I'm an education consultant. Because of that it may seem odd that I would actually hire an education consultant to apply to business school - but it ended being a wonderful decision!

Through my own work with my students (I only work with applicants to boarding schools and universities), I have seen how important my guidance has been in their school selection, essay writing, and interview preparation. I have an objective, "outsider's" opinion and know the system.

Before my experience applying to MBA programs, I had never thought to use an education consultant. However, because I saw the value I provide to my own students, I knew just how useful having someone's outside perspective - and knowledge of MBA programs and want they are looking for in candidates - could be the make or break of my applications. I did not know how to tell my story, and I did not know the MBA market. I knew I needed an expert.

A friend recommended the team at mbaMission and I think I selected Angela at random because she had a free trial time slot available when I was free. Since then, I've heard excellent things about other mbaMission consultants as well, but from the first call I knew that Angela was the consultant for me - call it love at first Skype :)

From the beginning, Angela made it clear that she believed in me and in my story, and in the fact that, with the proper application, I had a chance at my dream school - Wharton. As a somewhat nontraditional applicant with a complicated story, having someone confident in my applications was very important to me.

Angela helped me clarify my story and think about my career progression and goals to date in a way that was meaningful, interesting, and effective. I could feel my story making more sense to myself during and after our calls. My resume was a complete mess and Angela patiently walked me through how to make the changes. She never directly told me to do, but rather provided the right guidance, asked the right questions, and helped me develop my own thought process so I could really develop a resume that reflected my strengths and past achievements.

I found her feedback equally helpful when we moved to the essay stage of applications. Angela helped me understand the perspective of each school, and how expectations for essays differed from program to program. As we worked through each essay, I felt increasingly confident about my story and my accomplishments, as well as how to show them. Angela’s feedback helped me re-direct my essays and provide stronger essays, as well as use the right details to suit different schools. While I am a strong writer, I never could have finished my essays as efficiently and confidently without Angela’s expert advice.

Angela also greatly helped with the interview preparation process. By that time, I felt like working with her on my resume and essays had already helped me solidify my stories and achievements so that preparing for interviews did not require much extra work. At this time, I really felt the benefit of working with her: having had the experience of talking through everything with her, having to explain my resume and essay ideas, then using her feedback to develop my ideas and tie everything together had really given me a strong sense of my own story, such that going into an interview seemed very straightforward. We did additional practice questions until I felt comfortable, and I ended up going into the interviews very confidently.

In the end, I received offers to my dream school, Wharton, as well as to MIT, which was also a top choice for me. Angela’s patience, confidence, and professional feedback throughout the process played a major role in my success story – would highly recommend her!

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Jessica is an amazing person and consultant!! She is very responsive and personable, right from the initial free to the hourly consultations. At first, I was impressed by her presentation on essay writing, and she has continued to amaze me as I brainstorm with her about my profile, recommending perspectives and resources which challenge me to stretch my scope and vision. Moreover, her efficiency is always delivered with care, and she has the remarkable ability to pinpoint my areas for improvement in essay writing and communicate them to me in a way that allows me to immediately understand and address in my essays. If you can even call it a writer’s block with MBA essay writing, I have no doubt that Jessica has helped me break through them time and time again and has made me a better writer.

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The 30-minute phone call I had with Katy for my free mbaMisson consultation completely changed my experience with business school admissions, and I am deeply grateful that it did.

I first spoke with Katy in the summer of 2013 when I was thinking about starting to put together applications. In less than half an hour, she helped me see that I was making a mistake by applying at that point in time. I had an almost perfect GMAT score, excellent grades, good extracurriculars, and fiercely devoted recommenders from the several years I had spent working in the nonprofit sector. I thought my profile seemed pretty good … but I was wrong. I had all of these boxes checked, but what I sorely lacked was the foundation of every effective application: an honest and engaging personal narrative that ties together your past and your future. In short, I had no idea why I wanted to go to business school (or, more accurately, I didn’t know how to articulate it yet). During our call, Katy suggested that I take another year before applying. She suggested that I accept the promotion I had just been offered at work, pick up a couple more extracurriculars, and above all, take the time to really reflect on what I hope to accomplish in my life and how that explains my desire to get an MBA. It was the best advice I could have been given.

