Katy was my MBA consultant for the start-to-finish package. I applied in 2021 round 1 at HBS, Wharton, Columbia, Booth, and Berkeley Haas. I got admitted by HBS, Wharton, Columbia, and Berkeley Haas (waitlisted by Booth), with one school offering an almost full-ride scholarship. Given that I came from the most overrepresented population and did my undergrad outside the U.S., I'm really impressed by the glowing results. Katy was helpful in every step of the way - from strategic planning, to brainstorming my story, to fine-tuning the essays, all the way to the interview prep. She was my biggest supporter and cheerleader through the long application season. Could not have done this without her!

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A long time friend recommended me having an initial consultation with Katy Lewis. After just a 30 min video chat, I was amazed by how easily she was able to precisely analyze my strengths and weaknesses leading to round 1 applications. She was upfront with her opinions, but at the same time kind and thoughtful. After interviewing with more than 6 top advisors, I decided to start working with Katy. I came in with high, almost surreal aspirations. I always dreamt of attending Harvard or Stanford, but being a Latin American coming from a non-traditional background made me think I might be targeting too high.
After weeks of introspection and tailoring my story in a thoughtful and genuine manner, we decided to target 6 schools for my first round application: Stanford, Harvard, MIT, Wharton, LBS and Booth.
I ended up receiving interview invitations from ALL 6 schools. The guidelines and frameworks provided helped me deliver successfully and confidently in all 6 interviews. Trust me when I tell you that her direct and experienced approach towards framing your story is key to succeeding in both the essays and the interview process. I could continue praising Katy’s kindness, thoughtfulness and experienced voice all day, but results speak for themselves. I received an offer to each school I applied to, and ended up deciding between Harvard and Stanford. I will finally be joining Stanford GSB’s class of 2024 next term, and I seriously wouldn’t be in the position I’m currently in if it weren’t for Katy!! 1000% recommended if you are serious about getting to a top MBA program!

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Katy is an incredibly thoughtful and patient thought partner on what can be a painful and long MBA application journey. Her years of experience really shine through in her deep understanding of what top schools like Harvard, Stanford and Wharton are looking for and the ability to marry that with each individual's strengths, versatility and unique experiences. She helped me craft a meaningful and personalised story, weaving my passion for social impact with my experience in consulting in South-East Asia. Given the tight timeline to Round 1 applications, she went the extra mile and conducted weekly catch-ups to brainstorm new builds and provide answers to my long list of questions. Without her support and guidance, I wouldn't have made it to Wharton!

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Katy was an absolute pleasure to work with throughout the MBA applications process. She has a structured approach to ensure applicants stay on pace, she is a wealth of knowledge about each individual school, and she is a fantastic listener--working to bring forth wonderful stories to tell in the application process that truly represented me well and enabled me to tell my story in the limited space available to any applicant. I couldn't have been happier with my choice to work with Katy and am so glad I got to be one of her clients and can count her among my friends going forward! You'll have zero regrets in working with Katy and mbaMission!

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When looking into consultants almost a year before starting my application, I knew I wanted to work with Katy based on her stellar reviews. Fast forward to the end of my application season, and I am so happy to have had her on my side throughout the process.

I had high hopes for the advice she could provide about the process given her background in admissions and her time as an MBA consultant. She blew these expectations away with her ability to draw on her experiences and reference past anecdotes of other clients or applications that she read. I had complete faith in her and it was such a relief to not overthink things in an already stressful process!

What left an even greater impression was how much fun I truly had working with Katy. I very much looked forward to our conversations and am now even missing them as my process has wrapped up! As other reviewers have mentioned, in a short time Katy got to know me as well as my closest friends, and she was really able to dissect my “story" and hone in on what motivates me and what my passions are. This goes beyond my applications and has given me a clearer sense of where I want my career to go.

I applied to a handful of top schools with Katy, and am now narrowed down to deciding between a Wharton acceptance and a Stanford waitlist (in addition to some other admits). Katy was instrumental to my success and I couldn’t be happier with the outcome.

Don’t think twice about working with her!

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Going into this year-long journey of applying to business school, I knew no matter what happened I didn't want to have any regrets So I looked for the best possible MBA coach in the industry and after speaking to 10+ different services it was clear that it was Katy Lewis. Not only her was her depth of experience and master storytelling invaluable, but her empathy of the emotional rollercoaster of the MBA application process. She was always accessible, encouraging, and grounded, which help me stay focused in times of extreme anxiety and doubt. I couldn't have imagined going through this process without her, and it was through her support that I was able to confidently get into my dream school!

