Applied to One Program, Accepted! Thanks, Katy!

I highly recommend Katherine (Katy) Lewis from mbaMission for her warmth, clarity and insider understanding of the admission process. Here is a little bit about how I found Katy - and how she helped me land a seat in the Berkeley Haas EWMBA program:

ManhattanGMAT offered a free 30 minute phone conversation with mbaMission and I was assigned to Katy - an incredibly accomplished consultant with a background in law, management consulting and admissions, and a resume featuring blue chip names like Yale, Harvard, McKinsey, Stanford and Berkeley. Given my comparatively modest background, I was anxious - but Katy immediately put me at ease with her warmth and friendly openness. When we first connected, I instantly liked Katy and felt comfortable talking with her!

Over the 30 minutes of our call, we covered my background, goals, GMAT score and target programs. Katy was then able to share which schools she thought would best align with my past experience and future career plans - and she didn’t just share the usual stuff you can garner from marketing materials - but rather, a real in-depth perspective on what these programs are like and which types of students succeed within them. This “insider’s peek” helped me clear up a lot of the confusion and noise that I was sifting through while trying to figure out which school would be best for me.

I ultimately decided to apply to the Berkeley Haas EWMBA program. And given the success of our first call, I engaged with Katy using mbaMission’s a la carte service - about three hours worth of consulting to focus specifically on my essays.

To kick things off, Katy sent me a brainstorming document that guided me me though a series of questions about my childhood, college and professional experiences. The document’s prompts encouraged me to probe my memory and remember things from my past that had fallen off the radar - but that could be helpful when thinking about my application. I then submitted this brainstorming document to Katy.

And this is where the magic happened.

Before we even had our next call, Katy thoroughly reviewed the answers I had provided, looked up my undergrad alma mater’s website, explored the companies that I had worked for and started thinking about my personal narrative - that common thread that stitched my whole life together. When we spoke on the phone, she knew my story inside-and-out and shared the elements of my background that she thought would be compelling for my Berkeley Haas application. I won’t go into the details of my story, but to summarize, she was able to distill my accomplishments and background down to a single, spot-on word; my “personal brand,” if you will. Moving forward through the process, I tied every part of my application back to that single word. This not only made the process easier, but it kept my story cohesive and strong.

Katy's magic transformed not only my application, but frankly how I thought about my past experiences in general. It was oddly therapeutic - a bonus that I never thought I would glean from an MBA application process.

After the brainstorming session with Katy, I wrote my essays - which she helped me edit for clarity. Perhaps it’s that Harvard Law degree, but Katy really knows how to get to the heart of the story in a succinct way that ensures the most salient points shine.

But I have to say, as thrilled as I was with my essays and the story they brought to life - the real magic was brainstorming with Katy. All the editing in the world can’t replace the value of a compelling and cohesive narrative. And when it comes to finding that story, that narrative - and tying it to insider knowledge of the schools and what they are seeking - Katy simply can't be beat!