John was a major contributor to my recent acceptance to a top 10 MBA program. A lot of candidates have the stories and experiences to be competitive, but sculpting those stories into concise personal statements and essays that directly respond to the criteria of various admissions committees is an art – one that John has mastered.

I engaged John on an hourly basis (purchased 5 hours through mbaMission). John was referred to me by a colleague who was admitted to a top 10 MBA program and credited John for his success. I had planned to apply to Booth and Kellogg.

John initially sent me a brainstorming document with questions to help generate ideas for essays, short answers, and interview prep. We then scheduled a phone call to discuss essay questions. John’s familiarity with these schools and admissions committees was immediately evident. He provided a framework for the essay responses that leveraged my professional and personal strengths. After drafting my essays, John provided feedback to improve certain aspects of my story and focus the story to directly respond to the essay prompts. John also reviewed my resume and short answer responses to focus on my achievements and clearly state my short and long term goals.

After successfully executing and submitting the applications, John and I spent our final 30 minutes prepping for interviews. John asked me general interview questions and again helped craft responses that were focused on why the specific MBA program would help my career progression.

To anyone considering applying to an MBA program – this initial investment to improve your application is negligible compared to the overall cost of an MBA. I strongly encourage you to make the investment and engage John.

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Working with Heidi was a great experience all around. I knew my statistics were strong enough to get me into at least one of my target schools, but the final piece I needed was to strongly tell my story via essays, online applications, and short answer questions. Story telling is definitely not one of my strengths, but through phone conversations and feedback on the different drafts of my essays, Heidi got to know me very well and very effectively helped me strengthen the written portions of my applications.

Heidi was extremely prompt in responding to my emails with quick questions, as well as returning the multiple drafts of my essays.

I can happily say that I will be attending one of my target programs, and much of the credit belongs to Heidi’s assistance.

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Getting into Harvard has been my dream for the last six years. I was worried, however, that I didn’t have that unique story you typically associate with people that get into these universities. Then came Katy, who helped me take a step back and weave the many seemingly unrelated elements of my life into one cohesive story that both provided me with the standout story I never thought I had and quite honestly helped me understand myself better. What I quickly began to appreciate is that Katy doesn’t take a one-size-fits all approach to MBA consulting, she really took the time to know me and then tailored how we tackled the essays based on my background and goals.

Beyond that, she was also very knowledgeable about the process answering my many questions with valuable insights from the view of someone who has been an admissions committee member herself. Even though I read virtually ever piece of MBA advice I could get my hands on over the past six years, everything I thought I knew paled in comparison to the insights Katy provided me.

Lastly, I can’t overstate how much Katy truly cares about the people she works with. The MBA process can get really stressful at times, but with Katy’s sound advice and kind words, I never felt overwhelmed by the process. I genuinely can’t recommend Katy enough and after comparing my first and final essay drafts, I honestly don’t know what I would have done without her!

(Harvard Business School and Columbia Business School Admit)

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Before Rachel was recommended to me, I had interviewed two other consultants who also came highly regarded. I hadn’t been impressed with either and when I spoke with Rachel I knew instantly it was a fit. I told her my concerns: I needed someone who would respond in a timely manner and who would help me craft my story. Rachel set clear expectations from the get-go about turnaround time and she instilled confidence in me that I had a good story to share.
From a personal standpoint, I didn’t need someone who would help me research schools and programs. I had done that on my own. Rachel is unique given her editorial background and she is a journalist by nature. That is exactly what I needed. I wanted someone who would help me brainstorm ideas for essays and give me editorial help. Rachel surpassed all expectations when it came to that. I always felt she was honest and if she didn’t feel like the story made sense or the essay wasn’t quite there she was very candid. The entire process was collaborative and with Rachel a lot less dauting.
This review wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t share a personal anecdote. The GMAT was not something that came easy to me. I wound up having to take it multiple times until I received a score I felt would not hinder me from getting accepted. Just as I was about to give up after my second time Rachel was my personal cheerleader and kept me going. She helped strategize with me regarding the school’s deadline and still taking the 3rd test in time. I can say without hesitation that if Rachel was not my consultant I would have given up on the entire process. I knew I was paying for the editorial help and brainstorming sessions. However, what I received in return was so much more.
I cannot recommend Rachel enough for her creativity, her brilliance in crafting stories, and her ability to serve as a personal coach throughout the entire process in areas one might not expect!! Do not even hesitate when choosing an advisor. I can guarantee you all expectations will be exceeded with Rachel!