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Katharine Lewis was an excellent consultant and mentor from the beginning to the end of my JD/MBA application process. I applied to the top JD/MBA programs in the United States, and so far I have acceptances to the joint JD/MBA program at Wharton/Penn Law and the joint program at Chicago Booth/UChicago Law. I was also accepted to Harvard Law School. While my work with Katy focused on the MBA component of the application process, given her background as a JD/MBA, she also was able to offer advice and insights surrounding the JD application process, as well as connect me to top advisers who were more familiar with this latter process.

Overall, the key aspects of Katy's support were: the initial brainstorming, the essay review, interview preparation, and holistic confidence building. At the beginning of your work together, Katy will work with you to brainstorm and assess your professional and personal life to date and bring out the application narrative that is most cohesive and aligns best with who you are. While most of us will have a broad sense of what this narrative is, Katy will play a pivotal role in going through all of the details--her outsider's perspective is vital here, too--with a fine-toothed comb. This will permit you to flesh out and really provide much more color to your narrative than you otherwise would have.

Second, as you begin to write your essays, Katy will provide candid and valuable feedback so that your writing style and voice can really shine and stand out. She doesn't sugarcoat and is direct, which really worked for me, especially in the time-constrained context of the application process. Katy will provide top-down support on the essays, from thinking with you strategically about how certain stories and narratives should be presented, to reviewing more tactical facets of the writing process.

Perhaps one of the most impactful components of her support is Katy's work with you on the interview preparation. She's coached hundreds of applicants and been on the other side of the application process (as an admissions officer for Stanford GSB), so she clearly knows exactly what the admissions or alumni interviewers are looking for. We worked on preparing many different stories from my professional and personal background that I could bring to the interview, and that I could adapt to different questions. This way, I wasn't memorizing any script and running the risk of sounding unnatural, but I was ready and confident to share different scenarios from my experience with a beginning, middle, end, and reflection at a moment's notice.

Finally, a more intangible, but nonetheless invaluable, component of Katy's help is the confidence and wisdom she instills in you throughout the MBA application process. By working with her, you know you aren't going into this process blind--she instills in you an overarching understanding of what admissions is looking for, and by helping you to look at things from her vantage point, you are also granted a sense of wisdom and serenity that comes from having done this many times over (even though you are hopefully doing this for the first and last time!).

If you are able to get Katy as your consultant (she is in high demand!), go for it. You will not regret it. She will help you crush your MBA and JD/MBA applications!

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Working with Katy, it quickly became obvious why she is consistently ranked as one of the best MBA admissions consultants out there. As a typical banking/private equity applicant, one of my main concerns was figuring out what makes my path unique. After just a few hours of chatting, Katy was able to identify the key messages from my story that made it stand it and skillfully tied it up in a bow with a powerful theme that resonated with me – It’s like she knew me better than I knew myself. Working with someone that takes the time to get to know you beyond the resume is critical. Katy is that person.

I couldn’t be happier with the results. I applied to Harvard , Stanford, and Wharton, and got into my top two choices, Harvard and Wharton.

If you have the chance to work with Katy, don’t second guess it.

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I was an international applicant coming from boutique institutions and a public Ivy. I applied to 4 schools with Katharine and she helped me craft really impactful essays and stories for my applications that helped amplify the impact I drove at those lesser-known institutions. Her knowledge of the different interview nuances and the points to highlight for each of the different essays drastically reduced the amount of guessing I had to do and made the process less stressful and much faster. I ended up being admitted to 2 top 5 b-schools in Booth and Wharton with some scholarship money. I attribute that in large part to the help I got from Katy! I couldn't recommend her more.

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I worked with Katy Lewis for my MBA applications, and I couldn’t have been happier with my decision. I met with many different consultants during my selection process. I decided to work with Katy for her expertise in some of the top schools I was interested in (Harvard and Stanford) and her direct/open communication style, which worked well with me.

I am from the Middle East, and my work history has been a little less traditional than consulting/banking/PE. However, I felt like Katy really understood my background and various nuances in my experiences and helped me better articulate my strengths, accomplishments, and goals without impacting my authenticity and voice.

On the process side, Katy is on top of her stuff. Expectations and ways of working are established early on. Expect to be very busy from April to September if you are going for round 1. My favorite part of working with Katy was her accessibility. Whenever I wanted to jump on a call, she was always available within 24 hours. Having her caring support and expertise on my side throughout this long and challenging process gave me a piece of mind.

Katy and I decided to work on three schools together (Harvard, Stanford, and Wharton); however, she voluntarily shared her wisdom and support for the other two schools I applied to (Booth and Sloan). With Katy’s help, I received interview invitations from all five schools and got into Harvard (my top choice), Sloan (with $$), and Booth, and I am waitlisted at Stanford.

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