As a re-applicant after using a competitor admissions consultant firm last year, I can speak to a few of the ways that sets Admissionado apart in my eyes:

1. Personality. They were much better at giving my applications strong personality than I had the previous year, which I think can be very underrated and extremely helpful for someone who isn't naturally extroverted.

2. Promptness. Turnaround of materials was always better than the 72 hours they promised. I assumed that "within 72 hours" meant "72 hours", but this wasn't the case.

3. Reliability. I got into a bit of a pinch during deadline crunch time, and I was blown away by how responsive and helpful Uyen was in the final stretch. She really stepped up when I needed her most, and I am forever grateful given my outcome! I'd be amazed if I could have gotten the same level of service through another firm.

I owe so much of my success to Uyen and the team at Admissionado, they have been amazing and really helped me to put my best self forward in my applications. Especially with the half-ride scholarship on top of an already sweet offer to Kellogg, I couldn't be happier with the value I got out of working with them. My life just got way better thanks to this team!

I couldn't recommend Admissionado highly enough!

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I was referred to Admissionado by a co-worker who told me about their Discovery Package. This packaged includes being matched with a consultant who helps shape your narrative, and then creates a personalized action plan. My grades and scores were good but I was really struggling with articulating a compelling case for why I needed an MBA. Uyen helped me realize the path I was thinking of writing about didn't make any sense, and together we developed a great story. I wanted her to help me with translating this into my essays, so I bought the Junior Deluxe package for HBS and CBS. While I have some regrets spending money on HBS as I knew the chances were slim, the work we did with HBS also helped my CBS essays which were successful! Overall, Uyen and the Admissionado team were very supportive and guided me through the process, including frantic late night emails when my recommender submitted with the wrong school name. They do take 2-3 days to get drafts back to you, but that helped me stick to a schedule of making sure I turned around my rewrites quickly. I also hired them late in the game so I would recommend starting earlier. Thanks again!

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I initially reached out to Admissionado in early December 2015, recommended to me by a friend who got into Duke after working with them. I was interested in applying to MBA US programmes for the January 2015 deadline and had not even taken my GMAT or started the application process. Admissionado weren’t deterred and helped straight away with a package of phone support. Within 2 calls, the team had helped me understand my story and my post-MBA career goals. They provided immediate clarity and support. After I decided to postpone my applications for a year (because I really didn’t have time to get the GMAT score I needed), I signed on to larger packages with Admissionado in March 2015. Here’s what my experience was like:

Pro’s
- They are a no nonsense, professional support team. They reply to emails quickly, have quick turn arounds on essay edits and do not push their products on you.
They are good editors especially if you are a comfortable writer but just need to synthesise and prioritise.
They have a wealth of information and sent me a former customers essay for a school I was applying to. They chose that essay because he/she had been successfully admitted and had a similar background and career goals to me. It really helped me to understand how to write a good essay.
- They helped me get my CV in top shape, its the best it’s ever looked and I’ve had really positive feedback from it.
They advised me on all matters including my GMAT prep, recommenders, when to leave my job, etc.
They helped me think outside the box. Initially I was only keen on US programmes, but they helped me see how great the top European programmes are for me given my international background.
They were worth the money and they are flexible. I paid £500 per school, applying to 4 schools, getting help on all aspects down to every single tiny question on the online application. I had initially bought a package for 5 schools but when I decided to knock one school off my list, they let me use that last £500 towards LOR support, which they were really good on (minus one thing- see cons).


Con’s
- They support you but they don’t hold your hand. At times it would have been nice to have chase up emails about essay edits. When you are working full time and trying to get apps done, it can be helpful to have your admissions consultants reminding you about deadlines etc, and they didn’t send follow up emails even if they hadn’t heard from me in a few weeks and deadlines were looming.
- They aren’t there to have a chat. A couple of times I was having mini feakouts about the GMAT and my application in general and all I really needed was a 10 minute call to talk a few things through. When I asked, they offered me a call package since the package I paid for didn’t include any phone time. For the amount you pay, it would be nice to be able to have a little chat every few weeks. Then again, I imagine some customers might abuse that, but I thought I had built a good relationship with my advisor so that was a little disappointing.
- They did not check LOR questions. I had found the LOR questions for a school online and had worked with Admisisonado and my recommenders to get answers together. When it came down to submitting those online, my recommender pointed out that two of the questions were different and I had to quickly help my recommender find new examples to address the new questions with the deadline hours away! Slightly stressful! I was surprised that the Admissionado team hadn’t picked this up or double checked I had the right questions.

