I had known for a while that I wanted to apply to business school – specifically, to some of the most competitive programs out there. Since the application process seemed so daunting, I decided early on to use a consultant. A friend and mentor of mine introduced me to mbaMission, and I had a 30 minute consultation with Jeremy Shinewald. Jeremy paired me up with Liza Weale, describing her as an “excellent consultant” and someone who is “very personally invested, taking each client deeply personally”. After nearly a year of working with Liza, I wholeheartedly agree.

From the moment I met Liza, I could tell that she was truly passionate about her work and took the application process very seriously. She was enthusiastic and energetic, and I was excited to begin the process together. Our first task was brainstorming – helping me to rack my brain for stories, anecdotes, experiences, etc. that I might turn into my essays. Liza helped me to craft my story, stringing together my experiences in a way that painted a true picture of who I was as a professional and as an individual. I was immediately impressed and felt much more at ease.

Liza was incredibly helpful in editing and tweaking my essays (as well as helping me with the short answers, preparing me for interviews, etc). Her comments and edits weren’t just “word smithing” – she gave thoughtful feedback with concrete suggestions for how to improve the idea/flow. She knew my “story” so well that she often suggested adding anecdotes to strengthen my essay that I hadn’t even thought about! On some of my essays, we went through 20+ iterations – and she worked just as hard on the last iteration as she did on the first.

But, it was much more than essay help. Trust me – the process can be stressful, defeating and tricky. Liza was my therapist, confidant, and strategist all in one! She ALWAYS made herself available to answer to my questions (and calm my fears) – and I had a lot of them!

Liza always went above and beyond to streamline my story and really push me to put forth top-notch applications. Perhaps my favorite part about working with Liza was how proactive she was – she didn’t wait for me to ask a question or raise a concern, but instead continuously brought things to my attention that I should consider. For example, she didn’t hesitate to suggest a re-write of my essay (taking a completely different direction), even if it meant more work for her. And often, I would get emails to the effect of “I was thinking more about XYZ, and even though my gut reaction was to do X, I think we might want to consider doing Y. Here’s why…” Liza’s dedication to her role was infectious and second to none. I felt as though she was working just as hard as I was, and really took my applications as seriously as I did. While I’m sure she had a number of clients, I always felt like I was getting her undivided, personal attention.

I owe a great deal of my success in the B-school process to Liza. I got into my dream school (HBS)! I’ve already recommended her to my friends and co-workers. If you’re serious about business school, don’t hesitate to work with mbaMission – and more specifically with Liza! It’s definitely worth the investment.

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I was a top student from a top school. I had a GMAT score above the average of the top 10 MBA programs. I had decent work and community leadership experience. Yet I was rejected from all of the schools I applied to – rejected without even an interview.

This is what led me to mbaMission. I started with a free consultation, and right away, I knew mbaMission was the right fit for me. I spoke with Liza Weale and had a great 30-60 minute conversation on whether I was targeting the right schools, the development areas in my profile, and how mbaMission could help me as a reapplicant. I came away impressed that I wasn’t being sold on mbaMission but rather given genuine, helpful guidance.

Once I decided to finally make the leap and give business school another shot, I reached out to mbaMission and signed up for a three-school start-to-finish package. On Liza’s recommendation, I was paired with Eric Hollowaty. Eric was recommended to me based on my background, school choices, and who among the consultant staff would be best able to help me.

Eric was the perfect man for the job. Working in a demanding job, and with only a few weeks to the application deadlines, I needed someone who could work with me on my schedule. I needed someone who could provide direct, succinct, actionable feedback. And I needed someone who could help me think out loud in crafting my personal statements – steering me away from dead ends and towards promising ideas and stories, without commandeering the creative process. Eric checked all those boxes and more. Every exchange – every email and every call – with Eric was time well spent.

The result was interviews with two out of the three highly competitive programs I applied to, and ultimately acceptance to a top five school. The road to MBA admission was extremely challenging, but thanks to mbaMission and Eric Hollowaty, it is one I will look back on fondly. I would highly recommend mbaMission, and Eric in particular, to all prospective applicants, especially reapplicants struggling with the decision to reapply.

