Selecting a business school consultant is not an easy process. Several organizations tout their approaches' / consultants' merits, and in perusing different firms' marketing materials, it's often difficult to parse different organizations apart. At the beginning of my business school application journey, I availed of mbaMission and Stacy Blackman Consulting's free consultations. The general approach taken by mbaMission was markedly different from Stacy Blackman Consulting--instead of adopting an alarmist tone by identifying flaws in my resume and urging me to immediately solicit their services, mbaMission took stock of who I was and paired me with someone who they felt was best suited to helping me. That person was Liza Weale.

I cannot endorse Liza strongly enough. She epitomized excellent client service, by being courteous, convivial and genuinely invested in the success of my applications. I found her input and support especially helpful, across several dimensions:

1) Work style flexibility: Liza adapted her work style to suit mine. Instead of writing lengthy, tortuous cover notes, she quickly got to the point with her feedback, in line with my desired mode of engagement. Moreover, she was willing and able to "keep up" with my high tempo of work in June and July, often completing two iterations on materials in a single week.

2) A strategist, but also an operator: I was amazed by Liza's ability to act as a thought partner on every dimension of my application. In addition to ideating on the general structure of my essays (and often coming up with better ideas than I did), Liza was also able to advise me on reframing the expression of particular thoughts within paragraphs.
Incisive, but constructive: Liza pulled no punches with her feedback. Her willingness to sharing honest feedback with me was refreshing, and essential--looking back, some of my initial ideas and ways of portraying myself were clearly off the mark. Liza helped me course-correct on multiple occasions, and earned my enduring respect for the frankness of her feedback

3) In it with me, for the long haul: Liza was, and continues to be a major source of support for me. From helping me select schools to apply to through to advising me on potential funding options, Liza has been an infallible and crucial source of support

I unequivocally recommend Liza to anyone looking to apply to business schools. I couldn't have gotten into Wharton and Booth without her.

— Wharton and Booth Admit

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Liza was an incredible asset throughout the entire business school application process. Starting with our first brainstorming session, Liza took a genuine interest in getting to know me—my strengths, weaknesses, career goals and passions. In this way, she helped me craft essays that positioned myself in the most compelling way possible. Throughout the drafting process, Liza continually pushed me to think about the question differently, add more detail, or include a certain story in order to make my essays truly shine.

The mock interviews I had with Liza were also hugely helpful. She knows exactly what business schools are looking for in a candidate’s response. She was able to help me polish my answers and determine which stories to emphasize. I felt extremely confident and prepared walking into my interviews knowing I had practiced with Liza.

Additionally, Liza was always available to answer any random questions I had. This made me feel much more at ease as I navigated the application process. Her expertise was always very evident and assured me I was putting my best foot forward in all stages of the application.

Finally, Liza was also one of my biggest supporters throughout the process. Although applying to business school can be daunting, she laid out the steps I needed to take and provided encouragement every step of the way. Liza’s positivity and can-do spirit was so important to me when I felt overwhelmed or unsure. I am so thankful to have had Liza on my team, rooting for me to succeed.

I highly recommend Liza as a top-notch consultant who can provide the advice, support and insights necessary to be successful in the application process.

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I highly recommend working with Liza. She is incredibly friendly, helpful, supportive, and constructive. I only worked with Liza for interview prep after being referred by a friend, but I felt like my small amount of time with Liza was incredibly valuable.

We built a friendly rapport within the first few minutes of my 30 minute consultation and after hanging up, I knew I wanted to work with her. During this consultation and the mock interview Liza was able to provide tips as well as constructive feedback that helped me prepare for several business school interviews. She followed up to wish me luck and to check in throughout the next several weeks. It was great to know I had her cheering me on. I also felt like her feedback was specific and actionable in a short period of time. I heard her suggestions in the back of my mind as I was answering questions during my interviews and I felt like it helped me take a step back and provide the most thoughtful responses.

Highly recommend working with Liza on whatever part of the process you feel you need help with!

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You want Liza on your team.

I had the good fortune of having my free 30 minute consultation (offered via Manhattan GMAT) with Liza back in June of 2014. After reading her stellar reviews, which confirmed my first impression, I decided to sign up for the Start to Finish package. Remarkably, a year and a half has passed and I’m so thankful that Liza was there every step of the way.

Liza has an uncanny ability to inspire confidence while simultaneously providing extensive constructive criticism – this is her magic. She is remarkably patient, funny, sharp and honest. When she says something is good, you can rest assured that it actually is. Surface deep doesn’t cut it with Liza; she pushes you to get to the “why.”

Regarding time management, she repeatedly challenged me to hit deadlines and to keep iterating – both things that I would have neglected without her encouragement, but that ultimately made the process far less stressful. Liza was invaluable in brainstorming broad-ranging essay topics and in reviewing the countless iterations, but she also completely turned my resume around. I’d hired others to help with my resume in the past, but Liza’s guidance was unrivaled.