For me, that piece of advice exemplifies some of Katy’s finest qualities—namely, her honesty and integrity. She had nothing to gain (and everything to lose) by giving me that advice. By suggesting that I hold off on applying, she actually risked losing a client in any number of ways—if I decided not to apply after all, if I decided to work with someone else, if I decided I didn’t need anyone as a consultant, etc. But what Katy cares most about is your success. This was evident to me from the very beginning, and it remains true today. I’m done with business school admissions, and she still checks in every now and then to see how things are going. (I’m starting at Kellogg in the fall—an outcome I’m absolutely convinced I could not have achieved without Katy’s help.)

I took Katy’s advice and spent the next year smoothing out the edges of my application and doing the self-reflection required to craft a strong personal narrative. The following summer, I hired her on an hour-by-hour basis as a soundboard for that personal narrative and for editorial feedback on essays. In our initial brainstorming session, Katy listened to my ideas, asked questions, and offered insights that helped me solidify my story and understand how to communicate it through the application. I know this will sound like an exaggeration, but that conversation was honestly one of the best conversations I’ve had in the five years of my adult life (i.e., since I graduated from college). I left that conversation feeling like no matter what happens with business school admissions, I’ll be able to look back on the process and feel that it was worthwhile if only because I learned so much about myself along the way. The process was tremendously valuable to my personal development, in large part because of the interactions I had with Katy.

I mentioned some of Katy’s best qualities already—honesty, integrity, shared goals, commitment. On a more tangible level, the list of her redeeming characteristics is long as well. Her professional background in the admissions office at Stanford GSB allowed her to give me an insider’s perspective on key aspects of my application. Her editorial advice was always helpful—when it came to essay writing, she gave me excellent feedback on everything from school-specific topic selection to grammar and syntax. Her responsiveness and availability are also top notch. mbaMission has a 48-hour response policy, but she always does way better than that. I remember one time she went off on a wilderness retreat somewhere in the Sierra Nevadas, but she was still responding to email because she had some crazy device that brings the internet to where the internet has never gone before. There was also a time when a school wanted to interview me on very short notice, and I wanted to do a mock interview with Katy that very day. She was, of course, more than happy to accomodate the short notice, and she sent me great follow-up notes soon after our call.

Looking back at the process, I can't imagine having done it without Katy’s help. Whether you need a start-to-finish type of package or just targeted help on certain pieces of your application, look no further than Katy Lewis. Deciding to work with Katy will be the best decision you make during this whole process.

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MBAmission has an extremely solid process for start-to-finish MBA application completion. Beginning with their brainstorming document they helped me create an idea of what was and was not important to include in my essays. The fact they have been through the process provided them an amazing advantage and unprecedented insight into how I could best succeed with each school I applied to.

I did have some concerns however int that over time there were instances that I often had to wait extensively for revisions, and had to remind my consultant about these important deadlines that were due. Overall, however, my consultant was attentive and strongly concerned that I put forth my best application at the schools which would be right for me. Without my consultant I would not have been able to address the key points that needed to be addressed to convey my candidacy for each school. While this seems like a simple process, little things such as connecting dots from every 6 months of my career is something that MBAmission helped me achieve.

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I reached out to MBAmission when applying for my MBA because I was concerned about some disciplinary issues that I had faced during undergrad.

I was connected with Jessica who was in a word - superb! Jessica did 3 key things that were essential to my successful application. 1) She helped me manage my anxiety by offering specific examples of MBAmissions' success with candidates like myself 2) She provided a plan of action to address the issue in my application and 3) Offered hands-on editing support to the optional essay I had prepared. Jessica set me at ease and helped me get over this daunting phase of the application process.

I was so impressed with her, that I engaged her for further assistance editing my essays and short answer questions. She was quick to reply and was very prompt in sharing her feedback. Her edits went beyond minor wording fixes, to address content, themes, and flow. Her suggestions were insightful and actionable, making the editing process productive when it could have been stressful.

After hearing back from schools, I am thrilled with my options. I truly believe I couldn't have done it without Jessica!

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Very simply, I'm not sure I would have gotten into Booth - my first choice school - without Helen at mbaMission. After sending in my brainstorming material, Helen helped me uncover the key themes in my personal story that I wanted to highlight in my application. She helped me frame the application and suggested an overall organizational structure. Helen's greatest strength was speaking directly. She provided blunt, honest, and constructive feedback. And, she was always right. Helen won't project manage you, and you'll need to own your deadlines and the pacing to get things done. But, if you're looking for straightforward and substantive input on your work, Helen might be the perfect fit. You'll never be confused about what she thinks is working and what isn't.

Ultimately, I produced an application I was really proud of and the outcome was as good as I could have possibly hoped for - thanks to Helen.

