Square One Prep Admissions Consulting Reviews

Square One Prep provided me a new perspective on what it means to write a quality admissions essay. I never thought of myself as a weak writer, but Square One showed me the fundamental difference between how/what I WAS writing and how/what I SHOULD be writing for business school admissions committees. Without that insight, I’m not sure I would have been as fortunate as I was with my admissions outcomes. I highly recommend using them regardless of how good you think your application is or how confident you are about your abilities as a writer. (admitted to HBS / Harvard Kennedy School joint-degree program)

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"My experience with Square One Prep was beyond extraordinary...
I am not a native English speaker, or creative writer, so I knew I would need help to get into a top school. Being the typical engineer I designed a plan and then built in redundancy. So when I hired Square One Prep, I also hired another consultancy (neither consultancy knew about the other). As a result, I am uniquely qualified to compare services of these MBA consulting firms. Without naming the other let me tell you that Square One Prep is in a different class. To them I wasn't just another client. I was a person whose success they genuinely cared about. At times, they were more engaged in the admission process than I was.
I talked with Square One Prep two years before I applied. The owner stayed in touch with me to keep me on track with GMAT prep and general application schedules; the owner never scared me into buying their services like all the other consultants I was talking to tried.
Once I signed up with Square One Prep and we started work on my applications, they sent me successful resume and essay samples. When I read them I got completely disheartened. I thought those people were awesome, light years ahead of me, and that Adcoms would reject my application in favor of these types of folks any day of the week. I wanted to give up on applying, but Square One Prep encouraged me, showing me how the aspects of my life that I thought were mundane weren't and sharing that once my resume and essays were crafted I'd see that I am just as awesome as all those other folks---to trust their process. I did.
During the most stressful time of my life my Square One Prep advisor was there as a mentor, friend, critic, and a cheerleader all rolled into one. I owe them this success in my life. My only regret is that Square One Prep does not offer headhunting services; if they did I would be set for life :)
I applied to 5 schools: Booth, Wharton, Kellogg, Stern, and Sloan. I interviewed at Kellogg, Stern and Sloan, and accepted at Kellogg and Stern---one with a full scholarship."

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Following some prior difficulties with the business school application process - I had applied the prior two years with no success, I found Square One Prep through internet research. During my initial consultation in June, the owner identified many problems in my previous applications, starting with the resume itself and ending with the essays. The owner was kind enough to then meet with me and my parents for one hour, so that I could explain my professional background and reasons for wanting to leave my current job at our family business for an MBA.

After identifying a group of realistic schools for my profile, she then partnered me with one of her advisors who put me on a strict schedule given I was applying to six schools and had a very demanding job that involved a lot of travel. I appreciated that my advisor was available at most hours of the day/night to speak with me. That became especially important after we significantly transformed my resume and started work on my essays. Most of my essays went through 10-20 rounds of edits before a final draft, and it was entirely worth it!

After I got 2 interview requests, my advisor coached me by going over a list of 100 potential interview questions. This made me more than ready for my Columbia interview, which I aced. Once I found out that I was admitted to CBS early decision, I withdrew my applications from the other schools where I may yet have gotten more interview requests had I stayed in the pool.

Getting into Columbia was especially satisfying, given that I considered not even applying as a result of my previous failures. Square One Prep, however, encouraged me to try again; they were sure that with a much stronger and well thought out application I would succeed. Columbia had always been my first choice and Square One Prep helped me achieve that goal.

I recommend them to anyone who wants to succeed when they apply to business school!

-client from: Hong Kong, United States
-admitted to: Columbia (early decision)

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