Lynn provided exactly the support I needed to select and communicate my most powerful stories in an engaging, authentic way. She helped me preserve my voice and personality throughout the process, but truly brought out the best version of me as she pointed out what she was learning about me from each my stories. It was so helpful to have someone who didn't know me at all give me a cold reaction to my initial drafts, and then help me refine them as she got to know my values, passions, goals, and experiences in detail.

When I was filling out the short answers in the application, Lynn helped me get the most value out of every character / word I was allowed. I don't think I ever would have been able to communicate so much about myself with such little space, and it really gave me confidence that my full application was as strong as it could possibly be.

In the end, with Lynn's help, I got into both schools to which I applied.

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I scheduled my free thirty minute consultation with Liza because of the testimonials I read online about both Liza and MBA Mission. I had no intentions, at the time, of signing up for the consulting service, but thought it would be a great half hour review of my resume and story; however, after only a few minutes into the call, it was clear that Liza was an expert – her knowledge, her insight, and her ability to jump right into business thoroughly impressed me.

I knew where I wanted to apply and the areas in which I needed help in, and thus, I opted for the hourly option. Liza took the time to get to know me through a background assessment, ensuring I highlighted my best attributes for the applications. In her feedback, Liza was honest and comprehensive, but what impressed me the most was her genuine passion and commitment to me. Liza encouraged me to find myself and be true to who I am. Her ability to remember things I said during our calls, or minute details she would bring to life, helped truly show my voice in my application.

As I was just about finished with my essays for two of the three schools I was applying to, I changed my plan of action and decided there was only one school for me. Liza was supportive and agreed it was my best fit. When I shared the good news about my acceptance, Liza’s congratulatory note made my day. Liza built a positive and sincere relationship with me, and from the other reviews I read before engaging, it is evident she does this with all of her clients.

There is no doubt in my mind that Liza is an excellent partner for Business School applicants, and I highly recommend her.

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Liza is incredibly talented. She is everything you could want from a consultant, and was instrumental into getting me into both Sloan and Tuck. I don't have enough good things to say about Liza, but if you are considering a consultant, you should definitely hire her.

A little background on myself - this was not my first time applying. Last year, I applied to Sloan, Tuck, Wharton, and Kellogg. I was waitlisted to three of those schools, and ultimately rejected from all of them.

I decided this next time around to hire a consultant, and Liza was the perfect fit. I had spoken to a number of consultants just to get a sense of their backgrounds and to see if there would be a fit, and I could tell that Liza was perfect for me. Having gone to Sloan and having been at Bain as a consultant, I knew she had the experience of actually having been through what I was going through, not just the experience of helping past kids get into good schools.
She does not bullshit around. She does not tell you what you want to hear - she tells you exactly what you need to know to improve your essays, or resume, or to guide you through your interview. She navigated me through what was an incredibly demanding time, giving me the appropriate guidance and direction when necessary. She kept me on task when deadlines approached, and gave me a schedule to adhere to. She went out of her way on multiple occasions to get me things back in time (even before she was obligated to) so that I could work on them over the weekend. I felt like one of my interviews didn't go so well, and we completely recalibrated how I prepared and that was so critical to me doing well for the second school.

While her services (and those from similar companies) are not cheap, I feel like if getting into a top school is a seriously goal of yours, hiring Liza is 100% worth it.

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The decision to work with an MBA Consultant is undeniably a tough one – is the significant sum of money worth the benefits? Are these so called benefits quantifiable? Is there any guarantee of success? The answers to most of these questions probably fall into the grey “maybe” area for most of us. Therefore, those of us that do decide to work with MBA consultants hope that we have picked the right consulting firm to skew the probability of success in our favor (because – hell, I don’t care if it increases my probability of getting admitted into my dream school by only 5%.. that 5% could mean the difference between getting in and getting rejected!) After having gone through the process over the last year, I can (with some degree of confidence) state that choosing an MBA consultant is so much more than that – it really matters who the consultant you’re working with is, and not which consulting firm they are affiliated to. The right consultant can take that uncertain “maybe” and turn it into a definitive ROI. And that’s where Liza Weale comes in.