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I first heard about mbaMission through MGMAT and given that i had a very positive experience with MGMAT i felt comfortable in choosing them. I did, however, talk to consultants from at least 3 other consulting firms since i knew that getting help on 4 schools was going to be a significant short term investment. Of all the consultants i had researched, i felt that no one other than Angela had such positive reviews and client feedback history on various online forums, including GMATClub, spanning several years.

Once i signed up and had Angela as my consultant, she sent over a very thorough brainstorming document which took me more than one entire day to fill out. It forced me to think about EVERYTHING that has happened in my life so far, which was great because it helped me build a clear and concise picture of why i want to really pursue an MBA and several schools' essay questions themselves were answered through stories narrated within the document. We scheduled our first call and discussed the strategy for which 4 schools i would work with her on. We chose Stanford, MIT, Wharton & Booth.

Before we started on a school, i tried restructuring my resume from a coding/technical-jargon filled page to a more business school resume and sent it to her for review. She came back with several important highlights and indicators as to where i need to put more content or expand on a bullet more to show impact/result. In the meantime, we also discussed our strategy for the first school and i got to work on the essays as well so that i wasn't idle while she was reviewing the resume. I really liked this tandem work ethic because we were both then working on a document without wasting any time in between and it carried on till we were done with all the schools.

Six reviews of the resume later, after we couldn't identify any bullet/heading/formatting to improve on, my resume looked completely different than what it was to start off with. It presented my achievements and the results/impact that i've had in a very succinct and meaningful manner and in which i definitely could see how it was much better for business schools than what i had been able to do on my own. We went through a similar number of reviews for each essay and also reviewed the short answer questions within the schools' online application forms.

For each of the schools that we worked on we would schedule a call to discuss what the general strategy should be for me to answer the question properly and what stories about me i should definitely mention in the essay. Angela also answered any questions i had regarding any parts of the application from the schools we were not working together on. There was no doubt that she was definitely concerned about my outcome; apart from answering all my questions she highly recommended applying to a safety school myself as a back up several times since i was applying to only M7 schools. When the deadlines got closer she would even reply to any questions and even send back essays over the weekend even though she didn't have to as per the contract.

When i got an interview invite from MIT she coached me through the interview process, conducting a mock interview, giving me suggestions on structuring my thoughts and what to ask at the end. She also shared with me a list of questions other mbaMission clients had been asked so far in the interview process this season.

When i finally got an admit to MIT i couldn't have been more thankful and relieved. All of a sudden my initial hesitation to spend so much money on a consultant seemed totally worth it. Without Angela's expert opinions, suggestions and coaching i don't think i would have had as good a chance to get into my dream school. Even though i didn't make it to the other 3 schools i worked with Angela on, looking back i now realize the importance of 'fit'. While i was researching the application process, i had heard of how important 'fit' is and how each school had a distinct culture but i didn't think much of it until i actually interviewed at MIT and met people there and saw how much i can relate to them. I feel i got into MIT because of my personal story and how much more it identifies with MIT's culture as compared to other schools and Angela was instrumental in bringing that out in me.

I would highly recommend Angela Guido if you're looking to apply to business school and hire a consultant. Its great to have someone with several years of experience reviewing your work and guiding you during such a crucial stage of your career.

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After my initial MBAmission consultation, during which I gave brief descriptions of my career path, aspirations, and target schools, I was connected with Melissa Merchant. Melissa’s help has proven to be instrumental for my acceptance into Duke Fuqua. Since Melissa went to a Bschool that has a similar collaborative culture as Fuqua’s, she not only shared her experience of living and learning in such tight-knit communities but also helped me arrive at the conviction that Fuqua is the right program for me. During our brainstorming session, she gave a refreshing perspective on my past experiences and helped me understand how my strengths are aligned to the characteristics of an ideal Fuqua candidate. Her edits of my essays were absolutely outstanding: she fixed my grammar, transformed my sentence structures, and enriched my writing style. She also asked encouraging questions in her edits to prompt me to give more examples to support my point.

While working with Melissa, she was incredibly responsive: she often returned her edits to me well before the 2-day return policy. She also gave her edits back to me on Fridays so that I can re-write over the weekend.

I highly recommend Melissa and MBAmission to anyone who is applying to top MBA programs. They will guide you through the process, help you craft your best story, and offer insight that you need along the way!

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The email that I wrote to Katy after submitting my applications summarizes how I think about my engagement with her.

