I was initially referred to Michel by a friend of mine who told me that they owed their seat at business school to her. I must admit though, at first, I was skeptical. I wasn’t sure if the services Fortuna offered were necessary- surely I could do it on my own… how wrong I was!

It was during my very first call with Fortuna that I quickly realized that I lacked the knowledge of what business school adcom look for, how to answer the essay questions and how to stand out from the sea of other applicants. I was promptly put in touch with Michel who, from the outset, demonstrated an incredible level of application knowledge that you would only expect from someone that had spent years as Wharton’s MBA gatekeeper.

Michel was a terrific choice for me. She was responsive to questions I had, possessed a great sense of what each of the schools look for and had an exceptional eye for detail. In one instance, I even remember Michel pointing out a grammatical mistake I had made in a 31 page application. Michel considers each of her clients’ applications as hers, treating them with a personalized touch.

Thank you, Michel, for getting me into the business school of my dreams! I know it would not have been possible without your support, encouragement and knowledge.

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I worked with Heidi Hillis throughout my business school application process. She offered critical/actionable feedback and provided creative/interesting insights every single step of the way! She helped me to uncover and articulate my story and goals in a clear and compelling fashion. As a result of this support, I got into my top two programs (HBS and LBS) and received one of the largest scholarships possible at LBS.

Furthermore, Heidi is very responsive and flexible - she worked around my hectic schedule and took calls on weekends and before/after work as needed. The Fortuna team as a whole is very talented, professional, and enjoyable to work with. Although Heidi was my consultant, she pulled in experts for particular parts of my application and questions as they come up. Everyone was very helpful!

I highly recommend Fortuna and Heidi Hillis in particular!

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As a reapplicant and a slightly 'older' candidate compared to the average age of MBA aspirants, many of the consultants that I initially spoke to showed half-hearted enthusiasm about my otherwise competitive profile. Of the one's that were optimistic and keen to work together, I finally decided to go with Fortuna Admissions post the more than heartening conversations with Matt and Heidi.

It was clear to me from the start that Heidi knew what she was doing. From our association over the past few months, her knowledge, experience, perfectionism and affability have stood out!

With her experience of having served on Stanford's admissions committee and working as an MBA consultant, Heidi had detailed knowledge of the entire application process and a keen eye for loopholes. From Day 1, she asked me to do thorough research on my post MBA plans. The Fortuna templates that she asked me to fill were extremely helpful for guiding my research. During this time, Heidi also went out of her way to connect me to her previous clients who were involved in similar career tracks. By the end of this first step, I knew that I was in good hands and that Heidi will be able to help me see the areas of improvement that I wasn't being able to.

Once we got into the essays, I was impressed by Heidi's perfectionism. Not only did she help me see the weaknesses that I had not spotted, but also helped me identify the strengths that I was underplaying. Through her guidance and insistence on talking about "real" experiences, my essays sounded better than my previous attempt from the very first draft. But, Heidi wouldn't give a green signal to an essay unless she was convinced about every single example, word, punctuation! It wouldn't matter if we had to go through 20 drafts or start again after coming mid-way with one line of thought. At the end of this process, my essays sounded so authentic! I finally understood what the MBA blogs meant when they spoke about "letting your personality shine". My essays were 100% mine in story, language and sentiment!

A few months into working with Heidi, I realised that I felt comfortable talking to her about anything in my life. Her genuine understanding and warmth allowed me to discuss anything that I wanted to and she always gave me the most sound advice, be it on the applications or anything at all regarding the MBA experience.

This entire experience ended with me securing admission at one of the top US B-schools! I cannot thank Heidi enough for her guidance, support and encouragement. She's phenomenal as an MBA consultant and a blessing as a guide and mentor (that's how I started seeing her after a while).

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After my first consultation with Matt Symonds, I immediately knew I wanted to work with Fortuna. I could tell the entire Fortuna team had a knack for noticing the most compelling aspects of an applicant’s profile and making them shine. Matt talked me through Fortuna’s platform, their experience working with clients from similar backgrounds, as well as the flexibility I would have in choosing a coach.

I chose to work with Michel because of her extensive experience working in admissions. I came to Michel with a vague idea of my “story”. She patiently talked me through how my background, past experiences, and extracurricular interests could create a cohesive, compelling application. I initially bought the three school package, but shortly added additional hours for other schools to which I was applying. I immediately saw the “edge” Michel’s guidance added to my applications, and I wanted her guidance to put my best foot forward.

Michel was with me every step of the way. She was responsive, thoughtful, and honest. Michel always found a way to make herself available, even though my work and travel schedule was very unpredictable.

Thanks to Michel’s guidance, I was admitted to Columbia and Booth, two of my top choices! I am absolutely certain I would not have arrived at this outcome without Michel’s help. I highly recommend working with Michel – you will not regret it!

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I had a great experience with Fortuna - I got in to my top choice program and received an almost full fellowship at another M7 school. In my experience, Fortuna's greatest strength is that they have consultants who have worked for the admissions teams of many of the top schools. As a result, there was always someone available to answer my school-specific questions in a very insightful way. Everyone I interacted with at Fortuna was professional, helpful, and reliable.

I worked with Heidi, and she was amazing! She did a great job perfecting my "story", coaching my recommenders, and helping me understand and articulate my goals. Heidi seemed to know more about my story than I did and she had great ideas and edits for all my essays. She's very good at constructive criticism - we rewrote my HBS essay probably 50 times. She was easy to communicate with (despite being in different, and constantly changing, time zones) - she always responded within a day and scheduled meetings whenever I asked. My applications were a million times better than they would have been without Fortuna, and I'm so happy that I chose this firm.

