Strengths:

Team that really cares about you- they push you to be better.

I cannot recommend Square One Prep enough!!!
I was coming from a non-traditional healthcare background, and like many applicants, I had doubts about how competitive my profile really was. But Kathryn, Allison, and Horatiu never wavered — they believed in me even when I was unsure, and they helped me bring clarity, structure, and confidence to my story.

Kathryn and Allison pushed me to refine my narrative, think critically about my goals, and elevate my applications with intention and precision. They were willing to work around my late shifts at the hospital and were always available for a quick phone call. They truly cared about getting to know you to help discover your story. Horatiu was instrumental in helping me develop a thoughtful career narrative that felt both ambitious and deeply personal. He empowered my voice and helped me connect the dots between my past experiences and future aspirations.

With their support, I was admitted to six top MBA programs, including Kellogg, Columbia, and Stern, and received generous scholarships. What stood out most was how hands-on and tailored the process was. This was not cookie-cutter consulting — it was a true partnership that helped me become a stronger, more self-aware applicant.

If you’re looking for a team that challenges you, believes in your potential, and brings out your best, Square One Prep is that team. I’m so grateful to all of you!

Read More

I had an excellent experience working with Lara, Kathryn, and the rest of the Square One team. From our very first interaction they were very honest with me about my strengths, weaknesses, and expected outcomes. I was not interested in working with a team who would coddle me, and
the Square One team certainly challenged me. I am highly confident that working with their team improved the quality of my applications significantly. I started out working with Square One for only my top 2 schools, but ultimately chose to work with them for the remainder of my applications as well, due to how helpful they were. Without their help I'm not sure if I would have received an acceptance to my dream school, and I am positive I would not have received the large scholarship I was awarded. Would highly recommend working with the Square One team, and specifically Lara, to anyone working on MBA applications.

Read More

Strengths:

Communication
Always Available to answer questions

Would make the product better:

NA

Working with Square1Prep was one of the best decisions I made during my MBA journey. At the beginning of the process, I really had no idea where to apply or how to approach the applications strategically. Square1Prep guided me in identifying the right programs to target and pushed me to reflect deeply on my motivations for pursuing an MBA (something every applicant will absolutely need to articulate). Through that process, I was able to refine my "why MBA" and craft a clear and compelling narrative that connected my goals and past experiences.
As decisions started coming in, I was waitlisted at several programs. This is where Square1Prep's support was invaluable. They helped me build a thoughtful and actionable waitlist strategy, connected me with current students, and kept me focused and optimistic. In the end, I not only got off the waitlists but also received a scholarship to my top choice program.
Throughout the entire process, it never felt like I was just a client. Square1Prep genuinely cared about my success and was fully invested in helping me reach my goals. I highly recommend their services to anyone pursuing an MBA because the application process is far more than just a strong GMAT score and a few AI-generated essays.

Read More

The team at SquareOne has really made my application process a very smooth one. I appreciate how they structured the various activities that need to be completed at different stages and kept me on top of timelines so that I could focus on crafting my materials. Huge shoutout to Kathryn Lucas for managing everything, Horatiu Stefan for leading the career narrative process, Kelsey Kephart for keeping my materials on track, and last not least, Liz Berman for working with me side-by-side on every detail and keeping me positive. The team has been instrumental to my serving multiple offers with scholarships!

Read More

I worked directly with Kathryn and can't recommend her enough!

She has 17+ years of experience and that totally reflects when you work with her. I got connected with her via a free review of my profile and she knew exactly what I am capable of. To help me build faith in choosing her, she also connected me with a few of her previous clients from my background.

She gave me a pretty honest review of my situation and advised me to reappear for GMAT. I took her word and my score improved drastically. While writing essays/building resumes - she has a strong work ethic and works really hard on you, gives realistic goals (in terms of timelines) to do your homework and is super active in communication.

2 moments that stood out for me were first when I went through a crisis in my personal life 4 weeks before R2 deadlines and second when I was anxious before one of my interviews. She was able to calm me down in both cases and got me through that phase. Later, when my partner needed some advice, she helped both of us as well. Beyond being a great MBA coach, she is an amazing human being!

Another advantage of going with SOP is their team: they have folks who were on various adcoms. Also, they have a solid portal with lots of data (resumes, essays etc.) of past successful applicants.

All in all, I am very happy that I went with Kathryn and would recommend her to everyone!

Read More

It is a rare privilege to have a mentor who’s willing to support you through what is arguably one of your most important life decisions the way Kathryn Lucas and her Square One Prep (SOP) team do.

