I hired Square One comprehensive consulting service last year and it was a horrible experience.

the Consultant back then was Erik Yazdani. I never found a smooth cooperation with him. Sometimes he got pissed at me reaching out to him at some thing i need him to answer quickly. I got an interview from wharton and wanted his advice on choosing the time slot. He was pissed that i reached out him without advanced notice and refuse to return my call.

I got into none last year with Square One and interestingly, I heard no words from either Kathryn or Erik after that.

This year, i hired Stacy Blackman and my consultant was Caryn. I got into both schools i applied - University of Chicago and Kellogg with 100k Scholarship. the process of application was super sweet and smooth. Caryn offered very insightful and professional advice. I trusted her on all her advice.

If anyone is considering hiring a consultant, please stay away from Square One. I had horrible experience and they were not responsible. Lack of structure.

I am still reeling from the second denial notification I received from NYU Stern (which follows the rejection from Columbia just few weeks before) two weeks ago and as such, my dream of attending an MBA in NYC has been wiped out (at least for this year). Now, if I told you that I applied with a 650 GMAT score , you may say that I should have expected such an outcome. Fair enough. But what you may not know is that I hired the consultants of SOP Advisory service to help me through the application process. I fell for their wonderful website where they brag about their incredible, high admission success-rate for their clients as prospective MBA candidates. Unfortunately, I experienced that their service was not wonderful at all: I can't know whether my poor GMAT score was the deal breaker in my application, but I can definitely say that the SOP ambition, to make your application as strong as possible and make up for other weaknesses in your profile, (among others a low GMAT score, it is one of first mentioned...take a look at their website under the most common application challenges list) has totally failed.

On top of this, every time I sounded the consultants out on any advice, I was treated with haughtiness and talked down to, both in the emails sent to me and during our Skype conversations. For example, I sent an email to my consultant last week saying that I has also been rejected from NYU and I am still waiting for his reply!!
On the other hand, the monthly payment reminders were sent like clockwork.

All in all my personal experience with SOP has been disastrous, not only for the very questionable service standard but also because of the poor customer care .
The service was very expensive and not value for money at all (LORs, essay and resume advisory for two business schools totaled 5,700 USD). Furthermore, the service should have included interview training as well. In the end I was rejected and did not benefit from the service. On top of this, I have never received even a partial refund from them.
I discourage future applicants to resort to this service: in hindsight I would never ever hire them!

Prior to working with Square One Prep I interviewed numerous other consultancies and went with SOP as it was clear that it was the best place to get the most individualized advice to get into my dream schools. I cannot reaffirm strongly enough that my initial rationale was validated after working with the SOP team. I worked numerous hours hand-in-hand with both my consultant and Kathryn herself. This includes spending hours on the phone with Kathryn from my hotel in Evanston the night prior to my interview with Kellogg. I can unequivocally say that working with Kathryn helped me open the doors to getting into my dream school. I received such tailored advice to highlight the uniqueness of my qualities despite coming from an overrepresented demographic. I was pushed to soul search and write truly genuine essays that actually helped me progress personally, in addition to getting into Kellogg.

Key takeaways:

I had subpar performance on my GMAT and was able to get into Kellogg despite the unflattering score. Kathryn helped me articulate my unique story in such a way that adcoms were able to look past my GMAT score to see the valuable addition that I would be to their class and their alumni base.

I was waitlisted originally yet, once again, Kathryn gave me the insight to navigate the process from everything to writing follow-up correspondence with the admissions department to getting additional and follow-up recommendations. Had it not been for her guidance, I am confident that I would have made missteps that could have resulted in me not getting off of the waitlist.

I cannot recommend a partner to help you navigate the entire process from resume construction through waitlist follow-ups more strongly than Square One Prep.

I shopped around quite a bit before choosing SOP and working with Kathryn and Kunal, and I am 100% sure I made the right choice. Thanks to them, I got interviews at all 5 schools I applied to (HBS, Stanford, Wharton, Booth, Haas), and I got into 3 of them (Wharton, Booth, Haas)!

Some highlights about my experience:
- Going in, I did not really have a clue about why I wanted to pursue an MBA, or what I wanted to do longterm. Kunal and Kathryn took an incredible amount of time to get to know my story - personally and professionally - and helped me brainstorm in order to get to fundamental truths about myself and what I was passionate about. This then led to a much more compelling story I could tell in my application, with pride and authenticity.

- Kathryn planned a thorough schedule and really helped me stay on track so that I would not be scrambling last minute to submit applications. As someone who is a compulsive procrastinator, I was particularly impressed by how they were able to push me to meet their deadlines and make sure I wouldn't be overly stressed as the school deadlines approached.

- Kathryn and Kunal provided honest feedback on my essays throughout the process, and only signed off on something when they thought it was truly ready. In one case, I had to go through 7+ essay revisions before they were happy with the product, and that made me feel very confident in what I was submitting.

