I'm a Guatemalan who majored in philosophy. Professionally, I was trained in innovation management consulting and entrepreneurship, ending up in as dean of a liberal arts college at a Guatemalan university that functions much like a startup, since the college is radically innovating on how higher education works.
When I began exploring options to further my career, an MBA was perhaps not on the top of my list. After having a go at my first startup, I was still interested in entrepreneurship and starting my own company. After talking to friends and colleagues, I decided to pursue an MBA.
Soon after beginning the process, I realized that it was a bit overwhelming and that getting a helping hand would greatly improve my chances of getting accepted at a school I was interested. That's when I contacted mbaMission and Kate Richardson became my guide.
Throughout the process, Kate relentlessly pushed me to perfect my pitch to the schools I applied. We worked on my resume, essays and short answers many times. Kate helped me stay motivated and gently push me in the right direction. Without her feedback, I would not have been able to tell my story in such a compelling manner which even landed me a scholarship!
Working with mbaMission, and especially Kate Richardson, was a great decision. The turnaround times for the work I submitted were great: when I submitted an essay for review, Kate would have it in a day or two. I would get great all-around feedback, since Kate would know all the schools I was applying to, the story I was trying to tell and give my guidance on how to tell that story in the most compelling manner.
I am immensely thankful to Kate and the mbaMission team!

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I couldn't thank Kate enough for her help and support throughout the admissions process. Last summer, after speaking with a number of admissions consulting services, I decided to set up an initial 30-min call with Kate from mbaMission. On that call, Kate analyzed my profile and discussed her thoughts on my application strategy. She wanted me to put my best foot forward and be confident (and not too stressed). For the next six months, we have spent countless hours on essays, short answers, interview preps etc., and Kate has been instrumental to all that. She has been extremely supportive and always reminded me of any important deadlines or deliverables. I'd highly recommend Kate for your admissions process.

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Like many others, I went through the process of doing the initial 30 minute consults with many other admissions consultant firms. Right away I could tell there was something different about Kate. She didn't focus just on the raw scores but on the compelling story we could tell based on my background.

Throughout the 4 months I worked with her the process could not be smoother; timelines were established, there was constant follow-up and communication. She was also honest about feedback and made sure the essays were genuine.

With her help I made it into some of my choice schools! I would highly recommend her to anyone.

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I absolutely loved working with Kate, and could not recommend her more!!

I purchased 5 ad-hoc hours to start for 5 schools, intending to use them primarily for essay review. I ended up purchasing 5 more hours later in the process for more essay review / interview prep. Even though I had a good idea of my "story", we started out with brainstorming, which was actually very helpful. Kate pushed me to think of strong, personal examples and worked with me to bring them through in my essays. When editing my essays, Kate gave very tactical recommendations for what elements were essential/nice to have/missing, which I really appreciated. Kate was extremely helpful during interview prep, and she definitely asked the hard questions, which prepared me well. I got interviews for 3 schools and did a mock practice with her for each one of them.

Kate always provided quick and thorough responses to my emails, which I really appreciated during the stressful application period. Moreover, she would always get edits back to me as scheduled or even earlier.

At the end of it all, I'll be going to Wharton, which was my first choice, and couldn't have done it without Kate's help. I would highly recommend Kate for those applying from any industry or function!

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I purchase the a la carte hourly services through mbaMission, and worked exclusively with Kate. I utilized my time with Kate primarily for refining my application essays’ narrative structure, grammar, and highlighted stories. I also used an hour of time for a mock interview via webcam. Kate was amazing to work with and was a huge reason for my success during Round 1 last year.

I strongly believe that Kate's advice and suggested edits to my application essays were incredibly beneficial, as some of my initial wording was repetitive, and I sometimes had individual sentences that didn't fit the overall theme of my essay. She was very honest in her feedback and wasn’t afraid to let me know when certain aspects of an essay just didn’t work. She also had a great deal of knowledge of each school I was applying to (six in total!). This info made my "why MBA" (aka how will our school help you with your post-MBA) story incredibly detailed and more importantly, personalized, for each school I applied to.

Kate was incredibly responsive to the many emails I sent to her for advice, and her suggested edits to application essays I sent her were always returned on time in regards to mbaMission’s standard turnaround time on essay feedback/edits. As I was applying to so many programs in Round 1, it was a necessity to work with someone who was professional and able to get back suggested edits to me as quickly as possible. Kate was all that, but also incredibly friendly and had a good sense of humor.

I also used one hour of my purchased time to conduct a mock interview with Kate (for CBS). We conducted the interview via webcam, ran down a handful of common CBS interview questions, and then discussed the interview and points of improvement. Kate was able to identify a few points of improvement and my actual interview ended up being quite similar to our mock interview.

Ultimately, I received interviews for all six of the schools I applied to, and received offers from three schools (with merit based aid from two of them!). I withdrew my applications from the other three, but I’m confident I would have received offers from all of them.

