I worked with Jessica for the R1 Class of 2020 application cycle. She helped me immensely, particularly with my career essay - how to make it not feel contrived, how to showcase my background as a "nontraditional" applicant. There were lots of things I wouldn't know to do that I ended up doing because of Jessica's guidance. More than this, Jessica always made me feel that my unique voice could be heard while also fitting into the "box" of what these essays could and should look like. Her editing was extremely helpful, particularly around shortening essays as necessary. Having her as a reliable and trustworthy partner in the essay writing process made me cognizant of time management leading up to deadlines. Jessica came to me through a referral from a previous client and I would absolutely recommend her to any of my friends applying.

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As non-traditional student with very few personal MBA connections, the application process seemed incredibly daunting. After being recommended Jessica by another non-traditional applicant who received admission at Wharton, I was undoubtedly impressed by what she brought to the application process. Not only was I accepted to the school of my (and my wife's) dreams, Jessica brought a layer to the application process I would have never discovered on my own. The sheer magnitude of self-discovery, through her method of consulting, not only helped me evaluate what I wanted from a school and how to write my applications accordingly, but what I want to accomplish both during and post-MBA. Her insights not only helped me receive admission, but helped me draw a better picture of how I want to market myself in my job hunt. I would strongly recommend Jessica to anyone wanting to apply to a top MBA, especially non-traditional candidates.

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I did a tremendous amount of research and spoke with over a dozen consultants before I was very luckily referred to Jessica. After our first conversation, I knew she was the consultant I wanted to partner with. Jessica genuinely supported my goals to apply to the top MBA programs and was dedicated during the entire process.

Jessica is efficient and effective – she provided an agenda at the beginning of our talks, and we discussed and tackled those items during each session, spending additional time at the end for my specific questions. The resume support was tremendous. We went through six or seven iterations, and the final product was a complete transformation from the first draft in format, language, and theme. As a military veteran, I really struggled talking and writing about myself. Thankfully, I had Jessica to discuss my stories with and bounce ideas off of. After each of our brainstorming sessions, she helped me to identify the most defining, powerful, and compelling stories from my background, and we strategized how to approach questions for each school. As I worked through essays, Jessica provided honest, specific feedback and very fast turnarounds. Not only was she the mentor and coach that I needed, she is also an excellent teacher, and I learned to become a much better communicator through this entire process.

I applied to GSB, HBS, Wharton, Kellogg, Haas, and CBS. I received interview offers at five of the schools, was accepted to four, and waitlisted at one. There is no way I would have accomplished my dreams without Jessica.

On a closing note, going into the application process, as an older candidate with a low GPA, I felt my goals were lofty and my chances, realistically, were slim. However, I didn’t want to leave anything on the table. Regardless of the outcome, I knew that this investment was going to be worth every penny. It has proved to be so much more than I would have ever thought. Not only did the start-to-finish packages and mock interviews prepare me for the business school application and interview process, it has also prepared me for pre-MBA summer program and internship applications. All the tools that I learned to use when writing my essays and preparing for interviews have been invaluable even after acceptance to business school.

Make the investment to work with Jessica. It is hands down the most helpful thing you can do to prepare for business school applications AND beyond.

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One of the best decisions I made in the application process was getting a consultant, and Jessica is by far the best and most knowledgeable consultant I spoke to. Starting off the MBA process and being a non-traditional candidate, I was unsure on how to sell myself to top MBA programs; however, Jessica guided me through the application process and gave me the confidence to excel. Ultimately, I was accepted into my dream school, which I highly contribute to Jessica’s thoughtfulness and patience throughout the process.

A few reasons I think Jessica is the best in the industry:
--She gives honest feedback, and pushes you to stay on-track. I really appreciated this quality, especially when writing each of my business school essays.
--She has a gift for story-telling. During each call and essay edit, Jessica helped me extract and build upon the most important ideas of each story, which was very helpful. When writing about ourselves, we often think every aspect of our story is vital to write down; however, Jessica is a master at helping you condense but still answer the essay questions thoughtfully.
--She is very timely, and turns around work quickly. I was so impressed with Jessica’s ability to turn very high-quality work around fast.