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I had many friends who applied to MBA programs a year before I did, and most of them used a consultant. However, not a single one wanted to recommend their consultant to me as they did not find their consultants to be helpful or worth the cost. Eventually, I looked into mbamission and was matched up with Liza. I’ll be attending HBS next fall, and I’m really not sure if I could have gotten to this point without all of Liza’s help.
I purchased a 3 school start-to-finish package. It was worth the cost – it took over a year from first speaking to Liza to receiving the final decision from the 3rd school, and Liza was there to give guidance at every step of the way. The unlimited assistance was very valuable. Liza played a key role in everything from brainstorming my initial essay topics to helping fill out the short answers to preparing for the interviews. I had many questions along the way and Liza answered each question quickly and thoughtfully.
There are many reasons why I STRONGLY recommend Liza. Here are a few of them:
- Liza makes your essays better. Sounds obvious but most of my friends wouldn’t say that about their consultants. It’s not hard to tell someone what you don’t like about their essays or why you don’t think they’re good. I had several colleagues apply at the same time as I did and I saw the types of comments that they received from their consultants – no concrete ideas, no specific suggestions on how to improve the essays, just high level thoughts and a few grammar changes. Liza puts thought into every single sentence in your essay. Through the brainstorming, Liza got to know me so well that she was able to think of experiences from my past that I could reflect upon in specific places in the essays. She pushed me to make each essay the best it can be through 10+ iterations per essay.
- Liza is thinking about your applications even when you’re not. There were numerous times when I got emails from Liza with ideas even when the essays were in my court. I doubt there are many consultants out there that do that.
- Liza was always prompt in getting her comments back to me. Mbamission has a 2 day policy, and in a year of working with Liza, she was never late. Not once. As someone who works long hours, I can’t stress enough how helpful it was to know exactly when you would receive Liza’s thoughts. Liza also went above and beyond the hours she had to work. She was willing to have calls on weekends when work wouldn’t allow me to have weekday calls. She was willing to review my HBS post-interview reflection on a Saturday, because I interviewed on a Friday. None of my colleagues had consultants who were willing to do the same.
I got into my dream school and I couldn’t be happier. I highly recommend working with Liza if you’re serious about the MBA application process.

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I consulted with Eric Hollowaty on 4 schools, was interviewed at all 4, and was accepted at 2/4. When selecting my consultant, I requested someone who would be honest with me at all times (no sugar coating) but who also would be my cheerleader throughout the process, and I got all that and more with Eric. He asked questions that provoked me to dig deeper on essays and interview answers and empowered me to view my own experience in an MBA-conducive way. He frequently returned my essays on an expedited schedule without charge, and his comments were analytical, insightful and always improved my work. He made himself available to me on late nights and weekends, frequently at the last minute - whatever I needed to get the most out of his services. He was 100% dedicated to getting to know me, my industry, and my post-MBA goals. I would recommend anyone seeking to enlist a consultant speak with Eric before committing to another service or person.

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Going into the Business School application process, I wanted to concentrate on strengthening my applications through my essays to make up for my ok, but not great, GMAT score.

I had participated in mbaMissions’s free online workshops, and decided to sign up for their free consultation. I chose to work with Eric Hollowaty based on his past experience and its relation to my work experience. Eric listened to what my goals were, and instead of trying to alter my goals he accepted them and helped me become the best applicant for my target schools.

When I started working with Eric, I had already formulated my “story” for the most part, so I didn’t feel the need to purchase the full school package. I instead opted for the hourly option and used Eric to help fine tune my essays for the three schools I ended up applying to in Round 1. Our process was pretty seamless and while we only technically worked together for 3 hours, Eric’s feedback on my essays helped me shape the other parts of my applications and prep for my interviews.

I worried that using a consultant would change the voice of my essays and sound disingenuous, so I did thorough self reviews of my essays before sending them to Eric. From there, Eric helped me highlight and extract aspects of the essays that I might not have realized were important pieces of my experiences and character. I really appreciated that Eric acknowledged both the effective areas of my essays as well as the areas that needed improvement. He worked efficiently within the time constraints I set for each essay review (3 hours goes by really quickly!) and returned my edited essays to me ahead of schedule every time.

I think the best part about working with Eric was the enthusiasm and excitement he showed when I was accepted to the three programs I applied to. He was very supportive throughout the entire process, and was just as thrilled about my acceptances as I was. Thanks Eric!

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I chose Hollis Kline from mbaMission as my consultant after speaking with consultants from several other firms. During my free 30-minute consultation, she gave me clear and pertinent feedback on my profile. Her analysis actually helped me identify areas in which I could improve my candidacy and how I could position myself for my target schools. This was even before I had chosen my consultant!

I found it very easy to work with Hollis because her style of asking questions to develop my MBA profile helped me generate compelling essay themes later on. She took the time to understand my story, not just my academic and professional achievements to strengthen my positioning. Overall, her feedback and guidance were very thoughtful, and she was readily available to help when deadlines were approaching. I found that her punctuality and quality of feedback were perfect even when I would send a number of documents to review in a short amount of time.

Specifically, the biggest thing that stood out for me was that Hollis helped me draw a strong relation between my important life decisions and the experiences that led me to make those decisions. My essays would not have been nearly as good without her direction. More importantly, I got a sense of achievement because her reviews made me think deeply and come up with the content on my own. In the end, my content was original and impressive, and I got into the school of my choice despite a modest GMAT score.

I highly recommend Hollis as your admissions consultant. Do start with a 30-minute consultation with her and you will be glad that you did!

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The first time I applied, I got dinged from 5 schools - no interview invites. Next year, I worked hard to figure out what went wrong and also decided to purchase a 4 school package with mbaMission.

