Review by an international applicant

I had a pleasure to work directly with Kathryn on four applications to HBS, Wharton, Columbia, and Booth. An international student, I knew that despite an appropriate work background and good test scores, I had to deliver comprehensive and well-rounded written applications. That said, I had no concerns about interview stage. My goal was to come up with tight and neat essays, properly marketing my profile and story.

Those applying to HBS know that the school is quite random when it comes down to international students (particularly, HBS is notoriously known for admitting people from consulting from CEE, not IB/PE, for example), so I knew beforehand that there was no one to blame if I were dinged. However, I was positive that Kathryn and I could give the best shot to three other schools.

As a result, I was admitted to one of those three schools in R2 with 70k fellowship.

Due diligence: I reached to over 22 top consultants, finally choosing to work with Kathryn because of her experience with PE applicants, and because she identified key improvement areas with my profile during our initial consultation call (which made perfect sense to me – which was not the case with most other consultants)

Applications: due to time constraints (GMAT passed in early Dec), we had to work very fast given R2 deadlines. Kathryn was very accommodating of any requests and concerns I had, while she kept all work streams under her control to make sure I submitted applications on time. On average, turnaround time of files was less than 24 hours (1-2 days for first heavy edits), even as we moved closer to January. One of the things that I appreciate in Kathryn is her ability to push you out of the comfort zone (I didn’t want to do that extra work, but it was necessary for future success) while being very delicate and open to suggestions.

Interview: Kathryn supported me from Day 1, after interview invitations started arriving, offering two full-scale mock interviews and tons of interview tips. For Wharton team-based discussion task, Kathryn was very much involved in challenging my ideas to make sure that I came to the discussion well-prepared.

I believe that the quality of work and support that Kathryn offered was one of the best on the market. The actual experience was very smooth, and I’m glad I had Kathryn on board during my MBA journey.