I had a fantastic experience with Krista Nannery during my MBA application process.

I chose Krista based on her Financial Services and overall background, and I had a phenomenal free 30-minute introductory call with her.

Krista was able to quickly and efficiently distill my background and help me highlight the important achievements throughout my professional and personal career. She was extremely helpful in forcing me to identify and focus on achievements and skill sets that I would not have addressed.

This level of value continued throughout the entire application process. She consistently and succinctly provided constructive criticism through the mock interview, video interview, and application process.

For anyone considering an application consultant, I would highly recommend Krista. Not only does she perfectly walk you through the application process, but she also thinks outside the box to enhance, differentiate and improve your overall application.

I worked with Krista on one top 10 program which I was accepted to.

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I highly recommend working with Debbie Choy at mbaMission , because she is the reason I got accepted to my dream b-school.

Last year, I applied to five b-schools on my own and I got dinged from all of them even without any interview invitation. I have a successful professional resume in healthcare industry with low GMAT and I did not know how to tell my story for my application.

So this year, I decided to work with a consultant. And I found mbaMission and luckily I started to work with top-notch consultant, Debbie Choy. I applied to 6 b-schools in total and used a 2-school package.

Because of Debbie’s help, I came out of the application process feeling confident and armed with much clarity. Debbie really helped my story stand out.

Her turnaround for essay reviews was so fast, and she pointed out weaknesses that I could not have noticed before. Because I am an international applicant, it was hard for me to figure out what to say during my interviews. Mock-interviews I had with Debbie were hugely helpful for me, she addressed flaws and weaknesses that helped me polish my answers and determine which stories to emphasize. Her help and feedbacks for interviews will be helpful for my future job interviews, as well.

After all my applications were submitted, I got into 4 b-schools with scholarships. Most importantly, I received an interview to my top choice program and was admitted with a scholarship and an assistantship.

I am pretty sure that I would not have gotten into my program without Debbie’s help. I have been extremely pleased with mbaMission’s services. And I would HIGLY recommend–Debbie Choy- to anyone who wants to work with enthusiastic, creative and experienced consultant, and who makes the application process enjoyable.

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I had a wonderful experience working with my advisor at Stratus prep, Harold Simansky. Harold not only helped me pick the best schools to fit my background and career goals, but also showed me how to tell my “story”. I got into two great schools Owen and Olin and I can honestly say that I don’t think I could have done it without his guidance. Harold always responded in a timely manner and provided the support and encouragement I needed to get through this process. Harold helped me change the course of my life and I am forever grateful.

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I first met Angela through the Forte Foundation where her webinars really stood out as having uniquely practical, actionable, and smart advice. In the saturated space of MBA admissions consulting, it was refreshing to hear Angela present with her signature amount of energy and drive. When I ultimately decided to apply to school and to select a consulting firm, Angela and mbaMission was the obvious choice. Working with Angela is undoubtedly one of the best investment decisions I have made to-date, and it not only made my MBA application process stress-free and fun, but also a great opportunity to truly reflect on myself and my goals.

In the end I was accepted to both of my top choice schools: Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, and UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.

A few notes on what made this journey with Angela fantastic:

How did you get here? Where are you going?
Angela’s ability to bring out the best in her clients is a natural talent. Out of a million different ways that I could have told my story, Angela helped guide me towards the one that felt most authentic and genuine. I came out of the essay writing process feeling confident, grounded and armed with a much greater clarity of my own narrative.

Brevity is the soul of wit
Editing – everything from essays to resume to short answer questions – is by far the toughest, but most critical task and Angela was incredibly helpful in providing constructive criticism tailored to each piece of the application and each school. Trimming down your work from “could this qualify as a novel?” to “YES 450 WORDS EXACTLY” is daunting, but quick, clear, and laser-focused feedback from Angela can calm even the most frayed nerves.

Details, details, details
Beyond the application there are a lot of small details you don’t really think about until you are in the thick of things and panicking. Whether it’s questions/emails for the admissions office, scholarships, deposits, the decision-making – everything could have an impact on the admissions process. I tend to get mired in the small stuff, and being able to send Angela a quick question knowing I will receive a reliable and fast response made all the difference in my confidence that I did the very best I could in my applications to business school.