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Katy,

With all submissions behind us, I want to take a moment to reflect on our engagement so far.

When we started in June last year - I had already spend some time brainstorming, and was lugging this 25 page memoir that I had written and a pile of post it notes/ideas/stories. What I desperately needed was a channeling force - to help shape what my restless mind was conjuring into something meaningful. Katy, you became that channeling force to me.

Irrespective of the outcome, I want to take this moment and thank you for all your support in the journey so far.

Here are the highlights of our engagement:

-Your first green signal - "You are really ready to start writing your first draft' was pivotal. As someone who over-prepares, I had not been able to say this to myself. Seeing the first draft gave me the confidence to keep the ball rolling from then on.

-Your patience was incredible. There were so many backs and forths, but I didn't see your enthusiasm waning at any point. It is so easy and enjoyable to work with you - and your humor adds a lot. Your signature smileys :) in every email and a distinct warm and lively writing style is always such a delight to read.

-Your approach of making a clear suggestion, yet never coming across as pushy created a very respectful and collaborative space. All through the process I felt you were on my side, and really wanted me to succeed. At so many times your 'I LOVE this essay', 'I think your story is great' - gave me that right boost.

-You sharing your understanding of the DNA / culture of various schools during our phone conversations helped me develop a clearer picture of every school I was applying to. While this really helped during application write-ups, I now have a greater visibility into which school is a closer fit to my needs/goals.

-Thank god for your sanity checks. "Fashion makeovers" - that's a first! I have laughed so many times on this one :)

Thank you so much once again for being a wonderful coach - who now I can call a friend! :)

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I have a non-traditional career path and was originally interested in Jessica because of her work with people like me. After my first (free) half-hour consultation, I knew that I HAD TO work with Jessica in order to help me gain admission to business school. In that first meeting she completely tore my resume to shreds, but spent the time to try and understand my motives and who I was - thereby finding a way to reconstruct my resume in a way that would positively reflect my accomplishments. I knew that without Jessica, I would be at an ultimate disadvantage.

Jessica first and foremost wants to get to know you - and from there truly helps in crafting your story in the most positive and flattering light. She doesn’t fabricate things, she just takes all of the self-doubt and self-deprecation out of your story and gives it structure. My background looked all-over the place despite my ambitions - I majored in English in college, pursued acting, then quickly began working in the non-profit sector after realizing acting wasn’t for me. I felt my past belied what I truly wanted to do and Jessica saw that and found a way to structure my past (which was true, despite my self-consciousness) in a way that was competitive and appealing to adcom committees.

Jessica works tirelessly with you - from resumes, to an exhaustive recommendation packet, interview prep, to each and every essay and short answer question. She also is a wealth of knowledge on the application process and answered my many anxiety driven questions. But she is also not afraid to utilize her network; there were times when she got second opinions on my questions or my essays from her colleagues. She gets back to you very quickly - often times within just a few minutes.

That said, Jessica doesn’t sugarcoat anything. When I got lower than expected GRE scores (quant score hovering around 70%) she frankly told me that I needed to really expand my business school search and never told me once that I would “get into” any specific school. She just made sure I crafted a well-rounded application and hoped for the best.

I applied to eight schools - all in the top 25 and was accepted to four and wait listed at one (Georgetown, UNC, Cornell, UVA, wait listed at Dartmouth). I could not have DREAMED of these results. Given my profile I was not expecting to get into any top 15 schools and was truly shocked and flabbergasted that I had a multitude of choices -with money! I COULD NOT have done this without Jessica.

I’m still waiting to hear back from Dartmouth (and Jessica is still working with me as I navigate the wait list process) but have also happily and ecstatically accepted my offer to Darden - an option I couldn’t have dreamed of six months ago, especially given my profile.

I would not be going off to a TOP business school in the fall without her. I cannot thank her enough for what she has done for me. She is a rockstar!

SIDE NOTE:

MBAmission is expensive. I spent a lot of money working with Jessica but it was worth EVERY penny. Business school is expensive but also an investment, so think of getting a good consultant as a part of this investment. If you can, why wouldn’t you try to get any advantage that you could in the admissions process?

Also, while I praise Jessica - you also have to put your work in. I worked incessantly for months with Jessica - but she won’t do the work for you. If you don’t put your all into the process she (or any consultant) won’t be able to help you - she will not write or rewrite essays for you at all. She will use what you give her and guide you, and excellently so.

And lastly - if you want to work with Jessica, book early, she fills up!

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