Not to be forgotten: Liza’s support extends far beyond assistance with resumes and essays. She’s a consistent positive force in what will inevitably be, at times, a stressful process. For me, countless unforeseen questions popped up at various stages, and Liza was there to provide great advice on every one.

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I decided to use an admissions consultant because I knew that with my low undergraduate GPA, it'd be difficult to get into my desired schools.

I chose to go with Liza after an initial 30 minute consultation. I was extremely impressed with her insight and with her advice, I decided to change my application strategy.

I bought a one school complete package although I knew I was going to apply to several. My plan was to utilize the important aspects of the first application on the later ones.

For the most part, she laid out the process with me and met the expectations and promises with regards to turn around times.

In the beginning, I found her insights and points very good in regards to what the admissions selection committee may think and how to address certain aspects of my application. However when it came to her comments/edits on my essays, I found them lacking in substance. Most of her essay reviews seemed more focused on meeting word limits rather than making sure the essay gave the intended impact and conveyed my message. In later essays for other schools, I found myself more critical than her and suggestions from friends and family more helpful.

She did also help with my resume and prepping my recommenders. Both of my recommenders come from non-MBA backgrounds and so I strongly believe the materials she gave me to prep them helped. However, a lot of the advice for both prepping recommenders and writing good resumes are easily found online here at GMATClub or on other admissions consultants' blogs.

Ultimately, I was rejected from the school I purchased the package for, but was admitted into 2 others and waitlisted at one. It's hard to tell how much Liza contributed to those successes however I do think she helped in some part. Whether or not I would've gotten into those schools without an admissions consultant is tough to say, but I do think much of the support and help she provided could have been gotten at a much cheaper cost to me.

Looking back, I wished that I had hired her hourly for the resume writing and recommender prep, but used a specific essay reviewing company (like Essay Snark) for the essay reviews. In the end, I'm not upset that I had used her services, however I do think I spent too much money and that for me, it wasn't worth it.

Liza's a wonderful person and extremely intelligent, however for me, who already put a lot of time researching and being critical on my own application, her value was wasted and lost.

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I rarely write reviews but after working together with Liza Weale from mbaMission for more than 6 months, it was such a pleasant experience that I can't help but feel obligated to write one.

A little background about myself: I have a hybrid (IT & Management mix) consulting background in an okay consulting firm (obviously not MBB). My undergraduate was just okay - decent GPA from a public school but also a community college transfer student. Furthermore, I had limited extracurricular and leadership activities. Thankfully, at least I had an average GMAT for M7 schools. As you can see, I'm pretty much an average Joe professional and doesn't exactly exude "pedigree".

After a few years of working, I wanted to apply for MBA to move to a top consulting firm but I wasn't sure whether I could make it to the top schools. I had a free consultation with Liza out of curiosity and told her my background and goals. I asked her whether I could make it to M7 schools, knowing she'd probably tell me to aim lower but to my surprise, she actually said I had a fighting chance!

Liza was incredibly helpful in identifying my strengths and weaknesses during the initial call, which gave me assurance that she knows what she's doing. I decided to get the 4 school packages, which was a bit pricy, but I knew that if got into just one out of those four, I'd easily multiply my investment!

Since I was applying to four top schools, the application process itself was incredibly challenging and stressful, but Liza was very helpful in setting up timelines and milestones to organize and help alleviate the stress and burden. Furthermore, she was really flexible in rescheduling calls or modifying milestones to accommodate for times when work was crushing me. I also greatly appreciated her encouragement and direct constructive criticisms during the busiest periods - I knew that she really cares about her clients and wants us to be successful!

To me, Liza's greatest strength was her ability to identify strengths in my background (that I wasn't even aware of!) and make sure that they are reflected well in my essays. There were several occasions when I wasn't sure what to write about and she helped me brainstorm to come up with these brilliant ideas! A note of caution though: she will decimate and revamp your essay, which was for the good of course, but sometimes it was a bit frustrating since I spent hours working on it!

Even though I somewhat expected it, when the rejections started rolling in, I started to panic. I was incredibly stressed and nervous that all this hard work and money would go down the drain. Thankfully, Liza helped me calm down and keep focus. When I finally got that elusive interview, she immediately helped me prep and gave me incredible tips to make sure that I was ready for it. I made sure to follow her advice and hoped for the best.

Long story short, I was accepted to one of the top schools with my average Joe background and I definitely attribute my success to Liza's help!

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Liza was an extremely helpful consultant who helped me tremendously through every step of the b-school app process. From the very beginning, she played an instrumental role guiding me towards schools best-suited for my career objectives and personal interests.

I cannot imagine crafting my story without her help. My background was non-traditional, but as I'm sure as every applicant can attest to, it's difficult to summarize your accomplishments and goals in a concise, thoughtful manner.

She reviewed each draft (of which there were probably too many) and provided excellent insight that really helped me strategically frame my background to position me as a strong candidate.