Overall, I thought Kate was vital to my success in Round 1, and I’m glad I decided to work with her all throughout the application process. I was so satisfied with her advice, that I purchased additional hours twice! For any applicants applying in Round 3 this year, or applying the next admissions cycle, I cannot recommend Kate and mbaMission enough!

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I started evaluating MBA Admissions Consultants right after I took the GMAT and had gotten a score I was happy with. I did free intro calls with consultants at several different companies. During that first call with Kate, it was clear she was genuinely trying to get to know my background and my aspirations, rather than pitch the service, which I really appreciated. She spoke with me much longer, and in much more detail than any of the other consultants at other companies I spoke with, so she and MBAmission was the clear choice. I worked on full packages for two schools with her (everything other than GMAT prep). We started with lengthy conversations about which schools to choose based on my interests, and realistic prospects of acceptance. Kate was very upfront about my strengths and weaknesses, and how these could be viewed by different schools. Then, knowing the challenges full well, I decided I only wanted to apply to two Top 20 stretch schools. Kate assured me she would do everything possible to set me up for success, and indeed she did. She was incredibly helpful with essays and application short answer questions, helping to identify my best personal stories to use, and how best to present them. Over multiple months, we had many phone and UberConference talking over drafts, and Kate was extremely flexible in working around my schedule. When the dates came to submit, I felt confident I had done everything I could to put together my best applications possible. Then as I waited, Kate continued to strategize with me about what could be done should different outcomes occur. This frequent communication alleviated much of my stress, as it was great to know Kate had plans of how to assist further, regardless of the outcome. When the interview offer for my preferred school did come, Kate was among the first people I told. We immediately jumped into interview prep, and Kate's wealth of interview resources and experience were invaluable. When the interview day came, I again felt I was as prepared as I could be, and went in confidently and (relatively) stress-free. Afterwards, once again Kate and I discussed ideas for how to set my thinking going forward. But at that point it wasn’t necessary, as just a couple weeks after interviewing I received my offer of admission to my top choice school! Thanks for all the help Kate!

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I was recently admitted to HBS, Wharton, Tuck and Kellogg and this would not have been possible without Kate's guidance.

I worked with Kate early on to identify key themes for my essays and to craft my responses in ways that were clear, powerful and tailored to characteristics and themes relevant to each MBA program.

Kate's insights were supportive, directive and timely. Iterating on my essays with Kate allowed me to hone my written responses and in doing so, helped me narrate my story for interviews as well. mbaMission's school specific and interview prep materials were also incredibly helpful in my process and continue to be as I transition from MBA applicant to MBA student.

During a very stressful / time intensive process, I always felt better knowing Kate was "on my side" and felt comfortable reaching out with any question, big or small.

I would recommend Kate's services to any MBA candidates, at any step in their process!

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If you're looking for a quick takeaway: Kate is amazing and you should feel absolutely confident in putting your MBA fate in her hands.

Kate was recommended to me by a colleague who had worked with her (and gotten into his first choice) last year. As my colleague had suggested, Kate was extremely helpful in vetting out good and bad ideas, providing concrete feedback without disrupting my voice in essays, and offering sound advice on all other questions or concerns I had from start to finish (and I had MANY). She gave me very detailed answers to all my 1AM emails regarding my strategy, school specific questions, financial aid, interview prep, etc. I can go on, but bottom line is having someone like Kate, who is so knowledgeable about the process really helps alleviate the stress, and it also doesn't hurt that she's super pleasant to work with. Plus, she got me into my first choice school as well, so that's 2/2 from my firm!

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I signed up for the Complete Start-to-Finish package with mbaMission and Kate Richardson was my assigned consultant. Kate supported me in applying to two schools (both Top 20) and I was thrilled to have received an offer from one of them! Kate is a very passionate and caring consultant. She guided me through the admission process and was very responsive - which helped take a lot of pressure off the process. It all started with a brainstorming sheet, which enabled Kate to understand my background and my career aspirations. She was very thoughtful and always gave me advice based on the points I wrote in the brainstorming sheet, which greatly helped me in crafting my unique "why MBA" story. I would definitely recommend Kate to anyone applying to a top MBA program!

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I worked with Kate Richardson from mbaMission for my applications. I knew a lot of people who graduated from different MBA schools, felt that I needed a person who is in the know, day to day, and could alleviate some of the stress.

I don't want to say MBA application process wasn't stressful but mbaMission team and Kate made it as easy going as possible, almost enjoyable.

My process was slightly unconventional, I had left my full time job and have been working on my own consulting gig. Kate helped me position that best for all the applications.

When it came to answering questions, Kate was extremely responsive, and thoughtful. She responded to my emails in a few hours at most, and most of the time followed up with more research afterwards.

I also had a long waitlist period, during which Kate cheered for me, always provided me with tips on how to move forward. She would keep me up to date, tell me what she have heard from other schools / places.

And on a personal note, I felt comfortable with Kate; she was very personable, clearly enjoyed the coaching process, and took time to connect on a personal level.

In the end, I got into one of my dream schools and Kate helped me a lot during that too. I can't recommend working with her enough.

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