I came into the MBA admissions process as a novice – nobody in my family had applied to business school and neither had any of my close friends – and the one thing I did know was that I would need help!

After being recommended to reach out to MBA Prep School by a friend of a friend who had worked with them and been accepted to a highly ranked school, I was still a bit skeptical. Would working with a consultant really be something that would be valuable? What sort of help was I getting? How were they going to help me?

After our first initial call, Faisal helped me to allay my doubts – not only would MBA Prep School help develop my essays but their approach was a rigorous bottoms-up analysis which focused first on career coaching not merely essay editing. We spent our first few sessions talking about my goals and career aspirations using exercises to help me to discover the strengths and experiences that would help me stand out from my peers as well as shore up potential weaknesses as well.

I think was actually the most valuable part of the whole application process and even if I hadn’t applied to business school I think this would have been very worthwhile.

After condensing an amorphous cloud of thoughts, perceptions, and dreams into a coherent narrative, Faisal and I set to work on developing my essays. Faisal is an excellent editor, allowing my voice to come through while giving helpful hints on how best to craft a story. Faisal gives room to disagree and while he is not afraid to give tough criticism I never felt that he didn’t have my best interests at heart. I applied to 5 schools and each essay received as many revisions as they needed.

By the time I submitted my applications I felt not only did I have excellent essays but also a much stronger conception of my own career trajectory and a clear road map for achieving my dreams.

Out of the five schools I applied to, I was accepted to two and will be attending Kellogg this fall. I was completely satisfied with the help I received from Faisal and the MBA Prep School and strongly recommend reaching out to them if you have doubts about applying to business schools and wish to take your MBA application to the next level!

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I worked with Faisal in the hopes of joining a full-time program in the fall of 2020. I chose to work with a consultant because when I had applied by myself the previous year, I had been denied from all six full-time MBA programs that I had applied to without any interview invites even though I felt I had competitive experiences and a GMAT score above the averages for all the programs.

I chose MBAPrepSchool for one main reason – they didn’t treat me as just another customer to put into a preset program, but rather an individual with specific needs. I talked to several different companies before making my decision, but only MBAPrepSchool (and specifically Mariah) asked me to send essays from my previous application and used it to prep for my intro meeting with them. That hour-long meeting was followed up with a personalized list of specific consultants and why they thought they would be a great fit for me. One of the people who was suggested was Faisal. As an engineer that was struggling with how to relate my technical expertise into business terms, it was pretty clear he would be perfect for me with his background in engineering along with experience in admissions at an M7 program.

I began working directly with Faisal about seven months before application deadlines. For the first couple of months, we worked on understanding my life story and how that fit into my career goals. After that, we started narrowing down which programs would make sense for me to apply to and I eventually chose Stanford, Kellogg, Sloan & Darden. Though I gave myself seven months to work on my applications, Faisal still helped me focus on what all needed to get done and I ended up spending time on most weeknights on my application and it definitely made a big difference in the end.

One area where Faisal made the biggest difference was in my essays. I went through at least 3 revisions of each essay for each of the schools with some of the longer ones having 6-8 versions. Faisal’s ability to let my voice shine through my applications while helping me sculpt my message was invaluable. He also set specific requirements for himself (feedback within 72 hours on anything I submitted to him for review) and stuck to it. One thing I especially appreciate in hindsight is that Faisal never tried to make a decision for me (which schools to apply to, which life stories to use in my essays, etc), but rather helped by providing guidance on how to think through the problems and as a result become more intentional in my choices.

When I sent out my applications, I knew everything in my application – the essays, recommendations, education, and work information, etc. – was leagues beyond what I had submitted the previous year. While I had personal advancements that played a factor in this, the largest change was working with Faisal.

I ended up interviewing at Stanford, Kellogg, and Darden. I was then accepted into Kellogg and Darden with scholarships at each while being waitlisted at Stanford. I simply could not have imagined this being a possibility after I had been rejected from six programs just a year earlier.

By the end of the MBA application cycle, Faisal became more than just a consultant. In fact, when I got the good news for my acceptances, he was the first person I contacted after my family to tell the good news.

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When I started the application process early summer of last year, I was looking for someone with a critical eye, good grasp of what schools wanted, ability to help me create a good narrative and highlight what was needed out of my experience and extracurriculars to emphasize my story, and ability to push myself out of my comfort zone. I came from an engineering background (with a few lower grades on my transcript that I felt could keep me out of the top schools) with extremely technical work experience and no formal leadership.

Working with Faisal, I was able to fully reflect and create a cohesive story that made sense for my background and for my future goals. Faisal helped me understand what to highlight and what to de-emphasize, especially coming from a technical background, in my resume and essays. He helped craft an optional essay that helped explain my academic background and lower GPA. Faisal was critical and discerning in his edits, making sure that I was saying what I needed to and not being too vague or "on" with my language. He was also great to work with on my interview prep - making sure that I was working through highlighting my strengths and exactly answering the intended questions. I felt like my essays were strong, polished, and represented me well. Faisal also pushed me to research the schools in-depth, which helped with essay creation and the interviews, since I truly felt like I knew each school in and out by the time I submitted my application.

With Faisal's help, I was admitted to four M7 schools, waitlisted at another, and received partial scholarships at almost every school. This is an outcome I would have never thought possible looking solely at my stats coming into the application process - with Faisal's help, I was able to showcase my best qualities and gain admissions to some great schools.

Faisal is very easy to talk to and work with, is timely with his feedback, and delivers great results. I highly recommend working with him!