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I worked with Katherine throughout the entire application and interview process. Katherine took the time early on to really understand my background and experiences. This enabled me to shape my story in a way that highlighted my motivations and stayed true to my authentic voice. With her marketing background, Katherine is a great story teller. She encouraged me to add creative elements to my essay openings which I believe helped them to stand out. Katherine was also an excellent interview coach, providing guidance for each school and conducting a remarkably realistic mock interview. With Katherine's guidance, I was admitted to both Stanford GSB and MIT Sloan. I am thrilled with the outcome and highly recommend working with Katherine!

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From the initial consultation, Michel and Judith took the time to understand my story, answer my questions. They spoke with me about my candidacy with confidence and enthusiasm, which I really appreciated. I spoke to a number of other consultants prior to deciding to work with Fortuna but my initial conversations with Michel and Judith really stuck out. I worked with them over the course of 5-6 months on my application to Columbia.

From the strategy questionnaire to my essays and interview prep, Michel took the time to understand my background, strengths, and interests to help me craft a compelling story. Michel provided constructive feedback on my essays to ensure they highlighted my personality and experiences. Michel kept me on schedule and provided valuable advice at every point of the application process.

When I received an interview with a tight timeline to prepare, Michel was quick to make herself available to put me through a mock interview and I felt confident going into the actual interview as a result of that.

I felt Michel was truly invested in my success and was very excited for me when I was accepted to Columbia. I would highly recommend Michel, Judith, and Fortuna to future applicants!

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I paid for the 2 school package after fantastic conversations with the sales consultant from Fortuna. I think the fantastic ended there.
I was applying to the mid career programs and I wanted guidance on the whole process as I am away from the academic scene for 15 years. A big questionnaire came in the email once the fees was paid. I filled part of it asking for help in filling it more based on discussions with the coach. A call was scheduled which never happened. (I am on UTC and the coach on UTC-7 i think). And then no response. I tried restarting conversation with some more info from my side - resume, etc. Got partial feedback from another team member. But then the coach has no more response. My admission deadlines looming, I put together the application with my own understanding of the process based on webinars and blogs. Just 1 school. 2nd school is not on track anymore.
The main reason for me for choosing Fortuna is to be able to help with the process itself, finalising schools, putting a framework to bring all resources at one place and then finally the right cases/anecdotes to use. None was achieved.
I wrote to them after a few months telling them that no service was rendered to me and explaining my disappointment. After 3 weeks, Matt wrote back saying he could have been more involved and that this was a partnership and letting me know they are there to help. After 3 weeks. I responded the same day with more clear response showing why I thought Fortuna failed me. And asking for a refund. Well it has been 4 weeks and I wait for the super fast team at Fortuna to write back. My usually lightning fast sales consultant on copy has not had anything to add.
Overall, if I had to spend 6,500 bucks on a consultant, I wouldn't chose Fortuna. I saw great reviews for Fortuna from regular MBA aspirants. I would assume they still hold true. After all Fortuna is the most premium service on the market - they must be doing something right. With me though it was all downhill. And my general advice will be to pay in parts to at least have a service guarantee.

Edit: Fortuna has been very responsive to my comments and I was contacted by Matt Symonds who had tried reaching me earlier at an incorrect email address. Fortuna has refunded my fees and also offered coaching for the 2nd school and interview coaching for the 1st school free of charge. It is heartening to see the effort even though they missed the mark first time around.

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I worked with Michel from early on my decision to apply for B-school. I knew that I was going to apply Round 1 and that I would be on the younger side if accepted by the schools I wanted to get into. So I did my extensive research and chatted with 6 different consulting agencies before finally choosing Fortuna.

What really set Fortuna apart from the other agencies is the level of care and detail Michel went into crafting my story. I come from a traditional consulting background but I was looking to make a career pivot with my MBA to go into something a lot more untraditional. Michel spent hours on the phone with me really dissecting why and how I came to the conclusion that business school is the right move at this stage of my career. Once that was set, we went about creating the right narrative for my applications.

Throughout the process, Michel was extremely responsive and provided strong feedback on my essays, resume, video interviews, in person interviews, recommender selection etc. Along every step of the process it became very obvious how experienced and knowledgeable Michel was with this entire MBA process. And because we started very early in the year, the pace was very manageable and at no time was I overwhelmed or stressed out.

I found it very helpful that Michel knew me very well and was able to call back on all of my extracurriculars in order to help prep me from the essays to the interviews. After each interview, Michel and I called to debrief and prep for the next one.

Ultimately I was admitted to 2 schools and waitlisted for my third! All top 10 programs! I'm thrilled and could not have done this without the expertise of Michel. If you're looking for a compassionate, understanding, patient and knowledgeable MBA consultant, Michel is the way to go!

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I enjoyed working with Fortuna from my first interaction with Matt. They provided loads of advice on the first intro call - far more than other consulting firms I spoke with - and sold me quickly. My consultant, Sharon, was personable and helpful throughout the process. It was tougher than usual because we lived in time zones 14 hours apart, but she regularly scheduled calls in her evenings because it was more convenient for me. I appreciated her pushing me to re-work my essays multiple times. Would recommend the services, particularly for school selection and keeping me on a steady schedule to get my applications in on time.

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