I did a comprehensive package with Fortuna and worked with Heidi over the last 7-8 months. She did an amazing job - she was incredibly helpful and supportive throughout the process. Even though I only started my applications in July for a Round 1 submission in September, Heidi helped structure the 2 months so that they were productive and everything got done in time and at a high quality. She also helped me differentiate myself, given my common background in finance / PE. Heidi is a full-time consultant and made herself available at all times, as much as I needed and answered as many questions as I had, which really helped put my mind at ease throughout the process. Thanks to her help, I'll be joining HBS in Fall 2021!

Read More

This application process has been an inspirational journey of self-reflection that made me truly think about who I was, who I am, and who I want to be. When I first had my first free consultation, I was lost. I did not know where I wanted to apply and which school suits me best. Matt showed a great deal of knowledge about the schools and quickly understood what I was looking for, and hence matched me with Sharon.
Sharon was not only an admission coach but also an emotional support system. She fostered an environment of trust, honesty, respect, and above all, faith! From our first preparation meeting, it was evident that she spent proper time in my strategy document and made sure she knew everything about me. She even made me take a CliftonStrength assessment to understand my strengths and weaknesses. Sharon pushed me to truly reflect on my past experiences and how they shaped me to become who I am today. She helped me truly present my personal brand in the best way possible and knew what each school was looking for. Because of her great attention to detail, she often reviewed my submissions multiple times before deadlines to ensure nothing slips through the cracks. When she wasn’t sure about something, she always levered Fortuna resources and availed all necessary experiences and knowledge from other coaches to help me prepare. During the interview preparation process, she absolutely went above and beyond! We must have done a dozen interviews because she genuinely wanted me to get admitted to my dream school.
Overall, I am 100% satisfied and would definitely recommend Sharon from Fortuna to everyone!

Read More

I had applied for MBA previously and was rejected. I am 32 so on the higher side for FT MBA, have already been in a leadership role at a big automotive firm for a few years and was transitioning into running my own startup fulltime. However, I just had this itch for wanting a FT MBA and decided a month or two before the deadlines last year that I wanted to give it a shot again. MBA has been a lifelong dream for me and I just had to pursue an MBA.
Before I go down the memory lane, thanks to Melissa and her hard work I have received admit at a top B school with scholarship in a year that has been incredibly difficult for applicants especially international applicants given the deferrals from previous year.
I had talked to Mandira at Fortuna a while ago and had gotten a good feeling about Fortuna (positive first impression). After reaching out to Mandira again, she asked me to work with Melissa and Judith (director).
Melissa was very friendly and was always available. She really understood what really mattered to me and what made my story different and unique. Every now and then she would bring up points to use from my story which I was overlooking or feeling weren’t important. She is so much more than just an admissions consultant. She is one of those few people you would want to stay connected with forever.
Melissa and Judith worked great as a tag team. They helped me formulate my strategy for applications, narrow down on schools, write essay and applications and prep for interviews, and all the other gazillion things that go along with the process.
Because I was so late in the game, I was often worried about finishing my applications by the deadline but Melissa always pleasantly surprised me by her wealth of knowledge and by pulling us out of tight spots. As I was behind on my school research Melissa helped narrow down the resources for me at the particular schools. Even though we were in a time crunch, Melissa never skimped on the quality of work. We wrote and re-wrote until the essays and answers felt perfect.
Another aspect that I would like to mention about Fortuna is that they work great as a team in how they distribute the tasks and manage the applications as a project management task.
I would highly recommend Melissa to anyone applying for MBA. She made the journey from beginning to end (an offer) really enjoyable.

Read More

I needed to cram all my application creation into 2 weeks because otherwise work would always get in the way. Willie was my savior, confidant and at times even my shrink.
I was able to produce 4 excellent applications that resulted in 4 acceptance letters.

I am not going to lie, it was tough and I wanted to quit multiple times, but Willie helped pace myself and see the light at the end of the tunnel. He is the kind of guy you want in your corner, especially when you are fighting for your dream to go to a top tiered Bschool.

Willie was not only patient, we was also insightful and proactive, letting me know what articles to read to better my essays and letting me know that I have a certain addiction for adding semicolons everywhere (hopefully I have gotten better at it; I'll let you be the judge).

While it might be an expensive service I can say without any shadow of a doubt that one of the most important factors for having received 4/4 acceptance letters.

Read More

Trisha played an instrumental role in not only helping me develop the stories for my essays but also helped me really think about the reasons behind why I wanted an MBA. I feel as if this translated into stronger final essays and helped with admissions.

She was also very timely at returning edits to me and helpful at managing deadlines when I would fall behind a bit from being busy with work. Some of my essays easily went through 10 iterations (2 even had complete rewrites) and she was always quick to review and provide thoughtful feedback.

Finally she was almost always available to set up time to meet. I found this particularly helpful for brainstorming essays and getting some ideas down. She was easy to brainstorm with and great at helping pull together different topics I was considering or dive into a certain story I had to make it work.