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I will say this without equivocation and for the world to hear: Melissa Blakeslee at MBAmission is the reason I got into a top 5 B-School. How can I say that with such certitude? Because it sure as stuff wasn't my 690 GMAT. And my inconsistent, all-over-the-map work experience didn't exactly help either.

Melissa knew how to bring out my story and how to frame, share and ultimately sell that story to an admissions counselor. Over the course of several months, Melissa skillfully guided me through the process. Melissa was patient and eager to bring out my best work. We brainstormed about my experience, my background and my upbringing working together to genuinely figure out what my contribution to an MBA program would be (that’s ultimately what you’re selling – what do you bring to their table.) Don’t get it wrong. I did the work. You will write, you will rewrite, you will roll your eyes and rewrite again… and by the end, the final product is undeniable.

And she was always available. When things got dicey, she quickly hopped on the phone and talked me off the ledge. Here's what happened - I was sloppy on my resume and botched a date pretty badly. Well, after I got accepted I started reading about background checks and realized the school would probably catch the mistake and potentially revoke my acceptance. Was I overreacting? Maybe. Doesn’t matter. Melissa totally talked me through it meeting my concerns with her admissions knowledge and experience.

Looking back, Melissa made it look so easy. During the course of our engagement, she effortlessly glided from consultant to advisor to mentor to counselor to friend depending on what I needed. Thanks, MB. Lucky to have you in my corner.

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Melissa Merchant at mbaMission made the MBA application process so doable. The schedules and resources that she provided me not only kept me on track, but also took away a lot of the stresses of the many moving parts that are needed for a strong MBA application. From the calls about essay prep, the essay outlines, the edits and feedback to the interview prep and general MBA questions that I had – she had a level of understanding of the process that I would have never been able to get if not for this service. mbaMission took me from an overwhelmed, nervous candidate to a highly organized, strong MBA applicant. Melissa was very objective in her feedback and kept me positive throughout the process. I feel so much more confident in myself because of it.

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After reading so many good reviews & testimonies about Angela as an admission consultant, I wanted Angela to be my consultant. With her advice and company along my MBA journey, I want to say Angela really lives up to her great reputation.

1. Angela helped me strengthen the overall quality of my application.

For those of you who comes from a non-traditional background like me and who don't have someone (or anyone, in my case) going through this MBA process, it's essential to hire a consultant to help you. That's the lesson I learned as a re-applicant.

I'm very lucky to be Angela's client. She put into thoughts every aspect of my application and made sure my entire application came together. She pushed me and my recommenders to produce writings and ideas of the best quality. It's also important to have a well-rounded application that consists so many aspect.

2. Angela has great ideas and un-paralleled story-telling skills.

If you come from a quantitative background as I do, having Angela as your writing and story-telling coach will be really helpful. She can make dull stories shine. More importantly, she will perceive a life experience from an unique angle, which will connect your characteristics to those of a future MBA. She will also help clients show emotions.

In one of our conversations, she pointed out the nature of my work and I had an 'ah-ha' moment. This truly helped me interpret my value more clearly.

3. She is very honest and strict.

As mentioned by many other reviewers, Angela is honest about which schools are reach, stretch and safe for you. She's honest from the beginning to the end.

After writing so many essays, I started to cut myself a little slack and she called me out on it. So trust her.

4. She cares about her clients and she's very reasonably generous

When I was interviewing in Chicago, I had the pleasure to meet her in person. She was very kind to meet me over the weekend and helped me practice in person! That was much more than I expected!

And when she knew I was also applying to other schools, she gave me a few pointers about those schools.

In addition, she's so experience that her insights about business schools in general helped me land a huge fellowship from a top 15 school, which I'm going.

Hope my review and testimony for Angela will help you in your MBA journey.

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For the first several weeks of my MBA application process, I went through it thinking that I would be able to get through everything without third party help. While this was true for most aspects of the application, I grew concerned about the quality of my resume and essays at the 11th hour. So less than a week before the deadline, I decided to bite the bullet and purchase two hours of consulting services from mbaMission to have someone look at my application materials.