I spent around a month just to figure out which consultant I wanted to work with and finally chose Liza Weale. I made this decision because when I spoke to her during the 30 minute free consultation, I was impressed by the fact that she could give inputs on how to improve specific points on my resume/ application (unlike some other consultants, from other firms, who would simply point out what's wrong but couldn't tell me clearly how to do it right). For instance, a consultant from another firm, after looking at my rejected application, told me that I had to take on a significant leadership role in my company within the next 2-3 months to actually have a chance at the schools I was targeting. Another said that my resume was typical of how others from my country would generally make it, it wasn't "American enough" - she couldn't tell me though how to make it more American. So, after all my research, I chose Liza because of her straightforwardness and ability to present achievements in the most impactful manner (that is, primarily, what the role of an admissions consultant is, I believe).

One thing that was certain from the very beginning, Liza was very professional. Not once did she fail to meet her turnaround deadline and this was done without compromising on the quality – I remember sending her 6-7 documents for review on a particular weekend and she was able to revert back on all of them by Tuesday!! Additionally, she was also kind enough to incorporate my requests for a faster turnaround than usual on a couple of occasions.

Coming to the work part, she initially helped me decide which schools to apply to - I eventually got in to a school that she had encouraged me to consider. During essay reviews, Liza always pointed out areas of improvement and gave me a direction to think, she never told me exactly what to write – which is a good thing because it made me feel that it was still all my work and Liza was there to guide me. Of course, we got stuck several times, especially on how to portray a past endeavor of mine where I hadn’t completely succeeded but which was a major talking point on my application. Liza helped me craft it in a way that demonstrated its impact and showed my failure as a learning step. Getting it right took 3-4 attempts but when I finally did receive my invite (call), I was told that my work on this endeavor was one of the factors they decide to offer me admission.

Another thing that I liked was that Liza would regularly encourage me push back on her suggestions and was mindful of how I felt about what I was writing. Almost every review of her was accompanied with some words of encouragement which is very important in such a grueling process (especially when you are a re-applicant).

While I had chosen only a 4 school package, I was also applying to other schools on my own and Liza often answered some questions related to those schools – which gave me a feeling that she also genuinely wanted me to get into a good school and that working with me was more than just a commitment that she had to fulfill.

I got accepted to one of the top 5 schools and got an interview invite from another (which I couldn’t convert). Additionally, I also have an interview invite from another school that I had applied to on my own. Considering what happened last year, I am so glad I made the right choice this year. I would strongly recommend Liza to anyone looking for guidance on their application.

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The consulting services of mbaMission helped me vastly in my application process. Lynn was very helpful but also rigorous, she pushed me in getting my ideas in order and pacing on track even while I had very limited time because of my job. She did a great job in understanding my profile and recommending essay approaches, even long after the first assessment she remembered my key strengths. She was always available and gave rapid answers to my emails. Even with a below average GMAT score (680) got into my top school choices (Haas, LBS). One of the best parts... she didn't try to convince me to apply to lower ranked schools to ensure admission, but helped me get in my top choices.

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Lynn was extremely helpful throughout my MBA application process. I came into it fairly unprepared and behind schedule for the deadlines I wanted to achieve but Lynn was instrumental in getting a schedule down and helping me through the process.

The brainstorming was great and helped me to define the experiences I have had personally and professionally that would be applicable for business school. This really helped me get ideas for essay writing and Lynn again gave great tips to think about how to improve my essays. Lynn also helped to think about the application holistically, and what parts of my career would best be suited to be in the application and which should come out through the essays.

Finally, the mock interview was perfect. Most of the questions I received in my actual Columbia interview were asked by Lynn in our mock interview and I felt calm and relaxed because I had already answered these questions two days prior.

I was accepted by Columbia Business School which was where I really wanted to go. I would highly recommend Lynn if you are applying to business school.

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At first, I was highly skeptical about hiring a consultant because I wondered whether I would be able to get into my top choice schools without the hefty cost of hiring a consultant. Though I will never know if I could have done it on my own, since I ultimately did decide to work with mbaMission, I do not regret my decision at all!

I first spoke with Liza back in July to get a sense of a) what a consultant would be able to provide and b) what it would be like to work with Liza specifically. Though I spoke with other firms and other consultants as well, I fell in love with the concept of working with Liza right away!

During the next few weeks, Liza helped me with putting together my essays, my resume and my recommendation packets for my recommenders. She provided great insight and guidance on whether to take my story and always pushed me when she thought I had more to say or share (even when I did not know I had more!). Not only was she able to provide very tactical feedback on sentence structure, vocabulary choice, etc., she also provided big-picture thoughts (e.g., why did you choose this example? Is there something more here?). Most importantly though, Liza was at my corner, cheering me on at every single step of the way. It meant a lot to me that she cared so much about how my case would be presented to the admissions committee. Although I had other people read parts of my application, she was the only one who saw every aspect of my application (and the only one I trusted doing so, especially since some of these essays can get very personal). As my trusted advisor, she knew how all the pieces would fit together and whether or not the “true” me was coming through. Through the process, Liza became not only a mentor but a friend and without her emotional support, I do not know if I could have finished all my apps in time.

One of my proudest moments of 2014 was being to email Liza and tell her that I got into one of my top choices. I highly recommend at least looking into working with Liza—she is not only extremely smart, but also very caring and supportive.

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