Devi was CRITICAL to my acing the HBS interview. We did only one mock together but her tough approach and insight afterward gave me an invaluable foundation from which to finalize my preparation. Working with Devi is like a baseball player using a batting weight before stepping up to the batter’s box. Once I actually got into the interview room, everything that came at my way was a cakewalk compared to my mock interview with Devi. If you want to feel like you did your utmost to prepare, there’s no question that you need to work with Devi!

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In just 1.5 months, Devi helped me prepared 4 applications from scratch! I had a lower-end GMAT core 680-700 with a non-traditional background and decided to apply to the second round very late. Devi investigated my profile on a personal level, help me build my story, and gave me so much confidence to apply for my dream schools. We worked at Harvard, Standford, Wharton, and MIT. I received interviews from HBS and MIT. I eventually got into my dream school - HBS!

Devi is highly experienced in the application process, responsive in providing feedback, and professional in our interactions. Her instincts for what the admission teams are looking for are dead-on for my essays! Devi is incredibly smart to quickly point to the spotlight of my experiences and a brilliant great storyteller to sharpen my stories. Devi gave excellent guidance on the order of school applications to work on. Following her strategy, I can thoroughly reflect and delve deeper into my story efficiently using our limited time. I truly appreciated that Devi showed some "tough-love" and kept me on track with applications during stressful times.

In preparing for the interview, Devi is unquestionably the pro with years of experience working with the admission team. Not only was Devi giving me mock interviews, but she also taught me how to verbally structure my stories better on each of my resume items and work on the strategy to lead the interview conversation to my advantage. I have to admit that I also tried to work with other consultants on mock interviews to get more practice hours. However, I was getting much better insights from even a 30 min session with Devi than a 2-hour session with other consultants (also are graduates of HSW). Devi is great at predicting interview questions and does not just focus on the resume. Most questions we practice ended up coming up in the actual interview! I was always met with encouragement when we practice. I strongly recommended working with Devi on your interviews. The quality would be beyond what you paid for!

Personally, I have learned so much from Devi in her work ethic and effective communication. Her communication was direct, concise, and articulate to get the story right. I am incredibly fortunate to have worked with Devi. She brings Harvard caliber dedication and professionalism to her work. I cannot thank her enough. You will be lucky to work with her too!

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The answer is YES! When I got the HBS offer finally, there were too many people I want to say thank you. Among them, I think the critical person is my HBS mock interviewer Devi Vallabhaneni. I feel so lucky to know her from another HBS alumni, who also got huge help from Devi. He told me that Devi is very effective and sharp. I booked Devi’s mock session immediately. Although I only had one week left to my HBS interview, Devi still helped me arrange two mock sessions with qualified interval for me. I extremely enjoyed the mock sessions with Devi and her mock questions did happen in the real interview. One of the answers that Devi guided me also impressed my real interviewer of HBS because the real interviewer sent congratulations letter to me and mentioned that answer. Without Devi’s help and encouragement, I cannot improve so effectively and quickly. Devi told me the secret of interview. I felt so satisfied and happy after my real interview because I prepared almost every question and I knew my answer was sharpened by Devi’s professional advices. It’s Devi that helped me perform well and got HBS offer!
If you see this, trust me, Devi is the best and the highest ROI investment in your MBA application journey!

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What started as a mentoring-mentee relationship turned into almost a friendship at the end. Devi truly connected with me to learn more about my background and how that can help me in my interview. Every step of the way, she encouraged me to be my true self, and guess what, it worked!
Her tips are priceless. Her advice on your story is second to none!
What started as a mentoring-mentee relationship turned into almost a friendship at the end. Devi truly connected with me to learn more about my background and how that can help me in my interview. Every step of the way, she encouraged me to be my true self, and guess what, it worked!
Her tips are priceless. Her advice on your story is second to none!

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I had started working with a different consultant when I had started my application process for the 2021 intake. However, a few weeks before the deadline, I was not very convinced with my application and decided to reach out to MBAMission based on a trusted friend's recommendation. I had the opportunity to work with Devi over R1 and R2, and I must admit that I was super-impressed with what she did to my application. Apart from highlighting my key work achievements, she was able to identify aspects of me that added uniqueness to the overall application. She was always quick to respond to my emails, and our interactions were crisp and effective. Devi had great clarity on my strengths and weaknesses, and she used to keep responding with suggestions till she was convinced with the final output. I am extremely thankful to Devi for helping me make it to my dream school - Kellogg.

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I worked with Devi from MBAMisson for the R2 2021 app cycle. I was applying to the top 7, schools. I ended up getting interviews for Harvard, INSEAD, and Chicago. I received an offer from INSEAD.

I delayed getting a consultant until the very last minute, thinking that I was able to go through this process on my own. The truth is, there is a lot of general information out there, but without a consultant, it is hard to narrow down the specific advice relevant to your application. Thankfully, the team at MBAMission was able to match me with Devi pretty close to the deadline (12/24). Although it was the holiday season, Devi put in work every day to make sure that my application was as strong as possible. She didn't have to do that, and I really appreciate it.

