestions made perfect sense. I love that she focused on the quality of my essays, and not the quantity. She continually encouraged me to write as much as I could, and then she would reduce it for me. I'm an engineer, so writing is not my strong suite, but I can honestly say that my writing got better after working with Miranda.

I also appreciate the fact that Miranda never talked down at me; she always encouraged me, even when I knew I sent her drafts that were terrible in my eyes (and I have really low writing expectations). She sent me an email once to send 'good vibes' across to me. Before admissionado I contacted one admissions consultant, and she pretty much berated me; I decided against applying to B-school that year. I'm so glad Miranda wasn't like that.

Some people say their consultants had a quick 72 hour turn around. I wish that were the case. Miranda was 48 hours! I could barely rest my writing muscles before she sent another edit back! Every time I sent her an edit, she responded with an email telling me when she would get back with me. And she was ALWAYS on time! I sincerely appreciate that; I think that's the definition of integrity.

I think that the money spent on my essays was most definitely worth it. Miranda over-exeeded my expectations, I just wish I did the full package with her rather than just the edits.

The question below asks: "Were you admitted to the schools that you applied to?" I applied to Wharton, Booth and Kellogg. I have not heard anything from them yet because I just submitted two weeks ago!

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I first knew about Admissionado (precision essay formerly) when I submitted a candidacy assessment on the beatthegmat forums almost a year ago. Jon's response was candid and honest. Others gave me gibberish consulting jargon (which I am full aware of as I am a consultant myself) or basically told me I got no realistic shot at my target school. I was not buying it.

I believed I got the qualifications for the schools I was targeting and I could get in them. But, I decided to enlist an admission consultant's help because:
1) I have an atypical experience/background (I like to think!) for the programs I was targeting.
2) I had way to much work on my plate that I knew I would push the admissions essays to the last minute.
3) I knew the program I wanted to get into, and I wanted to do everything that I could do to make that happen. Go big or go home.

I wanted the admission consultants will help get the best of out of my background into a strong application, push me to get the work done early, and, well, give me strong guidance through out the process.

Admissionado was the first that I talked to. Though, to ensure I have the right man for the job, I talked to 2-3 of the bigger-names admission consulting firms but they all seemed inflexible to me, or even discouraged my chances for the schools I want to apply to. I didn't feel comfortable with any of them. I was about to spend a lot of money from my savings to work with someone over few months, I wanted to make sure I feel comfortable with them.

Through the initial conversations, despite the over-use of the word 'dudes' or may be because of it, Admissionado really seemed flexible, understanding, and, well, real people. Furthermore, they gave me a good deal in understanding of my situation; I had recently taken a 70% pay-cut when I moved abroad to work with a start-up.

Then, I started working with Dave Harelick who, as his profile describes him, ".. oozes MIT…" and he truly does.

They start with a general detailed assessment or questionnaire. When I first looked at the initial profile questionnaire I was a skeptic. I didn't understand why I needed to do that, but I did it. After a phone discussion with Dave about them, he helped me by drafting an "action plan." Basically, the essentials of my story. And, it was then clear why I needed that. It simply helped me clear out my vision and story; throw away the garbage, the clutter, and the unnecessary. Now, that I am preparing for the interviews, that action plan is a gold-mine.

We then talked about my list of schools. I knew my top school - but honestly had no clear idea about other programs. Beyond my top choice, they all seemed the same more or less. So - he helped me shuffle through my list and helped me eliminate many schools that I was considering for the wrong reasons or were definitely not aligned w/ my goals. (examples of not convincing reasons: INSEAD: "well, it is nice to live in France for a while." Harvard: "well - I gotta apply to Harvard. Gotta give it a shot!")

And, then the drafting begun. I soon realized that .. nope, this process is not saving me time. I was working waayyy too much on this. But Dave's feedback was warranted - I could see the significant improvement of the essays. So, yes, I worked on the essays A LOT. As you can read in other reviews, the feedback you get is not simply "this is not good." Dave really gave me detailed (and sometimes lengthy) feedback about the story. And, he was honest and clear about it (but not rude!). If it was too corny, he would say so. If he thought it is not strong, he would say so. Not only that, he will exactly, and in details, tell you what you need to do with it to take it to the next step. Also, you would hear him say "SHOW ME" and don't "tell me" so many times, you would think he's directing a play. But, really it works. Adcoms read hundreds if not thousands of self-praising applications - only if you show them how this self praise is warranted does your application stand out.

Now I can say that the content is all mine. Yes, the essays have been fleshed out, edited, chopped up, put-together, and re-written several times. But, they are mine, and they are pretty epic (if I may say!)