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Coming from a non-traditional background, I knew it would be challenging to get into the top MBA programs without a consultant who appreciated my unique background. After speaking with multiple consultants, I felt Faisal was the best fit because he genuinely tried to get to know me and did not sugar coat how difficult the journey might be.

Once we started working together, Faisal dug deep into my personal and professional experiences to ensure I put my best foot forward. With his help, I was able to tell my unique story that has made me who I am today through essays, resume, and interviews. He always had a game plan to address any concerns that the admission officers might have after reading my application.

Overall, I could not have asked for a better consultant to guide me throughout this journey. Faisal was there every step of the way, guiding and offering valuable insights. With his help, I got accepted into a top MBA program!

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By the time I was done with the GMAT and started with the applications, there were only two months left until the R1 deadlines. I talked to many consultants and went ahead with Faisal considering the fact that he had lots of experience working with international students. I believed he would understand my story and will help me put it into perspective. Working with him gave me a lot of clarity about what I want through an MBA and taught me how to tell my story in an effective and powerful way. He helped me realize my dream of getting into a top MBA program with full scholarship. I highly recommend Faisal to whoever wants help with telling their story.

Thank you so much Faisal!

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Coming from a technical engineering role in an industry that doesn’t value an MBA like other industries, I didn’t know many people who had pursued a full-time MBA. In addition, I didn’t have the best GMAT score (below the average but within the 80%) for an “over-represented male” applicant. For these two reasons, I looked for an admission consultant to ensure I put the best application forward.

While doing my due diligence, I happened to connect with a mutual friend who had used MBA Prep School and is now at Wharton. With this lead, I connected with Tyler Cormney who took the time to understand my profile and needs. He recommended Faisal whose strengths as admission consultant aligned strongly with my needs.

I knew I would not need someone to push me to write my applications. Rather, I needed someone to ensure I was telling the best version of my story. I also knew I would struggle with telling my work experience in layman terms, so I needed a consultant who has helped other engineers in a technical line of work.

I am happy to say that Faisal met and exceeded all my expectations. Faisal took the time to learn about me in order to help me craft my story in a truthful and compelling manner. I would often leave comments regarding any part of my application (essays, resumes, short answers, etc.) to gather additional feedback from Faisal. No matter how much I wrote, he always read every comment. In addition, Faisal was excellent at helping me showcase leadership examples while removing nonessential technical knowledge to tell a clear and concise story.

The school packages were comprehensive. Every part of my application was reviewed until it was ready (no edit counts) and feedback was provided within 2-3 days. This included supplemental essays after the application was submitted and even waitlist help (if needed).

Luckily for me, I was accepted to my top choice school, MIT Sloan with $80k of scholarship. I cannot thank Faisal enough! I would recommend him anyone who feels they need a razor-sharp application to get accepted into their dream school.

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Do you feel that you have all the right ingredients for a strong MBA application but you are struggling to put it together in a recipe which will result in the dish of a lifetime? Well that was me when I started down the MBA application path. I knew my career goals and I knew I was at the right point in my career where an MBA could help me boost the next phase of my career. I had taken GMAT and had a good score and I had my recommenders lined up. But I was struggling to communicate my story crisply and effectively.
A very close friend of mine had gone down this route few years back and I talked to him for advice and he said he faced pretty much the same challenge and recommended seeking help from a professional. I investigated few MBA consultants and I got in touch with Faisal via MBA PrepSchool. I was quite impressed with all the glorious recommendations that Faisal had online but what sealed the deal for me was the introductory call that I had with him. In that half an hour call, Faisal asked insightful questions and I knew I had found the person who can help me pen my story.
Faisal can be very critical with his feedback when required and can also be very encouraging when required. While Faisal did have a defined framework that he worked in, he adapted that to make it work with my timeline. The experience Faisal has in this field also proved very useful to me and helped me approach the whole process more confidently. I strongly recommend Faisal for MBA application counseling.

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Deciding to work with Faisal Khan and the MBA Prep School team was the best decision I could have made regarding the application process. I come from a non-business background and do not have many in my close network that are knowledgeable about MBA programs or even the graduate school application process in general. I was truly flying blind.
Faisal took me under his wing and provided me with brainstorming materials and constructive feedback that forced me to be incredibly introspective. Brainstorming with Faisal was almost cathartic. Because he was so interested in learning about me, Faisal was able to point out strengths and unique qualities that I didn’t recognize in myself. The MBA Prep School brainstorming sessions and resources allowed me to brand myself as a top MBA candidate.
I also never waited longer than a few days to get feedback and edits from Faisal on my essays, resume, interview prep questions, etc. He was prompt, professional, and clearly cared about my success. My investment in MBA Prep School resulted in an acceptance at Kellogg, Tepper, Goizueta and Foster all with either partial or full scholarship awards! 😊

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As a consultant from an over-represented background, without a perfect GPA, and a decent GMAT score, I knew that to get into the top MBA programs I had to have a razor-sharp story. In working with a consultant, I was looking for help with time/project management, guidance on the details and differentiation between programs (i.e. what each school cared about), and help putting a creative twist to my application. Faisal nailed all three.

During our work together, Faisal took the time to delve deep and understand me as a person, which allowed both of us to speak a common vernacular and pull from a common set of experiences to highlight in my essays and my interviews. As a proofreader, he challenged me to be provocative, precise, and answer the question(s) in my personal voice. He was available when I needed him, and made each step of the process as clear as possible. Ultimately, I think Faisal is different because he genuinely cares about his clients, and based on the other testimonials I read, this translates to strong results. I will be recommending Faisal to my friends and colleagues.

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