The Best!

I reached out to mbamission after going 0/2 last year from 2 "stretch" schools. My consultant was Akiba Smith-Francis who I selected after reading several glowing reviews. I didn’t have a whole lot of cash to splash so I selected 1 school and added another later.

I asked her which schools should I use her for and she suggested the ones that I find most difficult. She could have easily suggested the easier ones.

So I started off with two sets of applications where I didn't know where to begin as I'd used all my best stories and material last year. I was totally stumped and this is where my consultant came into her own.

We did a series of brainstorming sessions in which she pushed me to bring out some answers that truly answered the questions at hand. This only got better as she got to know me better for the second application. Akiba was so helpful in explaining which parts of my profile would be worth mentioning in my essays and which parts wouldn’t – often contrary to what I was expecting. I was very focused on what I wanted to do post MBA and what parts of my profile might help me get there, Akiba pointed out several experiences in my past that would be interesting to adcoms. By the end of these sessions I had a plan for what I’d write for all the essay questions, writing the essay was just like filling in the blanks.

In the end I had two sets of applications that were far better and focused than my previous applications. While I was waitlisted at one of these schools, my GMAT and GPA were far below the averages of these top 5 schools, and my work experience is distinctly average.

Akiba is an extremely bright woman able to frame responses in a way that will resonate with adcoms. She is very popular and I only got to use her as she had a last minute pull out, so I suggest if you are keen to engage her then start early. I highly recommend her, I don’t think I could have had anyone better!