Read More

I worked with Jenifer for 6 months applying to 5 different schools. With her help and guidance, I was invited to interview with four of them. All schools are very competitive top MBA programs.

Jenifer is an amazing person and coach. She goes above and beyond in getting to know her clients in order to cater the best story about them. We built an amazing relationship that I am sure will last for good. She is very genuine in her feedback and guidance which what candidates need the most in preparing their applications.

I consider myself very lucky to having worked with her. You are great Jenny!

TYK!

Read More

I had an excellent experience working with Malvina. As a reapplicant, I can tell her feedback on my applications really made a difference. Her insights about the schools helped me submit authentic, high-quality applications and thanks to her detailed feedback on our mock interview, I felt very well prepared for the real one. In addition to being very professional, Malvina was also a pleasure to work with, always delivering feedback in a very kind and supportive way, and providing guidance throughout the entire process. In the end, I secured an offer from my top choice school. I very much recommend working with her!

Read More

As an applicant I was initially hesitant to hire a consultant due to the cost, and I can confidently say the experience with Michel was nothing short of amazing. I would say what differentiates Michel is i) her strategic perspective on my profile (ii) her extensive experience and guidance, and (iii) finally, her humor and dedication throughout the application journey. Initially I had a view of how I wanted to craft my story and application, coming from more of a common background in finance. Michel provided specific viewpoints and honest feedback as to how I could differentiate myself which allowed my voice to come through in the essays by highlighting parts of my background that I did not think of synthesizing. Furthermore, Michel's guidance was invaluable throughout the process - whether that is reviewing the essays, to the recommender deck, or preparations for the interviews. She ensured that I always brought out the best part of my candidacy in each step and prepared for any hurdles. Lastly, Michel is frankly a pleasure to work with - she is always ready to hop on a call to bounce ideas, is open and honest, has a great sense of humor, and is truly an advocate for me. I cannot thank her enough for her wisdom in the process, and I was able to secure a place at my dream school (HSW) and another M7 school because of her efforts. I highly recommend partnering with Michel if you are serious about your MBA application process!

Read More

I worked with Julie on my Wharton application, which I used for 5 other schools. Admitted to Wharton (matriculating), Ross, and Tuck for the class of 2023.

Julie helped to provide the needed structure for my Wharton application. She walked through each step of the way and set it up so I could apply to my other applications as well.

When I was first researching consultants, I was impressed by Fortuna's straight forward model and demonstrated results. Fortuna provided data to show their admittance and interview rates for each school, and were genuine about payment plans and pricing options during the interviewing phase. Overall positive experience.

Read More

I had the pleasure and privilege to work with Heidi for my applications to 6 top MBA programs in the US, and ultimately got accepted by 4 schools. As an applicant of South Asian origin working in finance, my two biggest concerns were presenting a differentiated enough story amongst what tends to be one of the most competitive pools in the application process + being able to put my best foot forward given the demanding nature of each application and the limited time I had with my job to focus on the application process.

Heidi made the process incredibly seamless. I found her to be a great listener, where she gave me the freedom to craft my own story, while constantly challenging me on bits that needed more work / clarification. Once we developed the general narrative, Heidi had specific, pointed feedback on how to modify the story for each school, thereby allowing me to put my best foot forward and obviously typifying her differentiated understanding on what different schools are looking for. The application process is ultimately a game of margins, and I felt that Heidi's knowledge and expertise brought an additional element of specificity to my applications which I could have never achieved on my own.

Heidi was also extremely methodical in her approach and we did a lot of legwork around putting different aspects of my personality, interests, past experiences etc. into tangible narratives, prior to starting the essay writing process. The impact of all of this work was that by the time I had finished writing my applications, not only had I internalized my "business school story" fully, but also fully internalized the dozens of other things that then came handy when the interviews started rolling in a few months. I cannot stress enough how easy it made the interview process, where I did not feel the need to do dozens of mocks or anything, because the fundamentals of my story were so clearly laid out owing to the work I did with Heidi. This is a testament to Heidi's experience and vision as a coach, where the path from application inception to interview is fully clear in her mind, and the work she makes you put in the beginning goes a long way in the application cycle.

The other standout quality for me was Heidi's incredible work ethic and how available she made herself to make the process easier for me. Turnaround time for every single draft was almost always less than 24 hours, and if for some reason there was a conflict on her side, the communication around it was super clear and significantly well in advance. Furthermore, Heidi's calendar was always open to schedule a call to discuss literally anything, brainstorm ideas etc. There were never any limitations on phone/video calls - she was always there. Going into the application process this was the type of unbarred access and support I had hoped to receive, and Heidi simply over-delivered on this aspect.

Five stars all the way for Heidi. The business school application process is an incredible commitment on so many fronts, and Heidi could not have been a better mentor and coach to not only make the process seamless but incredibly rewarding in itself.

Read More