Square One Prep Admissions Consulting Reviews

My experience with Square One Prep was more than I could have asked for in pursuing my MBA aspirations. For me, the program struck an ideal balance between being collaborative and being challenging. I truly felt like I had the support of a team throughout, but I also appreciate the fact that I was pushed when I needed to be. A great example of this was the time spent in developing my career narrative. This process required a lot of introspection, research, and “soul-searching” so to speak, and once I realized exactly where I wanted to go (with the help of superstars like Luis), it made all the other parts of the application (i.e., essays) flow with ease. I also really appreciate how invested Kathryn was in my application journey, even though I imagine she was dealing with numerous other clients. Shout out to Garry for having my back and keeping me on the right path throughout all of this. Applying for an MBA is a long and stressful journey, but rest assured with Square One Prep you are in the best hands possible!

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Months before I started my MBA application I journey, I arranged consultation calls with a few MBA admission consultants. However, one call stood out and that was my consultation with Kathryn. While the other calls I had only offered a very limited amount of time to discuss about my MBA aspirations, Kathryn took an extra mile and spent more than the allocated time despite her busy schedule to talk about my MBA aspirations. She even sent me an impressive working schedule with milestones of my MBA application journey, with clear timeline and school deadlines.

I then decided to go for the comprehensive package and was introduced to Jeannice, my advisor, and Luis, my assigned career-narrative expert. The MBA application process has been a very enriching journey for me. SOP shed some lights on the possible career paths for me, which was very helpful during the essay writing as well as the interview process. SOP also helped me to identify my reach and realistic schools, on top of helping me to craft my essays for the school of my choice. Jeannice has also kindly prepped me well for my interview, providing me with useful tips and actionable feedbacks.

Fast forward a few months, getting into an MBA program in the US is becoming a reality for me. I am accepted to a T20 MBA program (while being waitlisted at two other T15 MBA programs) and would like to express my deepest gratitude to Kathryn, Jeannice, and Luis for guiding me during my MBA application journey!

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Looking backward to the massive work completed with the SOP Team, I strongly recommend partnering with SOP to navigate and successfully finalize the application process. SOP has developed a tailored, structured, rigorous, and methodical approach, which helps to stay focused, push the thinking, and manage the deadlines.

Working with the SOP Team, I matured a great sense of trust, crucial to producing the best application possible. Since the beginning, it was clear we were all working toward a common goal. In the beginning, Kathryn (The founder) dedicated plenty of time to discuss my background, strengths, weaknesses, and objective to help me build a unique application package. We discussed for more than 1 hour, despite the fact that the call was scheduled for 30 mins!

My day-to-day advisor was Matteo. We knew each other already before preparing the application. He has been my mentor for more than 3 years. In all the different steps of the process, Matteo was always ready to brainstorm in advance, sharing unique insights that helped me push the thinking and improve the quality of the application. While preparing the application package. Matteo was always ready to provide feedback and suggestions via phone and email, proactively providing ideas and new perspectives for me to expand and elaborate. Finally, Matteo was also fundamental during the interview process, with multiple mock interviews done together. Having known Matteo for 5 years now, I strongly suggest him as SOP advisor.

Luis (career narrative) was another important person in the journey who helped me refine my career goal and speech for the interviews.

Overall, I thank Kathryn, Matteo, and Luis for giving me their advice, insights, and support, along with the different process steps. I strongly recommend the SOP Team to anyone approaching the MBA application season.

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Square One made my MBA application process seamless and enjoyable. The entire process is very structured and multilayered ensuring there will be no stones unturned by the time you hit submit.

I felt Kathryn and her team were very experienced and knew exactly what the school was looking for from an applicant. The kind of questions that I encountered during the career narrative session with Wendy helped me reflect deeply on what I want to do in future and how I would go about achieving it. My advisor, Kathleen was a pleasure to work with and made herself available whenever I needed help. I also felt that she genuinely cared about getting to know me which helped bring out the best stories from my life in the application. Kathleen also helped me with the mock interviews ensuring I aced the real interviews. I am very thankful for Kathryn's honest and ruthless feedback on my essays, which certainly set me up for success. I remember fully rewriting one of INSEAD's 7 essays but looking back, I understand why it was necessary.

