Great, if you are willing to work

Katharine was a boon to my application process, she really helped to make me a much stronger candidate with a crisp story that was attractive to my target schools. Katharine really provided value in three ways:

1) School Choice: Katharine really knows the top schools, how they are different, what they are looking for, and after spending a lot of time getting to know you, where you would best fit. She helped steer me within my top choice schools to the applications where I should spend the most amount of time based on my fit with the school. She even introduced me to programs that weren't on my radar, but should have been. She helped to take school selection beyond the ranking and dug much deeper to help me narrow my school selection and know which aspects of my profile they would most interest them.

2) Flexibility: Katharine always holds up her end of the deal, she will work around the clock (if she has to) to meet deadlines and never got a draft back to me later than promised. She also made sure that I was comfortable hitting send, even if we needed an extra phone call or skype chat rather than email in the process. Working with her was very easy and I was always comfortable when I submit my apps.

3) Story: Katharine knows storytelling and knows how to help a candidate capture their story in a way that is sincere, most compelling to target schools, and highlights the right things. She helped to identify experiences and stories to capture for AdComs that I would have otherwise glossed over or left out entirely. Her deep knowledge of the top schools helped here as well. In the process of setting an application strategy, iterating essays, and interview preparation she constantly pushed me to capture my story in the best way possible, taking me to task whenever I would drift or miss the mark. All without letting me lost my own voice and personality in my writing.

Katharine is a great consultant, if you are looking for someone to do tell you everything you should do or do the work for you she isn't for you. Working with her, you will truly get out what you put in. She is willing to do as many iterations as necessary, but it is always you doing the work.

Overall my experience was fantastic, I felt a good fit from our first discussion when she clearly outlined what I was missing and what I was trying to say in our first conversation, something that no other service/consultant was able to do in that first meeting.