Emma Bond Reviews

I’ve spent the duration of my professional career (over 5 years in total) working to separate myself from my lackluster undergraduate performance. So, when I decided to apply to institution ranked in the top 10 globally, I researched extensively how I could overcome my >2.9 GPA as a social science major. After unsuccessful attempts (both on my own and with a well-known MBA consultant), I opted to take a chance with Fortuna based on overwhelmingly positive feedback on this site.

After an initial consultation, I was paired with Emma Bond which turned out to be match made in heaven. I came to Emma with a high-level understanding of “my story” and how a MBA could help me achieve my career goals. However, Emma strategically poked holes in my story where required and skillfully helped to fill in any crucial details. Additionally, Emma provided a depth of information across all programs that was a result of her and her colleagues direct experience. Her expertise on how each program evaluates candidate could not be replicated by other means. Her insider knowledge allowed me to put forth the most compelling body of work to each program.

Throughout our engagement, Emma was incredibly pleasurable to work with. She was willing to accommodate my rather demanding work schedule and turned around drafts very promptly. But, I could also rely on Emma to politely push me when necessary to stay in sync with our aggressive timeline. It became apparent that Emma was genuinely invested in my success. Emma set a high standard for work because she knew that’s what it took. I found myself digging deeper to turn around stronger drafts so I wouldn’t disappoint Emma. When I put forth work that she didn’t think was up to par, she didn’t hesitate to roll up her sleeves and masterfully guide me on how the work could be improved. Most notably, Emma helped me interject my personality into the essays and short answers in a professional and charismatic way. Emma’s involvement helped to cultivate applications much stronger than I believed were possible. As a result, I was invited to interview at multiple schools that I was repeatedly told were “out of my league” from other consultants.

When it came time to prep for interviews, Emma was well-prepared to make the mock interview best replicate the actual experience. She asked refreshingly challenging questions and spent extra time ensuring that my answers were as sound as possible. With her preparation, I marched confidently into my interviews and nailed it.

Ultimately, I gained admission to my dream school and punched well above my weight. If you want to maximize your odds at gaining entry to a top MBA program, especially London Business School, you need to work with Emma. She cares about her clients on a whole different level and has the experience to push you above & beyond your capabilities. I’d best sum up our time together as transformational.

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I have worked with Emma for 'Director's Evaluation' service as well as 'Hourly Consulting Service' after I was invited for the interview. I enjoyed working with her because of her 1) expertise and knowledge about LBS, 2) insights in admission process (behind the scene), 3) responsive and enthusiastic attitude toward my application (and me).

1) If consultants can provide information that I can find from the web (or even worse, not knowing about the information I find), I think there is no value. In that matter, Emma, from her time at the school, knows every bit of the school that outsiders cannot really find out. Also, even though she left the school some time ago, she is up to date with all the history and changes to the programme (curriculum, events, culture, etc.) because she is still closely connected with many people (incluing admission team) at the school. When she received my full application for the 'Director's Evaluation', she was quick to recognize all the details about the programme I put in (even though some of the things were new this year), and provided more insights and details so that my application and essays looked like someone within the LBS community had written (in my opinion). I was also able to demonstrate my "fit" with LBS in interviews with additional inside knowledge Emma provided.

2) Also, as an applicant, I was always curious about what happens behind the scene with admission team when they are making a decision, and I could not really find the "answer" because most people can only "guess" (although some people/consultants are arrogant enough to say they "know" when they have never sat at the table). Because Emma has made the admission decision with the team before, she exactly knows what's happening behind the scene and what admission team is looking for. This was helpful in many ways: editing irrelevant information in my application that would only bother admission officer to read, changing perspectives in telling my story so that I can showcase my qualities that admission team is looking for, knowing my weakness and addressing it properly, even helping my mind to be at peace as I know what will happen when I hit the submit button, etc.

