For someone who usually does not write reviews, I just must write this review for Jessica - not only because she has been so super helpful, but also because this review could really help others who are trying to get into the school of their dreams!

I first spoke with Jessica when I scheduled a free 30 minutes consultation with MBA mission. At that point, I was shopping for admissions consultants and had spoken to a couple before my conversation with Jessica. After the initial 30-minute initial conversation, I was completely sure that I wanted to sign up with her. She picked up nuances of my profile that other consultants hadn't and her insights during the 30-minute conversation added so much value to the way I thought about my applications.

During my applications, Jessica was the person who kept me organized, my harshest critic and most importantly my voice of sanity. She helped me brainstorm through experiences and stories in my life that I had underestimated the value of. She worked with me meticulously, going through approx 25 drafts of essays for a single B school application (and we were working simultaneously on 4 of these schools). She would answer my silliest questions and doubts with the utmost patience. There was never a time when she was late - in fact she almost always sent me back stuff much in advance of the 2 day turnaround period, even on weekends a couple of times.

I applied to only 4 of the top schools and got interviews from 3 of these. Even during my interviews, Jessica was constantly a source of support helping me be prepared but not scripted. I must also mention that although I ambitiously decided to apply only to the top schools, Jessica never once pressured me to consider other "safer" bets. She was supportive of my decision and always told me that I should apply only to those schools that I would be happy going to.

I guess what I value most is that throughout the entire applications, Jessica made sure that my application maintained my tone and genuineness while ensuring that my voice was heard. I remember during one of my earlier conversations with Jessica, she had promised me that she would make sure I was totally happy with how my application was positioned before I hit the submit button. And the end result was that not only was I totally happy with my application, but I came out feeling like I had really gained from the application process. I got into one of the top three schools with a good scholarship and was waitlisted at another! :)

To all those who wish to truly give their B school applications the best shot, I would definitely recommend signing up with Jessica. I would suggest signing up for the 30-minute free consultation and making the judgement for yourself.

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Katy Lewis is a total rock star in my book. I started the MBA application process with no intent of hiring a consultant, as I felt that I had a good grasp on my career goals and was afraid that an advisor would take the authenticity out of my application. I just plainly didn’t think an advisor would be worth the cost.
My mind was opened when a close friend, who is now a first year at HBS, told me about what a fantastic experience she had had working with Katy. Looking back now, I am so glad that my mind was changed - Katy truly made all the difference in my application process. She is undeniably brilliant and has incredible emotional intelligence. As such, she made very tangible contributions in several areas which I still feel that, no matter how much time and effort I exerted, I would not have been able to do nearly as well on my own:
- Story development:
o This is where she really amazed me. She is an incredibly good listener, and was really good at connecting the dots between various parts of my childhood/background and personal characteristics/values/goals, in ways that were often amusingly and surprisingly insightful. She was also incredibly helpful in determining which details to keep (of course, they all seemed relevant to me), not only to stay within word counts but also to make my story more clear and impactful. At the same time, I really appreciated that Katy was very aware of not over-editing, ensuring my essays were still (despite her many edits) completely “in my own voice”.
- Big picture guidance:
o Personally, a big value add from Katy was the comfort I took her level of experience. I had not ever read a “successful” (or any) MBA application, and it put me very much at ease to know that she really knew what an “ok” versus “good” versus “stellar” application looked like.
- Insightful knowledge of MBA programs:
o I relied heavily on Katy’s deep knowledge of the programs I was considering (Harvard, Stanford, UVA Darden). She not only attended two of these schools herself but has clearly made it a priority to stay well informed of the pros/cons/changes/course offerings/etc at each –from the perspective of “what it takes to get in” as well as what students are a best fit for each program. When ultimately choosing a school to attend in the end, I really valued her nuanced thoughts and guidance, particularly given how well I felt she knew me.
A few other points that I wanted to quickly make are:
- Efficiency / value:
o I hate to bring up money so blatantly, but can’t help but comment on the cost side of things. Clearly working with an MBA advisor is not an inexpensive decision, however I can very honestly say that Katy never once made me feel as though she was doing something to bill more hours. In fact, I felt much the opposite – on many occasions, I was shocked by the relatively little time she recorded spending on some incredibly helpful feedback (I still don’t think she could has possibly have done several of these that quickly…).
- Dedication:
o Katy is undeniably dedicated to her clients and its clear she does it out of a deep and authentic desire for each of them to succeed. This was evident from certain things such as her quick response time and late nights (in the week leading up to a submission deadline, she was pulling hours that would intimidate a young i-banker!), but I was most impressed by the extent to which she was clearly working this hard because she really cared. She was always very focused on providing the above-and-beyond emotional support that most determined applicants are bound to need in what is, at many times, a taxing and stressful process. For me she went above and beyond by hopping on the phone last minute and providing un-prompted updates on interesting from-the-grapevine intel. She even made a point to meet me in San Francisco on her own time when I was in the area one weekend.
Above and beyond these things, Katy was also just incredibly enjoyable to work with. She very quickly became more of a mentor and friend than an MBA advisor. She has an extremely compassionate and giving spirit which comes through in how much she cares about each of her clients. The MBA application process was overall a great personal reflection opportunity, and Katy definitely made it all the more rewarding and enjoyable.