Jessica is amazing, and I highly recommend her to anyone applying to business school.

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Jess was wonderful to work with! I had the pleasure of working with her for two years, and throughout the entire process, Jess was incredibly supportive, knowledgeable and thorough.

Jess really worked with me to identify key differentiating points of my skills and experience and then clearly communicate my story in the admissions essays and interview. She is a fantastic writer and helped me articulate ideas in a very succinct way.

I ended up getting into my dream school and I thank Jess over and over for all of her insight and hard work to help me achieve my goals! I would definitely recommend Jess for your MBA application experience! Simply the best!

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Jessica had rave reviews from my former manager (“simply the best”), and I used her for Round 1 of the 2016-2017 cycle with 2/2 admissions at HBS and Wharton.

Both a business executive and perceptive storyteller, Jessica is unique. She outperformed at every step, packing our time with prompt, actionable feedback delivered with off-the-charts energy and humor.

In our first conversation, she quickly synthesized my profile (strengths and specifics to improve – e.g. trying the GRE) and cited information on schools I hadn’t unearthed in hours of research and calls. During our sessions, Jessica took time to understand the influences that have shaped me, and my future goals. She then drew out my most compelling accomplishments and experiences, weaving them into a memorable yet strategic narrative that stood out to my target schools.

In particular, she is an exceptional writer. She is skilled at understanding the point you are trying to communicate and crafting a succinct, accessible way to get it across. She helped me tell a very context-specific story in a way that was clear and persuasive to any reader, which I believe got me into my top school.

I worked with Jessica on my brainstorming, essay (editing again and again until every word had weight), and career goals. She also demystified the process by providing honest answers on what schools expected and how I matched up (How to use the short answers, or present a low GPA?).

My engagement with Jessica gave me the edge I needed to get into my dream school, and clarity and focus going forward. Work with Jessica – you will not regret it!!

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If you are considering a top school I highly recommend that you sign up for Jessica Shklar’s free 30-minute consultation and you’ll quickly understand why I decided to hire her on the spot for the complete start to finish package. She is exactly what you need her to be when you need it – a strong critic when your work/writing isn’t your best (trust me she’ll know), a strategist providing advice on how to create rapport with admissions officers (a key differentiator for candidates when you’re applying to M7 or T10 schools), and a mock interviewer prepping you for yours at the top school you apply to. She won’t do the job for you, but will give you the guidance, suggestions, hand-on work, and be a sounding board so that you may succeed throughout every step of the MBA application process. I was not a perfect applicant but Jessica helped me maximize my strengths and address my weaknesses and the results exceeded my wildest expectations landing a spot at a top school! Simply put, she’s a true partner in your corner helping you out!

After a year and a half of working with Jessica, I am more focused in how I approach everything and a much better writer than before, both of which have me better prepared for B-school this fall at my dream school. Thank you Jessica!!!

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I have no doubt that I am attending a Top 15 school because of my work with Jessica. I did a ton of research on both consultants and companies: mbaMission in general and Jessica in particular was undoubtedly the best decision I made in the application process. Seriously: her slots will fill up quickly; lock her in as soon as you can!

I did a few 30 minute consultations, and just minutes into my talk with Jessica, I was sold. As a non-traditional candidate, other consultants did not fill me with confidence; Jessica made me feel like my story and candidacy had value – and that it was precisely what made me non-traditional that would get me into a target school. And then she helped make it happen.

She has a tremendous gift for drilling down the parts of your story that are both most compelling and that will help you the most with adcoms. The first brainstorming session - and the 20 page document she had me submit beforehand – helped me shine a spotlight on what points I want to focus on and develop a cohesive narrative of my work and personal history. To say that she’s gifted at this is not hyperbole – she truly possesses an unbelievable talent at teasing out the most impressive parts of yourself while crafting an engaging narrative.

