First and foremost, Rachel was absolutely instrumental in helping me get into my dream school, Stanford. When I first started the process at the beginning of the year, Fortuna’s director suggested that I had a 12-15% chance of getting into the GSB, an estimate that I felt was fair. Stanford was a reach given my background.
I was fortunate to be able to start the process early, about eight months before the deadline. At the beginning, Rachel took the time to really understand my story, my motives, my strengths and weaknesses, and helped me strategize which attributes I needed to highlight, and through which stories I could best share my strengths. Rachel was one part MBA coach, one part therapist, as she dug deep into my motivations and helped me find meaningful answers to questions about purpose. Rachel is an incredibly kind and caring person, and I really enjoyed the opportunity to develop a strong relationship with her.
Rachel worked with me on the Stanford essay for 26 drafts, continually sending feedback paragraph by paragraph, then sentence by sentence, then finally word by word. By draft 20, I was ready to throw in the towel and hit submit, but Rachel insisted we could make the ending stronger, really pushing me to the next level. In the end, I had a much better final product than I expected, and I felt at peace because I knew I put in my best possible work. I am so appreciative of the amount of effort Rachel put into my application. She sent me ideas and edits way past a normal bedtime, and always had a quick turnaround time on any new material.
When it came to the interview stage, Rachel helped me tremendously by teaching me how to frame my stories to highlight the attributes Stanford was looking for. She drew upon her decades of experience interviewing candidates, and it made the interview seem much less scary and opaque.
This whole process has made me a much more confident person, as I now understand myself much better. It’s also helped me define and refine my vision and what I want to do in the next decade. I felt that even if I hadn’t gotten into any MBA programs, I still would have found this experience to be valuable for these internal gains. It was so valuable in fact, that I would still want to repeat this process in ten or twenty years (even without applying to schools), when I’m at the next fork in my career, because it gave me so much clarity in my life.
I honestly don’t think I would have gotten in without Rachel’s help, and for that I will be grateful for a lifetime.

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Rachel is hands down an AMAZING coach. She was instrumental in my application and my admission to 4 top schools including my dream school: Harvard Business School! 

Early on, she invested the time to get to know me and understand my personal journey and my work experience. Because of her genuine interest in me, Rachel challenged me to dig deeper and to be introspective during the essay writing process. She was able to diligently sift through my stories to uncover recurring themes and help me refine my thoughts. She often challenged my assumptions and provided honest feedback even when it countered my initial thought process.
Looking back, I have so much admiration for the honest and tough feedback that she provided to help me craft a compelling story and find my own voice. 

Her ongoing encouragement was key in helping me surmount the roadblocks encountered in a particularly challenging year (test retake, writer's block, self doubt). She was particularly helpful in our mock interviews by providing direct and actionable feedback that enhanced my interviewing skills.

She was highly responsive and flexible throughout the entire process. Her turnaround time was exceptional. Our sessions were always productive and enriching. She leveraged the Fortuna network and knowledge base to help thoroughly answer my questions about the specificities of the different school programs.

While I had some awareness of the MBA application process, I underestimated the time, effort and commitment that the process would require over a period of time.  She was tactical and helped me stay on track of each step of the process. We worked through numerous essay edits and introspective exercises, even in the wee hours sometimes. Her can-do attitude, her empathy, and her attentiveness are unmatched!

Beyond being an amazing coach and subject matter expert, Rachel is a genuine and caring person who offered me support and advice as a friend would. While working with her, I have also gained an amazing advocate and mentor. I could not recommend her enough! 

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Rachel is incredibly attentive and thoughtful. From the get-go, she invested a ton of time to get to know me as a person, taking copious amount of notes each time. This was especially helpful when we brainstormed stories for each of my MBA essays, and she would bring up anecdotes that even I forgot about! Rachel also exhibited an incredible can-do attitude as she read and provided thoughtful commentary to each of the 26 drafts we went through for my main MBA essay. Rachel's publishing background was truly an asset as she helped me cut down words and improve the flow of my essays.

But, the most impactful part of our relationship was how she helped me clarify my long-term career vision. I actually made a job switch during the application process becasue I knew that the new job will bring me one step closer to my goals. I would not have had the courage to do this if it wasn't for Rachel's thoughtful guidance.

I am super excited to keep Rachel updated on all of my future endeavours, not just business school. She has had a HUGE part in my successes, and I cannot recommend her enough!

THANK YOU RACHEL!

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