GMAT Club
January 05, 2025
applicantks

Joined: Jan 19, 2024

Posts: 13

Kudos: 11

Verified GMAT Focus score:
695 Q87 V83 DI84

Admissionado & Mark made my dream come true

REVIEWER IDENTITY VERIFIED by score report [?]

Strengths:

- Always-on support (Amazing team, thanks, Claudia!)

- High involvement and deep digging into your personal story – They take the time to really understand you, ensuring your narrative is authentic and compelling.

- Incredible understanding of schools and their dynamics – The team knows what each school values and tailors advice accordingly.

- Friendly and sensitive approach – The service provides support in a way that is both empathetic and motivating, which is crucial during the stressful application process.

- Detailed questionnaire with clear prompts – This helps you reflect on your experiences and achievements, allowing you to articulate your value and strengths clearly.

- Multiple options to speed up review time – The team is flexible and offers solutions if you're on a tight timeline, ensuring timely feedback.

- Help with interview prep and other extras – They go above and beyond with mock interviews and additional resources, ensuring you're fully prepared for all stages of the application process.

- Extermely thoughtful matching – My consultant was the perfect fit for me. I couldn't wish for a better one.

Would make the product better:

Admissionado offers a bunch of great self-prep materials they send upon request. I would love to have even more of these, for example, reflecting specifics of different essays and particularities of applications to some schools. Expanding this knowledge library would be amazing.

I got into Wharton, Yale, and Chicago with hundreds of thousands of $$$ in scholarships. International student, no fancy background, no prestigious universities in CV, no consulting or finance experience, no powerful GPA.

And here’s how that happened.

There’s a saying that goes, “Successful people are just those who tried one more time.” I would add—they're also the ones who believe in themselves.

Frankly, I didn’t. I came to Mark when my self-belief was at its lowest point—probably the lowest it had ever been.

Just six months ago, I was rejected by a couple of M7 schools without even an interview. Coming from a very challenging background—growing up in a country that is negatively perceived in the US, attending schools not well-known internationally, a very low undergrad GPA (below 3.0), a career in an unrelated humanities field, no family savings (I'm fully supporting elderly relatives), and zero useful connections—my prospects looked bleak. Add to that being a very young blonde woman with no understanding of the US academic system, and you get the full picture. I’d never even been to the US and had only heard of the Ivy League through movies, perceiving these universities as exclusive domains for “superhumans” with incredible connections and half of Manhattan as their neighbors.

After my initial rejection, I reached out to other consulting firms. The feedback I received only brought me down further. They didn’t want to take me on as a client, telling me I wasn’t "MBA material" and should stick to whatever I was doing instead of dreaming of becoming Google’s CEO.

Mark became my first ray of hope in all this madness.

To begin with, he was KIND. I know you’re probably expecting words like “creative,” “productive,” and “structured.” He’s all that. But most of all, he is KIND.

From our first call, Mark believed in me. It might sound simple, but for me, it was everything. He told me I could do it. He recognized my unique life experience—one filled with overcoming personal hardships yet remaining sensitive and caring about the world’s issues.

Mark analyzed my profile thoroughly, highlighting a plethora of strengths I had overlooked—things I’d done GREAT. He helped me turn every disadvantage into an asset, showcasing achievements I hadn’t realized I possessed.

From there, the process was smooth. Mark was always in touch, offering the most helpful guidance possible. Sometimes, he’d just hop on a call to calm my nerves and address my doubts. Other times, he’d revisit my stories with me a thousand times, polishing them until they were perfect. He would suggest fresh angles I had missed, and often he’d simply remind me that I could do it.

Of course, there were dozens of rewrites, discussions, and debates. But Mark never once pushed me to say anything untrue, to overpolish the picture, or to pretend to be someone I wasn’t.

He never wrote anything on my behalf or made me look like someone I didn’t recognize. Instead, he helped me uncover my strengths and present them in ways that would impress anyone—especially the admissions committees.

Mark held my hand throughout the entire process. He was bold with his advice, meticulous with the details, and deeply curious about my endeavours. He helped me shape my profile to present myself as an experienced business professional.

Through this, I began to see myself in a new light. I realized that I was talented, resilient, hardworking, and successful. Apparently, I was exactly what top MBAs in the world are looking for.

Mark was also instrumental in my interview preparations. Despite his busy schedule, he always found time to support and cheer me on. He ran multiple practice sessions, ensuring I could present myself authentically—warm, funny, engaging, and passionate—rather than memorizing answers and worrying about how to appear most “professional.”

I can’t recommend Mark enough. If you need a FRIEND (who is also an extremely talented expert) to guide you every step of the way through the exhausting MBA application process, Mark is the one.

Thank you, Mark! Thank you, Admissionado team!

You made my dream come true. I hope you help make many more dreams come true.

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