Her feedback, returned very quickly, and obvious compassion she exhibits to her clients makes the b-school process a little less daunting. She went above and beyond and continues to answer my most mundane questions post-acceptance, despite my running out of paid hours.

Liza truly cares about each of her clients, and I highly recommend her for anyone considering a consultant.

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I first spoke to Jessica Shklar (30-min free evaluation call) and fell in love with her and MBAmission. The moment I hung up I knew I won't choose any other company (I had already spoken with 5-6 other consultants and no one came even close). A few days later, I was bummed to discover that Jessica was already fully booked for R1 (we were still in May!) and forwarded me to Liza Weale as she thought she would be a good fit for me. And GOD I was lucky! Liza was AMAZING throughout the whole process.

I worked with Liza on a 3-school package. At first, my plan was to apply to 4 schools, but I then added 3 additional schools (which I had put aside for R2) when I found out there was a lot of overlap with what I already had prepared with Liza. YES, you can apply to 7 schools in 1 round (although you REALLY need to put a huge effort) and YES, you might be able to share between apps when you have 3 complete applications and some spare time).

Long story short, Liza did an incredible job of preparing me during the next 5 months from writing a summary about myself to deciding what school to matriculate at. No matter what I say about Liza, it won’t be anything compared to what she had to offer. But I’ll try. Liza was ALWAYS there to help, she is understanding, supportive (whenever I felt down), she never makes you feel rushed, she gives you all the time you need, she never broke the 2-day turnaround deadline and she truly puts her ALL to help you. She genuinely LOVES helping others! Just after I finished the first 2-hour call with her (after she had ONLY read the summary about me), she already saw things in me that I couldn’t see myself. I literally hung up the phone with her and told my wife “Sh*t, I should’ve recorded that!).

Now, during the whole process, Liza won’t stop amazing you! Whether in choosing your target schools, drafting your essays, polishing and re-re-polishing your Resume, giving crucial advice to your recommenders, Liza was immensely helpful. I had a 700 GMAT and a GPA that’s on the average of most of the top 20 schools. But thanks to Liza, with such strong apps, I felt I had boosted my chances by at least 70%. I was admitted to 4 schools (my top choice included and with $), waitlisted in 1 and denied in 2 (both were long shots by far).

So, whatever your case, trust me, it’s worth the investment. Go for it! Go for MBAmission! And if you could, go for Liza Weale!!

I just have one last advice. While selecting your schools, your consultant will do his/her best to make you pick the right choice(s). However, always go back and do your homework, dissect the program, learn as much as you can about the community, the city, etc. before deciding on where to apply. In my case, Liza felt that I would be a good fit at a certain school, I started working on the app but after it was too late, I discovered I made the wrong choice. This is not to say that it was Liza’s fault. Only I am to blame for the decision. So, take some time to choose the programs you want to apply to, and don’t think this time is a waste, it’s totally worth it (even if it took a month!). That’s why you need to start as early as possible. So, STOP READING MORE REVIEWS, STOP WASTING PRECIOUS TIME, go ahead and start this great journey with MBAmission.

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I can't say enough great things about mbaMission and Liza Weale. mbaMission not only helped me get into the school of my dreams but it also helped my husband to be get into the school of his dreams as well.

Liza is just simple amazing. When you are speaking with her, she is completely focused on you and your goals. She is extremely responsive via email whenever you have any questions - which is a big deal for me. She is also adaptive and customizable in her approach. For example, she had given me some advice about how to take one of my essays. I decided to go against it and do something completely different and she was not only supportive but still extremely helpful.

To me, this whole process of writing your applications is extremely vulnerable so you want someone who is invested as much as you are and cares about you. Liza is exactly that.

Even when I got into schools, you would think that they would be done the process but Liza was just excited for me as I was for myself about getting in. She is even helping me look into writing programs because I want to improve my writing before I attend school.

Overall, I don't say I enjoy the process of writing MBA application but Liza made it manageable and made it so much easier.

Her greatest strength is her ability to coach you through the process.

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I worked with Liza from MBA Mission on 3 schools, and although I don't have a reference to compare my experience against, I do think that I couldn't have come up with such spot-on essays without Liza's help.

The process, I felt, was a very very involved one. There were many many iterations for every essay, and I'm talking 11 on an average and sometimes even 15 or 16. Liza worked with me very closely on them.

To sum up the process, we'd talk a bit about all the essays before we started to tackle writing them. We'd go through every question, and Liza would ask me questions (a lot of them) that really helped me search my life for relevant stuff that we could use. Liza would then tell me what she thinks about it – whether it's good enough or not, and why. She'd force me to seach harder and harder if she thought the story wasn't strong enough until I came up with something really strong.

Then, once we are settled on stories to write, the iteration begins. I'd come up with crap, and Liza would fix it. That would go on for 10-15 iterations until I had something awesome in hand. Liza was super-friendly, super-patient, and super-supportive through all the rejects – that actually helped a lot!

To sum it up, I'd recommend Liza very strongly. You can definitely count on her to bring out the best in you and then write it in a very compelling fashion.

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