First let me talk about the results
I got admitted to MIT SDM program (my top choice)
I got interview invites from Stanford MSx, Berkeley Haas.
I applied to these 3 programs taking the help to write my essays from Yaron Dahan (he is a rock star :)). Effectively speaking I got interview invite from ALL the programs I applied to taking the help of Admissionado.
I applied to lower ranked UCLA anderson but was waitlisted without interview and eventually declined offer.

Now that speaks about the value addition I got by approaching Admissionado.

Why did I approach Admissionado? Two reasons
1) It was flexible. I knew I needed help only with my essays. I was confident I can manage the rest of application. They had the option just to do that.
2) Highly responsive. Claudia is a wonderful person to do business with. I had bad experience with other consultants who were not responding on time (it was a busy applications period).
3) Their pricing is very very economical when compared to others.

After talking to a few consultants in Admissionado, I zeroed upon Yaron because I could sense he sincerely believed I can make it to the programs of my choice. That gave me reassurance and I went ahead and selected Yaron.

Did I take the right decision? Oh yes. I can't put it in words but working with him was exceptional. He made me do all the hard work of course. But he perfectly guided me in writing the essays. The promptness with which he will come back to me with his edits is truly professional. He sometimes teared apart my essays and challenged me to come up with something better while giving me honest feedback. I enjoyed his feedback so much that I used to eagerly wait for his next edit. He nudged me back into action when I slacked off. At the end of it, he brought out the best in me. It was an intense journey of almost 1.5 years and working with Yaron made it enjoyable. I highly recommend Yaron.

Last but not the least I appreciate Claudia for being truly flexible with the package. I messed up initially with school selection and missed some deadlines. She was very understanding allowed me to use the package beyond the initial terms. Kudos to her. Nice person to do business with.

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As a sponsored student, my company paid the consulting services and by that time I dont have any idea about MBA and Admissionado. Yaron and Kyn went to my country and spent 4 weeks there to teach the strategy to get best business school based on our GMAT. They helped me found the "Top 5" business school that between my GMAT score.
I enjoyed the process during brainstorming and one-one consultation from deciding which one is safe school and challenging school to writing the CV and essays.
Their greates strength was the strategic guideline from chosing the school, building CV, writing essays and interview practicing.
I definitely recommend admissionado and Yaron Dahan & Kyn.

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I came to Admissionado after getting dinged without interviews at three schools (Wharton, Yale, and Columbia). I realized that there were major flaws in my profile and I needed help fixing them. My friend worked at Admissionado in their Beijing office as the director of undergraduate admissions consulting. He also applied to business schools the previous year with great success, ultimately landed at Boothe, and he recommended their services.

After an initial consultation and a ding analysis with Yaron, the consultant, we pointed out several shortcomings in my profile:

1. Lukewarm GMAT score of 710.
2. Lack of super employer and high salary. Non-traditional MBA background. With 6 years of work experience, I had worked at 3 different companies spanning education, sales, and HR.
3. Lukewarm undergraduate GPA of 3.45. Liberal Arts degree.

Yaron explained that I didn't have strong enough numbers to be a "numbers candidate" but had potential to be a good "story candidate." He suggested that I play the numbers game and apply to 8-10 schools. I was hestitant to take his advice because the service was very expensive and we would have only 8 weeks to apply to 8 schools. At the same time I also felt dejected from the round 1 rejections but I was committed to going to business school no matter what. I ultimately ran with his advice and applied to 8 schools, all with deluxe packages. And I did not regret it.

Here is what Yaron did well:

1. He overhauled my resume. My previous resume had too much jargon and did not have an extracurricular/community involvement section. He made sure that every bullet point followed an "action + impact" formula. I came to realize that the resume is super important as it is the first thing adcoms look at.

2. He did an extensive analysis of my work experience, extracurricular activities, and personal/family background to find the most interesting things about me and craft them into a compelling narrative.