I highly recommend working with SOP - they helped transform my candidacy into one that was competitive for the top schools, and they helped me learn valuable insights about myself in the process!

Yale SOM!! I still can’t believe my dream has just come true!!

When I started thinking about my business school application, I knew the process was not going to easy. Fighting the battle yourself could be very intimating; therefore I decided to work with a consultant. I did weeks of research and due-diligence, calling more than 10 admissions consultant firms. I finally decided to work with Square One Prep! Starting from the first call, Kathryn is the only person that showed genuine care about my application. I felt confident like never before going into my application. Just by speaking with me for 30-40 minutes, she spotted highlights in my life/career and came up with a great theme for my application story.

Here are a few instances that show Kathryn and her team is unbelievably amazing:

1. Coming in with a fairly strong academic background, I thought I was not going to have any problems with the GMAT. Turns out that was not the case. I took the GMAT several times and the highest score that I could achieve was still about 40 points below the average at the schools that I wanted to apply to. While other firm consultants may advise you to go for a less competitive school, Kathryn encouraged me to still apply to my interested schools! Both Kathryn and Faryn worked with me to strengthen all other components of my application and minimize my weaknesses. At those extremely competitive schools, there is usually no room for errors. Kathryn reviewed everything Faryn and I created and definitely made sure that my applications were as perfect as they could be!

2. Waitlist Experience – Another wonderful experience with Square One Prep! Kathryn and her team never, never give up on you!! Kathryn, Faryn and I immediately jumped into action! There were hours spent with me during the 4 months of waitlist period for additional interest letters, and waitlist advice! Not once did I feel like they were giving up on me. I had submitted several various updates to the school and every single one was right on time, before the school conducts another waitlist reductions. Kathryn’s guidance on timing was just incredible! And the additional materials that I submitted were all high-quality (my admission confirms it). They really meant it when they said they are there to guide me to success. Their sole purpose is to help clients reach success, not to beat around the bush and try to earn more profit.

For business school applications absolutely go with Square One Prep!
In the years to come you will realize that it is one of the best decisions you have made for yourself!

I worked with Melissa from the Square One Prep team for hourly services on 3 applications in Round 2 (Booth, HBS, Kellogg). She was meticulous in her work and gave guided inputs. I enjoyed working with her. She exceeded my expectations. We did most of communication through e-mails which was very effective. I got interview calls from Booth and Kellogg. I also did practice interview sessions with her. The whole process was a learning experience for me as well. She was helpful and at the same time pointed out my mistakes and kept correcting me.

I would surely recommend her and services of Square One Prep.

Square One Prep has been phenomenal in helping me understand how to structure my supplemental material to get off the waitlist for Haas and Anderson. I reached out to them after being rejected from 3 schools, and waitlisted for 3. After hearing about my situation, Kathryn quickly jumped into the tactical questions about where I would want to attend between the schools I was waitlisted at. We eliminated one school to focus on the schools that were higher priority. After listening to me share my story, she talked with me in detail about what I should address in my letters and what else I could do to compel the adcoms to take another serious look at my applications. After this, she suggested that Julia would be a great mentor to help me through the process - and she was not wrong.

Julia quickly got up to speed about my status and understanding which parts of my application were lacking and helped me brainstorm of ideas to make them my strengths or address them in an appropriate way. Within 2 weeks we had an action plan, supplemental letters completed, and submitted. With Julia's and Kathryn's help and contributions, I will be attending Haas.

Square One Prep helps tailor the application based on the individual and his/her circumstances - and that is what makes them unique and you - the applicant - successful. I would highly recommend SOP to anyone - preferably starting at the beginning of the application cycle rather than when you're on the waitlist/rejected.

Square One Prep was the only firm I wanted to partner with through the MBA application process. Their personal and tailored approach to working with candidates was exactly what I needed.

I knew I wanted to work with Square One even before the end of the free 30-minute consultation. Kathryn, the founder, asked me thoughtful and prodding questions about my work experience and post-MBA goals. She had an incredible ability to immediately identify gaps or weaknesses in my story/progression that I hadn't even considered. On our call alone, she pushed me to explore the "why's" and the "how's" and wasn't satisfied with canned answers. It was the wake up call I needed before sitting down to put together a thoughtful application.

Once I started the process, I felt like I was Square One's only client. My Square One partner answered every question I had -- from the broad strokes ones to the most minutely detailed ones, the anticipated ones to the emergency-late-night-pre- submission-button-click ones. She kept me centered, motivated, and on target. She was always incredibly responsive and proactive, ensuring I was staying on schedule. Even when I realized I had overlooked something on one application and made a last minute decision to apply to an additional program, she continuously delivered the highest quality of service.

