Best in the business!

I first reached out to Alex over the summer as I was getting ready for my round 1 applications. Like most applicants in the market for an admissions consultant, I scheduled free consultations with several big-name shops. Alex immediately stood out because he made it clear that I would be working with him one-on-one through the admissions process, and he had a track record of helping applicants with my background get admission into top programs. Most other consultants who I spoke with were eager to pass me on to the junior members of their teams, and I would have little to no interaction with the admission veterans who were extensively featured in their marketing material. During my research, I encountered consultants who thought that I was aiming too high and pushed me to apply to lower ranked schools, or they promised the moon and advised only applying to M7 schools. Alex gave me an honest assessment of what schools I should target and were worth spending the limited application resources on. After receiving decisions on my Round 1 applications, I can confidently say that his assessment was spot-on with regards to target and stretch schools.

One big area where Alex’s expertise immensely benefited me was in the crafting of my career goals. Since I was sponsored by my employer, Alex helped me brainstorm a few different career goals that made sense for my background and my sponsorship situation. He helped me identify aspects of my background that connected organically to a career goal that was not only unique, but also something that I was genuinely excited about. I am positive that this enthusiasm came across in my essays and interviews and played a big factor in receiving multiple admits.

Another area where Alex shone was picking the right stories for my essays. Often the stories I initially disregarded ended up being extremely meaningful in addressing the essay prompts. While working on a particularly challenging essay, I found myself in a creative block and ended up spinning my wheels for several days. Just a quick phone call with Alex gave me several different ideas to work with, and I was able to crank out a solid draft that I was happy with in a matter of hours. The mock interview with Alex helped me understand the finer aspects of my delivery that I needed to refine – things such as how to come off as a more ‘fun’ applicant, adding texture and color to my stories so that I don’t sound like the hordes of other applicants applying to top programs.

Oh, and did I mention that I was a reapplicant? I went from all dings and waitlists last year to multiple admits with scholarships at my target schools this year. This was made possible in no small part by the reapplication strategy that Alex helped me come up with. He helped me determine the right mix of reapplications and new applications for round 1 and advised me to wait till round 2 for schools that had denied me in round 2 the prior year so we could show substantial year-over-year growth.

All in all, I highly recommend Alex to B-School aspirants who are looking for a solid coach who will go the extra mile with them.