3. He helped me prepare for my interviews.

4. He was on call whenever I needed him.

Overall, I think the thing to keep in mind when choosing an admissions consultant is that you are paying for an editor. The essays are important because it's one of the few things that you have control over. Although you think you know yourself well, an admissions consultant can tell your story better. Yaron and I went through four drafts of every essay and his edits came back within 24 hours. With every draft, my essays not only improved but I also learned more about myself. Working with Yaron gave me a process and a discipline to work within that I would not have had on my own. There was an ease of mind knowing that all I had to do was follow their process and everything else would work itself out. The MBA admissions process is like wedding planning. You are only going to do this once in your life. If you are unsure of yourself, it's best to get a consultant to walk you through the process.

Here are my results with Admissionado:

1. Cornell Johnson -- On Campus interview --> Admitted with scholarship.
2. Duke Fuqua -- On Campus interview --> Admitted
3. UCLA Anderson -- On Campus interview --> Admitted
4. NYU Stern -- Waitlisted without interview
5. Dartmouth Tuck -- Open interview, on campus --> Dinged
6. Northwestern Kellogg -- Open interview, off campus --> Dinged
7. UMich Ross -- On Campus interview --> Dinged
8. UVA Darden -- On Campus interview --> Dinged

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After trying to start the MBA application by my own, I got stuck in the eternal questions of "Describe yourself 10 years ago/now/in 10 years", "Greatest achievements/failures" etc. I talked to some of my MBA friends and found out that a lot of them were working with consultants to properly pack their stories.

I searched the internet & GMATclub for the list of consultants and found plenty of them. What immediately caught my attention at Admissionado is their website and the general flow of becoming their client. I submitted my request through the website and received immediate reply.

The service of Admissionado is just great, they were fast to reply to any question I had and they were always to the point.

I worked with Yaron and what I liked about him is that he actually was making me work on myself. My first essays were a disaster, since I had not written any essays for at least 10 years after graduation from university. Yaron was asking questions and helped me rethink my previous experience to pack it in some stories to present to the admission board.
I also had an interview practice with him, and failed during the practice attempts. However, during the admission day everything went right and in the predictable manner.

I got admitted to my dream school and was happy to work with Admissionado.

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I chose Admissionado based on the positive feedback from my friend, and also the online reviews. I am very pleased with their services, and highly recommend them to anyone looking to give that boost to his/her application. I opted for the Jr. Deluxe package. Yaron was fantastic, and I couldn't have asked for a better consultant. He was very thorough with his comments, responded promptly to any questions, and prepared me well for the interview. The rates at Admissionado are also very reasonable compared to other consultants out there, which is also a bonus if you're mindful of the budget.

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After I failed my GMAT 20 days before R2 deadline and scored only 680 (lower than mean score of any school I applied to), he was the man who helped me to believe in myself again and told me not to consider tier 3 schools. He firmly believed that I should not look outside of top 15 schools. Yaron walked me through the whole application process, reviewing my resume and essays, giving advises to my recommenders, practicing interview with me and advising how to respond to all the questions in application forms. I believe he is the main reason I was so successful with business school applications. We managed to complete 3 applications to Ross, Fuqua and Tuck in 15 days time. After that I applied to Kenan-Flagler on my own, using information from the essays written with Yaron. As a result I was admitted to Fuqua, Ross and Kenan-Flagler and waitlisted at Tuck (because of my GMAT score). On top of that, I received some merit based scholarship at Duke and Ross. I think that the fact I was granted some money even with below average GMAT score shows the strength of the application we were able to put together with Yaron. I’m happy that I chose Yaron and Admissionado team, but not another consultant.

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After extremely disappointing and disheartening R1 results with another consultant, I didn't want to give up and tried another 3 schools for R2. This time, I'm so glad I had Yaron on my side! I had a relatively low GMAT score (sub-700), so I knew I had to give it my all in my essays. Yaron was extremely attentive, detail-oriented, and strategic with the resume and essay writing. Yaron helped me rediscover the depth of my stories and really adhered to the "show not tell" principle, every time he would come back with feedbacks that asked me to dig a little deeper, to give more details in my examples. He also gave me a lot of confidence through mock interviews. In the end I got into INSEAD! I couldn't be happier with the result. I highly recommend Yaron to anyone who wants to put forward a stellar application.

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