I worked with Jen Kedrowski from MBA mission to get her consultation on my MBA essays for my application to Duke's Fuqua school of business (Weekend MBA program).
Firstly, she is very personable and easy to approach. She is an extremely talented essay writer and I got a feeling that she is partnering with me through my application and not just someone who provides an hourly service.
I interviewed multiple other companies and individuals before I chose Jen to partner with me for delivering an effective personal message to the admissions committee. A couple of key differentiating factors as to why I chose her are - she adopts a personable and caring approach than a corporate approach, she was able to state clearly on what and when she can deliver based on my expectations and my friend recommended her. She holds on to her delivery commitments until the application is submitted and after.
I got her help on my essays and resume - 30-minute brainstorming and 2.5 hours for the essay and resume edits.
I provided a lot of material on my essays - personal and work-related accomplishments. She helped prioritize and on certain occasions asked good questions to get to the root of the why I did that activity to be able to succinctly and effectively deliver the message to the admissions committee.
I reviewed her work with alumni from Duke and they were impressed with the message delivery as well.
Hence, this recommendation is not only coming from me but also from university graduates from high ranking universities. I would definitely recommend her for her essay and resume writing/ editing skills.

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I retained Daniel as an hourly resource to help me with the application process for three schools in the Round 1 process. He was extremely professional and knowledgeable about what each school focuses on in the application. Daniel was very considerate in terms of using our time efficiently (which I was grateful for given that I chosen an hourly package), and was very organized when it comes to passing revisions back and forth over email.

During the interview process, the practice interviews that we did together were extremely helpful, and he was able to not only provide me with an extensive list of potential questions, but also with spot-on feedback to my answers.

I would definitely recommend Daniel to anyone going through the MBA admissions process.

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I worked with Krista on five applications (all round 1) during the 2018-19 cycle, and was admitted to my top choice program. I started working with her fairly early in the year (March/April), which helped get school selection, visits, and resume writing done well ahead of deadlines. This helped me focus on essays alone in August and September, and finish all my applications on time without any last-minute scrambling.

Krista’s experience with the admissions process and her passion for working with clients truly came across at every stage of the process. She was incredibly responsive through the process, from turning around drafts to answering minor questions about application form details, and she usually was ahead of the promised two-day turnaround as well.

Krista helped me in three key aspects on my essays:

1. All my work experience was at a boutique consulting firm where the work is complex and difficult to explain to a layperson. As a result, my initial drafts contained a lot of detail that was not necessary for the admissions committee. Krista helped me trim this down to the essential points only, leading to a much tighter story and providing additional room to bring out other facets in my essays.

2. She helped my own story and personality come through in my essays - when my drafts lacked specificity, she helped me brainstorm original ideas to pull in, rather than shoehorn me into anything boilerplate. Some of my friends who have worked with other consultants had a bad experience on this front, where they were simply told to say certain things instead of getting support to find the ideas they believed in.

3. Lastly, going into the application process, I was a little concerned about two weak spots in my profile - some past academic issues and being on the lower end of the work experience spectrum. While I knew I would have to address these in my essays, my writing wasn’t effective in discussing any emotions or feelings in those situations. Through several discussions and rounds of editing, Krista really helped take craft portions of my essays to a more compelling story.

After application submission, I prepared for video essays and interviews with Krista as well. Aside from fine tuning the content of my responses, Krista noticed certain certain behaviors/ response patterns that I consistently fell into while answering interview questions. With her advice, I was able to avoid these during application interviews (and also improve my overall interviewing skills for recruiting in business school and beyond).

I’m thrilled to be attending my dream program soon and I’m very grateful to Krista for all her help and support through the process - I’ve already recommended her to some of my friends and would do so unhesitatingly to any other applicants!

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TL;DR: With a somewhat scattered career trajectory, I needed someone very skilled in helping me draw out compelling career and personal narratives (the essays), and present myself in a beautiful package (the whole application). John’s previous reviews share a theme of exceptional storytelling, and he did exactly that with me. It was nice to have John as a partner who cared about the results. I was admitted to Columbia Business School!

Researching Consultants: Quantitative measures aside, the key to a successful MBA application is undoubtedly compelling career and personal narratives, which are also by far the most challenging. As I read detailed reviews of consultants, their key strengths became apparent. John’s previous reviews share a consistent theme of him helping applicants put together compelling applications and stories (he does have a journalism background after all).

Working with John: I went with the hourly package. As I think back on the application process, there were several things John did that maximized the efficiency and results:

1. With hourly services, John is very efficient with time, but most importantly, the feedback that he sends back is direct and actionable. This allowed me to make drastic improvements to my essays between each iteration. The final product was an essay that read so smooth and conveyed so, so much in 500 words.
2. John clarified how I should tackle each essay, which was so helpful given the prompts are vague and cut out the many extra drafts I would have had to do.
3. I found it super helpful to have a call with John, especially when I hit writer’s block, to bounce ideas off of him. These sessions were extremely productive in moving things along rather than spending days stuck on something.
4. Lastly, I will say that the road of an MBA application is a lonely one. John was a partner who cared about the success of my application, and his professional and calm demeanor kept me going and focused.

