I am an international student and I worked with Karen Hamou on an hourly basis for my R3 applications to an M7 school and a few Top 15 schools. I reached out to Fortuna because I had worked with a consultant from another company in R2 and I was disappointed with their service and my results. In contrast, Karen and Fortuna provided a very high quality of service and they were invested in my success.

In addition to helping me navigate the uncertainties associated with Covid-19 and produce high quality applications to my R3 schools, Karen also helped me strategize my waitlist approach for some of my R2 schools (i.e. test retakes, sending updates). Karen helped me structure my essays, coach my recommenders and prepare for my interviews. For my essays, she edited them repeatedly until the stories were strong and compelling. She was extremely efficient and provided high value for the money I spent on the hourly consulting services. Karen was always available whenever I needed her - turnaround time was less than 24 hours on most materials.

There are so many things to do when you are applying to over half a dozen schools and Karen helped me prioritize on the most important tasks so that I was always on top of things. As offers started rolling in, she gave me advice on how to handle them as I waited for my dream school to accept me.

Thanks to Karen's incredible support, I received an offer from Booth and I am excited that I get to attend such a fantastic school! I would not have been able achieve this without her and I enthusiastically recommend Karen and Fortuna admissions for all your MBA application needs!

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My experience with consultant admissions Karen Hamou was incredible. When I first contacted Fortuna Admissions, I was immediately drawn by the professional approach, but also motivation that all team members give you from the very beginning. I first had a coaching call with one of the Directors, who showed that he really believed in me and my strong potential.

Then he recommended me to Karen, and I quickly felt that we were on the same wavelength. She boosted my confidence level and adrenaline in no time, and really dug deep to understand thoroughly my story and key milestones that paved my career path. I would say that Karen was not only my savior and cheerleader during this stressful journey, but she also was such a wise friend to talk to who gave me a powerful advise every step of the way. From the very beginning, she asked me to fill out a long questionnaire with all the details of my life, both on a professional and personal level. Then she helped me craft my resume, and it struck me how fast and efficient she was in responding, with a turnaround time of 24-48 hours at most. Same thing goes for the drafting of the essays, we had many feedback sessions going back and forth in the edits, and she was always available and fully committed, responding in a record time with a high quality output. I learned so much from her, on how to be succinct and straight to the point, focusing on the essence of the story, without losing focus. She also encouraged me a lot by highlighting the strong value of my stories and uniqueness of my personal hobbies (being a filmmaker).

Karen worked with me very closely on the interview process as well, and I was quite impressed by her outstanding way of coaching me in a methodical way on all the scenarios, and we did some mock interviews as well. She was always there when I needed it the most, like a soldier, supporting carefully each step of the way.

Eventually, the result was fantastic: I got into my dream schools for my Executive MBA: Columbia / LBS Global EMBA program, and Chicago Booth. I would highly recommend working with Karen, this was life-changing and she definitely makes the whole experience a lot smoother and easier !

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I contacted a few companies when I started my MBA journey and almost all of them told me my dream schools were not a likely possibility. Fortuna was the only exception; they believed in me from the very start! Karen took the time to really understand me, my background, and my ideal career trajectory.

Since I obtained my ideal GMAT score in late November, she helped me streamline all 5 of my applications to M7 schools in only one month. She worked around the clock nonstop and was always available when I needed her. She ultimately became the mentor and cheerleader I needed during this frustrating process.

Out of 5 applications, I received 4 interviews. She worked with me prior to every single interview, helping me clearly tell my story and why I was a good fit for each school. As a result, I was admitted to three top programs. I am absolutely ecstatic with the results and I cannot recommend Karen enough!!

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I couldn't be more thankful for Karen's (and Judith's!) support throughout the entire MBA process. I knew I was in great hands at every step of the way - from the beginning steps of my application essays, through interviews, through crafting a waitlist strategy. I received effect and timely advice, and felt that Karen helped me tell my story and illustrate my potential better than I ever could by myself. Karen kept me organized, energized, and calm throughout the entire process, and I have already recommended her to multiple people. I wouldn't have been admitted to multiple M7 programs without you -- Thank you, Karen!

