Kate Richardson - Excellent Coach

Kate and I met through mbaMission as she was highly recommended, especially given she was an alumnus of a target school of mine. While my target schools were all ‘top ten’ programs, Kate knew my lower GPA and GMAT score would be a challenge and was incredibly constructive in putting together a competitive, cohesive story targeted at each school I applied to. She was also very helpful in strategizing mitigants to weaknesses in my application based on her admissions experience and worked on ways to even further highlight my strengths. From the very beginning, Kate was supportive of my school selection decisions and patiently walked through tweaks to my resume, essays, and emails on almost weekly calls. Ultimately, I was admitted to my top choice school and I attribute much of my success to Kate.

Of Kate’s many qualities, perhaps her strongest is that she is very experienced in the industry and shows it. This was particularly helpful in identifying my top strengths for the application process and tailoring them to each school I applied to. At the beginning of our partnership, I filled out a lengthy essay response to a set of her questions ranging from where I was from, to my future goals, to my biggest accomplishments, to my family; after carefully reviewing my responses, Kate was able to identify and target the top accolades, stories and achievements I could use to develop a successful application package for business school. Her genuine interest in my story was tangible throughout the process and by selecting key points to differentiate myself, I was able to craft a unique, competitive application package. Kate was also very dedicated throughout the process and it never felt like my time was getting cut off or I was not getting what I paid for. No matter how busy she was, Kate would take the time to hop on the phone, send an email, or word of encouragement when it was needed. This was greatly appreciated, especially during such a daunting and ambiguous application process.

Throughout my MBA application, Kate was not just a consultant, she was a partner. I can proudly say I was recently admitted to my top choice school and I couldn’t have done it without her.