When I started my MBA journey, I knew that I wanted to work with an admissions consultant company. Coming from an education/non-profit background, I wanted more guidance on the business school process and most importantly, crafting the importance of an MBA degree into my life story.

I did my research when I was looking into different consultant companies. I took the 30 minute initial phone call from many different companies (ex: Stacy Blackman) and ultimately decided that mbaMission was the best fit. They understood my background and had the best grasp on the intersection of business and education. This was key to me because I knew that a well written essay and narrative was my shot to getting into a top 15 program.

The best part about working with Kate was her incredible ability to truly listen and and connect with her clients. During the brainstorming session, she really got to know me and my life story. Her depth and understanding allowed her to guide me in creating a clear and compelling narrative for my business school essays. When I was accepted into my top choice, they specifically referenced the powerful story in my essay. Without Kate, I wouldn't have been able to create a concise but moving story that explains how an MBA fits into my "non-traditional" background.

As someone that does not have traditional business experience, it was also great to have Kate as a resource for every other part of the application process. The MBA application process is pretty much like having another job, so having someone else to call or talk to was definitely a stress reliever. She was always available to chat over email or video chat about big or small questions. Sometimes we would go over important interview questions and other times she would just listen to me vent about the GRE and give me study resources. No matter what, she always responded quickly and gave out truthful advice.

If you are looking for someone that will help you realize exactly why you want an MBA degree and support you every step of the way, I would recommend working with Kate. She is a great person and an amazing consultant.

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I applied to five top programs, and Krista helped me throughout various stages of the process for each of the five schools on an hourly basis (brainstorming during the essay process, proofreading and providing suggestions for essays, mock interviews), and without Krista, I would not be where I am today—enrolling in Sloan in the fall with a scholarship for my first year!

1) Krista is incredibly personable and thoughtful—she truly got to know me – my interests, my aspirations, my work / academic experience, my background. She helped me tailor my application to reflect who I am and what I wanted to say, highlighting my strengths. For example, I had an “optional essay” for one of the programs I applied to that could be in any medium of my choice. Krista was familiar with my professional background (I work in hotel / property development). She suggested a website (something I would not have thought of) to showcase my work (lots of renderings/design drawings), which ended up turning out really well—a creative solution that was representation of who I am and something I was truly proud of. And this was because she put thought into what I should create that would best showcase and reflect ME as a person.

2) Krista was always timely at providing feedback and setting up phone calls—she was always available to chat whenever I needed to.

3) She is detailed-oriented and constructive in her feedback on essays and short answers--and puts a lot of effort into tweaking language, style, and content based on characteristics of each school--something I would have overlooked without her.

4) She alleviated a lot of stress and a lot of my concerns about the process. I was initially really anxious about applying to business schools, but Krista was a constant source of support, guidance, and knowledge about the process—and I really would have been a lot less efficient and effective during the entire process without her help.

Overall, Krista made the whole process a lot more efficient and a lot more enjoyable than I had anticipated, and I am really happy with the final outcome—having the opportunity to attend one of my top choices in the fall! Thanks again, Krista!

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I chose John as my admissions consultant because I read that he liked storytelling and would help me tell my story to the Admissions Committee convincingly and authentically. He absolutely delivered. John and I went talked through my approach to the essays, and he guided me to craft my experiences in a structured way that would allow the Admissions Committee to find what they were looking for. We went back and forth on many drafts, and John pushed me to a winning draft of one of my Wharton essays. When John went on paternity leave, he ensured that I was in good hands to finish off the Wharton application (which eventually gained me admission).

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I hired MBA Mission because I was a non-traditional applicant who wanted a lot of guidance throughout the process. I sought out Angela specifically because of her involvement with the Forte Foundation.

Angela is very straightforward, but is good humored and easy to work with. She provided valuable feedback and information about virtually every facet of the application, but I never felt like she was nudging me towards a certain school or writing my essays for me. Anyone can point out candidate weaknesses, but Angela had specific ideas about how to “plug the holes” that were all achievable in a constricted timeframe. I appreciated how promptly she responded to my emails and edited my essay drafts. Everything I sent her was returned to me within 48 hours.

The school package is pricey, but I felt like it was money well spent. After I paid, I never felt like Angela was trying to nickel and dime me. I never paid for extra services even though she probably could have charged me in a couple of cases.

Thanks Angela!

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I met Angela through the Forte 2016 MBALaunch program. She was sharp, persuasive, and authentic. I respected her from the get-go and immediately felt like we’d get along. When it came time for applications and picking a MBA consultant, I knew Angela would be my top choice.