She has so much insight into the adcoms for top schools and the best and varied ways to approach each individual app – this is info that no amount of googling will help you get and gives you the edge you need to make your app stand out.

Every step of the way, she goes above and beyond. She makes you feel like she’s genuinely interested in your success and that the relationship is so much more than transactional. When I didn’t think it possible to shorten my essays any more while preserving meaning, she did so again and again; she was a miracle worker. When I got an interview invite for a school I didn’t even work on with her, she sent me a list of common questions and was available for help. When I had an unfortunate debacle with my transcript, she polled her fellow mbaMission consultants and went out of her way to help me come up with a plan that ultimately landed me where I am today. She’s brilliant, fierce, feisty, thoughtful, knowledgeable, and compassionate – all characteristics that make her a joy to work with.

I could go on and on about her virtues and value, but trust me when I tell you this: she is the best of the best.

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Jessica was very patient and very knowledgeable about the application process and the programs. Throughout the process, she always made herself available and strictly adhered to the 24-hour response rule. She even provided an expedited feedback right before round I deadlines that helped me get the application in on time. I purchased a complete three-school consultation package with Jessica and added on two more – all in round one. Overall, I’m very happy with the result – I got into four top 15 schools with partial scholarships from two. I suggest putting down your deposit with Jessica as soon as you can because her time tends to get booked up really early in the process.
The biggest value add I got from Jessica was on the essay and the resume.
We did 7 rounds of resume editing and the final version was nothing like the first draft. I knew that I needed to make my resume more “results oriented” but honestly I didn’t know how. Jessica helped me in a way that she played the role of an admission officer, asking the right questions and kept pushing me if my answer wasn’t “results oriented” enough. She also helped me discovered a lot of bullet points that I didn’t think were important but from the eyes of an admission officer, they were.
We worked on a ton of essays – at least two for each school, 5-7 drafts for each essay. We started with a brainstorming call that collected all the stories that we were going to use for the essay then we put them together to make the initial draft – she made it fun, kind of putting together a puzzle. Jessica was really good at cutting down on words to without losing the original meaning of the sentence. This is super important because anyone who’s been through the process would tell you that word counts and space are you biggest enemies Pretty much every essay I gave her was 1.5 times of the word limit, and she cut them down to below limit in a concise way with ease. Moreover, Jessica knows how to tell a story in a very interesting and eye-catching way that attracts the readers, kind of like how a good journal reporter writes interesting stories. Again, not every admission consultant can do these things.
Mock interviews and the question lists that Jessica gave me were extremely helpful. I interviewed with 6 schools, and I’d say more than half of the questions were on the question lists. I also had a video essay which was nerve-wrecking but Jessica took extra time to help me prepare that so I was pretty ready by the time I got to it.
Last but not the least, through brainstorming sessions and interactions, Jessica really challenged me as an individual and got me to think about what I really want to do post-MBA and for the rest of my life, not simply for the purpose of the application. Through working with Jessica and from her candid feedback, I learned my strengths and weaknesses, my preferred working style and figured out where my passion lies. Luckily, I don’t have to go through the application process again but I’d do it again with Jessica because she made it fun and easy.

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When I set out to write my applications, my mind was a giant cloud. I had lots of ideas about why I wanted to pursue an MBA, but, as a career switcher, I didn't know much about the ins and outs of business school admissions process and what adcoms looked for. I wanted to be authentic but whenever I sat down to write, my ideas were all mixed together in a giant spaghetti ball of thought.

Jessica has a deep understanding of the application process and helped me to organize my ideas. With her direction, I was even able to understand more about myself and why I desired an MBA on the route to what I desire to accomplish. Not only was she extremely knowledgeable and affable, I felt that she genuinely appreciated my story and cared about my progress. Throughout her webinar and even the free consultation, I never felt I was being sold and received great insight from those offerings alone. That said, purchasing a couple hours to talk through my application was one of the best investments I made. Hands down, you need someone with experience with the application process and admissions to proof your entire app; I didn't know any such person, so Jessica's very professional assistance was invaluable.

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