Overall, I am very happy to have landed the INSEAD admit and had a great experience working with SOP. As for anyone seeking help with their application, I can tell with certainty that SOP will help you put together your best application forward

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I started preparing for an MBA application in September 2021, which was a month away from my M7 target school's deadline. I knew I was on a tight schedule and therefore selecting the right advisor would be crucial. While I was doing the initial consultation calls among a few consultancies, Kathryn and the Square One Team immediately stood out. My initial call with Kathryn lasted more than one hour and she showed that she truly cared about me when she really tried to understand my story and my goals and shared her insights and experience. I was impressed by their multi-layer process which meant that I’d have expert opinion throughout every single step of my application, and their commitment to the applicant as there was no cap on hours of help that you could get from the team - both are rare at other consultancies.

After deciding to work with Square One, I was able to talk to three senior advisors before I decided to partner with Kathleen, a decision I couldn’t be happier with. Not only was she experienced and knowledgeable about what the schools are looking for, she was also very responsive and was able to jump on a call within a few hours’ notice. She really tried to know me as a person, and helped bring out my best self and curate a story that was both strong and authentic to me. She also provided invaluable advice on recommender selection and managing their timeline.

I was super stressed in meeting the school's deadline, but the Square One Team made sure that I stayed on top of my deadline (sometimes by doing multiple turns of essays a day) and provided emotional support to help me manage stress. I wouldn't have been admitted to my target school without their help and I couldn’t thank the entire Square One Team more!

I would definitely recommend partnering with Square One to make your dream come true!

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I was first introduced to Square One Prep by a friend that had a positive experience with Kathryn a few years ago and encouraged me to reach out. Initially I was a bit hesitant to engage an advisor for my MBA applications, however, after an enlightening intro call and a few follow up emails, I was convinced Kathryn and her team were the right choice for me. Their structured approach to building my profile and narrative paired with their profound knowledge of what is most important for the admissions departments of my target MBA programs helped ensure I highlighted the most impactful activities for each application. The SOP team was also always available to answer questions or advise on any topic, which really helped remove much of the anxiety of the application process. With their help I was accepted at my top choice program, even though I had a below average GPA and GMAT score. I can’t recommend them enough!

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I am technically a nontraditional applicant; I’ve been a nurse for 8+ years. I knew my competition for business school would be steep, but I knew that to give me the best odds hiring a consultancy was the best way to go.

In choosing which consultancy I took many free consultations. Each one ranged from 15-30 minutes, except one. That was with Kathryn at SquareOne Prep (SOP). During my initial call she listened with intent, she was transparent, but most of all, after hearing my story she told me she believed I could make the leap to business school. No other consultancy gave me this feeling and belief. Afterwards, she offered to take another call with me if I had anymore questions, but that initial call combined with SOP’s team-based approach wrapped up my decision.

Being nontraditional and not truly understanding all the avenues b-school would open up, SOP’s career narrative was integral to my entire application process. Luis was my career narrative advisor. He guided me through an intuitive and research heavy process that took time, but ultimately paid off. It gave me directions I ideally want my career to go. The goals he helped me establish were high but believable and also true to who I was. This process was as much about figuring out my goals as it was learning more about myself and what I want to accomplish in life.

Finding the right advisor to work with is an important part of choosing a consultancy. With SOP I was able to interview many advisors, all of whom had multiple years of experience working with prospective students. All of them were established in their careers and former b-school grads with high accomplishments pre and post b-school. The diversity of their trades and functions allowed me to find an advisor in an industry I am interested in, which aided my essay and resume development. I ended up choosing Collin, whose career is in an industry I want to end up in. His knowledge and experience in this industry helped during the career narrative piece, school selection, and also brainstorming sessions where we discussed my career in healthcare which he is very familiar with. He was transparent and efficient, and pushed me with each essay. I truly enjoyed working with Collin and highly recommend choosing him as your advisor.

What I think is most important when looking for a consultancy is looking for a team that pushes you to your limits and helps you reach your max. The team at SOP does just that and what they are incredible at doing is extracting the best of your abilities, stories, and insights and putting that into a cohesive story that turns out to be your application. You as a prospective student have the history and have done the work in the past, but SOP will help you realize the significance, the importance, and the potential of your past and make it work for your future.

Choosing a consultancy is an investment in yourself and your future. Choose a team that is as invested in your future as you are. For me SOP was that team and with their knowledge, resources, and skills I received an admit to a top 15 school! The work I did with them in 2021 has put me on a path that will forever change my life.

