Melissa helped me get into every school I applied to!

I started looking for an admissions counselor in March for Round 1 deadlines in September. Of the six free consultations that I did with various admissions counselors, Melissa’s really stuck out in that she was extremely genuine, acknowledged both the strengths and weaknesses in my candidacy, and was very relatable. I also liked how Melissa had her MBA from Kellogg (one of my target schools) and had ad com experience. I hired Melissa in around May.

Even though the applications weren’t due until September, I am glad that I was able to start prepping with Melissa as soon as possible. Our initial meeting was over an hour reviewing my brainstorming document, where we came up with a variety of vignettes and themes that resonated throughout all of my essays. Melissa was also able to provide tremendous value in my resume; she helped me concisely describe the variety of roles and responsibilities that I’ve had throughout my career and the “so what” factor that would resonate with the ad com.

The biggest challenge in my candidacy was my test score. I switched from the GMAT to the GRE and took the GRE twice in June and July. When I told Melissa my score, she encouraged me to take the GRE one more time….with the only availability on the day before my first application was due in September! Luckily since all my applications were complete except for the test, I had the capacity to take the test and I finally crushed it!
Melissa was also very helpful with the interview prep – she helped me figure out other elements of my candidacy that I should talk about that weren’t addressed in my resume or essays.

Ultimately, I was accepted to all four schools that I applied to (Kellogg, Haas, Ross, Fuqua) with substantial scholarship money to all but one. Melissa had more faith in my candidacy than I had in myself….as we were prepping for interviews she said she thought I would have some tough decisions in a few months. Melissa also helped me with my tough decision…we talked through the strengths and weaknesses of each school for an hour and she helped me feel comfortable with my decision.

I couldn’t have done it without Melissa! She’s the best!