In my mind, there are 5 qualities that make a good MBA consultant:
1) Knows the school
2) Provides a different perspective/angle
3) Can market you as an asset
4) Is an excellent wordsmith
5) Actually cares about you/goes out of their way to ensure your success

1) Knows the school: Right off the bat I knew that I wanted to work with Liza for my MIT Sloan app because of her extensive experience with the school. Liza really knows how the Sloan adcom thinks and was able to craft my essays to match their expectations. This was a significant benefit, as the Sloan adcom is very different from other schools and students often make the mistake of using generic essays that focus on all the wrong things from Sloan’s perspective. If MIT Sloan is your first choice – do everything you can to work with Liza!

2) Provides a different perspective/angle: I feel that this is very important in bringing out the versatile facets of your application and personality. I would much rather work with someone who has the ability to provide a different angle to my story than someone who thinks/behaves like me. During my initial 30-minute free call with Liza (when I was still uncertain on who I wanted to work with), I was immediately struck by Liza’s ability to provide not one but many different perspectives on my accomplishments and milestones. In those 30 minutes Liza almost completely changed the way my Resume looked – for the better! I knew then that Liza was the person I wanted to work with for this journey.

3) Can market you as an asset: This is a vital skill for any MBA consultant. They are literally helping you sell yourself to MBA schools. A marketer at heart and by profession, Liza is really able to help you put the best “you” forward in your essays.

4) Is an excellent wordsmith: 10-15 iterations per essay. That is literally the number of iterations Liza had me go through before we concluded that the essays were perfect. During those iterations my essays were transformed from incoherent (and lengthy) ramblings into succinct pieces of art (lol I don’t really think they are pieces of art but you get the point). Liza has a knack of removing that one badly-worded phrase in your essay that you’re stuck on and replacing it with something awesome.

5) Actually cares about you/goes out of their way to ensure your success: This. I had contacted Liza really late in the game for R1 application submission and she was already overloaded with clients by then. However, Liza always kept me on schedule, was always available for a quick counseling session, and was very responsive with her emails. All in all I never felt that she was neglecting me or was only in it for the money – she actually cares about your application and is as apprehensive as you are when the decision time is due!

I recommend Liza Weale unreservedly as the MBA consultant to work with – because she gets results and helped me get admitted into my first choice school – MIT Sloan!

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I applied to HBS, Wharton, MIT and Columbia and got into 2 schools of my dreams and waitlisted from the other two! Few years ago, I worked with another bulge bracket consulting firm, applied to same schools and only got interview invitations from two schools(I withdrew from the process before having the interviews). I contribute much of this success to Eric. Comparing my past experience and stories from 10+ close friends and colleagues who have worked with different MBA consultants in the past 1-2 years, I can say with confidence that my experience of working with Eric was by far the most productive and helpful.

Having worked as an analyst at an investment bank, I would describe working with Eric as such: (1) he was my “associate” at times, giving me detailed and extremely hands on comments/advice when necessary, (2) but also a keen “managing director” at other times, guiding me with high level comments that sometimes shifted entirely the topics/stories to elaborate on essays (critical as this served as the backbone of my entire application). (3) And at all times, he made sure I was actively incorporating comments and doing the thinking/writing, which was important in maintaining my voice and sounding genuine and personal throughout all the essays. These three I believe are key success factors in getting into top schools.

Specifically, key attributes which set Eric apart were:
- Timeliness, Efficiency & Approachability – He always gave me feedback before the promised deadline and was always available/approachable for any short or long comments/questions (for example, he will look at your essays on the plane, at his sister’s wedding during weekends or very early/late in the day, if necessary). He is extremely flexible and if possible, never make you intentionally wait the entire 48 hour response period guided by MBA Mission. While you are aware that the consultants have the whole 2 days to get back to you, frustration will build when your consultant is unwilling to flexibility work around it. With Eric, this will not be the case.
- Sharpness & objectivity – Eric knows what the admissions are looking for and quick to point/pull them out from your various life-long anecdotes. For example, having an investment banking background, I feared that my career background and aspirations would sound too dull/typical for the “why MBA and career goal?” essays and came up with a career goal that was geared towards a more seemly unique industry. I was excited to have come up with a more unique story for MBA essay purposes and presented to Eric, who quickly commented that it did not sound convincing/genuine enough and would serve me negatively. He advised that I stick to my original/true career goal but worked with me in really specifying/shaping the details of the examples/motivations, which led to a very dense, effective essay. In writing more personal essays, I again feared that my life story would be too dull (it seemed I did not have a failure, success or family-related anecdotes that critically stood out), but with a what may seem like a typical story, he really pushed and challenged me to go layers further in conveying the motivations for particular actions I took in the past. Again, this led to an extremely dense and personal essay which I believe served me well, being one of the more over represented candidates from finance background.
- Depth and exhaustiveness of feedback/advice – Again, Eric knows what is/is not important in the eye of admissions and he will give you an exhaustive comment on the key points you should focus on (some often going over couple paragraphs in writing or through phone calls, whichever he judges to be more efficient/effective). For example, on my personal essays, he provided detailed comments on stories I should eliminate but highlighted parts he felt I should deep dive into by asking me “why did you feel this way?”, “what made you…”, or “your response to these motivations conflicts with other motivations, think again” etc,. These various detailed “why” comments really pushed me hard to think, think and think and led me to write an essay that was deeply personal and genuine. You want your consultant to be able to push you to think but at the same time spend time thinking only on stories that matter so at the end, you end up actually finishing the essay on time. So equally important on that end is that he will make sure you don’t waste your time “thinking” over parts that are not critical.

