I first spoke to MBAMission Senior Consultant, Eric Hollowaty in 2014 after the company had been recommended to me by Manhattan GMAT. Since that date, he has given me nothing but fantastic advice, all of which played a critical role in my eventual acceptance at my first choice school.

When I first planned to apply, Eric suggested that I wait a year. I was on the younger side and my GMAT score was low. He urged me to spend the next several months studying for the GRE (rather than the GMAT), improving my work experience, and visiting schools.

After a disappointing GRE score, I couldn’t have been happier that I followed his advice. Reading only the message boards, I should’ve been applying to schools ranked 50-60 – certainly not schools in the top 15. However, given my strong work experience and undergraduate performance, Eric helped me to determine which schools would be good fits.

I certainly had to do all of the work, but Eric spent hours helping ensure that my application properly showcased my strengths and unique qualities (plus he could always spot when I was tired and resorted to filler).

Throughout the process Eric was always up front and honest with me. It was clear that he believed in me and felt that I can handle top programs but he also never lied to me about my chances of getting into certain (score focused) schools. In the end, he played an invaluable role in my ultimate success and I cannot thank him enough for that.

If you are in a situation in which you have a weakness in your application, but are an overall strong candidate, and want to get into a top program, I’d absolutely recommend working with Eric/MBAMission.

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First some personal background: I am a 28 year old, former strategy consultant, and have never considered an MBA to be a make or break part of my life or my career. I always viewed the degree as a means to an end. The trouble was, I was beyond the standard application age of my fellow consultants, and I had already been promoted beyond the post-MBA level. In short, I had a lingering feeling that the standard, youthful, “spray and pray” application strategy wasn’t going to suit me.

When I finally decided that I wanted to make a run at an MBA, I wanted to do it the right way. To fulfill that need I turned to the “McKinsey” of the field: mbaMission. As the saying goes, no one gets fired for hiring McKinsey. I knew my application strategy was a little outside the norm, and didn’t want to have any regrets about quality.

I heard about Eric Hollowaty and mbaMission from a friend who had been admitted to HBS. I reached out to Eric and let him know my situation. He challenged some of my hypotheses (in a good way), verified others, and helped me set a strategy that fit my goals.

In the end, that strategy was to go for broke on just two schools. Eric and I agreed that either of those schools would invariably change my life, and that a backup option, while attractive, probably wouldn’t add as much value as I thought I needed. In my mind, getting the strategy verified was worth the full fee.

After we set the high level strategy, Eric helped me craft an essay that fit the bill perfectly. My whole application was a hail mary, and I needed an essay topic to match. Without revealing too much, Eric helped me write an "edgy" essay that maximized my chance of winning admission, given my less than perfect odds going in. It would have been impossible to write it without him.

In the end, the strategy fell a little short, and I wasn’t accepted to either of my schools. Though naturally disappointed, it was an easy lump to take because I knew I had submitted the best package possible. I wrote Eric directly and told him that even in defeat, mbaMission had been worth the cash.

If you’re serious about doing an MBA application right, I don’t know why you’d go anywhere else.

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Prior to applying to business school, I spoke with a number of my friends who are currently students at some of the top business schools (HBS, GSB and Wharton) for advice. More than half of them used admissions consultants and spoke highly of the benefits. Although I was initially skeptical, I can say with absolute certainty now that working with an admissions consultant was invaluable throughout my b-school application process and ultimately helped me get into my top choice b-school.

After "shopping" around for admissions consultants, I decided to work with Eric (HBS alum) on an hourly basis, focusing primarily on my essays. Eric is amazing - he would challenge me and really push my writing to the next level. For example, instead of just laundry listing resources that a school had in my essay, he pushed me to dig deeper and connect the dots as to why those resources are important to me and my goals. He helped me bring out the best in my essays without rewriting anything and still keeping my authentic voice.

Eric was also great at getting revisions back to me at lightning speed. This was crucial when it came close to deadlines. Even though we worked together on an hourly basis, Eric was super helpful in answering all sorts of questions via e-mail without ever "deducting" from my hourly time, which I really appreciated.

Result: accepted to my dream school, HBS! Highly recommend Eric.

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The school package was very in line with my expectations. I was given the most relevant and value added information in a short amount of time, allowing me to create stellar applications without much headache or rework. The process was stressful but extremely necessary. If you're looking for a proofreader for grammar mistakes I can say this isn't for you, but if you want someone to examine your application with the same critical eye as adcom, and drill down to the focal points of your experiences - mbaMissions certainly does the trick. I highly recommend this service to any MBA applicant that wants to put their best foot forward. You only complete one MBA in a lifetime, I don't know why you would have it any other way.

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Eric was a great consultant and advisor to me when I tried to prepare my application and interview for top-tier MBA schools. I finally got admitted to Kellogg, and if it were not for his support preparing for MBA application would be far more difficult than I expected.

During the brainstorming session, I thought he was a kind of career counselor as well as a consultant who wanted to know about me such as my goals, past professional experiences, and academic life including extracurricular activities. At first I was very clumsy on this even if it was telling a story of me. But he listened to my unorganized and never-ending idea generation very carefully with patience, and helped me organize my entire story very effectively.

When it came to essay writing and resume editing, his response emails always returned to me earlier than deadline, so that I can have more opportunities to review my writings. I really want to appreciate his reviews as his comments were so straightforward and critical in every area it actually enabled me to improve my writing skill much better as time went by.

Lastly, Eric gave me very careful and direct feedback regardless of its importance when I asked bunch of questions during the entire period of application. I was very grateful to him due to his fast and right responses. Before I was attending to MBA info sessions or conferences, his sincere advices were a big help to me. Furthermore, his coaching for interview made me confident when I got an actual interview, because I could find out what exactly I need to improve by communicating with him.

I think his considerate advices and constant efforts to improve my application absolutely contributed to my successful accomplishment. I really want to thank him again and my choice will be still him even if I have another chance to choose a consultant again.

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