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I highly recommend Katherine (Katy) Lewis from mbaMission for her warmth, clarity and insider understanding of the admission process. Here is a little bit about how I found Katy - and how she helped me land a seat in the Berkeley Haas EWMBA program:

ManhattanGMAT offered a free 30 minute phone conversation with mbaMission and I was assigned to Katy - an incredibly accomplished consultant with a background in law, management consulting and admissions, and a resume featuring blue chip names like Yale, Harvard, McKinsey, Stanford and Berkeley. Given my comparatively modest background, I was anxious - but Katy immediately put me at ease with her warmth and friendly openness. When we first connected, I instantly liked Katy and felt comfortable talking with her!

Over the 30 minutes of our call, we covered my background, goals, GMAT score and target programs. Katy was then able to share which schools she thought would best align with my past experience and future career plans - and she didn’t just share the usual stuff you can garner from marketing materials - but rather, a real in-depth perspective on what these programs are like and which types of students succeed within them. This “insider’s peek” helped me clear up a lot of the confusion and noise that I was sifting through while trying to figure out which school would be best for me.

I ultimately decided to apply to the Berkeley Haas EWMBA program. And given the success of our first call, I engaged with Katy using mbaMission’s a la carte service - about three hours worth of consulting to focus specifically on my essays.

To kick things off, Katy sent me a brainstorming document that guided me me though a series of questions about my childhood, college and professional experiences. The document’s prompts encouraged me to probe my memory and remember things from my past that had fallen off the radar - but that could be helpful when thinking about my application. I then submitted this brainstorming document to Katy.

And this is where the magic happened.

Before we even had our next call, Katy thoroughly reviewed the answers I had provided, looked up my undergrad alma mater’s website, explored the companies that I had worked for and started thinking about my personal narrative - that common thread that stitched my whole life together. When we spoke on the phone, she knew my story inside-and-out and shared the elements of my background that she thought would be compelling for my Berkeley Haas application. I won’t go into the details of my story, but to summarize, she was able to distill my accomplishments and background down to a single, spot-on word; my “personal brand,” if you will. Moving forward through the process, I tied every part of my application back to that single word. This not only made the process easier, but it kept my story cohesive and strong.

Katy's magic transformed not only my application, but frankly how I thought about my past experiences in general. It was oddly therapeutic - a bonus that I never thought I would glean from an MBA application process.

After the brainstorming session with Katy, I wrote my essays - which she helped me edit for clarity. Perhaps it’s that Harvard Law degree, but Katy really knows how to get to the heart of the story in a succinct way that ensures the most salient points shine.