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Karen brings three key things to the table: 1. stellar organizational skills, 2. deep experience in crafting compelling stories, and 3. sustained and personable support (and trust me you will need a lot of it)

My background was not the easiest to work with: management consultant with an undergraduate degree in business and a below average GMAT. To add to this, I was also only looking at top schools. Over the course of several months, Karen challenged me again and again to go deeper in my stories to find the relevant examples that would bring my story to life. I received candid feedback in a timely manner and could always count on Karen's extremely fast turnaround time for essays.

Above all, I particularly enjoyed how involved Karen was. She believed in me, my story and the hard work we put in. I always knew that Karen had my back and when I received the first rejection letters, she made sure that I would remain motivated. She went above and beyond, even going outside her mandate to help me on additional essays to get scholarships.

I have nothing but great things to say about Karen and I trust that whoever hires her will get the same service as I got. As for me, I am going to Booth this fall and could not be happier.

PS: as for Fortuna, I liked the fact that there is a 2-step process, first with your consultant and then with a director!

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3 months to the application deadlines, i was very confused and I wasn't clear about how to go about my applications. I was introduced to Fortuna and i scheduled a 30 mins free consultation call with Fortuna and i was matched with Karen Hamou. After the call, i was convinced i had to go with Fortuna.
Working with Karen, especially was fantastic. She was interested in learning my motivations and story and as a result, she was able to help me structure my thoughts and appropriately convey them on paper.
Also, her turnaround time was fantastic, typically reviewing my material within a day, even during the festive period.
Within a space of 3 months, i was able to come up with my resume and application materials for 5 schools.
With a GRE score of 326, i applied to Booth, Yale, Fuqua, Darden and Vanderbilt and i got admitted to all the schools!

Even after i had exhausted my consultation time, Karen kept in touch with me, sending me useful links and materials and wishing me success for my interviews

A big thank you to Fortuna and Karen. It was very great working with her and i highly recommend working with Fortuna, whether you're in or outside the US.

P.S: I am from Africa.

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I interviewed multiple admissions companies and Fortuna stood out for their attention to detail, expansive view of the world, and succinctly getting to the heart of things.

I have seen these same qualities in my every interaction with Karen, starting from our first conversation. Karen has been my cheerleader and supporter through every step of the application process, getting me essay edits back in less than 48 hours, answering all my questions big and small, and helping me really refine the essence of my story and what I can bring to an MBA program. I really appreciated her flexibility in working around my schedule (we’re in very different time zones) and in helping me think strategically when I encountered challenges in my personal life during the application process. For most of us this process is a daunting one that is a test of stamina, willpower, and self-belief, but knowing Karen was on my side really helped me manage the stress and uncertainty.

I highly recommend Karen to anyone looking for a supportive, strategic, and empathetic consultant during the MBA admissions journey.

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After hearing about how other people applying to business school were using consultants, I knew I wanted to use one as well. When I first started looking at the different consulting companies, I had taken the GMAT once but cancelled my score because it wasn't in the range for the schools I wanted to attend (M7). After taking some time off from studying, I was getting back into studying but my score wasn't improving as much as it needed to and I wasn't sure when I'd hit the score I needed. Regardless, I reached out to a few companies and scheduled initial consult calls. The first company I reached out to didn't even want to talk to me because I hadn't retaken the GMAT yet and basically told me in so many words that I didn't go to Harvard undergrad and didn't work at Goldman Sachs or Blackstone so I had no chance at my top school choice. To say I felt demoralized is an understatement. I spoke with a few other consultants and while most were nicer, they pushed me to spin my post-business school goals in a way that felt disingenuous to the story I wanted to tell because it was what admissions wanted to hear.

When I talked to Judith and Karen at Fortuna, it was a completely difference experience. They were so understanding of my goals and how I wanted to convey them in my application and supported me in getting started on applications while also balancing studying for the GMAT. While I know many people navigate the process successfully without a consultant, I needed somebody who knew how to navigate it most efficiently that I could bounce ideas off of for multiple iterations at any time of day. Karen was amazing at helping bring the best content and presentation out of me while also helping me stay true to how I wanted to present it. Karen was a lifesaver during the application process. With her help and organization, I applied to my top 4 school choices in Round 1 and she helped me strategize for potential Round 2 applications that thanks to her help I didn't have to prepare. I was accepted in Round 1 and even offered a very generous scholarship and I really think her expertise at helping me prepare for the application / interview was key in these results.

