A True Coach Who Helped Me Land CBS

Going to b-school has been on my agenda for a few years, but I spent most of my preparation for my GMAT and, for lack of wisdom, did not really start looking at the application essays 1.5 months prior to the R2 deadline. I was more than overwhelmed. There is so much information online and from students/alumni that I connected with that exacerbates my situation and makes me even more nervous to start my essays. That’s when I know that I need a great consultant to guide me through the process.

My criteria for selecting a consultant is that the consultant needs to be 1/ super organized and structured. I have 8+ years of experience in various industries. I need someone who can help me shape my stories that best showcase the diversity of my work experience so that my longer YoE is not a weakness to my profile. Also with only 1 month left on the deadline, I need a project management guru on my side. 2/ able to best communicate their vast inside knowledge of the world of MBA application to me. I believe top consultants, as a baseline, have all the knowledge. But, I need someone who can synthesize and translate it well for my case. 3/ responsiveness. Again, my timeline is crunched, so responsiveness is a key.

I reached out to many consultants in the beginning, but Faisal stood out from the get-go. We got in touch through a call less than 2 days from my first query. In the 30 minutes, Faisal not only outperformed other consultants that I talked to on the 3 criteria above, he also started to share how he planned to shape my story AND structure the works to be done, broken down by days.

In the following month that we were working together, Faisal challenged me hard on each component of my story. He knew when I half-baked a story or when what I wrote was not impactful. He dug deep into what motivated me, what drove me, what I learned from each experience. That approach radically changed the initial draft of my application. Each part of the application truly represented different facets of my story in an elegant way – thanks to Faisal.
I am very happy with the application that I submitted – and even happier when Columbia Business School wanted me to matriculate this Fall 2023.