Overall: I got into London Business School on a merit scholarship. The scholarship was based on the quality of my application which would not have been the standard it was without Admissionado. I would recommend them to a friend based on that alone. However, I would advise that anyone looking for an admissions consultant have a long chat with them before hand and really think about what type of support you are looking for so you ensure you have the right consultants and the right package. Good Luck! :-)

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I was referred by a close friend to contact Admissionado for MBA application consulting, now I definitely own him a big meal for it!

The process starts with a relaxed chit-chat over the phone about my backgrounds and goals, it was enjoyable and we talked like friends casually, yet all the key topics are mentioned throughout the call with ease.

The biggest issue for me to work out this application on my own might be -- I have several different aspects that I wish to mention and could easily get lost when deciding on the priorities, that's exactly where my consultant Uyen becomes extremely helpful. She is an expert in choosing the key bets, giving advice to either elaborate or condense, and inspire you to connect all the dots for a complete essay.

Personally I had some health issue during the preparation process, and sometimes I'm late in response or reverting a second version after a long while. However my consultant are always there to support, replying my emails within 3 working days or less. This sense of support makes the experience rewarding and personal indeed.

Highly recommended! You won't regret it.

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Hey, everybody!

I want to write couple of words about my experience with Admissionado. As I have issues with my profile and have never had an experience of writing any kind of motivation letters or essays about my background, I needed consulting services to even get a sense of what to write in my essays.
So, before I started my application I had a free 30-minute consultation with 7 different companies. I tried to choose consultants wherever it was possible and chose Uyen Tang in Admissionado, because she lived and worked for couple of years in Tajikistan and it was important for me that consultant would know the culture and society and understand overall situation in Central Asian countries (it's where I'm from).
All other consultants, except Uyen, having learned my profile and my target schools, in one or another way told me that I should probably reconsider my list and include some 2nd tier schools, as my profile is not strong enough for H-S-W. Uyen was the only one, who told me that I should try whichever school I want and that I have all the chances to be admitted. She actually told me that she believes in me and I needed to hear that from someone, except my dad :) So to hear that I have a solid chance to be admitted by super top schools from a person, who has expertise in evaluating MBA applicant profiles professionally, was a decisive moment.
I eventually chose to go with 3-school Junior Deluxe package and Uyen helped me to identify my application strategy and to craft all the essays to 3 schools. The process of writing essays wasn't easy at all for me, but Uyen made it as easy from her side as it was possible. Closer to deadlines she was very quick with editing to help me meet the deadlines on time.

I am very happy with the outcome of our cooperation, as I was admitted to Wharton two days ago! And I honestly think that Uyen played a great role in my success. I would strongly recommend Admissionado and particularly Uyen Tang for anyone, who wants to achieve their dream of a top MBA admission!

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Read more at: http://topdogmba.com/2015/01/01/fixing-a-hole-admissionado-review/

I am a re-applicant so writing this from the perspective of someone who has been through the pain once before and didn't want to make the same mistakes the second time around.

I first learned about Admissionado as their founder, Jon Frank, hosted a free webinar about 'Dealing with a Ding'. I was one of the lucky few chosen to be critiqued in the webinar and, while not a pleasant experience, I really appreciated the straight talking, no nonsense approach employed by Jon.

This is not a service for those of you wanting someone to praise you constantly and tell you what a good job you're doing - this is tough love! My consultant was a former Admissions Fellow at my top choice b school. We had a great free Skype session which overran the allotted time, but I just had a lot of questions and she was in no hurry and did not rush me.

After the call, I tried to imagine finding time to not only figure out my strategy, but also to write my resume, essays, manage my recommenders, all while having to check my own work and try to find friends who would help me out and review it. I decided I wanted a paid consultant, someone I could jump straight in and start discussing my stories with, someone who was always available and would push me to do more and better.

The Junior Deluxe package was great for this, it wasn't cheap but in line with other leading consulting firms. Best of all, I could bolt on additional services like Skype calls and urgent reviews of my essays (sadly, I did have to resort to this once or twice!), all in a very transparent way.

If I had any negative comments to make, I'd say that it took several days to get comments back on essays. This is because not only my consultant was reviewing them, but also an editor who added a lot of comments on how to improve the writing style, what else I could talk about, how to build the story more effectively etc. It was only a problem because I was busy for weeks at a time (with non-MBA stuff) and when I was free I liked to focus in on my essays for days at a time. If you're like me, then just make sure you spread the essays out - one school on Monday, another on Tuesday etc. - once I figured this out it was easy to adjust my schedule. Like I said, this is really not a major issue but I struggle to think of anything bad about Admissionado.

And, now for the results: well, I applied to three schools and got three interview invites. One is converted into an offer(!) and the other two I'm still waiting to hear from. Could I have got the same result on my own? Possibly, but why take that risk for the sake of 1-2% of the cost of your MBA programme!?

Thanks to Admissionado I am going to be doing my MBA next year, no matter what.

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