You need the Square One prep team - you just don't know it yet!

When I was looking for an MBA admissions consultant, I set up multiple successive intro calls so I could do my due diligence before making my decision. Kathryn from Square One was my first call but before the conversation was over, I'd already made up my mind to work with her and her company. She was kind, considerate, let me ramble on about my uncomfortable life story (taking up MUCH longer than the free 30 min consultation!). But she took the time to understand me and my objectives, and was very honest about my chances of getting in given my unique context . I emailed the other consultancies as soon as I hung up and told them I’d be happy to keep the appointment but in order to be respectful of their time, I wanted to let them know that I'd almost surely decided to work with someone else and it would be hard to change my mind. They all kept the calls, and to be honest, all of them were fantastic and gave great insight so would have been a no-brainer had I not already met Kathryn. But I had already met her and she’d set the bar far too high for them to pass it!

Choosing Square One Prep was the best decision I made. You're a person to them, not a number. They know you, they know your story, they will challenge you and push you to be a better version of yourself and to present a better version of yourself that authentically represents who you are to the adcoms.

Anxiety is a huge part of this process and Kathryn appeased my anxiety about the process from that first call. Her entire team is phenomenall - I once had a stressful morning when I learned of some info that may affect my chances of being considered at some of the schools I was applying to given my unique context. Bailey (the amazing Chief of Staff) ) emailed me right away to let me know that she would spend the morning PERSONALLY CALLING each of my ~10 potential target schools to discuss the situation and clarify. So II went into my morning meetings reassured that she was on top of it and came out a few hours later with a vert clear answer and path forward. This isn't really part of any package, but just an example of how Square One will go above and beyond to make this process as easy as possible for you!

And after choosing SOP, I suggest LISTENING to their advice them~ Kathryn tried to warn me about some of the mistakes she could see me about to make, but I thought I could push myself, as I’d always had, and could do it all anyway. But I had an incredibly stressful job that was unsupportive of my application to B-school and my optimistic plans were prone to chaos, as they always are - things can go wrong, stress increases your propensity to sickness, sacrificing sleep = sacrificing quality of output, etc. All culminated to an incredibly stressful time where I had to deal with a full time job, made sure my personal life didn’t implode and finish the MANY things required to finish a stellar application. But once again, Square One Prep was there for me every step of the way.

Another piece of advice - start engaging with them early! It may seem like you'll only need a few months but the truth is, the more you build in time to reflect and introspect, the better things will be. Some of the essays are quite personal and if you need to reflect on challenging and difficult times in your life and how they’ve shaped yo, it can be psychologically exhausting and emotional experience that will further exacerbate the stress. But having the fantastic Square One team by my side, ready to answer any question, ready to appease my anxiety, encouraging me and supporting me every step of the way, made ALL the difference!

Tl, Dr: Square One Prep is your personalized coach, buddy, confidante, mentor. I knew exactly what I needed to do and when, they were with me through every step of the way, they challenged me to write better and think deeper, and they were there to check it twice. If you have no idea where to start or you think you know exactly what you need to do, you need Square One. You have no idea how hard this process is going to be, but THEY do and they will guide you and support you every step of the way!