Thought I'd give a quick review on my experience with mbaMission to the GC community and in particular, my admission consultant Susan Kaplan.

My background - Auditor, CPA, CFA Level III, 3.8GPA, 720GMAT, and 4 years of work experience. Strong profile from an academic perspective, but definitely lack extracurricular activities.

I would highly recommend Susan and an admission consultant for the following reason:

1) If you are like me and don't have the time to read every post online about how to write your essays, not to mention the difference approaches adopted by different people. With that said, an admission consultant cannot make you someone you are not. They are in the business of highlighting your qualifications and make your application strong and more eye catching. They don't write essays for you (at least not at mbaMission) and they shouldn't. What Susan did for me was that she opened my thought process and challenged me to think differently about myself and not be conservative in highlighting my qualifications and framing my stories.

2) She is very knowledgeable of the entire process and does not bs you or over-promise on anything. She understands where all the land mines are and often times, I would step on them without knowing. She is very honest in her feedback, something I really appreciated as I didn't want to pay for someone to tell me that my essays were great - that would be a huge waste of money.

3) She is very willing to accommodate your schedule and will push you when you are behind. I think that's something we all need given our busy work schedule. We started early in the process (at least I thought), which really helped to manage my time better and not scramble last minute.

I went through the process with a friend of mine and she chose to use Stacy Blackman instead. Since we discussed the process almost daily, I was able to contrast the process and note the differences:

1) Stacy Blackman has a flight test review - this is a neat feature and basically, the admission board at Stacy Blackman will review your application in whole to see how the puzzle pieces integrate with each other.

2) In terms of actual feedback on essays, the services were not nearly comparable. I would often go through 6 or 7 drafts with Susan and even start fresh mid-way through while my friend received minimal feedback. The level of expertise in editing and overall idea generation was clearly lacking when you contrast the two.

3) As mentioned above, Susan is not afraid to ask me to start from scratch even when we are short on time. This is very important to the application process as your initial ideas generally don't work out. On the other hand, my friend felt that she paid a lot of money to have someone tell her that her essays were well written and only made small changes in wording and grammar.

Overall, I would highly recommend Susan Kaplan to anyone who is serious about getting into one of the top schools. As long as you have the right expectations and willing to spend the time and efforts, she can definitely improve your application and help you get into the school you want.

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Out celebrating after receiving my first acceptance, my skeptical husband says out of the blue “Angela was the best investment you made – you really could not have done this without her”. That is absolutely true.

I didn’t give myself the luxury of time when applying to school. While I was fairly confident in my candidacy, I needed guidance on the process so I could get through it as efficiently as possible. Enter Angela. She delivered on this and more.

Starting from our first conversation through my decision, her enthusiasm and support was unwavering. She took the time to get to know me and dig deep into what is important to me. Even across continents at times, she was clear I was a priority, set expectations, and always delivered (and quickly!). From day one, I knew she was fully invested in helping me be successful.

Before I even started writing, Angela helped me brainstorm my stories. While I thought each story was disparate and unrelated, she drew connections among my experiences and helped me weave them together into compelling essays. She also provided actionable, honest, and direct feedback. Initially, I was writing what I thought the admissions committees wanted to hear, but Angela quickly spotted this and coached me to write about what truly mattered to me. She then helped me connect this to each particular school. When my writing was too business like – dry, boring, and overly analytical – she let me know and helped me find a tone that demonstrated my personality.

Angela will go out of her way to support you through every step of the process. When one of my essays flopped multiple times, we were no sooner on the phone starting from scratch again just days before the deadline. When I was torn between two schools we were back on the phone walking through the decision together. Angela puts you at the center and truly tailors the process to your needs and what will make you as an individual successful.

I am pleased to say that I received an interview at all the schools I applied to and was accepted into Wharton, Sloan, and Tuck. Angela was an incredible partner on this journey, and I know I could not have done it without her!

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I feel confident stating that I would never have gotten into both schools I applied to with Susan's help.

A non-traditional background can be a real asset if you know which aspects of your background to highlight, and a hindrance if you focus on the wrong areas. I was completely hung up on trying to figure out how to present my story, and Susan was incredibly helpful in working with me to identify which particular skills and experiences to highlight in the various parts of my application. She also provided frank feedback when I was heading in the wrong direction.

I particularly valued her help on my essays - I was amazed at how quickly my jumbled first drafts turned into final products. It's because her comments were focused and direct. She suggested places to cut out lots of unnecessary details, pointed out areas where I should elaborate more, and left me to work on improving my next draft without getting stuck running in circles.

She also really pushed me to clarify my career goals. In addition to strengthening my application, that also made me feel much more confident that going to business school was the right decision for me.

