Thank you Christina!

If you want to get into a top MBA program and are willing to work hard for it, you’ll want to work with Christina Fu from MBA Prep School.

Background: I was an international applicant from Southeast Asia and worked in the public sector for >5 years. I went to a good college in the US and had a strong GPA. If extracurricular activities can be measured, mine (especially after college) were probably average – some volunteering work, but I didn’t found my own non-profit or anything like that. My GMAT score was just above the Stanford/Harvard average. Candidly, I thought I’d be a fairly decent candidate for top-20 programs, but not outstanding by any means.

Process: Like most of you reading this, I wanted to give myself the best shot at getting into b school and spoke with a number of consultants before starting my applications. Christina stood out as the most dedicated, knowledgeable, and empathetic consultant. Our “15-minute” intro call lasted about an hour as she took the time to learn more about me and share more about the process. She knew the schools inside-out and was also very experienced working with candidates with non-traditional backgrounds like myself. She was candid about the difficulty of getting into the best programs, but she was also encouraging and believed in my candidacy.

Throughout the next few months, Christina worked tirelessly to coach and support me through the entire application process. Our meetings lasted for hours as we distilled my motivations, achievements, and ambitions to build a narrative that was compelling and true to me. We poured over my experiences and ambitions, and brainstormed over ways to boost areas in my application that seemed “lacking”. It was certainly exhausting at times, but Christina was supportive, understanding, and always eager to present to the admissions committees the best (and truest) version of myself.

When interviews were released, Christina was probably even more excited than I was! She ensured that I was thoroughly prepared by sharing past questions, discussing responses, doing a mock interview, and then running through my performance in great detail. She even offered to do an additional, school-specific mock interview. By the time the final interview was done, I felt that we (as a team) had really put our best foot forward and was therefore ready to accept any outcome.

Result: Happily, the applications were a success, and I was thankfully admitted into every school that I had applied to (all with Christina’s help) – Stanford GSB; Berkeley Haas; UCLA Anderson (~half scholarship); USC Marshall (full-ride); UW Foster (~half scholarship).

Christina’s support did not end there – we continued to speak about school choices, negotiating financial aid, and even how to approach b school + the summer months before school began.

Needless to say, I am really glad that I got to work with Christina. She goes the extra mile (and pushes you to do the same!) and I cannot recommend her highly enough.