Far Exceeded My (High) Expectations

I reached out to Esther over two years ago to get the SBC team's perspective on my competitiveness for HBS. While most consulting firms are quick to bring on any potential client, the SBC team stood out as different in this early phase; Esther noted that I would have a much stronger profile if I gained an additional year of experience at my current job. In the intervening year, she continued to reach out with support and guidance, ultimately coming to understand my strengths/weaknesses/aspirations quite well. This hard work up front then helped Esther to match me with the ideal consultant for my goals: Dione.

Dione and I began working together seven months before application deadlines. Having never worked with a consultant before, I was unsure what to expect—but was immediately impressed by Dione from the moment we met all the way through interview prep eight months later. Well before I started actually writing essays or contacting recommenders, Dione and I spent many hours discussing my overall strategy and positioning. Her guidance and input during this early phase proved critical to developing a cohesive story/framework for my application. And when I moved from big-picture planning to the nuts-and-bolts of the application (e.g., writing the essays), Dione proved just as helpful. A few of Dione's differentiating strengths that I would like to highlight:
- Dione is extremely responsive. I continued to be amazed by how quickly she would email or call with input every time I sent her draft materials for review.
- Dione is a very strong writer. Given her background in marketing/communications, I believe Dione is perhaps better-qualified than many other consultants to support with essay edits.
- Dione deeply cared about my success. I feel that Dione came to know me very well—not just as an applicant, but as a person—and this helped to make me feel very genuinely supported throughout the process.

There are many other good things I could say about Dione and the SBC team. I would have been happy with my experience regardless of the application outcomes, but am particularly happy with the experience after being accepted to HBS. I would highly recommend SBC (and Dione specifically!) to anyone.