Jessica Shklar | MBA Mission

It’s hard to articulate just how positive of an experience it’s been working with Jessica throughout the past year. Coming from a non-traditional background and a somewhat mediocre state school education, I knew my application could easily go either way with admissions committees. When Jessica came highly recommended from two close friends who had been accepted into great schools, I jumped on the opportunity to work with her.

Jessica’s knowledge and experience were critical as I navigated the application and essay process (as well as the interview and waitlist processes). As someone who has a tendency to overshare, Jessica was direct and upfront in telling me when to include more concrete, quantitative information. In the same way she was quick to encourage when it was appropriate to share personal experiences. There’s a strange balance of blending personal anecdotes with quantifiable actions in the application process, and it’s a balance I certainly knew nothing about. Jessica’s ability to guide me through this awkward process was crucial.

In the end, Jessica helped give a voice to the work and actions I had spent the past five years building. In doing so she gave me a confidence in my story that I will forever be grateful for. In the short term I know her guidance (and curating) turned me from an average candidate to a strong and competitive applicant. However, in the long term I feel as though her direction has helped me embrace my story and use it to my advantage as I navigate school and the career to follow.

I think it’s worth noting that Jessica is personally invested in each of the individuals she works with, and she’s genuinely interested in our success as clients, students, and future business people. I can be the biggest of skeptics when it comes to wondering about ulterior motives, but working with Jessica turned out to be a breath of fresh air. She has no incentive to give her clients false praise or gratuitous encouragement. She’s honest and transparent with her feedback and suggestions, and I think that it’s because of this that she’s so good at what she does. I knew I was always getting her strongest recommendation and I was never left to wonder about underlying reasoning.

I know we’re all here to get into a great school, but working with Jessica has given me so much more than that. My time spent with her has prepared me to be a better student and businesswoman, and for that I cannot recommend her highly enough.