Eric is one of the most professional individuals I have come across in any field; every moment you are working with him, you can tell he is genuinely dedicated to his career and reputation as a consultant (this compares to some other consultants who has other jobs on the side or working as a consultant as an in-between job). During the 6 months I worked with him, I thought how great it would be to have a colleague/boss with similar working style/work ethic like Eric!

Finally, personally, he is sincere, nice and just extremely pleasant to talk to. I have a brother and a cousin who will be applying to MBAs next year, and I will recommend no one else but Eric!

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Using mbaMission was absolutely worth it and Eric Hollowaty had a huge impact on my acceptance to Columbia! I initially came to Eric under the assumption that I only needed a brief scan of my essays and maybe some verbiage cleanup, but I was totally mistaken! Eric helped me rework my essays to really highlight my story and make a compelling argument to the school. Our candid discussions helped me to define where I really needed to focus. Even under a slight time crunch (our first conversation was ~3 weeks before the CBS Early Decision deadline), I never felt overwhelmed by the process and Eric was very quick in responding to emails and always met the 2 business day deadline. Overall, I would absolutely recommend Eric and I am SO glad I made the investment!

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Liza was my consultant for a "Start to Finish" package - I only applied to one school and Liza was instrumental in helping me get in. She helped me formulate my ideas and put them together in an organized and succinct manner. She always responded to my emails quickly and rapidly addressed and alleviated any concerns that I had. She was able to to combine her professionalism and experience with a personal touch. I can honestly say that if it weren't for Liza I would have had a much more difficult time putting my application together. Liza carries my unreserved recommendation.

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I would highly recommend Eric Hollowaty to any serious mba candidate. My background is in finance and investment management so storytelling doesn't come easy to me. Eric was able to provide key insight and feedback into my essays that absolutely transformed them. Eric was always timely with his feedback, more often than not he was early in his responses. Eric's strength is his ability to focus on the details that matter. We spent a considerable amount of time brainstorming and that certainly translated into time savings down the road as I applied to multiple schools. In the beginning, I didn't think you could see the value of buying multiple schools but I was proven wrong. Though there were some overlap in my essays, we still spent a ton of time refining them to be school specific. I don't believe I could have been successful with my target schools without Eric's help.

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Hollis Kline consulted me on my applications for business school. She was very helpful in both crafting my application and guiding me on where to apply. Hollis has a very clear sense of what each school is looking for and how best to approach each essay. She gave me great ideas about how to start each essay and structure each paragraph thereafter. She helped me in broadest sense, brainstorming, ideas about which anecdotes would prove most effective and also went over my essay word for word, helping me to proofread the essay so it was just right. Hollis was also able to guide me on the short answer questions throughout the application. Once I turned my application in I felt very confident and I ended up at my top choice school.

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I decided to apply for an MBA a little late in the game (round 3) due to extenuating work circumstances which made things a little tricky. After reading reviews for different services and consultants, I selected Liza from MBA Mission as she had a number of accepted students to the program I was interested in. After the free consultation call I knew I had made the right choice. Liza was kind and understanding but also assertive and made sure to efficiently communicate her advice showing she respected the fact that we were on the clock. I went though several rounds of essay and resume edits for two applications with Liza and the results were night and day. Her edits and comments enabled me to step outside of my story and really portray it in a way that was conducive to the admissions committees' point of view. She is succinct, articulate, and very insightful and I have no doubt she was a driving force enabling me to attend one of my top two (and only two) schools that I applied to.

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