Katharine Lewis is the Stanford of MBA Admissions Consulting.

I am a straight Asian male in finance. I am also a triple HSW interviewee who committed to the Stanford GSB Class of 2027 this week. Katharine Lewis is the bridge between those two statements.

When I started my MBA journey, I was intensely focused on finding “the best” MBA consultant to work with. Having heard stories about nightmare consultant experiences from other friends, I compiled a list of the Top 25 consultants I could find and “interviewed” most of them. Katy stood out as the singular consultant who best understood my story, allayed my fears around being an “ORM” candidate (what a ridiculous term), and had the most outstanding reviews. I hope to add this review to her existing pool of glowing testimonials – there is no doubt in my mind that I made the right choice. She is simply #1.

When we first began our essay writing process, I brainstormed and essentially sent her my life biography. While others might have balked at such a large amount of information, Katy simply took it in stride and read the entire thing. During our first session (she even met me in person), she sat down and immediately said, “What stood out to me was XXX theme.” At the risk of sounding cheesy, I heard her suggestion, which I hadn’t thought about myself, and it instantly resonated with me. I stuck with this essay topic for all three school applications, and the results speak for themselves. Just this session alone would’ve been worth the money.

During the actual application process (3 months this summer), I interacted with Katy more than any other human being. By all accounts, I was probably a nightmare client, filled with constant anxiety, self-doubt, and indecisiveness. Through my daily questions, pings, calls, and late submissions, Katy was my emotional bedrock of calmness, strategic advice, and brutal honesty. Katy brooked no bullshit – as a coach, she had a really good sense for when to light a fire under my ass and manage ME, and when to scale back to be patient and understanding. Her advice and edits were always thoughtful and value-additive, without feeling like they were stripping me of my own voice. It was clear she spent real time thinking through my questions and my work, never just offering cursory and generic platitudes.

The day of the Stanford submission deadline, I still had one entire short essay to write that I hadn’t touched. I finished a draft that morning and sent it to Katy, well after our agreed upon final review deadlines. If she had ignored me, I would’ve understood. It was my fault we were in this position to begin with. Instead, Katy spent the entire morning and afternoon iterating with me on this final essay. I submitted my final application at 3:59PM, one minute before the deadline. Katy believed in me when I didn’t even believe in myself. She never wavered in her commitment, even up until literally the last minute. I never once questioned that she was genuinely rooting for my success, well beyond the call of duty.

Then came the interviews – Katy prepared custom mock interviews for each of my three schools. Her mock questions probably covered 75%+ of the actual questions I was asked in each interview. I felt well prepared and confident stepping into the real things. When my decisions came out, Katy was my first call, even before my family and my friends. She was with me through thick and thin, and my successes were just as much hers as they were mine.

Katy is a not an essay copyeditor (although she is good at that too). She is so much more – a strategic advisor, an expert storyteller, a life coach, a therapist, and a friend. Deciding to work with Katy was easily one of the best decisions I made during my MBA process. Coming from someone who was deeply suspicious of paying for MBA consulting, I can tell you that Katy’s services were worth every penny – I could not possibly give a higher recommendation. I simply couldn’t have done it without her.

Katharine Lewis is the Stanford of MBA Admissions Consulting.