Finally, it was great to have someone in my corner who was enthusiastic and supportive any time I had news to share about interviews or acceptances.

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I highly recommend working with Debbie Choy at MBA Mission after applying to business school this past January. Debbie gave expert insight about each step of the application process and provided guidance on how to write the best essay for each school. Even with my unpredictable work schedule, Debbie was extremely patient and understanding with me and ensured that my applications were the strongest they could be.

When working on essays, Debbie provided comments that forced me to fully understand the unique aspects of my background and my motivations for attending business school. She always provided suggestions to improve the essays and ultimately let me make final decisions about content and tone. Debbie knew exactly how attack the even the most difficult essay prompts required by Stanford and Harvard which is known for its open-ended essay prompt. Debbie also answered questions I had about selecting people for recommendations for each of the schools I applied to. Lastly, she was especially helpful when I needed to prepare for alumni interviews and provided immediate feedback during our mock interview session.

While it may sound cheesy, Debbie really helped me grow as a person through the application process and I am forever grateful to her for all of her assistance. Working with Debbie and completing the applications helped me understand why I wanted an MBA and what I expect to achieve during business school and after graduation. While Debbie is an expert for all of the top MBA programs, I highly recommend her for any applicants interested in applying to Stanford GSB – Debbie is an alumna and has amazing insight into the application process and the program.

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Despite reading many bschool application prep books, I was surprised to find even more information and such thoughtful feedback on my application. Coming from an IB-background, I thought I was a number among my peers; however, with the help of this program, I was able to set myself apart. Angela gave me critical but thoughtful feedback on my essay answers and my resume. Also, I was able to gauge whether my answers were sufficient to the question or too overboard/extreme. The overall experience was quick, high impact and worth the dollars I spent. As a result, I received interviews at every school I applied and, eventually, got into my top choice school.

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I was initially not going to use an admissions consultant but after buying GMAT books from Manhattan GMAT I was offered a free 30 minute consultation and figured I would try it out. I was very impressed by Katy on our first call. She had really done her homework before the call and knew my resume and had creative thoughts about my application and how I could tell my story. She was thoughtful, methodical, and very clear. I decided to work with her and am very happy I made that decision. While she helped me in countless ways, I think there are three areas where she was truly invaluable.

First, she really helped me tell my story in the most coherent way possible. I had to explain certain non-traditional parts of my application and she helped me come up with elegant ways to do so. She didnt change my story or goals, just helped me display them in a coherent way. After coming up with the story and crafting the essay, I sent them to her to have her poke holes in them. She analyzed my 'why MBA' argument the way a lawyer analyzes a case (not surprising she went to Harvard Law School). While the application is certainly not a legal case, this was really helpful in a number of ways. First, it forced me to make the strongest and most logical case possible for why I needed one of the seats at GSB and HBS. Second, it prepared me for the interview. I knew what to expect.

Second, Katy was really helpful in advising me how to manage my referees. She suggested that I prepare a memo outlining some examples that I thought illustrated the qualities that the b-schools were after. Since I was no longer working for those recommenders, they said they really appreciated the memo as it helped jar their memories.

Third, Katy really made me feel prepared for my interviews. The analysis of my argument showed me what to expect and we did a few mock interviews wherein she critiqued my answers. She also gave me a list of questions to expect given my background. Nothing surprised me about the interviews.

I can't recommend Katy highly enough. She is a pleasure to work with (friendly, responsive to emails, excellent listener) and I intend to stay in touch with her. Her advice and help played a big role in my admission to Harvard and Stanford.

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I have been through 3 admissions consultants. The first one was an author and a H/S/W grad. She never criticized anything I did and just way too optimistic bordering on fawning. I had to fire her in no time. Then I decided to not hold back and hired a very highly rated consultant (another H/S/W grad) from a very expensive firm on a hourly rate. She was good, but I always felt she was handling way too many clients. I had to remind her in every meeting about my stories as she was getting too many clients mixed up. For one session, she was driving to a dancing class while talking to me from car. For the rate I was paying her, I felt like she was literally taking me for a ride. Anyways, I applied to a couple schools and was promptly rejected.

It has been 4 years since then and I wanted to apply for EMBA. I did not want to go with the second consultant and looked for more info on others. Fortunately I came across Angela and her reviews. Despite my bad experiences with other consultants I decided to hire her because this was my final shot at MBA. I wasn't going to apply again. And that was THE BEST decision of my MBA application process

One of the best things about Angela is she genuinely tries to know you as a person. She will ask you to write down everything about yourself and really takes the effort to study that. Unlike the other consultants she did not ever have to be reminded of my background and accomplishments. She knew them as well as I knew them at each and every meeting.