And here is my biggest advice to any person working through this process: you have to work hard to convey your story - at least to your consultant. Your consultant does not know your life, was not there when the story took place. If you feel he's not getting your story - then email him about it in layman words. If that is not working, call him up. And, with Dave, or Admissionado, this is simple - they are responsive and all ears. They just need to really understand what the story is, and then they can help you phrase it and write it.

I have not gotten any admits, yet. But I have just received my interview invitation at the LGO program at MIT. For y'all out there who're thinking about Sloan or the LGO, you would understand that getting the interview for Sloan and/or the LGO is them asking you to come out and seal the deal - getting the interview is more than half the battle. Consultants are a rare breed at the LGO program. Nonetheless, I have 4 years of pure consulting. In-fact, I went from tech consulting to strategy/management consulting over the last year. Further more, I realized that I had a missing period and a missing word that I inflicted on the essays in last minute changes after Dave's last polish, I still got the interview - which means my essays were strong enough that missing words and punctuations didn't matter (still- don't miss too much with your essay after a consultant worked on it!) Now that I am preparing for the interviews, I had a first call with Dave to give me general outlines about the interview process - and we have mock-up interview lined up this week.

I feel that the flexibility of Admissionado gives every candidate the ability to tailor the service to exactly what they need within the Deluxe package - but you have to also set the expectations right and talk to your consultant about what you are finding hardest to put together.

If you want to get in Sloan - you won't find any one more knowledgeable or helpful consultant than Dave. Despite the endless hours I spent online researching the school and the program, he always managed to send me a link or two about Sloan that left me thinking "well - this is awesome. how did I miss it?!" He's still very active within the Alum network and up-to-date on the happenings of Sloan. He's always responsive to his email, and has no problem getting on the phone on short notices (given it is reasonable requests!) Even more, he did go a couple of times beyond the 'four drafts' of the process to edit further revisions. Other consultants had told me that they won't put in more than a set amount of hours in the total process - and that included phone calls. Oh - one more thing - turn around was always very good and as promised.

Again, if your dream school is MIT and you are curious whether to enlist an admission consultant or not, I advice you to talk to Dave - you will immediately see clear the immense value that Dave will add to your application in any capacity you decide to work with him on the application.

And, if you are looking for an admission consultants to actually work with you rather than try to fit you in one of the molds they created, then talk to Admissionado - you will be happy.

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After having much drama with a individual editor who basically left me high and dry one week before applications were due, I called Admissionado in a panic. Lauren was super friendly, helpful, extremely positive and proactive. She worked to get me set up with the services I needed in a very short time frame, and within my very limited budget.

I was able to have a free consult with Phillip and was sold. I explained to him my situation and he was very positive, telling me that he would be able to help me even in this short time frame. He was very knowledgeable, funny and made the process of "beautifying" my essays easy.

I would highly, highly recommend this group to anyone in need of any type of service!

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I first started toying with the idea of getting an admissions consultant a few months back but was very hesitant when I learned how expensive these types of services are. However, after reading such positive reviews from successful past Admissionado clients, I decided to send over a draft of one of my essays for a free consultation. To my pleasant surprise, I received a personal email from Lauren, welcoming me and introducing herself, only minutes after I hit "submit."

As promised, I received my edited essay within a couple days and was very pleased with the helpful comments I received. Without any hesitation, I had Lauren set me up with the basic package. As soon as I paid my fees, I was set up with my editor Sach, and I was ready to go!

Sach is truly an amazing editor - not only did he offer great suggestions for edits, but he also provided unbelievably quick turnaround times. I always received my edited essays back well before the 72 hour mark (sometimes even within the same day!). He was so speedy, there were times when I felt that I couldn't keep up with his edits! If you're looking for an editor who will push you to your limits and make you work hard, then Sach is your man. Looking back, he was much more than just my editor - he often threw in extra very helpful advice that weren't included with my package. The best part was Admissionado never charged me an extra dime for these bonus services!

Overall, I am extremely thankful to have chosen Admissionado as my admissions consultant. Not only do they do their job and do it well, these people truly care about their clients. Just the other day, I received a very heart-warming email from Lauren, wishing me good luck on my second round of the GMAT. Keep in mind that my contract with Admissionado was up in October, but Lauren and her team still occassionally check up on me to see how things are going. This level of sincerity is definitely hard to come by and this just goes to show me that I made the right choice with Admissionado!

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I am glad to have Fritz Charles as my tutor in completing my MBA application. I had a quite tight schedule when I decided to apply this year. The guidance from Fritz helped me a lot. His careful review over my essays has impressed me very much. He understands how the admission committee thinks about the essays and what points can attract the attentions of them. He also took care of the vocabulary and word count quite well.

With his help, I have gained the interview invitation from one of the M7 schools, also the only school I asked Fritz for help.

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