I was initially hesitant to apply to MBA programs and was nervous about my chance of acceptance by a top 10 program. I spoke to a number of consultants before deciding on Kathryn and S1P. Not only did she demonstrate the same or higher level of insight into the application process as the other highly recommended consultants, she also displayed incredible emotional empathy and positivity that sealed the deal for me.
Despite having a traditional finance background professionally (banking to private equity), I had a very different background personally. Without her support, I doubt I would have been able to write my essays at all, nevermind effectively communicate a cohesive story to the adcoms. With her help, I applied to four top 5 programs and received offers to two of them!
Some key highlights of my experience:
- Very knowledgeable – Kathryn has great insight into the adcoms and their evaluation process (more random than I thought!). That insight was invaluable in helping me select essay topics that would allow me to tell my story in the effective way – acknowledging my challenges whilst highlighting my achievements. Her expertise permeated the process, helping me through online forms, short answers, interview prep, and more
- Very supportive (but firm!) – This was one of the most important and valuable parts of my own experience with Kathryn. I was a mess of insecurity and self-doubt throughout the process but Kathryn was always there to pull me up, including talking me through my first rejection. She has a lot of positive energy that makes her a joy to speak and work with. She was supportive but realistic and firm with me. For example, if I slipped behind on a deadline, she would definitely let me know!
- Depth of resources – One benefit of working with an established firm such as S1P is their deep bench of knowledge and resources. For example, I could bounce essay ideas / tone / style on Kathryn and she was able to draw on all of S1P’s resources to give me feedback based on other essays and applications that were successful in the past
I am thankful to have worked with Kathryn during my application process and have recommended her and S1P to my close friends. Think about how important the MBA is to your career – you do yourself a disservice if you don’t at least consider working with S1P

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Deciding on Square One Prep was without a doubt the best decision I made during my long and challenging MBA application journey and the easiest one, I knew I wanted to work with Kathryn long before my 30 minute free consultation ended even though I had a couple of other free consultations scheduled with other top MBA consultants.

Kathryn and Eva not only made this mentally grueling and exhausting process feel seamless by creating a structured plan for me to apply to 6 programs while still pursuing my GMAT target score in less than three months, a feat I though impossible but also insightful as I came out knowing myself much better than when I started though out all the thorough and challenging questioning they both had during the whole process.

Having said that the two things I most valued of having worked with Kathryn and Eva are their immense knowledge of business school application process and their critical honesty.

Their immense knowledge not only allowed me to avoid the horrible mistake of wanting to postpone my application because I felt unsecure about my GMAT but also made me feel secure going into the interviews.

Their critical honesty was essential throughout the whole process not only because it avoided wasting time, a luxury I did not have, but also because it allowed me develop the best application I could present.

Finally I would like to say every penny spent working with them was well worth the investment and that getting into Wharton would not have been possible without both of them (Kathryn and Eva) and for that I will be forever grateful to them.

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As a school that I had considered a far reach, I honestly believe S1P was the make or break difference for my Stanford offer. The essays that I was able to craft with John and Kathryn were realistically in a different league from what I may have done on my own. Not to say that they weren’t authentic, quite the contrary, they were probably some of the most authentic pieces that I’ve ever written, even helping me gain clarity on aspects of my personality and career goals.

Essays aside, S1P was able to help me present my profile with the best foot forward, be that through my CV or during the interview process. As a fairly accomplished young professional I had thought I was already adept at doing this, but you’d be amazed what you don’t know. Kathryn would take a ruthlessly critical approach to all aspects of your application, which is EXACTLY what you’d want when signing up for an admissions consultant.

Honestly, if you’re serious about getting into a top business school, throw down the money for S1P, you’ll be surprised what a difference it will make to the end product of your application.

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It has been amazing working with Wonita Williams from SquareOne! The quality of the service I received went above and beyond my expectations. I was very tentative about working with a consultant initially for two main reasons - cost of the service, and I was concerned that the application would get heavily influenced by the consultant's writing style and personality. But these concerns were put to rest from the time I started working with Kathryn Lucas and Wonita Williams. The first big breakthrough happened in the Brainstorming session. Wonita made me talk about my story starting from early childhood, patiently listening for the most part, but every now and then asking me questions to make me think about why I reacted the way I did, and highlighting important values that I had clearly failed to see. Through my career narrative conversations, Kathryn was able to point out my leadership style and also guide me to pick my best experiences to share in my applications, as well as to come up with sound career goals based on these experiences. Kathryn is just very professional. Following the brainstorming session, my resume and essay writing became much more simple. I was also happy that my essays were my own, and Wonita's contribution was to pick out the meat from my essays by cutting out extraneous information, so as to help me hit my word limit. Wonita also brought her school expertise, and shared with me valuable information on labs, clubs, and activities. Because of her help and guidance, I was able to put forward a strong application, and in the end, received an acceptance from my dream schools! I'm extremely pleased with my work with Kathryn and Wonita, and would recommend SquareOne to anybody wanting to put forward a strong MBA application.

