If you thought the GMATs were tough, think again. The application process will push you, make you doubt your dreams, despise word limits, and feel unprepared to compete against thousands of other equally qualified candidates.

This is where Square One prep comes in. I’ve gone through 8 free consultations and didn’t feel confident with any of the other companies selling this “service”…that is until I spoke with Kathryn. Her passion to see me succeed was authentic as well as her desire to go above and beyond. While other companies were prompt to end the free 30-minute call, Kathryn and I must have spoken for over an hour.

My partner, as this is a partnership, Sarah was a key factor in my success. Don’t let her sweet personality fool you. I quickly found out that she’s surgical with her words and will push you and make sure that your “story” makes sense. She was always there to answer all my questions, most of them likely silly and trivial as I had no experience in applying to graduate schools. But she patiently guided me throughout the process to ensure that I don’t make mistakes – mistakes I would’ve definitely made without her.

Speaking of “stories”, I think this is one of the most important aspects of this process. Applying to school isn’t just about trying to impress the adcom with what they want to hear. This process, or rather journey actually should help you clearly define your goals, realistically, and put them into words so that others can understand them. Without Sarah, I’m not sure if I could’ve realized my own unique “story” to share with the adcom and now, with my future classmates.

In the end, I ended the first step of my journey getting into one of my top choices.

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Coming from a smaller firm in finance where there is not a structured program after which many participants every year apply to business school, SOP and specifically Kathryn Lucas provided me necessary structure to my application process and invaluable insight into what admission committees at the schools I applied to look for in applicants. After introductory calls, SOP provides you with a detailed schedule of how long your application writing process will take, including specific resume/essay deadlines for brainstorm sessions, reviews and final draft submissions by school. Words can’t describe how helpful this was especially when working a full time job that takes up most hours of the day.

Apart from keeping me on track with deadlines, the advice and recommendations SOP gave regarding my essays and overall ‘story’ were fantastic. There are so many different aspects I learned about myself that I wouldn’t have thought of before the brainstorm sessions with Kathryn, let alone things I would write in an essay! That being said, perhaps the most valuable part of working with SOP to me was the interview prep. Kathryn is an unforgiving interviewer who is great at imitating real scenarios and provides excellent feedback directly after mock interviews. Some of the vital interview advice Kathryn shared helped me narrow broad and meandering answers, generate an awareness of how fast I spoke at times and come up with a strategy if there were particular questions in my interview I couldn’t answer.

Overall, working with SOP met my expectations and was a great decision as I was accepted to my top choice! Some of the descriptions above may seem general, but it comes down to this -- if you want to put yourself in the best position to be accepted into top business schools, consider working with SOP.

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I initially researched various consultants during my MBA application process. With Kathryn and Square One, i felt a personal connection and genuine concern for my application that the others didn't really offer, and that sold me on Square One Prep.

She coached me throughout the process, ensuring that I find my inner voice and that I project myself as confidently as possible while providing pointers on how to improve my profile. Whenever I needed some tough love to keep me grounded and focused, she was there too. And finally if I had any urgent requirements or changes to my schedule, she managed to find a way to adjust to suit me.

Kathryn and Square One really do strive to make sure you put your best foot forward in the MBA application process and I eventually got into two top-5 schools!

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I picked Square One Prep among all once I decided to pursue MBA because it was highly spoken of among my friends. I was lucky to have the owner Kathryn’s help. She led me thinking about who I am, what I really want and what I would like to achieve clearly. She made great application plans for me beforehand when I targeted to apply for different schools in order to have at least one offer. We had successful cooperation thanks to Kathryn’s experience and her precious time. I got offer from several schools and I doubt any of it would be successfully achieved without Kathryn’s comments. Thank you! :)

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To give a best shot at Top business schools, I wanted to work with a MBA consultant who not only provides application advice but also provides strong time commitment to client. From the very first phone call (before hiring Square one prep) Kathryn Lucas spent a couple of hours on the phone to hear out my story unlike other MBA consulting firms which will give you only 30 minutes time slot for an initial phone call. I was immediately hooked to Square one Prep by this strong time commitment to clients, before they are even clients. This time commitment was there throughout my application process with Square one prep. I applied to Columbia and Yale and for both applications I worked with Sarah Caputo. Initially, I thought I had a good grasp of my profile and presentation for top business school applications but Sarah helped me realize that I had several gaps and shared her expertise to fill them. One of the things I liked about her was her quick responses to questions/essay edits. This made my application process faster and better. Throughout my application process I felt a strong commitment to excellence from Square One Prep. I strongly believe that without their help I would not have gotten into my choice of business school. Thank you for your awesome guidance!!

