I decided to apply to business school a little later in life than (I believe) most people do. Having started to work full time early on, in the industry I have always been passionate about, I had never heard of MBA programs until I decided to make a career change. The chance of potentially studying in a top business program was a tangible path moving forward and I decided to dive in. As an international applicant with a non-traditional background, I realized I needed support along the application process if I wanted to improve my chances of success - that is when I crossed paths with mbaMission and Julie-Anne.

From the very start, Julie-Anne shared plenty of useful insights in terms of establishing a reasonable and efficient timeline for getting things ready to submit applications. As we started working on my resume, she was able to articulate feedbacks in a candid and effective way, ensuring there was always improvement after each interaction between the two of us. However, she helped me the MOST (yes, it was a lot of help) with my essays. After going through a couple of brainstorming sessions, she was able to identify specific situations and examples to be used in my essays which I would have never been able to identify by myself. After pointing me out in the right direction, she supported me with actionable feedback in every draft along the way, helping me hone each essay based on the specific prompts of each school. After the essays were ready, we worked together on short answers, and the other parts of the application process.

In my opinion, Julie-Anne’s support was instrumental to my success during application season. I applied to 6 of the M7 schools in R1, and have just accepted an offer from one of them.

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Julie-Anne was incredibly helpful from start to finish and I could not be more grateful to have had her help through my application process. I was admitted to my top choice school HBS with her help.

What I'm most grateful for is her no B/S type of attitude. I naturally struggle with writing, so I needed her to tell me straight up when my essay was headed in the wrong direction or came off differently than I intended it.
She was readily available throughout my application process, which was super helpful when I was in the deepest part of my writing process and needed to talk out my ideas with someone. She also gave me great tips for my interview process, which gave me the confidence to know I was fully prepared walking into my interview.

I would recommend her to anyone applying to business school.

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I worked with Julie-Anne on an hourly basis when I was applying to business school and was admitted to my #1 choice, Columbia Business School!

I came from financial services and decided I was ready to transition into consulting (with only ~4-5 months to prepare for the GMATs, application process, etc). Given my tight timeline, Julie was extremely helpful in refining my overall pitch/story and application essays (from initial brainstorming sessions to constructive written feedback to cutting down content to fit the final word limits).

She was also extremely helpful with reviewing my resume. I really appreciated her upfront thoughts on how we should allocate our time together. For example, she felt that my resume was in good shape and it would be more beneficial for her to spend time refining my essays (and she was right). That being said, she still provided fantastic feedback to my resume - in a time efficient manner.

Overall, I had a phenomenal experience with Julie-Anne. She even kept in contact with me after I was admitted and helped me with various ad-hoc questions (after my sessions were over), which shows how dedicated she is to her clients. Julie-Anne was invaluable during my application process and really helped me creatively think about ways to make my application shine. I couldn't have done it without her! THANK YOU JULIE-ANNE!

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I worked with Julie-Anne for the MBA program and was admitted to both Columbia and Wharton.

I come from a tech background and decided quite last minute (<1 month left) to apply to the MBA program. Given the tight schedule, I needed to work with someone who had prior experience getting clients into top schools, understood my needs and was able to provide quick feedback on areas of improvement.

Julie-Anne was very effective with her time with excellent reviews. Julie-Anne has worked on getting many students in different programs so she knew what are good areas to be highlighted in essays and characteristics of different schools. With essay reviews, she is really good at pushing you to think through what differentiates you and how you can highlight yourself.

Julie-Anne is also excellent at resume reviews. Throughout my career, I've had multiple people across work, friends and mentors take a look at my resume and Julie-Anne is exceptional at ensuring the key highlights across work, personal and education are communicated and making sure there are no wasted sections.

Overall, I had a phenomenal experience with Julie-Anne and would work with her again in a heartbeat. She is extremely dedicated to her clients, effective with her time and most importantly, provides catered reviews to highlight you as an accomplished individual amongst others in competitive school programs.

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Julie-Anne was incredibly supportive in helping me craft a compelling application for business schools. Having lived in multiple countries and worked across various industries, I was initially uncertain about which experiences to highlight and how to structure my application. Julie-Anne guided me through brainstorming and organizing my application package, offering insights on which experiences to emphasize and suggesting ways to enhance my profile, such as taking additional coursework. She diligently provided detailed answers to all my questions, even consulting her colleagues on topics she was less familiar with. Her feedback was prompt and thoroughly detailed, offering specific improvements and suggestions.

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Working hourly with Julie-Anne starting at the back half of my MBA admissions process provided me with valuable direction and feedback in order to mold my resume, essays and short answers to the MBA Admission audience. While I had a lot of great content in first drafts, Julie-Anne assisted with streamlining and structuring the materials to emphasize and showcase what MBA Admissions personnel is looking for while cutting out unnecessary clutter. Once I received an interview invitation, Julie-Anne conducted a mock interview with me which provided me with key considerations to keep in mind and helped prepare me for my actual in person interview. Thanks Julie-Anne!

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I am a private equity associate in NYC. Julie-Anne’s strength is getting the best product out of her pupils. She really encourages introspection and doesn’t let you stop short of your best work. She is very responsive and will take time at a moment’s notice to respond to a call or address a minor question. For these reasons, she is certainly in the top 1% of consultants. She has worked with me as well as a number of prior applicants from my firm and we’ve all gotten into great programs.

