mbaMission - Jessica Shklar

I came to Jessica as a re-applicant and having been through the process before, I was somewhat skeptical that I needed too much more guidance other than cleaning up my story and repurposing my prior materials. However, it became very clear from our first interaction that she could help me do so much more. During our brainstorming session, she helped bring out both professional and personal experiences that I hadn't even considered talking about before. What I appreciated most about working with her was her uncommon ability to force me to form a story myself even as she helped me talk through several anecdotes, acting as a guide while allowing me to make my essays and overall application truly personal - this also speaks to her incredible patience. While she is a very nice person, she didn't let this keep her from being a tough critic of my writing, and she pushed me to go through several drafts of all of my essays, without going overboard and being too picky over minute details. While she certainly helped edit my essays, she generally stayed hands-off when it came to the content, again allowing me to make the story truly mine. Her help was especially important given my background as a relatively traditional applicant coming from finance applying to the top 3 MBA programs, of which I got into one. I truly believe she helped make a difference in presenting myself in the most effective, yet honest way and would recommend her to anyone.