I have a wide network of friends/acquaintances that are in the business world, in b-school or are alums. As I was talking to folks to get a pulse of the different schools, I realized that all of them have different opinions which I was getting swayed by, and I needed a sounding board to stay true to myself in this process. A professional that would understand my life story, my goals, my dreams and not let me lose sight of myself as I applied – which is exactly what Angela did!

Angela essentially knew my entire life story after reading the 25+ brainstorming document I created prior to our first real call. She helped me think through the parts of my story that I wanted to share in that essay. My essay was a very personal life story about what I’m passionate about, why and how that came to be. After it reached a point where I felt it was final, I sent it to a 5 friends for feedback (3 applying to b-school, 1 at HBS and 1 alum). All of them had varying feedback, but they all said that I needed to vastly change my essay or at least ½ of it. One friend forwarded it to her brother. Her brother sent it to an HBS alum, who reached out to me and tore my essay apart. This was a week before the deadline, and he essentially told me I needed to start from scratch and apply round 2.

After hearing all of this feedback, I went back to Angela – confused and upset. I didn’t know what to do. Angela helped me process the feedback and think through it piece by piece. She fully supported me changing it if I wanted, but she helped me remember that this essay is a true reflection of me and my most honest and authentic answer to HBS’s essay prompt. I decided not making any changes to my essay and turned it in.

Ultimately, I was accepted into HBS! I was also accepted into Wharton, Kellogg with a sizeable scholarship, and Berkeley.

I know I couldn’t have applied to 5 schools during round 1 without Angela’s support for 3 of them. She helped me not only be true to myself, but also stay accountable. The MBA Mission turnaround time of 2 days to review submitted documents to consultants helped me not procrastinate and get my apps done in a timely manner. I turned in all 3 of my apps that I worked on with her many days prior to the deadline.

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It all started with a free 30 minute consultation which is when I realized the value Jessica would add to my application. I had tried many other consultants and none of them were bad. But this 30 minute conversation blew me away. I can assure you that no other consultant will really invest so much into studying your profile and offering you free advice loaded with value and that too for free.

Then comes the next good thing. They will never press you to purchase their services. Actually, they dont need to. I am sure any applicant will be convinced about them after a single conversation.

Jessica helped me - a true mentor, pressing me to deliver my best, and supported me with her expertise and making me delve deeper at every step to discover my true potential. I will forever be thankful for her support and inspiration.

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When I decided that attaining an MBA was going to be the next step in my life, I knew that I was going to need help in the application process (especially given the fact, I only planned to apply to one program). I knew that I was going to seek help from an MBA admissions consulting firm – but did not know which one I was going to choose. After having multiple 30 minute (free) consultations with a few firms (e.g. Stacy Blackman, Veritas Prep, and mbaMission), I decided that I liked mbaMission best.

However, I am not writing a review to compare mbaMission to other firms. I am writing a review of the work Kate Richardson (my mbaMission admissions consultant) performed that allowed me to get into the Johns Hopkins/MICA’s Design Leadership program with a merit-based scholarship.

Kate is truly a great consultant. She catered to my needs and made the admissions process smooth and even quite fun. I would say the top three things that Kate helped me with were: 1) essay writing/editing, 2) strategy and detail, 3) staying true to myself.

As it pertains to essay writing/editing, Kate helped me recognize what stories in my life were going to make the strongest impact on the admissions committee and helped me outline what specific parts of those stories were going to be most pertinent to illustrate. Furthermore, once I started writing the essays, Kate provided insightful notes on my drafts that allowed me to fine tune the tone, clarity, and vividness of the messages I was trying to get across.

Regarding strategy and detail, Kate helped me ensure that the content of my essays, recommendation (only one is required for the program I applied to), and Linkedin profile all dovetailed one another. This is extremely important given the fact that the essays I had to write had 500-word limits. It is not efficient or effective to say the same things in multiple essays or have your recommender share the same story you wrote about in an essay (unless he/she has significantly different things to say than you do). With Kate’s help, I felt confident that my materials never overlapped, but complemented one another.

Thirdly, Kate never pushed me to write or do anything as it pertains to my admissions portfolio that I felt wasn’t me – which I think is most important. I felt that the application I submitted was the best representation of myself that I could have provided the admissions committee (while staying true to what I believed needed to be said).

In closing, if anyone is thinking about get an MBA and has the capital to hire an MBA admissions consultant during the admissions process, I highly recommend Kate without reservation. She is knowledgeable, intelligent, and easy to talk with. More importantly, she gets the job done.

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Jessica is incredible. I was very knowledgeable about the MBA process coming in, but still wanted a professional to review my essays and help with interview prep on an hourly basis. I selected Jessica based on her glowing GmatClub reviews.

