HBS Admit - Leslie is simply the best consultant you could ask for

Reflecting on my successful application to HBS (Class of '26) - I am under no illusions that it would not have in any way been possible without Leslie. Leslie completely raises the standard for what it means to submit a great B-School application. She does this with (1) care, (2) dedication and (3) as a trusted advisor.

Leslie CARES

1. My background as a MBB consultant with limited additional experience puts me in a category of applicant where it was difficult to differentiate myself. But Leslie cared to fully understand and help co-create a compelling story, using her experience (and 100s of successful applications) to pitch it to the HBS adcoms. In total we must have gone through >30 revisions of the key essay. And at every stage I felt like Leslie would go over and beyond for me, and would not settle for anything less than perfect.

2. Leslie's style of working, through iteration and discussion, meant at no point did the process feel overwhelming, and we together got to the very essence of why I was applying to business school, and specifically HBS. She ensured I did not settle for a story that was convincing but didn't feel like it was me. It was a process of learning and discovery. The end product was both something that was convincing, in the right style/tone for B-school and that I could tell showed what was unique about me to the adcom.

Leslie is DEDICATED

3. Leslie has many clients but I always felt like I was her first priority (and I know her other clients would have felt the same). For example, I was going on holiday for a few weeks and wanted this to be an intense period where we got through lots of iterations. Leslie worked around this and I would send her materials in the evening, which she would review overnight for me to work on again in the morning.

4. Leslie works with an entire team at Menlo coaching - together it felt like there was an entire group of people rooting for me who had my back. For example, when I re-took the GMAT Leslie set me up for 1-on-1 time with a GMAT expert, I mock interviewed with other people in the organisation, and the co-founder of Menlo, Alice, helped lead on the parts of the application where she was better suited (discuss and brainstorming career goals and CV), given she also came from Consulting. Leslie and her team were entirely dedicated to me. At no point did it feel transactional, it felt like a momumental team effort.

Leslie (and Menlo) are trusted advisors

5. Leslie (and Menlo) told me the truth, even if it wasn't necessarily something I wanted to hear. Early on in the process, it looked like given various promotions/the time frame that it would make sense for me to wait a year to apply to HBS. Clearly, this was not in Menlo's interest (they would have delayed one of their clients by a year without filling my spot), but they gave this advice anyway because based on my situation it was the right advice. In the end (after a discussion, and a greatly improved GMAT score) I applied in the 2023 R1, but I was extremely happy knowing that Menlo were always prepared to tell me the truth, rather than what I wanted to hear. My success was their only KPI, and they truly had my best interests at heart throughout the entire process.

6. They advised me to re-take GMAT, and improve from a 740 to a 770. They knew I didn't want to do this (who wants to re-take GMAT!) but they had a hunch I could do even better and they knew we would have enough time to get through the other parts of the application. I completely trusted Leslie and her team.

In sum, the service at Menlo is not cheap, but if you want to work with the best and give yourself the greatest possible change of getting into the b-school of your dreams then I highly recommend you to work with Menlo - and Leslie specifically. She is a fantastic advisor, and a great, friendly, optimistic person who was a delight to work with over 9+ months. She will push you to be the best possible version of yourself, and will make sure the ride is as stress-free and enjoyable at the same time.