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After I decided to attend a B-school and started to choose among the schools and opportunities, I was completely overwhelmed by the amount of information I received by talking to people. When I started the research, I knew the schools I wanted to apply to and I knew what my goals were but after talking to so many people...let's just say that I ended up worse than when I began. Honestly, I was confused and lost. That's when I decided I needed a consultant. I started to ask around and I was referred to a couple of them here in India. Very soon I realized they wouldn't be very helpful to me as I wanted more than school names and a goals list. I was looking for a personalized approach. Then I came across many US consultants (including Square One Prep) that offer 30 minute free consultations. To be honest, at that time I wasn't really looking to hire someone. Being a cost conscious Indian I thought their services were out of my range. I just wanted to run my profile with them during the 30 minute free call and get some information. I think the call with Kathryn was my third such free call. My agenda for the call was to come out with something that would help me finalize the school list and career goals.

The first thing I realized while talking to her was that she wasn't holding back any information. She was genuinely interested in my success rather than landing me as a client. Take school selection for example. While many consultants might push the clients to go for safer choices, Kathryn pushed me towards tougher ones. At the beginning of the call, I had Tuck, Darden, Kenan Flagler and Johnson in my list of choices. Kathryn convinced me to remove the last two from the list and change it to include Kellogg and Yale. Moreover while talking about school choices, she was looking beyond my resume. She was looking at the fit, not just rankings. I realized I finally found someone really interested in my success at the school, rather than just providing me a service.

I'd say I have a slightly unconventional profile. I have an engineering degree and I worked in O&G before making a career switch to Finance. At the time of applications, I had close to a year of experience in the industry. I was very confused about how I would convince adcoms about my career switch and to my post MBA goals (with my little experience in the industry). Kathryn took great interest in listening to my concerns and made my goals look presentable and simple to understand but strong enough to convey passion.

The call went for about 90 minutes (a good one hour beyond the free 30) and at the end of the call I told her I wanted to work with her. Given my financial status I worked with them only on Tuck application but that was still a very big decision for me to make. Even though I was working with them on only one application, in fact I received help for all the applications that I submitted. In hindsight, I made the right choice. I'll never have second thoughts about that.

Once I became their client, Kathryn quickly drew schedules and assigned me to one of her consultants Chi. Most of her team, including herself are Wharton MBA's. They are truly top class. The best part about Square One is that even though I worked mostly with Chi, it was not exclusive. Every part of material - Resume, Essays- has to go through Kathryn for final approval. That way I actually worked with the two of them. When I say two, it wasn't just for name sake that she has to approve the materials. I would find a hundred edits and comments from Kathryn every time she reviews an essay. That is one area where she can get really tough. She doesn't approve anything sub standard.

Moreover the brain storming sessions and other supportive materials (understanding my situation, Kathryn shared a lot of resources of the other schools I applied to) helped me comfortably manage my work and my applications easily in the very short time I had. Also, she understood my financial status and allowed me to make the payments in installments, a couple of them after the work was finished. Such is the trust she places in her clients. By the end of December, my Tuck essays probably went through 10-12 revisions and when I read them one last time before submitting, I knew I made the right choice. To prove it right, I received interview call from Tuck within a week. While I couldn't make it to Tuck, the brainstorming sessions and lots of supportive materials certainly helped me prepare for other interviews. Now I've received admission from Darden with a big scholarship and to say the least, I am sure without Kathryn and her team it wouldn't have been possible.

Long story short, I recommend Square one with all my heart.

One final tip: If you can work with Kathryn directly, don't think twice though she is a little expensive. Her team is really good, patient, kind, talented and all but Kathryn is simply exceptional.

