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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I was a client with SquareOne over two years after being referred from a former classmate and ultimately was accepted to one school out of the three where I applied. Given where I was in my career, I figured that I only wanted to attend b-school if I got into one of my three “dream” schools and three rejections would not be the end of the world. Since I was far from a shoe-in at any school I applied to, SquareOne was clearly a huge benefit to my candidacy, and there’s a good chance I would not be attending b-school this fall without their support.

I had an initial call with Kathryn where she walked me through the process and served up a well-needed dose of reality regarding my odds. This motivation was critical to me putting forth my best effort in my essays and application later on down the road. Subsequently, I was paired with an advisor (Joey) who I clicked with immediately given his similar background and great sense of humor. Combined with Kathryn’s regular check-ins, I always felt like I had a team supporting me and pushing me forward.

Given I had somewhat of a conventional background (top 25 school -> investment banking -> middle market private equity), I knew my biggest application hurdle would be crafting my story. Joey was absolutely instrumental in helping me create a story and essays that would resonate with the reader. Frankly, I was not sure where to even begin, but through hours of brainstorming and outlining on the phone together, my story became possibly my biggest application strength. Personally, SquareOne’s greatest value-add lies in this iterative process which focuses on your unique strengths, humanizes the voice behind your essay, and ties everything together in a way that admissions officers will get excited about.

When it came down to the wire in the month before the Round 1 application deadline, Kathryn and Joey were with me every step of the way (which is critical given the amount of stress during that time), and I’m still amazed at how much progress I made. In addition, Joey went above and beyond with me during my interview preparation which I truly appreciated. As a comparison, I had several colleagues who were also applying but had hired different consultants, and I am confident that I received the best level of service and value from my consultant out of the group.

All in all I would highly recommend SquareOne to aspiring b-school applicants. Given the level of competition for top b-schools today, hiring a consultant is essential, and SquareOne more than exceeded my expectations.

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Square One has been fundamental in helping me gather and consolidate my thoughts for the MBA application process. Kathryn and Amalia did an amazing job pushing me forward and taking the best out of me so that I could craft my best stories.

Applying to an MBA is a challenging process by its own nature, since you are competing with goal getters and top performers from all over the world, and I believe their support and experience with schools was key to make my application very competitive and unique. They will be very honest about your performance, personal and professional story and weakness and the process will make you more mature. They helped me from the brainstorming process up to interview preparation, and allowed me to choose what I wanted to talk about, boosting the way I presented my story.

I wholeheartedly recommend working with Square One Prep

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I started the business school process truly interested in one school, Harvard, but realizing the competitive nature of the applicant pool I decided to hire a consultant. I interviewed several firms to understand which would work best for me, and from my initial contact with Kathryn, I immediately knew that Square One was the perfect fit. I contacted Kathryn for a free consultation, within minutes she responded, and we set up a time to speak. During that conversation Kathryn emphasized her company’s unique approach to the business application process explaining how each client would work directly with her and another advisor to develop your application. I selected Amalia to be my advisor and had a fantastic experience working with her and Kathryn. Although I applied to other schools, both Amalia and Kathryn knew that I was interested HBS and helped me present the best application I could.

Amalia and I kicked things off with several multi-hour calls where she learned more about my personal / professional interests along with my career goals. Next over the subsequent months we worked on every component of my application. I found Amalia to be incredibly responsive and particularly enjoyed crafting my essays with her. She did a great job of editing my ideas to make sure that my unique voice remained intact. Even though we spent several months working on this part of the application, it never seemed like a chore. Across every other component of my application, Amalia provided great insight and Kathryn was there to check in and also provide her brutally honest feedback. I found her comments on my essays, resume, and recommendation strategy to be very helpful.

Overall, what stood out to me the most about Square One is that they really seemed to take a genuine interest in making sure I got into the school of my choice. They listened to my concerns and provided answers to all of my questions. I remember receiving “good luck” emails from both Kathryn and Amalia the day before my HBS interview and the day before decisions were released. It was these and other small gestures throughout my time working with them that made the difference and ultimately allowed me to gain acceptance to Harvard Business School. I would fully recommend Square One to anyone!

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