She is a story teller at heart and can make your seemingly boring accomplishments come to life so much so that you will be impressed with your own accomplishments too. She worked with me on my essays and my resume and now that I look back at my original essays I came up with, they were a disaster. With her on my side, I was able to create a very riveting story in each of my essay and remove the fluff from my resume

She is also honest if you are screwing up. In one of the iterations I tried to jazz up my stories and she called me right away to tell me that the essays did not reflect who I was. She asked me to be very genuine as my personality/demeanor did not gel with my essay and that it would be a red flag at my interview. I am glad I heeded to her advice then

Another amazing aspect of working with her was that she was amazingly fast. I never had to wait for her ever. And this despite taking a school package in which they promise only a 3 day turnaround. She worked with me to get 4 iterations of my essays done in a week and each iteration was a huge improvement over the previous one. All this while she was working from Texas, Chicago and even Europe. It did not matter where she was physically as she was so prompt

Most importantly, I felt she genuinely cared about the outcome. She really wanted me to succeed and I honestly would not have gotten admission to ALL the top b-schools (without revealing too much, I got admitted to two of the following top schools Columbia, Wharton, Kellogg, and Chicago)

If you get a chance to hire her, do not hesitate. You will not repent it. This is coming from someone who hired consultants from other apparently top consulting firms before. They are not even close to Angela in terms of quality

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I decided to take this class after I met Angela at an MBA women's event in SF. I was impressed by her wit and the clear handle she had on the admissions process, as evidence by the great advice she gave me when I was just loitering at her table. The online class definitely didn't let me down. It broke down the application process into manageable steps and gave clear instruction on each piece. At the end of it, I was less daunted by the application process. Plus, the one on one feedback gave me direction on exactly how to proceed. During class, Angela made sure that my classmates and I contributed not just to the flow of the course but also to one another's applications. I was able to use my classmates' feedback provided during class and after to improve my materials. Because I have some unique extenuating circumstances, I opted for a few additional consulting hours through mba Mission. While those hours really fine tuned my story, I felt that the overall value of the boot camp was superior. In fact, I recommended it to my best friend! Between the two of us, we got into Wharton, Yale, Kellogg (x2), Ross, Sloan, and Fuqua with plenty of merit scholarships to boot!

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I found the boot camp with Angela to be a highly cost effective (and time efficient) way to work though the ins and outs of the application process. I had researched and spoken with a few different firms (free consultations/webinars) before signing up for the class. I felt much more confident about my application potential and roadmap after the boot camp. In particular, the process of deconstructing resume bullets to create a strong, concise resume was truly invaluable.

Angela was a great leader--she's very funny and engaging (important when the class is from 8-11 pm after a long work day). She does a fantastic job pulling all boot camp participants into the conversation. During the class, you're sometimes on the spot, which is great because it forces you to generate material immediately and seek feedback. Angela created a welcoming environment for all of us to learn from each other and from her.

The class also comes with a 1:1 consultation after the sessions, which was very useful. Angela gave me really good feedback, encouraging me but also pushing me to dig deeper on certain aspects of my stories.

In the end, I was admitted to Wharton, Kellogg, Yale, and Duke with scholarships.

P.S. I also highly recommend mbaMission's Complete Guide and their Insider Guides--they will save you so much time in your application research process.

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My application was far from ordinary. I was applying to two business schools (CBS, LBS) and three real estate programs (Harvard, Columbia, MIT). My undergrad GPA was under a 3.0 and I had started my own development company instead of having bulge bracket experience. Initially Katherine helped demystify the process and gave me a non-sugar coated analysis of my application, which I very much appreciated.
In dealing with my low GPA, she suggested an unapologetic approach that ended up turning a weakness into an opportunity. I don't know how many clients Katherine was helping at the time but she certainly made me feel at ease by being consistently available to address questions and concerns. She got to know me quickly, understood my strengths and weaknesses, and helped my leverage the former over the latter in both the big picture and small details of my essays. Katy helped me see the application as a holistic process and crafted it accordingly with essays, recommendations, and a resume that worked together to really bring out my story to the admission committee. I feel like this was especially helpful given my background. Katy helped me tell a great story about myself, sometimes in under 500 words. She was great at showing me what was important, what was not, and what I shouldn't say at all.
There wasn't much information on the real estate programs available, but Katy researched what others within mbaMission had done and provided greater insight than what I could have found on my own.
At first I was hesitant to hire an admission consultant after already paying for Manhattan GMAT prep. Those hours were well worth it, not only for the results but also because I felt less stressed throughout the process. I was admitted to all of the programs except London and will be attending Harvard in the fall. I would absolutely recommend Katy for anyone pursuing a graduate degree at a top tier school.

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