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Thoughtful consultants, quick and clear feedback, expert application process navigation and confidence building

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I was sceptical of admissions consulting services before reaching out to Fortuna. I could not have been more wrong. My experience working with Melissa was nothing short of incredible. Applying to an MBA is a stressful and time consuming process but working with Melissa made it feel easy. The communication was fluid and her feedback on essays, CV, etc was always succinct and helpful. She helped me navigate the application and interview process, which she knows by heart, and built up my confidence along the way. I could not have asked for a better experience – Melissa is genuinely a game changer.

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I am an Indian male with a tech background, and I’m a dual admit to Stanford and Harvard. To start off, I am 100% confident that this feat would not have been even remotely possible had it not been for Silpa. If there’s one takeaway before you read further, let it be this: ‘Silpa is the best coach, mentor, advisor in this world, and you’ll be lucky to have her. ’ I say this as someone who’s met with multiple counselors and advisors both in India and the US in the past. Silpa is ideal.

Silpa is the most passionate, proactive, and highly-proficient mentor and advisor. She loves what she does, and is truly, truly dedicated to bringing out the best in you. And that’s what truly matters. I’ve had umpteen phone calls with Silpa, be it 5-minute ones, 10-minute ones, or 30-minute ones, or 60-minute ones. In every call, I have come back with a new perspective and fresh thinking, thanks to Silpa.

Next, Silpa is the most-rigorous counselor (read ‘person’) I have met. I say this because I’ve been embarrassed, at times, by how much better she knows my application and anecdotes than I do. Know that once you have submitted these “raw material” Fortuna documents (which are great too!), Silpa will process them, mull over them, and apply her accurate filter to them. (One piece of advice: Don’t second-guess what she says!)

Silpa was very kind to have had another set of calls with me, going into the deep end of each anecdote. She collaborated with me and together, we narrowed down the 25+ anecdotes to the top 5 or 6. This is hard! Finding the signal from the noise is akin to finding a needle in the haystack. Dare I say, you can still find the signal; you won’t be able to find the needle. Unless, of course, you have Silpa with you.

I’m so grateful that Silpa took so much interest in my story, helped me bring out the best, and then channeled it into the appropriate way possible, for this incredible outcome. I won’t talk about my GMAT scores or GPA here, but suffice to say that the LOR’s, essays, and the interview made it for me. In other words, Silpa’s presence made it for me. And coupled with Fortuna’s supportive ecosystem, Matt Symonds and Judith’s advice, Silpa’s initiative-taking nature, and her magic, one was able to accomplish this, as an Indian male.

What’s even more fascinating about Silpa is that she would understand you, as a human, and not merely as an applicant. Early on, after our initial call, Silpa understood me as someone who’s a “high-touch applicant”, and she was 100% right. Not only did I want more attention, I actually needed it. Add to that a mix of brainstorming e-meets, strategy sessions, “quick calls” (which were quite long), and more. You now have a recipe which would consume the entire bandwidth – physical, emotional, and temporal – of your counselor. But that’s not what happened for Silpa. Along with me, she had many other applicant-mentees, and yet, she managed the turnarounds (and more), so seamlessly. But here’s the thing: She needn’t have delivered the “high-touch”, and she needn’t have gone above and beyond.

But she did.

And that’s what’s the next thing about Silpa. She pays major attention to minor details, to the point that you may get exhausted; she won’t. She is always so specific, precise, and enthusiastic. And that’s an important quality throughout this journey. You need a guide, a friend, a mentor. For me, Silpa was this trifecta. I was able to build such an incredible rapport, foster this deep trust, and forge a meaningful relationship, thanks to her. ‘Silpa is a pleasure to work with’ would be an understatement.

Silpa also loves perfection. Ultimately, the draft is ready to go if her gut tells her it is. And this is great for you, because that gives you the opportunity to see Silpa’s magic unfold. Before your eyes. For instance, in my case, Silpa said that some essays were not ready and wanted to take “another look” at them (which often involved many comments and many edits). All of this helped because it brought out the best of the best.

Silpa’s interview prep, her insights from the interview about you, and her advice in general are unparalleled. They are all so wise. I’m grateful I got to prepare for one interview with Silpa (and another with Heidi from Fortuna). I learned so much about how best to answer questions, how best to manage subtle situations, and more, thanks to Silpa’s astute observations and incisive feedback.

At the ultimate stage, Fortuna is the best career and MBA coach there is. And Silpa is the best career advisor, MBA mentor, creative brainstormer, rigorous individual, and most-dedicated coach there is. If there is one person who was the Rock of Gibraltar during this process for me, it was Silpa.

Overall, it’s Silpa because of whom I was able to put forth the best application there is, despite all odds. Truly, truly grateful to Silpa.

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I had such a delightful experience with Jenifer, who helped me build my story end-to-end for my application. From our very first call, I knew that Jenifer was the perfect advisor for me as she helped me build my narrative, bringing out strengths that translated to what my specific school was looking for, particularity since my MBA program of interest had an international twist. Jenifer was so kind, thoughtful yet so diligent in ensuring that every aspect of my application that I put forward to the admissions office was intentional, which I truly appreciate! Although I made it to the interview and was not admitted to my school of choice, in hindsight, I wouldn't have been able to make it this far without her! I highly recommend Jenifer because is the epitome of what you would call a mastermind when it comes to building a cohesive, memorable and impactful MBA application - she is just THAT great! Thank you, Jenifer for everything!