Applying to MBA programs is a mentally grueling, exhausting, and often painful process. Square One's infrastructure made the process as seamless and user-friendly as it could be. I felt prepared and supported every step of the way with a personalized schedule. From the resume, to the LORs, to the essays, it was like I had a whole "team" behind me. I write "team" because it's all of the on-demand information, expertise, and infrastructure you could ever need to support you as an applicant -- but the end product is 100% you and your voice. Square One Prep's value is ensuring that your application shines the best light on who you are, what you've done, and what you want to do. Because of my partnership with Square One, I know that my application showcased the best version of me.

I was hoping to be the last pick of each school I applied to -- the one who snuck into the accepted class. With Square One, I got a full ride to one top five MBA program and an $80,000 scholarship to another!

I was introduced to Kathryn via a common friend that recommended her to me as I was searching for support in pulling my application together.
A little background - I am a non standard emba aspirant - having taken 20 years to complete my undergrad due to life happening. Kathryn understood this and was very honest with my chances and laid out a feasible approach to getting me to my goals of obtaining a top rated MBA.

The one thing that stood out for me working with both Kathryn and Collin was their commitment and determination to ensure that I was successful. They worked extremely hard to make sure that I was on track working on the various items for the application process. Both Collin and Kathryn were prompt in providing feedback and following up to make sure that I had completed my items in order to submit by the deadlines.
They spent umpteen hours and effort in ensuring that my story was succinct and came through on my essays and I landed interviews.
Collin's insights into the interview process and his prep session really prepared me to ace the interview.
for me I am in the program I wanted to be in because of Square One Prep and their doggedness in ensuring that I followed through on my end! I would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone else.
As a side note - be prepared for some tough love - they want you to be successful - and they want you to focus on your goal and will call you out if you don't prioritize your tasks as you promised to.

I made a last minute decision to apply to business school in September of last year – and given how much I knew I’d have to hustle in a short time frame to get solid Round 2 applications in (I hadn’t at that point even taken or studied for the GMAT/GRE, and I ALSO knew that I only wanted to apply to my top two schools, HBS and MIT Sloan), I knew I wanted to work with a consultant to make sure that my application was as strong as it could be! I did a few free consults with a couple of other MBA admissions consultancies, but found myself very disheartened by the response I was getting; most encouraged me to spend several months studying for the GMAT/GRE and applying in the following year and seemed eager to get off of the phone and move on to their next free consult that they had lined up.

One of my good friends had used SOP the year before and encouraged me to try out a free call with Kathryn, and it was honestly the best decision I could have made for myself. During our free call (which went well over the 30 minute time limit) she asked probing questions about my background, motivations and goals, and I felt she really tried to get to know me on a personal level. We left the call with her encouraging me to start studying for the GRE, and she even recommended various study resources for me, which I found so helpful. A few days later, she sent me over a detailed timeline and schedule that I could expect if I were to work with SOP. That was the first, of many, instances in which SOP went above and beyond to put me on a track to success.

I ultimately chose to work with Julia who has a similar social entrepreneurship background to myself, and who from our first intro call I felt could help me leverage my application to be its strongest (plus I immediately liked her a lot!). She provided constructive, detailed feedback and edits on every aspect of the application, whether it was my resume, letters of recommendation, essays (for all of these, we had at least 5-6 drafts of edits before sending it along to Kathryn for final review!) not to mention nonstop encouragement along the way anytime I doubted myself. Even when I was simultaneously juggling studying 4+ hours a day for the GRE with writing essays and getting my recommendation letters sent in, Julia provided the motivation to keep on going and answered any questions I had with a super quick turnaround (and I definitely had a lot of questions throughout the process!). I was incredibly excited to get interviews at both schools – and Julia prepared me extremely well. She ensured that I researched the different aspects of each school’s program thoroughly, and helped me strike a balance between preparing for commonly asked questions, but ensuring that my responses were candid and authentic.

I hit a snag when I was waitlisted at both schools, and immediately began regretting my decision to only apply to my top two. Julia and Kathryn immediately dispelled this thought, and reminded me how impressive it is to have two top schools to be seriously considering me given the sheer number of applicants. They both immediately set up a call to discuss my waitlist strategy, including who I can have write me reference letters, and brainstorming content for waitlist reply essays. This two-month process was the most grueling in terms of the waiting game – but Julia was there to support me every step of the way, from the emotional support to really having me focus on why I wanted to attend each school and provide thoughtful responses in my essays. I am thrilled to say that I just found out that I have been accepted to Sloan, and it’s a dream come true!!

I am so grateful to SOP for their incredible help over the last 9+ months of the application process. I feel that Kathryn and Julia not only set me up to be the most successful I could be, but also pushed me to learn more about myself, my motivations, and what I really want to get out of business school. I am incredibly excited to start school in the fall and could not recommend SOP more to anyone else who wants to take this next step on his or her professional journey!