After deciding to do an MBA in early December 2023, taking the GMAT a couple weeks later, I approached multiple consultants for assistance given the short timeline and the complexity of my 9-year work history (entrepreneurship, career pivots, etc.). In my free consultation call with Kathryn the day after Christmas, which lasted almost two hours, she took genuine interest in understanding my past¬, my future plans, and the effort I was ready to put into the applications in 10-20 days until R2 deadlines. The decision to choose Kathryn came easily. She was upfront about the realistic expectations I needed to have and, together with her amazing team, we went through a whirlwind of two ambitious R2 applications. I must tell you that she urged me to NOT apply R2, to instead wait and apply R1 — to be ahead of everyone instead of behind everyone. But I wanted to try, and I knew she and her team would give me the best shot.

Undeterred by the negative outcomes in R2, I worked with Kathryn and my brilliant advisor Catherine Rolfe over the next several months to piece together a game plan of things for me to do before R1 (2024-25) deadlines, including school research, preliminary essay drafts, student outreach, events attendance, etc. Assisted by Horatiu Stefan’s terrific insights into weaving a coherent career narrative (an actual written document!) from my terribly convoluted 9-year work experience, I worked with Catherine on applications in both R1 and R2, with Kathryn as the team lead. After deep dives during several calls and a highly iterative editing process, Catherine helped me bring the most relevant and consequential stories to my essays, tying them together seamlessly into a clear and authentic story for my applications.

Kathryn’s highly sophisticated schedule on the SOP website (accommodating my applications and other engagements), along with Catherine’s gentle push and sometimes tough love, kept me on my toes while managing multiple deadlines. They always had incredibly fast turnaround times and were happy to answer any questions I had about the whole process. Through Catherine’s meticulous analysis of my essays and Kathryn’s overarching vision-setting, I put my best foot forward.

I had great interview experiences with Booth, Tuck, Darden, Anderson, Ross, and McCombs, thanks to Catherine’s mock interviews where she helped me strengthen my weak spots through thoughtful feedback and patiently addressing even my silliest queries. I’m delighted to have successfully converted the Darden waitlist into an offer after two rounds and I’ve received offers from Anderson and McCombs with scholarships, while also getting waitlisted at Booth, Columbia, Yale, Ross, and Johnson (of which I only pursued Booth and Columbia). Catherine and Kathryn were right there by my side, helping me define a WL strategy and craft letters to the schools. They were just as focused on me converting as I was!

This over-a-year-long journey has been challenging due to some personal setbacks I had to endure. There’s not enough room here to fully capture how instrumental Kathryn’s mentorship was in getting me through it all — extending beyond her professional obligations to become a pillar of unwavering support and a vote of confidence, even when my own dwindled.

You might’ve heard adcoms say that the application process is one of self-reflection and it makes you grow as a person. I completely agree and can say without hesitation that with the SOP team as my anchor and personal cheerleader, I not only navigated this journey successfully but emerged from it with greater clarity, confidence, and a rewarding experience. I also developed relationships with Catherine and Kathryn that I never would have guessed would be so meaningful during my application process, but I now know will be so lifelong.

Edit: added the recent successful Darden waitlist conversion

Read More

The MBA application process is a highly introspective journey, and SOP was there with me, guiding and supporting me all along the way. From school selection with Kathryn to preparing the career narrative with Wendy, SOP provides a highly structured and rigorous process that ultimately proves fruitful. Kathryn, on several occasions, provided me with a reality check, which kept me grounded and set expectations right. Wendy worked extensively on my Career narrative. She encouraged me to dig deeper, which enabled me to draft a well-thought-out career narrative. I cannot thank Cristina enough, my primary advisor! Cristina has been my mentor, advisor, and friend all along the journey, from resume building, LOR, applications, interview prep, to scholarships. She was patient and motivating during the vulnerable times and stern in times when I needed to pull up my socks. The Square One team brings immense experience, structure, and guidance. Working with SOP not only helped me actualise my dreams but also provided a lot of learning along the way. Would highly recommend SOP!

Read More

Strengths:

Personalized approach. Over time with square one, you fully understand your strengths as a candidate and can tell a compelling story to admissions committees.

Would make the product better:

N/A

My experience with Square One Prep was incredible. Before I started working with Square One, I felt an overwhelming sense of doubt about MBA applications: I didn't think I had a compelling story to tell, and I worried that all of the effort would be for not. One of the first things Kathryn and Square One did for me was instill confidence. They believed in me, and I in turn began to believe in myself.