I applied to 5 M7 schools Round 1 in Fall 2016, interviewed with 3, accepted to 2 (waitlisted at 1). Due to my schedule, I was unable to begin working on my applications until July. Jessica's targeted insight into what adcoms and specific schools were looking for helped me develop a roadmap for the two months before applications were due. She's also very gifted in helping you realize the best stories and themes to showcase in your applications. Jessica is honest in all of her feedback, which is invaluable, yet supportive in making you feel like you have a real shot at your reach schools.

Jessica is very conscientious of helping you get the most out of your time with her. Even during her busiest periods, she often turned around essay edits before the standard MBA Mission 48-hr response time and responded to any questions within 1-2 hours. When I added an application to my list with less than two weeks before the deadline, Jessica worked with me to do three reviews of the essay in just over a week.

Ultimately, I was admitted to Chicago Booth, Columbia, and waitlisted at MIT. I can't thank Jessica enough for her help and highly recommend her to any aspiring MBA applicant!

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I had a wonderful experience working with John Sisk from mbaMission. I knew John was committed from our very first conversation, a free, 30-minute phone consultation. He asked detailed questions about my previous experiences and future goals, and based on what he heard, encouraged me to take a quantitative course prior to applying to bolster my quantitative profile. I ended up taking an Accounting course through UCLA Extension (one of several online options John provided immediately following our phone call); I do believe this made a positive difference in my application process, and I credit that entirely to John. As I began to write my essays, John was there every step of the way; he provided timely, detailed, and thoughtful feedback and also made himself available do discuss questions over the phone when I preferred. John was on paternity leave for part of my application process, but ensured a very smooth transition to another consultant from mbaMission (the founder), who was equally as helpful and responsive. The success I had in my application process (getting into 4 out of 5 schools) was certainly due in part to mbaMission! They helped me articulate my story in a way that clearly resonated with admissions committees. My "voice" was not taken away in the process; rather, it was strengthened by their advice and guidance.

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Krista Nannery was assigned to me as my consultant for the “Start-to-Finish” package for 6 schools whose applications I worked on from June – November 2016 for Round 1 of the 2016-2017 admissions cycle. Wow, was I lucky to have Krista, I could not have asked for anything more in the experience. She helped me beyond what I even thought was possible for an admissions consultant.

The most important way she helped me is probably one that goes overlooked when judging the value of a consultant. I am a white male with a pretty bland job, and in general I thought there just wasn’t anything that interesting about me. Krista completely changed the way I view myself, and for that I cannot thank her enough. She took the time to really get to know me and learn about all of my accomplishments and desires. She disagreed with my assessment, and over time convinced me that there were interesting and unique aspects of my profile that we could use. When it came to the essays, she had ways of tying together experiences and stories that best conveyed my message. When we would discuss topics for a given essay, she would bring up things that I had completely forgotten about. She would point out patterns in my history and personality that I didn’t even know existed. At times, it seemed that she knew me better than I knew myself. This was a priceless component of our collaboration that I am sure made the difference in my applications.

Aside from her magical ability to make a bland applicant shine, Krista was brilliant in all the technical aspects you might expect from a consultant. She is a marvelous essay reviewer and would help me transform my wordy and rambling prose into crisp, clear B-School essays. She also knows the process inside and out. She always had a plan and was one step ahead of me. As I was finishing one phase of the process, she had already mapped out what to do next, and so was constantly pushing me to get the most out of the process. If I ever asked something particularly new, she always had a colleague or contact she could ask for a second opinion, which she would get back to me extremely quickly. And that is the other thing, Krista is FAST and EFFICIENT. I sometimes felt like her only client- she would turn things around much faster than the MBA mission contractual 2-day turnaround policy. At first I was slightly worried when Krista mentioned that she was based on London (I was in NYC), but this actually turned out to be an advantage. While I was sleeping, she was working, so that when I woke up in the morning I had a beautifully edited draft of my latest essay waiting in my inbox. Krista will work really hard for you and get the job done, period.

Aside from all this, what really sets Krista apart is her personality and dedication. She has what I would best characterize as a bedside manner. The process can be stressful, but Krista will always make you feel better and get your head back in the game. For me this happened when we did our first mock interview, which I did extremely poorly. Krista handled it very well, and had some great suggestions for me. She made sure we scheduled another round before my first interview. Her advice made all the difference; I came back a different candidate, one totally prepared for my interview. Because of all this, Krista is not just my consultant, but now my friend; I feel very lucky to have met her. It is because of her that I was accepted to Booth and Wharton. I enthusiastically recommend Krista to future MBA applicants.

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