In my particular case, we needed to find a way to balance the struggles I’ve faced with not sounding too negative. We needed to find a way to position things positively and tie in evidence from different parts of my life that supports the thesis that I’m learning and growing. Julie-Anne worked tirelessly with me to really understand my story and prioritize what data points best convey who I am.

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I had the pleasure of working with Julie-Anne as my MBA admissions consultant, and I can confidently say that her guidance and expertise were instrumental in shaping my successful application journey. As someone deeply entrenched in the world of Private Equity, with a GMAT score hovering around the M7 median, I knew that standing out was crucial in the fiercely competitive landscape.

Julie-Anne's keen insight into the nuances of MBA admissions was evident from the start. With her expert guidance, I was able to strategically accentuate the most captivating facets of my application, which not only complemented my scores but also highlighted my unique qualities. Her adeptness during the brainstorming phase was a game-changer. She skillfully prodded me to delve deeper into my experiences, bringing out the more inventive and creative aspects of my essays.

One standout area was Julie-Anne's adept assistance in shaping my "Why MBA" essays. Crafting a compelling narrative about my career roadmap was a challenge I initially faced. Julie-Anne's thoughtful guidance and astute feedback helped me paint a vivid picture of my aspirations, tying them seamlessly to the MBA program's offerings.

Without Julie-Anne's meticulous support, I am certain I wouldn't have achieved such a remarkable outcome. Her ability to dissect my experiences and weave them into a captivating story for the admissions committee was unparalleled. Thanks to her, I secured a spot at my dream business school.

In a sea of MBA admissions consultants, Julie-Anne truly stands out. Her strategic insights, creative essay coaching, and dedication to her clients' success are a testament to her exceptional skills. For anyone seeking not just an admissions consultant, but a genuine partner in their MBA application journey, Julie-Anne comes highly recommended.

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As I learn more and more about the applicant pool of top MBA programs, I realize how many weak points I had in my application. No test score and a below average GPA are two data points that come to mind. Further, I started the whole process around Thanksgiving (with only about a month and a half until Round 2 deadlines), so to say I felt the odds were stacked against me is putting it lightly. My cousin (a 2nd year at UNC Kenan Flagler) had hired Julie-Anne Heafey from mbaMission and strongly recommended I do the same.

From our first conversation, I could tell Julie-Anne was passionate about her work and truly cared about her clients’ aspirations/success. Also impressive was her strong professional background and depth of experience with MBA application processes. In my UVA Darden application, she was instrumental in helping me strengthen the weak areas of my application while finding ways to emphasize and highlight the strong areas. She challenged me to dig deep to generate essay ideas through our Brainstorming session (an area I was totally lost in). Once we agreed on essay topics, Julie-Anne’s critiquing of several drafts was critical in forcing me to think deeply about the messages I wanted to convey. I believe my powerful essays were the strong points of my application, and a lot of that credit is owed to Julie-Anne. Additionally, Julie-Anne pointed out areas of the application that I would have totally overlooked (short answer questions & why Charlottesville). Although these are brief parts of the application, the admissions committee looks closely at them. Lastly, she helped me re-construct my Resume, something I would have never thought important without her valuable advice.

I will be attending Darden this fall and truly believe I wouldn’t be here without the help of Julie -Anne. I would highly recommend anyone applying to MBA programs to hire her!

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I am an Indian male with a management consulting background. I have limited extra curriculars. My biggest challenge was standing out among the extremely competitive Indian consulting cohort.

1) Julie-Anne is super clear and frank. She encouraged me to apply to a mix of dream, reach & target schools given the competitiveness of cohort. This turned out to be a solid bet as I got 2 amazing admits & 2 waitlists out of 9 applied schools!

2) Julie-Anne brainstormed with me to understand my entire life journey and interests. She understood me as a person which helped bring out stories from my backpacking experiences, specific assignment as a consultant, my passion for music that truly brought out me and helped me stand out in my application

3) She was extremely invested throughout the process. She created resources for resume creation, form filling, interview prep, attending events, networking in schools etc. that made the whole process simple. Her nudges on networking in schools ensured I was well bonded and had a nuanced understanding of how the schools fits with my journey and vica versa. This along with her amazing interview prep guide + mock interview ensured I had amazingly smooth interviews (despite getting a hostile interviewer in some cases). Even on resume, her nudges made my resume stand out (an ad com at a school I got admitted to highlighted how my profile stood out due to that and full credit to Julie-Anne for it).

4) Julie-Anne is not just a consultant, she is available even when you're panicking or worried. E.g. In my 4th/5th application I was starting to lose hope and steam. This started to reflect in my output. She had an honest chat with me about how I was feeling. This nudged me to keep pushing and write authentic + specific stories for all!

5) She has a high bar on each doc. On some schools, she continued to push even though through several iterations to get a clear goal story, why the school, specific experiences/reflections from me. I credit both my admits to this, my applications wouldn't have been half as good without her push!

6) She has amazing clarity on the culture, approach, things to look out for in each schools. This combined with how well she understands your story results in amazing brainstorming sessions where you know what you should speak about in the application!

I would urge you to work with her with your eyes closed. By far the best admissions consultant you can work with!

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