3) Lastly, her passion for applicants wanting to attend LBS is tremendous! She tries to help me in any way possible and is willing to communicate ASAP. For past 2 months, we've had more than 100 emails going back and forth. She got back to me by the next day (and this is at the latest! she sometimes just emails me back in a real-time). Her comments and actual edits are so detailed and insightful as well. For example, I think my CV initially had all the good contents, but only with her edit, the reader could actually see and easily recognize those great contents. (I believe this is so important for CV!) Also, just working with someone who is so willing and passionate about my admission definitely helps when I am so tired working on applications. And, I can actually build a trust toward her so that we can truly become a team!

All in all, I believe I wouldn't have received my admission if I have not worked with Emma. With Emma's input, my initial work has improved (more like evolved) to shine! If anyone is interested in LBS, I am 100% confident that Emma is the best consultant in the planet!

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Having worked with multiple admission consultants, Emma is definitely the best I had. She helped me with my interview preparation for LBS and gave me great advice when I was on the wait list. I think the first and most important thing is that your consultant is responsible and truly cares about you. Emma gave me her best advice and took the initiative of providing me with additional thoughts even after our prep session was done. Emma knows the school extremely well that she was able to provide me great insights of the school and the programs offered. When I was waitlisted for the MBA program, Emma was also able to give me good feedbacks with realistic expectations throughout the process. Her advice was great and I got off the wait list at the first round of review. I strongly recommend Emma!

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I was accepted to LBS in R1 (i.e. in Nov 2016). What made this even more challenging was that I'm a reapplicant (wait-listed in Feb 2016) from an over-represented group. With such a short gap between applications, Emma's inputs elevated my application by making it more personal and more differentiated, thus creating a more compelling case the second time around.

Firstly, I wasn't confident if I should reapply given the short duration between apps (6 months!), so phase 1 of working I'd with Emma was a re-evaluation of my prior application. Emma's experience from LBS really helped - she brought a critical eye to my earlier application packet. Through the process, my feeling was that of a live ad com evaluation, and an honest assessment of why I was wait-listed and what I'd likely need to do to cross the next hurdle.

I followed this up with an hourly service for essay review and interview prep. Emma's prior consulting & LBS experience meant she was able to relate to my personal/ career progression, and highlight experiences that made me stand out. Our interactions were informal yet candid, which made working with her very easy even through a tight timeline and juggling multiple pieces of the application packet. Her feedback pushed me out of my comfort zone and towards crafting something that spoke less about only what I do, and more about who I am. Similar to the experience nearly everyone has had with Fortuna, Emma's turnaround was both super-quick and super-detailed (I still can't figure out how both go together :) ). From my first draft to the final version, I was able to clearly see the difference in story that Emma's inputs helped craft. Similarly during interview prep, Emma's inputs helped me better project who I am and brought a sense of informality to my story, as opposed to a linear approach that I'd typically have followed.

I definitely feel Emma's inputs helped me in crafting a better, more rounded and personal application second time around, and was the biggest influence in helping me secure a place at LBS within six months of a prior application decision. If you’re applying to LBS, Emma should be your go-to person!

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I would highly recommend Fortuna Admissions and specifically Emma Bond for anyone looking to apply to the LBS MBA program. Emma previously worked in LBS' admissions team and knows the process requirements and what the Admissions Committee looks for inside out! She is also extremely helpful in highlighting information about the school that you may not otherwise know of that would be relevant to your goals / areas of interest. I chose an hourly strategy session with Emma to plan my essays and discuss my goals. During this session she helped point out specifics about the school I should me mentioning in my essays, and how to structure my thoughts. I then signed up for the Director's review package which involves a couple of revisions of my essays and a quick review of my references and applications. What I loved about Emma was that she did not stop until she felt my essays were as strong as they could be and reviewed each one 3 times. She also truly pushed me to highlight my strengths, helped me rephrase thoughts and ideas to make them as concise and sharp as possible, and all in all expertly guided me towards submitting the strongest application possible, which ended up in admission to the MBA Programme! She was also extremely helpful with the interview preparation. Emma's experience with and knowledge of LBS makes her the very best consultant to work with when applying to the school!!! She is also genuinely caring and a lovely person to work with. You won't regret working with her!

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