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I interviewed 7 different consultants as I was preparing for the business school process. The majority of them weren’t interested in getting to know me or my background – they wanted to fit me into a box (GPA, GMAT, career, etc.) and were quick to make judgments on my chances at certain schools. Kathryn, on the other hand, was eager to get to know me beyond my quantitative stats. Throughout the process, Kathryn, Lara, and the rest of the S1 team provided constant support and feedback to make sure that I was putting my best foot forward. I was fortunate to get into two excellent schools and am confident I wouldn’t be in this position without them!

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My MBA application journey is a bit longer than most applicants since I applied two seasons, and I’d confidently say partner with Square One is one of the best decisions I’ve made for my journey. I would not be able to have the outcome had I not partnered with Square One: getting into my dream schools and being awarded top dollar scholarships.

It all started in December 2020, when I rushed in looking for help with my Fall 2021 R2 application last minute, and that’s about 28 days to most of the schools’ deadlines. At the time, I reached out to all the top reviewed application consultants on GMATClub, given the time I had at the time, some took a very long time (over a week) to set me up for an initial consultation or simply told me we were out of time after 15min conversation, let alone telling me I was not good enough for the school I want to go or say it’s not feasible to apply R2. That was not the case with Square One! The founder Kathryn responded to me within a very short period of time after I sent in the consultation request and got on the phone with me the next day to talk about my profile and schools. We spent over an hour on the phone to make sure I’m clear of the service I’m paying for and comfortable with the partnership moving forward. In addition, given my tight deadlines, without I have commit anything with Square One, she set up calls for me with 3 of her top available consultants so I can evaluate who I’d like to work with day-to-day, along with built visual timelines for me on the schools we talked about. This initial experience made a solid foundation of our partnership and consistently carried through my entire experience with Square One: well organized, willing to listen, tailored experience, candid and transparent feedback, timely response, and positive outcome. And just to add one more: my day-to-day advisor Jeannice Tse is AWESOME!

As I mentioned, my first application season was the Fall 2021 R2 application, and with the help from Jeannice, Kathryn and Wendy, we quickly laid the foundation of my story and career plan for me and started writing essays, and typically the edit comes back quickly yet candid. I knew I was not their only client, but they always made me feel that I was their priority: I was very happily surprised with how quickly they got back, but I would say it was a lot of work and I sometimes wonder if the three ladies I mentioned above ever sleep given how early/late I get edits back and how dedicated they were to just my application package alone. That said, there were times I got stuck and cannot produce work to pass to their standard and felt that they were too hard on me given my tight timeline, but that’s why I hired them to start with which is to produce time-sensitive great quality application package. Quickly after submitting my applications, I got invited to 4 out of the 5 schools I applied for an interview. Unfortunately, due to the COVID triggered MBA application surge which created a more competitive application environment, I was waitlisted but not admitted to the school I wanted to go to (I was also furloughed at the time with a low undergrad GPA as a background). And you may know Square One publish their stats, so I was one of the rejects from that year, but the story didn’t just end there.

After the rejection, I felt stuck, but Jeannice and Kathryn reached out and said they believed in me as a candidate and the quality of my package, we just need to give one more try. Not only that, Kathryn offered Pro Bono for Fall 2022 applications for all schools. That said a lot about a company and the person I worked with. With their help and more time on hand than last year, we quickly identified a game plan for the R1 application and started putting together packages. We did not disappoint this time: I finally got multiple offers (some with scholarships) into the dream schools I wanted to go to! I was so thrilled, and the team cheered me for the success!

While I reflect MBA application journey and celebrate my success, I thank Kathryn, Jeannice, and Wendy for always believing in me and being supportive every step of the way, and trying their best to always put me as a priority. I’m glad, I ran into Square One, and confident my story and experience wouldn’t be alone. Choose Square One, you are already one step ahead in your MBA application!

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My experience working with Kathryn, Allison, and Horatiu at Square One Prep was invaluable to my MBA application journey and admissions success.

I had a pretty short timeline to apply to schools, and the team at Square One Prep gladly opened their schedules to me in the middle of the busy first-round application cycle. They spent hours with me understanding my background, achievements, and goals, and were always quick to communicate valuable feedback about each piece of my application, while encouraging me along the way. Working with them helped me clearly articulate my full story to admissions committees and it gave me the confidence I needed when tackling, what would have otherwise been daunting, admissions interviews.

With help from Square One Prep, I was accepted to all of my schools with several full-tuition scholarship offers, Graduate Assistantship offers, and fellowship offers.

I would highly recommend working with Square One Prep to anyone who is considering applying to business school! Looking back, I would definitely work with them again.

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