From the very beginning of the experience, mbaMission treated me with exceptional courtesy and respect. After the free 30 minute consultation, I did a "fit call" with Harshad Mali- that call confirmed to me that Harshad was the exact right consultant for me. Things to know about Harshad: 1) Harshad has detailed knowledge of school statistics, and an understanding of broad admissions trends. Harshad helped me get my game plan together to apply to four schools in short order and provided me feedback on historical trends of acceptance rates by round, by school. He even gathered other consultant opinions on my resume; 2) Harshad will push you until you have a cohesive product that is the best representation of you and your story. Just a week before the deadline, together Harshad and I started my Ross essay over from scratch because my previous version was not developing strongly enough. This was the best possible thing he could have guided me to do, rather than moving forward with a weak concept; 3) Harshad seamlessly understands scheduling, priorities, and the "admissions tempo". Harshad ALWAYS provided great feedback on my deliverables and questions within 48 hours or less. On New Year's Eve, we exchanged essay versions by the hour. He knew when we had to push to hit key productivity gateways, and let me have time to breathe between each of my applications, with consideration to the ones on which we were not partnered. When a hurricane destroyed my car and residence, Harshad was completely empathetic to my situation, urging me to focus on my life adjustments, and was encouraging throughout. He genuinely cared; 4) Harshad was a true partner in the process. Throughout the essay-writing journey, he gave me his edits to ensure that my voice was not lost before further editing/trimming was done. I had ultimate stylistic control, though Harshad proved to be the master of grammar! Also, when at the last minute I decided to partner on Harvard instead of Stanford, Harshad was in complete support and immediately started focusing our efforts on that best possible essay and short answers; 5) Harshad's candid feedback, support, and knowledge will give you confidence in the entire process, from choosing schools to after the interview, and receiving offers. Harshad was with me every step of the way. The price tag on the school packages is a hefty one, but my experience with Harshad and mbaMission exceeded my expectations and helped me bridge the gap and translate my military career into something of value to the admission committees. As a result, I was admitted to my top two choices, the Ross School of Business and the Stanford Graduate School of Business (decisions, decisions)! Applying to an MBA program and making the transition can be grueling and daunting, so don't do it alone. I recommend Harshad to anyone.

Read More

Things you shouldn't do during the MBA application process:
- Wait until 3 weeks before the deadline to start your essay
- Not have schools picked out that fit your profile

I took longer than expected to get my GMAT score to where I wanted it to be. Round 1 passed and Round 2 was quickly approaching and I freaked out. It's been ages since I've applied to schools and I wanted someone to help me through this process. With only 3 weeks until Round 2 deadlines, many other admissions consultants said that it was impossible or would refuse to help me, which was totally understandable given the short notice. I was luckily paired with Harshad and he was certainly the life raft that I needed to complete my application. We started with a brainstorming document where I listed my background and all my experiences. After reading the document and meeting with Harshad, He had a very good idea about who I was and how to present myself to each school. Since we were on a very tight deadline, he gave me a strict timeline and assured me that if I stuck with the timeline, we would be on target. He worked tirelessly to provide feedback and edits; some of his turnaround times were less than 1 day! I submitted all 3 of my applications on time and I received interviews from all 3 schools. I've already been accepted with a 75% scholarship from one school and I am still waiting to hear back from the others. I can honestly say I could not have done this without Harshad keeping me on track and helping me tell my story in a succinct, coherent fashion.

School update: Accepted to all three schools - including a 50% scholarship at a top 25 school!

Read More

Having never applied to a program outside my country (Pakistan), let alone a top global leadership program, I had little idea about where to begin with when I started thinking about applying to a business school. My initial thoughts were that a good GMAT score was all that was needed. It was not until I took 30-minutes free consultation session with Helen Summers from mbaMission that I realized that GMAT is just part of the whole story. She broke it to me that business school application consists of many parts that tell a coherent story together. She was also very honest in telling me that my age and my experience were not going to be attractive features of my application to a full-time program. However, she didn’t discourage me and recommended that I should either apply to a full-time program that targets mid-careers (there are only three in the world by the way) or an executive program. After contemplating for some time, I decided to apply for MIT Sloan Fellows Program. I knew that a novice to admissions process like me needed guidance to produce a good quality application. So, I contacted Helen again who referred me to Harshad Mali.
Me and Harshad had an introduction over email and he gave me a bunch of documents to go through. This initial phase primarily consisted of me going through a lot of material and thinking about my own personal story. Scant guidance at this stage was by design so that originality is forced out of me. However, after the first brainstorming session, Harshad grabbed the reins of the process and started guiding it in minute details. At one crunch moment when I had lost all hope of submitting a quality application before the deadline, it was Harshad who kept encouraging me and kept giving me the right feedback till I submitted my application right on time.
Harshad is no make-you-feel-good consultant when it comes to essay reviews. He is very direct in his feedback and he makes sure that he informs of this reviewing style in the initial introduction call. And frankly speaking, I wouldn’t have had it any other way. The first review of my essay came back with a scathing critique and red marks all over, making me instantly realize what was wrong with my approach. I promptly corrected myself and from then on, it was smooth sailing.
Another feature that made me feel warm was that Harshad was able to connect to my life story at a personal level. This enabled him to bring the best out of me and help me write essays that truly represented me. I felt like I completely owned everything I wrote as my personal authorship and Harshad was only guiding my efforts while he had a very good idea about what the final product would look like.
Whether requested or not, Harshad was always there whenever needed. It didn't matter whether it was day or night, weekday or weekend. We were working in completely opposite time zones. But Harshad made sure that this wasn't a hindrance in our communication.
The efforts paid off and I got invited for the interview. For a starter like me, this was a huge achievement and this wouldn't have been possible without Harshad's help. But of course, our finish line was the final acceptance. So Harshad prepared me for the interview as well. We had a mock interview one week before the actual one. Again, he was very honest in his feedback. It included coaching on things as important as how to tackle behavioral questions and things as trivial as how to keep a smiling face all the time.
I finally got admitted to MIT Sloan Fellows. This was something that I couldn't think was within my reach when I started thinking about applying to B-Schools. I can safely say that this was only made possible with Harshad's help. I strongly recommend him to any B-School aspirant. And if you are from South Asia, Harshad should be your top choice.

Read More

Signing up with MBAMission was very straightforward and I'm lucky I got paired with Harshad Mali. From our first 30 minute intro call, Harshad gave valuable insights to my overall profile. As an Indian Applicant, it is quite challenging to differentiate yourself from the applicant pool. I have a diverse background and in many different industries but Harshad understood my story right off the bat and really helped me come up with a coherent narrative that highlighted my strengths and uniqueness.

Harshad is no BS consultant and gives honest, straightforward feedback. I worked with him on polishing my resume and essays for five schools and preparing for interview at a top school. Harshad was always prompt and on-time with his reviews and there was never any delay. In fact, he often returned my essays on the same day even though MBAMission has a two day essay review policy. He often poked holes in my drafts but doing so helped me re-think what I wanted to say with more clarity and effect.

I also worked with him for interview preparation. Here too, he was direct and effective with his feedback and even took additional time out of his schedule to help me with my preparation. He was also available for Skype calls whenever I had additional questions for essays and interviews.

Working with Harshad has been very rewarding. Although we worked together quite professionally, I found him to be more like a close friend who kept my best interest his top priority. Like a close friend, Harshad often said what I needed to hear and not what I would have liked. I'm glad I trusted him with his feedback on my application.

I would recommend Harshad Mali to anyone who is serious about gaining admissions to top business schools.

Read More