My friend is also applying to business school this year and using a different consulting company. In talking about our experiences with our consultants, it's really night and day. Karen and everybody at Fortuna is so generous with their time and just proactively reaching out to wish you good luck with interviews / decision results and sets you up with everything you need for success. I would think that this is similar to the experience you'd have with other consultants, but my friend sadly hasn't had the same experience (but take this with a grain of salt, as it's just one data point).

All in all, I'm very happy with my experience. With Karen, I was able to tell the story I wanted tell and have a positive outcome. While Karen helped polish my story (and it needed alot of polishing), she didn't change its fundamentals. Her patience and care made me feel supported every step of the way. I think a good consultant is an unconditional cheerleader that's still realistic, and Karen was this for me.

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At the outset, I had very high expectations because of all the great reviews about Karen and Fortuna. My high expectations were not just met but were exceeded.

Karen didn’t just help with essays, but she made every single part of the process advance as seamlessly and smoothly as possible – taking a lot of stress away – and ultimately allowing me to put my best foot forward. All throughout my time working with Karen, she really did care about me and worked very hard reviewing and helping me craft my material. She did so in a very timely, professional and caring way.

Karen was not just my admissions consultant – instead, she was more like a sports coach – she sat in my corner and her insights, encouraging voice and detailed questions helped propel me to a level I would not have reached without her.

The quality of her advice, MBA-specific knowledge, and essay reviews/comments/edits are unparalleled. She is also an extremely strong wordsmith and I’ve learned many things about writing from her.

Summary of key aspects of Karen’s help:
1. Resume – through phone calls and many rounds of review, Karen helped me produce a resume that I was proud of. She dug deep into my choice of particular words/phrasing. By listening to my career experience, she helped me select the most impactful things to show. All throughout the rest of the process, Karen retained my key work experience information and often prompted me to inject a certain piece of work into a part of an essay where it was relevant. Often surprising me as to how good her memory of my work experience was.

2. Essays – helped me understand and articulate my story better. Through many rounds of detailed review and questioning, Karen helped me craft powerful and compelling texts about my career journey, and why MBA and this school.

3. Biodata forms – similar to the above, Karen helped me craft the best possible content into extremely tight forms

4. Interview prep – I was invited to 3 interviews and was admitted to all 3 schools. A big reason why was the live mock interviews (including Wharton’s TBD) that Karen conducted with me. She would finish each mock interview with a candid assessment of my performance on each question. When the real interview came around, I felt very well prepared

5. General prep for MBA fairs – Karen helped me plan/refine/practice my elevator pitch for meeting admissions staff at MBA fairs

6. Fee discussion with schools – post-admission Karen has continued to share her MBA-specific knowledge with me, to help me navigate the complexities of deciding which school to attend and financial aid

7. Backed by Fortuna – Karen is amazing, but she is also backed by a strong team. Secondary reviewers performed a final review of all materials.

Karen was far better than other consultants I’ve seen my friends and workmates rely on. Karen dug deep underneath the surface, remembered critical details about me, and really pushed me to produce great content.

I can 100% vouch for and recommend Karen.

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Well a little background on me. My GMAT is below average for all the M7 schools and I was considering retaking the exam, infact I had started preparing. Also, as an international from Africa, I felt I needed to do more since the acceptance hasn't been so good (at least with people that I know that applied). So overall I probably have the most average background you can think of, I even had a lot of loopholes in my undergrad transcript.
After Fortuna reached out to me and we scheduled a 30 minute call to discuss my career and life ambitions, I really felt they genuinely wanted to help and they even offered a discount to me (talk about putting your money where your mouth is).
What Karen helped me do was to present my story in the best possible way and connect the dots in my personal and professional life that made it possible to convince the adcom to want to interview me at the very least. At the end of the day, some parts of your application has to stand out if you have a lot of weaknesses and presenting yourself in the most polished way possible would go a long way.
Her reviews on every part of my applications were very thorough and she was always willing to assist in areas where I got stuck in addressing concerns over my application. Also, her turn around time was commendable and even though I had not met her, it felt like we were really working together throughout the application process. I honestly would recommend her to anyone who is interested in applying to Columbia.

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