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I worked with Helen Summers as part of a successful Round 1 admissions cycle for three top-tier schools. I made the decision to apply rather late (end of July) and Helen helped me cull my list to my top schools so I could dedicate the appropriate amount of focus to them, worked with me to find my story, told me the blunt truths about my essay drafts, and assisted my preparation for the interviews. She was tremendously fun to work with and did not shy away from providing tough advice, which is exactly what is required. It was an excellent experience.

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I would not have been admitted to HBS without Katy’s help. She was phenomenal to work with, start to finish, and it was so fun to work with her because it’s clear that she loves her job as a consultant and mentor.

A year before I applied, I hired Katy for a two-school prep package and worked with her closely throughout the entire application process. Katy helped me to position my candidacy; structure, review and edit my essays; provided guidance, edits and thoughts on all my short answers; and prepare for interviews. It was a long and intense process but she worked very hard to provide timely feedback and she always made herself available to answer questions.

Perhaps what I appreciated the most about Katy is her ability to listen and ask sincere questions to really get to know me. A good consultant cannot help you if they do not know you, and Katy showed a remarkable ability to understand my story quickly. Her ability was most evident at the beginning of the application process when I was trying to identify how to position my candidacy and articulate what really motivates me. Katy was extremely effective at helping me uncover the real ‘why’ behind many of my experiences and life decisions, which was crucial for how I positioned by application and structured my essays.

Katy is also very candid and honest. After several weeks of working on my essays, she reviewed them one day and told me they were really boring. It was true, and I’m really glad she let me know. I then completely revamped them with her help and the end product was far superior to what I had initially.

All in all, I found Katy to be knowledgeable, experienced, caring, genuine, and a highly effective 'thought partner'. I recommend her to everyone I know applying and am so glad I used her in my process.

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I am happy to write this review about Nisha Trivedi. I used MBA Mission's alacarte hourly services, and used Nisha's gudidance to review and fine tune my resume, and to brainstorm and proof read essays.

Nisha was great, and provided accurate, and honest feedback. When I spoke to her for during our first 30 minute free consultation, I felt that she really made an effort to get to know me, my preferences, and needs.

She answered emails, and returned edited essays promptly. I also found the mock interviews I did with her to be immensely helpful in preparing for the real interview.

I am happy to share that with Nisha's assistance, I got accepted at all 4 of the top 25 universities I applied to. (Booth, Ross, Tepper, Kelley).

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I worked with Nisha Trivedi through my entire application process. I can honestly say I would not have been admitted to these schools without her help. She does a great job at helping you combine elements into a cohesive story that anyone can understand. She also takes the time to explain her thought process and provide options when selecting statements/stories. I would recommend Nisha to anyone in the process - she can pick up at any point, work with any personality (she's also worked with two of my friends), and help you deliver the best version for each school!

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It has been amazing working with Harshad Mali from mbaMission! The quality of the service I received went above and beyond my expectations. I was very tentative about working with a consultant initially for two main reasons - cost of the service, and I was concerned that the application would get heavily influenced by the consultant's writing style and personality. But these concerns were put to rest from the time I started working with mbaMission and Harshad Mali. The first big breakthrough happened in the Brainstorming session. Harshad made me talk about my story starting from early childhood, patiently listening for the most part, but every now and then asking me questions to make me think about why I reacted the way I did, and highlighting important values that I had clearly failed to see. Through my conversations, Harshad was able to point out my leadership style and also guide me to pick my best experiences to share in my applications. Following the brainstorming session, my resume and essay writing became much more simple. I was also happy that my essays were my own, and Harshad's contribution was to pick out the meat from my essays by cutting out extraneous information, so as to help me hit my word limit. Harsahd also brought his school expertise, and shared with me valuable information on labs, clubs, and activities. Because of his help and guidance, I was able to put forward a strong application, and in the end, received an acceptance from both Booth and Kellogg! I'm extremely pleased with my work with Harshad, and would recommend him to anybody wanting to put forward a strong MBA application.

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Krista was very helpful during the whole process. I decided to work with her right after my free consultation session as she sounded like a really smart and dedicated person, which was exactly what she was. Krista helped me shape up my essays very well, and particularly she helped me narrow down the topics for them according to each of the schools I applied to. Her cheerful personality made the whole process entertaining instead of stressful and when reading essays from friends who were working without consultants I could definitely see the difference her insights made on my own. It was a great experience working with her and I recommend it highly!

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