Krista Nannery was an irreplaceable advocate

I worked with Krista Nannery during round one of the 2015-2016 admissions cycle on applications to four schools through a “Start-to-Finish” package.

While Krista’s guidance and support was exceptional throughout the application process, I believe the following points would be of particular interest to individuals contemplating working with her:

1) She helped me convey my story authentically.

Prior to engaging a consultant, I found it rather difficult to assess through self-reflection what attributes and anecdotes were most important to my personal narrative. I had mentally succumbed to the notion that there was a model candidate for each school and that the unspoken goal of the application process was to spin my story to fit a specific mold. Krista as an individual and mbaMission as a firm overwhelmingly reject that philosophy.

Krista put forth great effort in our initial brainstorming session to gain a comprehensive understanding of who I am, both personally and professionally. An intent listener, she pressed me for further details on a family experience that I briefly mentioned and had not previously shared in any great detail, even with my closest friends. After continued exploration, this story provided the foundation for my application to several schools.

Krista did not hesitate to tell me when she did not believe my writing was presenting a genuine account of my complete self. In the end, she helped me truly find my voice and communicate the compelling aspects of my candidacy in a manner that was cogent and cohesive.

2) She pushed me to write concisely.

While I consider myself to be a fairly effective writer, I am often unnecessarily verbose. As such, conveying numerous and seemingly disparate stories under a limited word count was one of the most daunting challenges of the application process for me. Krista’s extensive corporate experience has left her with a keen ability to use words and structure sentences efficiently. She helped me condense my writing while at the same time making it more powerful and evocative. Essays where I thought I would only be able to relay one or two stories suddenly accommodated three or four. Consequently, I was able to paint the fullest possible portrait of myself and maximize the potential of every written component of my application, including my essays, resume and short answer responses.

3) She allowed me see the big picture.

As a self-described perfectionist, the subjective nature of the essay composition process had the potential to drive me absolutely crazy and lead to writer’s block, which would have been fatal under a schedule in which I needed to complete four applications in just over a month. Krista leveraged her past experience as an application reader to help me focus my efforts on the elements of my application that would be truly decisive from the perspective of an admissions committee. She relentlessly pushed me to improve essays and short answer responses where I wasn’t putting my best foot forward but also helped me avoid wasting time on trivial details after I had already accomplished my goal.

4) Her feedback and support was direct and consistently accretive.

Drafting applications, especially when working with a consultant, is an inherently iterative process. Every time I sent Krista a new draft of a document, she provided me with concrete strategic steps I could take to improve it. Given her quick turnaround times for reviewing documents, it was evident to me that she was constantly thinking about my application even when she didn’t have it in hand, which further demonstrates her commitment to her clients.

Krista genuinely cared about me personally and I always felt like I was her only client. Whenever we spoke, I never felt rushed and always had her undivided attention. Her commentary was thorough, encouraging, genuine and actionable. She believed in me with high expectations for what I could achieve. As much as I worked diligently on my applications to leave admissions committees with a positive impression, I also did not want to let down Krista and always strove to ensure that my efforts were commensurate with hers.


I will be happily attending Booth this fall and enthusiastically recommend Krista to future MBA applicants.