Rachel Beck - worth it

I worked with Rachel Beck on a two-school package (CBS and Stern). I will preface my review by saying that I applied to business school from a nontraditional background (with no real “name brand” experience under my belt but interesting and unique work experience) and with stats that are not quite at the levels that CBS and Stern look for (700 with weak quant and a 3.54 from a decently ranked liberal arts college).

Rachel did an excellent job at pulling out what she thought was interesting from my profile and building my story from there. Working with an admissions consultant is quite time consuming at first because your consultant will need to get to know you on a very personal level. It is the intimate details and examples that count when you are writing your essays so be prepared for that. Rachel was really able to “get” me based on the “life story” that I put together for her and together we were able to craft my story into something that made sense from an admissions standpoint. One thing that she was able to do exceptionally well was find examples of leadership in my profile. I was having great difficulty with this and was worried that it would sink my entire candidacy but Rachel was able to demonstrate to me how my past achievements showed leadership.

Rachel will not write the essays for you but she will give you prompts to get you going in a direction that meshes well with your overall story. Rachel has a background in Journalism (MA/MBA from Columbia Journalism School and CBS and very extensive experience in business journalism) so she really knows how to say a lot with very few words. Where it would take me thirty words to say something in an essay it would take her maybe twelve tops…this was extremely helpful when she was editing my essays for clarity. This is an extremely valuable skill that very, very few people have and is of the utmost importance when writing admissions essays.

I was very worried about my interview (hadn’t interviewed for anything in about 6 years) but it really only took one hour-long phone call with Rachel to get my answers straight. It is very important that you practice the interview questions on your own and with other people – don’t depend on your consultant to hold your hand the entire way through.

One of the most important benefits of having an admissions consultant is that they will keep you on schedule and the money that you spent on the consultant will keep you very motivated to put you best foot forward.

I ended up being admitted to Columbia Business School (Early Decision) Class of 2017. It was my top choice and I couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome. Rachel and I also put together a great Stern application – won’t be spending $225 to submit that one though!