What I liked most with Devi, is that she will push you to the very end. Her feedback was candid and straight to the point. Admissions consultants are expensive. I appreciated her sensitivity to time and straightforwardness. In the two weeks that I worked with her, I managed to squeeze in over 5 revisions for my essays, and I applied to 6 schools. It really was a lot of work. In all honestly, I was sleep-deprived and exhausted by the end of the process. Without Devi telling me that there was still room for improvement, I wouldn't have been able to push myself that hard. Revision #5 on my Harvard essay was done 4 hours before the deadline. It was Devi that pushed me to rewrite that thing one more time.

Harvard is my dream school. But in truth, my credentials are a bit weak. I did manage to get an interview but was not able to get the offer. Despite this, I don't regret any second spent working with Devi. I am 100% confident, that without her help, I would not have gotten that interview in the first place. Devi knows her stuff very well. I look at the essays I wrote before and after her help, it really is a world of difference. If anyone reading this is interested, PM me, and I will show you the before and after.

Overall, despite my disappointing outcome, I still highly recommend working with Devi. The interview experience alone has given me the self-confidence that I am so-called 'Harvard calibre'. And I'm sure, this sort of self-confidence will continue to pay dividends for the rest of my career. Thank you, Devi.

Best of luck with your applications.

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Summary: I had a convoluted story and worked with multiple mock interviewers to prepare. Devi was by far the most prepared, gave the clearest and most actionable feedback, and seemed truly invested in my success. The HBS interview isn’t “hard” in the sense that the interviewers are warm and friendly, and generally don’t ask trick questions. During my preparation, I spoke with several people who had interviewed, both admitted and rejected; almost all of them said that they thought it had gone well. Also, most people who get an interview, especially from finance and consulting, already have experience with difficult, lengthy processes and have developed above average interview skills. That’s why it’s so important to prepare to a level far beyond what you think is necessary - the competition is not average.


HBS was my dream school, and I don’t think I would have got in without Devi. After receiving an invitation to interview, I thought that I could adequately prepare on my own. I’d made it through demanding, multi-round interview processes in investment banking before, and I figured that through extensive solo practice and preparation, I could get through the HBS interview successfully as well. After spending many hours watching videos, reading articles, writing out every example I could think of in the STAR method and practicing out loud, I still didn’t feel confident enough, and decided to work with Devi.

I approached my first session with Devi as if it were the actual HBS interview (suit and tie included). I was struck by how specific Devi’s questions were, and how intimately familiar she was with my application – there were no superficial or “fluff” questions. Some might have overlapped with things that I had seen in HBS interview guides, but Devi asked them in the context of my application in a way that I hadn’t thought of myself. When she asked me for my impression of the interview, I said that despite some wordy answers, I thought it had gone well. I’d certainly felt more confident about my performance than I had about successful banking interviews.

Devi disagreed, and provided me with very candid feedback on my approach to answering, and the depth of my answers. I had some uncommon professional experience and it was difficult to convey everything I’d done in my current position, so my natural inclination was to talk at a high level and not offer specific anecdotes. Devi taught me how to adapt my style to give a brief, high level answer, support it with multiple brief anecdotes, while making sure that I didn’t lose sight of the original question in my conclusion. It took multiple sessions to get to a point where I had truly internalized this approach, but there were substantial improvements in my performance between each successive session. It’s important to start as early as possible after receiving your interview invite so that you can properly space out the sessions and actually incorporate Devi’s feedback – it’s usually not minor advice that you can tweak at a moment’s notice!

Even if you can only do two sessions with Devi, it’s an incredibly accurate reflection of the actual HBS interview, and the feedback is invaluable in preparing. Devi is very invested in her clients’ success, and I can’t recommend working with her strongly enough, especially if your dream is HBS.

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Devi made the daunting process of completing applications to 5 schools incredibly straightforward, personal, and organized. She helped me organize my thoughts, passions and truths into a cohesive personal story that organically flowed with my long term career aspirations. To say Devi is an efficient person is an understatement. Every minute with Devi is a minute well spent, and she is committed to helping her clients recognize their strengths and build an authentic personal story that is both true and compelling. She helped me maintain my focus on the aspects of my application and resume that should be highlighted/celebrated so that admissions teams could get a thorough understanding of what I brought to the table as a candidate.

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I was applying to business school late in the final round, and I had very little time to take the GMAT and prepare my application materials and essays. As such I decided to hire a consultant to help me frame my thoughts for my essays so that I could focus more on studying.
Devi was incredibly helpful even in our first, free phone consultation. I had what I believed to be significant weaknesses on my resume, but Devi was genuinely excited about my prospects and showed me that my perceived weaknesses could, in fact, be strengths. Devi also had a fantastic ability to help me outline my thoughts and put to words the message that I wanted to convey. With Devi’s help I was able to write a compelling and honest story in my essays, and her reframing of my perceived weaknesses helped me to feel much more confident in my interviews.

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Devi was an outstanding consultant - She helped me manage the business school application process and was there for me every step along the way. It does not take long to work with her before it becomes apparent she has years of experience and valuable insight in the business school arena. She makes herself available and fully commits to her clients. She challenged me to think strategically about my essays in ways that enhanced my application and prepared me to take a major leap in my professional career. A friend referred me to Devi and I'm forever grateful to have had the opportunity to work with her. I would 1000% recommend Devi to anyone looking for assistance in this process.

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