Perhaps the most valuable aspect of Square One's process is that they push you to really think about why you want an MBA. I did not know what my career goals were initially, but my work with Square One helped me to develop a real, genuine career narrative that allowed me to write more convincing essays and interview more confidently. I cannot wait until school starts to actually pursue these goals, all of which were developed through my work with Square One.

Ultimately, Square One gave me the tools and the confidence to get into a dream MBA program, and I am incredibly grateful

Read More

Strengths:

- Knowing the application process in detail.
- Consistently available.
- Constant constructive feedback.
- Very honest and direct communication with applicant.

Working with Kathryn from Square One Prep has been a life-changing experience for me. Not only because we worked extremely hard towards the goal of getting an offer from the best Business School in the world, Wharton, but also because the way in that Kathryn approaches the application process allowed me to discover so many things about myself that I wasn’t aware of, including; identifying and organizing my short, medium, and long term goals, developing a career narrative based on what I aspire to become one day, and discovering skills that I did not know I had. Her dedication is impressive, when I had a question, no matter the day or time, she was always there to steer me in the right direction and provide useful advice. Her familiarity with the application process (which can be overwhelming at times) made my process a lot friendlier and successful.

I would 100% recommend her and Square One Prep if you are trying to secure an offer from the best graduate school programs in the world.

Stefano

Read More

Would make the product better:

Kathryn's website, and Square One Prep's overall branding are pretty light on details. The real magic of the process came to life for me during the intro call, and moreover in seeking client reviews. The initial 4-8 hour onboarding of her asking deep questions, just listening, reflecting and taking notes made my essays, resume a breeze. So in short, the process is way better than the branding from the outside. Honestly, I know it sounds like a cop-out answer, but the process was really that much better than the branding!!

After three painful rejections with previous consultants, I was hesitant to try again. Working with Kathryn completely transformed not just my applications, but my sense of self. As an Indian applicant working at a T-1 Venture Firm in the Bay Area applying to elite programs a third time, I was burned out. I needed someone who could energize me as well as help me find the authentic voice that had been missing from my previous attempts.

Kathryn flipped the script in one cycle: Harvard Business School + Stanford GSB admits and a 50 % tuition scholarship. I cannot recommend her enough! As I told her at the end of submitting my applications, the new sense of self and professional clarity were worth enough to me. The dual admit later on was just a cherry on top.



Many things set Kathryn apart from my prior consultants:

First, she has a rare balance of empathy and decisiveness. Rather than simply polishing my essays, Kathryn guided me through a process of self-discovery that clarified my personal narrative, professional direction, and unique value proposition. *She spent 8 hours getting to know me over the first 2 days*. I felt deeply heard, and challenged, by her. She asked me “Why?” until we unearthed two foundational personal stories I’d never have put on paper. Those moments became the spine of every essay and ended up being quoted back to me in my HBS interview and by the GSB Dean of Admissions on Admit Day. Compared to prior quick rejections, I was thrilled with this outcome.

Kathryn often reminded me what my prior apps, and most people miss: that admissions committees and alums are human. They want to _feel_ something when they read your work and sense that they are truly getting to know you (fun fact: we even included little personal, emotional tid-bits even in formal places like my resume). This is just something my prior apps were missing. The materials Kathryn and I created together moved even my parents to tears - capturing an authentic, graceful power in remarkably few words.

The end result: During my collaboration with Kathryn, I experienced a profound shift in confidence that friends, family, and professional colleagues noticed before I did.

Second, Kathryn makes surgical, candid edits and has a “pen-down” discipline. Every draft—resume, essays, even recommender packets—came back dripping with color-coded notes. Some tweaks, some brutal truth. Zero guesswork. When she felt I was over-working pieces, she stopped me. For example, because we completed our work well in advance of the deadlines, I kept unnecessarily re-working essays. I still recall making some 2 a.m. perfectionistic revisions and sending them to her, only to get an immediate reply: “Stop and realize it is time to trust what you have created: Submit tonight.”

Third, Kathryn went the extra mile at every stage. From those initial calls when I was on the fence about reapplying to working with me painstakingly and patiently on my application components ," to coaching me for the interviews – three rounds that were tougher than the actual interviews. Her guidance was both comprehensive and precisely calibrated to my needs.

The results speak for themselves: admits to both Harvard and Stanford after previous rejections. But like I’ve said, the true value transcended admissions results. After trying two other consultants who charged $10K each, I am so glad I went with Square One Prep. I enjoyed their unique approach to first build a stronger me, transform how I look at myself in the mirror, and only then use the newfound clarity and confidence to write a winning application.

Read More