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I had a wonderful experience working with Square One Prep on my MBA applications. As someone coming from a relatively non-traditional background, I was unsure about the best way to convey my experiences and accomplishments to business schools. My relationship with Square One began with a comprehensive consultation through which they really got to know me as a person and that allowed them to provide tailored, customized service to me as an applicant. From my resume to essays to interview prep, I had a trusted advisor in my corner working with me to help share my personal story with schools in the most effective way. After being waitlisted at several schools during Round 1, Square One worked with me to provide strong update letters to those schools while also applying to additional schools Round 2, the results of which led me to getting 6 offers, several with scholarships. I am pleased to say that I was admitted off the waitlist at one of my top choices from Round 1 and could not imagine having gone through the application process without the support of Square One Prep.

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I would not be going to a top 10 business school without Kathryn Lucas and Square One Prep. I was very nervous to apply to top schools as I had a well below average GMAT score and wasn’t certain of my career goals. I had calls with 8 admissions consultants, and Kathryn was the only on who took the time to understand my story and told me that I had a shot at my dream school. (Two consultants actually told me to call them back after I’d retaken the GMAT!) I definitely chose correctly because with Kathryn’s help I received interviews and acceptances to all 9 schools I applied to—a crazy feat!

Kathryn was incredibly effective for the following reasons:
-Prior to reviewing essays, resumes, recommendations etc. she takes the time to get to know her clients. Our first intro. call lasted 7 hours in total! This enabled her to help me craft a compelling narrative throughout my application.
-She encourages self reflection and pushed me to be comfortable revealing very personal stories in my essays, which helped the adcoms get to know me in a much deeper way.
-Kathryn doesn’t always say what you want to hear, but rather what you need to hear. She ensured that every part of my application was perfect, even if it meant completing 12+ revisions on one essay.
-Kathryn keeps you on track. She sets attainable deadlines, and helped me complete 18+ essays in 8 weeks! With Kathryn’s help, I was done well before the New Year, and had time to relax over the holiday season.
-Kathryn is incredibly invested in the success of her clients. Her response time to emails averaged 2 minutes every day/ hour of the week (not even exaggerating).
-Kathryn believed in me, which helped me believe in my abilities and boosted my self confidence.

I cannot recommend Square One Prep enough as thanks to Kathryn, I will be attending the school of my dreams—Kellogg-- in the Fall!!

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A year ago, I began thinking about applying to business schools. I had a blank board and was worried I was applying too late because I would have 8 years work experience by the time I'd start school. Being an international applicant, I struggled with selecting schools in the US, understanding the application process, and drafting my essays. I had to talk about myself in ways I never had. It was new ground.
SquareOne assisted me throughout this journey. My consultant helped me think through my selection of schools and understand all aspects of the process, and craft my story. She provided invaluable advice - both honest and strategic, even as I prepared for my interviews. ¬During this entire time, my consultant helped me improve my positioning by accentuating my professional and personal experiences. She constantly challenged me to think of new ideas and anecdotes to effectively narrate my story. She never failed to let me know if a story or format would not work from an admissions’ process perspective, which I sincerely valued.
Moreover, she was able to work with my schedule, which helped the process and I was able to complete my applications well before the deadlines, despite my demanding professional obligations.
At first I thought that hiring a consultant was expensive, however after completing the process successfully and comparing the expense to the overall MBA cost, I truly believe it is worth the investment. I highly recommend SquareOne Prep to all those planning to apply MBA schools. I am off to Chicago Booth in the fall.

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I had spent countless hours debating whether to use a consultant or not, and then which one to use. I spoke to several top-rated consultants both in India and in the US, but they all seemed to be saying almost the same thing - advising to me to apply to only 'safe' schools. Kathryn's first free consultation with me completely different - she never discouraged me from applying to top schools, while giving me a frank assessment of the risk involved in the list of schools I was targeting. Her in-depth knowledge of the schools, with respect to my career goals and background was invaluable. She picked out schools that I realized only later when I was doing my research for the essays that they were perfect for my goals.
Mark really helped push me to create a compelling story in my applications, and ensured I put together a high quality application for each school.
I really liked their system of Kathryn doing a final review of each piece of the application, and I was very happy with the final product.
I am so excited and grateful to have gotten admission into one of my dream schools - Booth and I can definitely say it would not have been possible without Mark's and Kathryn's help. Thank you so so much!

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