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The MBA application process started off as one of the most intimidating experiences I had ever come across. I was overwhelmed by the amount of work that laid in front of me. After a strong recommendation, I was introduced to Square One Prep. The process quickly became manageable, and I felt like I had a support system that wouldn't let me fail. Not only did I achieve peace of mind in having Square One Prep support me every step of the way, but I learned a great ordeal about myself throughout the process. Kathryn pushed me past my comfort zone and forced me to think deeper and more critically, always keeping in mind the admission team's perspective. When I got into my top schools, I received feedback from an admissions rep. that I nailed every piece of my application, from the essays to the interviews. I would not have achieved that accomplishment without Kathryn and Square One Prep.I am beyond grateful for what they have done for me!!

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For anyone considering an application advisor ahead of a daunting business school application process, allow me to provide my full and unwavering support for Kathryn and everyone at Square One Prep. Kathryn and the team completely reconfigured my approach towards business school applications, and made what otherwise seemed like an insurmountable, fruitless venture into one that was filled with self-reflection, creativity, structure and excitement!

Square One is expertly methodical in their approach, ensuring that each and every application is well crafted, on schedule, and most importantly, a thought provoking, unique representation of your candidacy.

From reconfiguring my resume (wildly different from the traditional industry-specific CV that we’ve all come to know), to refining my career narrative time and time again, Square One was an invaluable resource throughout every step of my process. Most importantly, Square One helped me to truly believe that I could one day make the dream of attending a top-tier business school a reality. I’m confident that Square One was an integral advisor throughout my business school application process, and I’m not sure I would be heading to school in the fall without their expert support and consultation.

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Square One Prep made the long and stressful business school application process much more manageable and less overwhelming. It would have taken an immense amount of research to put together an application without their help – I didn’t know what a business school resume should look like, how I should interpret vague essay prompts, what to expect in an interview, etc. Square One Prep provided all of that information to me so that I could focus on putting together my application.

I worked with Julia and she was extremely helpful – from helping me brainstorm essay topics to editing my resume and prepping me for interviews, she always had valuable input and feedback. She made herself available to answer any questions, big or small. It was great to have her as a resource throughout the entire process to look at the application holistically and make sure there were no gaps.

Overall, I felt like the Square One Prep team was invested in my success and I am very happy with the outcome.

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I was referred to Square One Prep after being on multiple waitlists but no offers from any of my dream schools in a previous application year. The Square One team was instrumental in identifying weaknesses in my previous application and ensuring I wouldn't make them again. My consultant spent hours helping me dig deep to understand the nuances of why I wanted an MBA and helped me convey my personality and career goals in a succinct narrative in my application and interviews. I will be attending one of the schools that did not accept me in a previous application cycle and I could not be more excited. I believe Square One Prep's guidance was the difference. Thank you for all your help!

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I had long prepared to go through the MBA application process unassisted, but relocating to another country a few months before the first Round 1 due dates threw a wrench into my carefully laid plans. The looming deadlines, coupled with some creeping insecurity about my candidacy (non-investment banker/consultant without a knockout GMAT score), prompted me to reconsider seeking outside help.

A former coworker (and current Wharton student) referred me to Square One Prep; she suggested that working with them could not only help me meet my deadlines but also significantly boost my chances of getting into a high caliber program. Despite the constraints of a condensed timeline and time zones 13+ hours apart, the Square One Prep team spent hours on the phone with me, hacking my resume to pieces and helping me assemble a portfolio that was both competitive and authentic. My consultant, Brynna, was instrumental in helping me assess my application blindspots, both in terms of weaknesses I needed to address as well as assets I had neglected to highlight.

While I was impressed with Square One Prep from start to finish, what most stood out to me was how much care Kathryn and Brynna took to truly get to know me. My second call with Brynna clocked in at almost 5 hours! It’s a very high-touch process and well worth the investment. I strongly recommend Square One Prep to anyone who feels like they could use some help negotiating a grueling and stressful process. I’m confident I could not have gotten into Tuck without them.

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Working with Krasina and Kathryn was one of my best decisions. I was a re-applicant and had talked to over 10 other consulting firms before coming to Kathryn. During our very first discussion, she was very honest in her opinion about my profile and motivated me to re-apply instead of going with the school I was selected to last year. She never tried to sell any kind of package or anything and just gave me an honest advice. She genuinely cared and that was the deciding factor for me to go with SOP. When we started working together, Krasina was my mentor on day-to-day basis, pushing me to continuously think and refine and make my content succinct and most importantly, about me. Kathryn, on the other hand, questioned my essays as an admissions committee member would and provided the required perspective so that my essays could truly speak about my goals and personality. I am going to my dream school next year and it wouldn't have been possible without the support I have received from both of them. You can't go wrong with SOP, not under Kathryn's watch!

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