Best MBA related decision

I spoke to several consultants asking whether they believe they could get me to Stanford. Jeremy answered that he did believe but would not bet his house on that. As 32 years old European working in asset management with poor GPA (though three diplomas), 760 GMAT, and no extracurriculars I could not expect any honest answer to be more optimistic. I thought my chances were nonexistent but wanted to try anyway not to regret in the future if the situation in my country further deteriorates.

Reading people’s thoughts about application processes I expected to spend hours writing countless drafts only to discard them and start over. Thanks to structure Jeremy imposed that was not the case. Brainstorming document I wrote at the beginning served as a base for every essay and short answer throughout the whole process. Once I wrote the first version of every essay (composed of stories we picked together from brainstorming document) and sent it to Jeremy a ping-pong began. mbaMission claims 2-day return policy, but with Jeremy, it was a 1-day return policy with rare exceptions (to be honest he could be less obsessed with punctuality). As we worked on several documents at once every day I returned home after work there were emails with his remarks and corrections waiting to be answered. His immediate responses made the whole process quick and seamless.

Jeremy claims that he only holds a mirror and you write what you see. I wish all mirrors worked like his one. He made a misfit I thought I was into an independent thinker who changed the world around him, maybe even a rebel. The interesting and compelling story Jeremy helped me develop differed tremendously from initial ideas I had for my essays and I’m certain it significantly increased my chances. However, essays are not just stories, they have to be written interestingly and correctly. As an international applicant with English as my third language and experience writing only research papers, I am by far a capable writer. Here Jeremy’s help was also invaluable. He not only corrected my English but also changed the wording and structures making the essays just fun to read. The volume of corrections was overwhelming and sometimes even ended in him correcting his changes. The outcome was way better than I had dreamed about not only in terms of stories but also correctness and quality of writing. The only reservation I have was that he was more focused on making me satisfied than making the applications best. Given his experience, he should just know when to stop polishing and wasting time on irrelevant changes. It was my first time doing that, how could I informatively decide whether I was satisfied? But he solved this problem by sending my essays to other consultants at MBA Mission whose remarks were invaluable. We stopped polishing when they had no comments left.

As Jeremy works only in start-to-finish packages, after completing essays time for mock interviews began. I don’t remember how many times we skyped but it significantly boosted my confidence. Moreover, I don’t know whether it was luck or experience, but out of thousands of questions available on the internet, the ones that we practiced and the ones I got during my interviews overlapped almost perfectly. I also participated in one mock Wharton’s TBD organized by mbaMission. It was a great experience as it allowed me to structure my actual TBD in such a way that my team performed great and its members thanked me afterward.

As a result of our cooperation, I was admitted to Stanford GSB and Wharton and dinged without an interview by HBS. Both schools granted me sizeable fellowships.

You probably wonder whether it makes sense to pay 10k for help with three applications. My reasoning was like this: as 32 reapplication was not an option for me so I wanted to be sure I did everything I could. I couldn’t forgive myself if I had applied alone and failed. Failure with the best consultant, on the other hand, would mean that I’m not made for that and need to take another path in my life. The price is steep but the whole MBA costs around 250k so it’s only 4% of the amount you will spend anyway (not taking into account alternative cost). If you don’t get in it’s a loss of 10k and comfort that you did all you could. If you are even considering a top MBA program you can probably afford such a one-off loss. And do not forget about scholarships – better application leads to higher financial aid you receive. The difference a great consultant makes in the application makes me feel sorry for people who can’t afford such help or just think they can do it on their own.

To sum up, if you look for someone who will help you develop your story and write it in a compelling way, supporting you with all aspects of the application process and additionally boosting your self-esteem you can’t go wrong with Jeremy. If you want to make up stories, lie in your application or look for someone who will do the work for you, go somewhere else.