Result: Acceptance to Columbia Business School!

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Daniel is extremely helpful during the process of my application to CBS. The constructive advice from him has ensured my efforts are always on the right track. His response was always on time or even before the timeline, which provided me sufficient time to work on the documents. I particularly like the part that Daniel is not afraid to make straightforward comments and feedback. If he felt the story is not good, he will directly let you know and continue to work with you on it from scratch.

I'd love to introduce him to my friends who are also preparing for application.

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I had the pleasure of working with Jen in 2015 for my MBA applications. I give her credit for helping me get into my number one choice, Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. Jen gives great advice on essays and general MBA application strategy in general. On top of that she is very friendly and easy to work with. I consider my MBA an investment so I wanted to get into the best school I could and therefore chose to use MBA Mission to make sure my applications were the best they could be. The services are not cheap but they are worth it because better schools offer a better return on investment so swallow your pride, get out your check book, and use Jen, you won’t regret it.

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I was originally a bit skeptical on working with a consultant, but after taking a free consultation with Michael Guttman at MBAMission, I knew within 5 minutes that I needed to work with him. I had taken consultations with a few other companies, but Michael has a unique ability to put his clients at ease, and did a fantastic job navigating me through the application process. Aside from all of his insight, the thing I appreciated most about Michael was his commitment to presenting the most authentic version of myself in my application package. He is truly gifted at maximizing the potential of his clients, and took great care in making sure I stayed true to the things that made me a unique candidate. He's able to do this because he takes a genuine interest in getting to know his clients, and asked questions that forced me to do some deep self reflection on who I am and why I want an MBA. I also really appreciated how considerate he was, often providing his feedback well before the MBAMission deadline so I would be able to maximize my revisions ahead of the Round 1 deadlines. While the anxiety ahead of interview invites is brutal, I am significantly more at ease knowing that working with Michael has enabled me to submit the best possible application I could.

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I began working with Dan after I had taken the GMAT and selected one school I wanted to apply to. I used my mbamission consult to discuss what other schools I should apply to within round 1, which was really helpful and then I decided to work with him via the hourly a la carte services.

I thought Dan was very straightforward and blunt, which was helpful to me as I tried to make a strong case for my application after a traditional career but having taken over a year off from full-time work doing travel and some freelancing. Dan helped me to focus my personal essays for the three business schools I applied to (all top 10) and let me know what areas were of most importance to each school. Throughout the process Dan had a quick turnaround and would often use a fraction of an hour to complete a review of an essay. He was also very clear about deadlines to review applications in advance of the actual round 1 deadlines.

I also worked with Dan to do a mock interview which gave me good confidence going into an unusual interview with an adcom person and a traditional interview with an alumni.

I would highly recommend working with Dan, as well as the hourly services if you have already begun some of your due diligence on schools (otherwise the school packages may be more appropriate).

Ultimately, I got into my first choice school, in no small part to Dan's assistance, and withdrew my other applications.

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Kevin and the rest of the mbaMission staff were an excellent help from my first meeting with them all the way through the waitlist process. I came from a non-traditional background in Education and Kevin worked very closely with me crafting my overall approach to the applications. He often went above and beyond what was expected with very quick turnarounds in consultations. A lot of the consultations were done around the holiday season, and Kevin was always willing and able to help out at any moment. I do not think I would have found such success without his help. Thanks Kevin!

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I started working with Rachel 15 months before submitting my application. In the beginning, we scheduled a kick-off call in which I told her about my background and why I thought I wanted to get an MBA. Upon analyzing my documents, she gave me a detailed roadmap. For example, as my undergraduate GPA was low, she recommended that I take summer courses. She thought that I lacked volunteer work and suggested that I try to find ways to give back to the community and my previous schools.

In parallel, we started working on my essays. I enjoyed the structure which she provided. We would brainstorm on the phone and then I would send bullets of my notes. After a few revisions, we would have polished essays. We worked on my resume and she provided me tips on how to approach people who would write me recommendations. In addition, we prepared for the interview.

I am now finished with the first semester of the program and a few of the first semester courses, such as Executive Leadership and Leadership and Organizational Change, required me to work on personal development plans. My previous work with Rachel became the foundation of these plans. What started out as an MBA application gave me the opportunity to take a strategic look at my career and personal life. I highly recommend Rachel as she has a unique talent to see through a person's core and reveal that in the application. As a bonus, during this process, you also have a chance to learn about what matters to you in life.

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