But I have to say, as thrilled as I was with my essays and the story they brought to life - the real magic was brainstorming with Katy. All the editing in the world can’t replace the value of a compelling and cohesive narrative. And when it comes to finding that story, that narrative - and tying it to insider knowledge of the schools and what they are seeking - Katy simply can't be beat!

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I had an amazing experience with MBAmission and particularly my consultant, Jessica Shklar. She was an amazing thought partner and helped me get into my top choice school.

From my first meeting with Jessica (our free consultation), her advice was always on-point, honest, and very specific to the person I am / my specific candidacy. She thinks sharply about your strengths and weaknesses and helps you make the best case for yourself.

MBAmission asks you to compile a brainstorming document, and one of Jessica's greatest value-add's was helping me transform this long and unstructured brain-dump into 5 tangible ideas for an essay. For my main essay, I ended up coming up with my own unique version off of one of her ideas, but I don't think I could have gotten even close to such an incisive essay topic without her.

Jessica is also an INCREDIBLE editor. She will push you both on themes and word choice/sentence structure. One of her greatest gifts is also trimming down essays and cutting out unnecessary words.

In addition, I appreciated Jessica's help with interview prep. She ran a complimentary workshop before working with you 1-on-1 so for hourly clients like myself you can really maximize your time. In general, Jessica was very generous/lenient about how she billed me for time.

MBAmission as a whole is extremely prompt and stick to clear turnaround guidelines. During non-deadline times, Jessica often exceeded expectations in terms of these turnaround times.

In general, Jessica was a huge ally, thought-partner, friend and moral support throughout the process. I couldn't have done it without her!

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If your intent is to get an MBA, you will present a stronger candidacy if you reserve Dan’s services.

The first thing to know about him is that he has been there. He has an MBA from CBS so he has succeeded both at getting himself into a top program and at guiding others down the path (I am headed to Columbia next year thanks in large part to Dan).

From the beginning, he will analyze you from all sides: education, work experience, personal life, interests, etc. He is very detailed and has a marketing background and thus is quickly able to identify your unique characteristics that make you more attractive to a top program.

From resumes to essays to short answer questions, he will help you find and develop your most compelling narratives. Then, he will eviscerate your work repeatedly until it flows economically within the allotted word count.

When interview time comes (and it will come of course…because you engaged Dan), he will do wonders for your interview preparation. He knows each school’s unique interview style and drills you accordingly. By the time you are interviewing live with the school, it’s like you are watching an old movie you have seen a dozen times before.

Two more things that really impressed me: First, he always seemed intensely focused and invested in my candidacy. I never felt like my candidacy had anything but his undivided attention. Second, he was always ahead of schedule. MBAmission mandates that their consultants get any work back to you within two business days hours. In my experience, Dan never kept me waiting longer than 12 hours.

In short, being a potentially strong candidate does not guarantee that you will have a strong candidacy. Dan is like The Wolf from Pulp Fiction when it comes to the latter point.

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This was my second attempt with U of C (Booth). While I did a lot of work on my own in preparation of the admission process, I honestly believe that without Angela Guido's assistance, I would not have been admitted!

I didn't have a good idea of what to expect before working with Angela - there is a significant time and (more importantly) effort commitment (5 essays, 5-7 drafts per essay, re-tooling my resume, etc.) and, with Angela's guidance, I produced essays that I didn't think were possible. She motivated me to take my experiences to construct strong stories and a powerful resume. Her feedback throughout the application process was invaluable!

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As an applicant from a nontraditional background, I knew I needed help with my essays if I wanted to get into a top program.

MBAMission and John in particular provided excellent, concise and direct instructions and feedback on all essays. Especially since John and I came from similar professional pre-MBA backgrounds, I felt he had a true sense of what I was going through and could relate to all of my questions and concerns.

There is no way my essays would have turned out as clear and direct without his guidance and I would absolutely recommend MBA Mission to anyone who is serious about getting into a top-ranked MBA program.

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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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