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Words can not express my gratitude for Bill's guidance and encouragement during my EMBA application to Booth and Wharton. I find Bill's advises and perspectives extremely valuable as I progressed through the application process, and helped to give me more confidence for anyone who applies to these programs the first time. Bill also gave me great advise on the school selection; while I want to accelerate my career in my current company, I aspire to establish my own business in the future, and Bill with his unmatched experience with the MBA/EMBA programs was able to advise and confirm my school selection. I was able to receive offers from both the above programs that I applied.

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Working with Karen allowed me to produce the best version of myself and get accepted to two of Europe's best business schools!

With a GMAT score that was well below the average for my top target school, I was nervous that I had not done enough to get accepted to my dream school. Karen coached me in a way that ensured I was able to communicate my key strengths and value add throughout the application. Each part of the application became an opportunity to sell my story. This approach was refreshing and is what I believe ultimately got me accepted to my dream school.

Karen was always super responsive, regardless of the time of day. Karen was also extremely flexible which allowed me to fit my application work in around my demanding job and family life. This shouldn't be taken for granted as to produce the best possible application, you need to carve out time that you didn't realize existed before working on an MBA application!

From start to finish, the whole Journey with Karen was a pleasure. Karen genuinely cares for her clients and always gives you 110%. I could not ask for more from an admissions consultant.

For anyone looking to get accepted on to the world's best MBA programmes, look no further than Karen and the team at Fortuna.

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Emma made my dream come true. Thanks to her I managed to get accepted to LBS. She walked me through a long and difficult process. She reviewed every detail of the application until it was perfect, even giving me extra hours for some issues where I needed to improve (like the video assessment and interview). She taught me to trust myself and to believe until the end. This gave me the strength to continue improving and trusting myself in the final stages of the application. She also gave me very specific advice that was key to my final admission. Without her I would not have made it in any way. Thanks Emma!

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When I was searching for an admissions consultant, I looked for two criteria

1) The admissions consultant should be incredibly knowledgeable about LBS
2) The admissions consultant should have a personal interest in my success and that I shouldn't just be another number in a sea of clients.

Given Emma's experience of working as part of the LBS AdCom, it became clear after our first introduction that she knew LBS inside-out. What surprised me was how personally invested she was in the whole process and made me feel like I had someone in my corner whom I could rely on.

Emma is insanely dedicated. She turns around material within 24 hours so I never felt like I had to hurry. Before many school admission deadlines, she even worked over the weekends to make sure that I was putting my best application in. No matter the number of revisions, she keeps working with you to make sure that your application is the very best it can be.

Where I was really blown away was Emma's guidance on essays. She helped me develop a strong essay strategy that would bring out the strengths in my application. She even connected me with an alum from LBS who had a similar profile to me so that I could gain additional perspective for my essays. I can confidently say that without Emma's help, there is no chance that my essays would have ended up as powerful and impactful as they did.

Emma is an incredibly kind person but she is also very candid about your profile and where you need to improve. She does not waste time beating around the bush and I really appreciated this honest approach. I found that having those candid conversations allowed us to create a strategy to accentuate my strengths and downplay my weaknesses.

I got admitted to London Business School and I couldn't have done it without Emma's support and encouragement. If LBS is your #1 choice, I strongly recommend working with Emma to make studying at Regent's Park a reality!

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I worked with Cassandra on 2 EU programs, HEC Paris & INSEAD. Cassandras really knows about these two schools and the admission appetite. She's always responsive, professional and straight to the point. Her past experiences with various European business schools is an asset and really helped me identify my USPs in the essay drafting. Though coming from a slightly over-represented applicant pool (East Asian) with average GMAT, I have relatively unique life/work experiences and Cassandra really helped me press these points. I got accepted to both programs and I can definitely recommend Cassandra to those who are interested in EU top MBA programs!

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I interviewed a dozen consultants - all the top names on you can find online - and even worked on an hourly basis with another well-known competitor, but Judith is head and shoulders above her peers.

Her years of experience as an adcom really shows: she cuts through what is important and what is not, is very flexible around your goals and needs, and leverages experts from rest of the Fortuna network to fine tune applications for each specific school on your list.

Working with Judith was also seamless. She was very responsive all times of the week, and answered all of my questions (I probably had too many).

From clarifying career goals, to structuring approach to essays and interviews, Judith was there to support me every step of the way, and definitely made suggestions that helped contributed to my success.

Coming from an over-represented demographic, I was admitted to 4 out of the 6 M7 schools I applied to.

Don't hesitate. Work with Judith. She's amazing.

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I went for the 2 school package for GSB/HBS. Got into one school and was interviewed by the other. Fortuna helped massively during the entire application process with great suggestions to CV, application and interview prep.

The process started with Fortuna assessing my profile, i.e., assessing my chances to get into a business school. We then went to creating a structured plan of my application. They did help with a lot of good advice. The first essay I drafted was basically a 4-page CV... By the time I submitted my app, it was a great story which I liked myself.

I was referred to Fortuna by a friend of mine who also got into an HSW.

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