I was paired with Susan Kaplan and she was absolutely great. I sent her my resume and three essays, which were swiftly sent back to me, albeit with more red marks than I was expecting to see. The commentary was excellent. I spent the next several nights taking her advice into the wee hours of the morning, practically rewriting everything from scratch. I finally submitted my materials the night before the deadline.

A month later I received my acceptance letter from Columbia, my first choice school. Things probably would not have worked out as well for me if I hadn't had Susan look at my application materials. I would absolutely recommend her services to anyone looking for an extra set of eyes on their application. My one piece of advice would be to do it a bit longer in advance than I did!

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As a re-applicant, I needed my second application to be the best it could be. Even though I have a strong, decade-long professional resume and was able to raise my GMAT over 60 points, I wanted to make sure I took advantage of any help that was available to me. Because I took the Manhattan Prep course, I was entitled to a 30 minute free consultation with mbaMission. After reviewing their consultants I scheduled a time with John Sisk because we have similar backgrounds in terms of our professional experience and I felt he would, more than anyone, understand where I am coming from and know how to best use it that would interest the AdComs. During the consultation he was frank with his assessment of my original applicant profile and provided me a bullet point of what he advises I should do to strengthen my candidacy regardless of if I went with him or not. I was really impressed and appreciative with his thoughts. What sealed the deal was when I told him I wanted him to be completely open and critical with me and my applications. If he felt I was overreaching applying to a certain program or my essays were junk I wanted to know. I’m an adult and straight-to-the-point and won’t take anything personally. He was on the same page and I chose the hourly service because John and I agreed that with me being a re-applicant to more than one school, applying to new schools and my primary help was with my resume and essays, the hourly “a la carte” service would be the best way to go. He would be available to me for any questions/edits/etc. I needed from the application though the interview process.

We first started working on my resume and the first revision was already a huge improvement, cutting it from two pages to one and still keeping all the important details and accomplishments in. After finalizing the resume we started working on the essays. Luckily, most of the programs I applied to last year that I planned to reapply to this year had the same essay topics so I did not have to start from page one for most. I edited my originals before I sent, integrating some ideas from books regarding business school application essays I read but still kept a lot from my first applications. I received John’s revisions and was blown away by his edit. I come from a creative background so my writing tends towards the superfluous. John made my words succinct and, most important, he described to me who my audience is and what they are specifically looking for which helped me steer my following edits. After several back and forths we finally agreed on the best, final versions of each essay I had him review for me. The most important essay we tackled together was my re-applicant essay where we were able to best explain the steps I took over the past year that improved my candidacy.

After all the applications were submitted I received more interview invites than the first time around, from programs I reapplied to and new programs. Most important, I received an interview to my top choice program and was admitted, with a scholarship, which I happily accepted.

Working with John was easy. He was both personable and professional and was readily available. I would send him an essay and he would return with his thoughts and revisions. Ultimately it would be up to me to decide if I would keep the edits, go with my original writing or figure a combination of both and when I felt it was finished. He was very amenable and we would regularly bounce ideas off each other.

I am 100% certain I would not have gotten into my program of choice, or even received multiple interviews to several top-25 MBA programs, without John’s help. Of course there were things I have done personally to better raise my candidate profile such as raising my GMAT, but John’s knowledge of the process and guidance was a difference maker. He enabled me to understand the thought process of the Admissions Committee and was 100% responsible for helping develop my story that successfully resulted in my goal of getting into the business school I wanted. I felt hiring a consultant is an investment and John is totally worth the investment.

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Going in to the admissions process, I was a nervous wreck--unconfident about both my undergrad GPA and my work experience. Just a 30 minute informational call with Krista was enough for me to see how she could dispel my insecurities, highlight my strengths, and re-package my perceived negatives into positives.

Krista was highly professional and efficient during our meetings. Especially during mock interviews, if I ever lost focus, she was quick to bring me back on track. Krista's advice during mock interviews was especially invaluable, and she pointed out flaws that I've been prone to for almost 5-6 years. Not only was her feedback useful for admissions interviews, they will be helpful for future job interviews, as well.

Because Krista helped out in the admissions office at Booth, she brings a tremendous wealth of knowledge and experience. Whenever I hit a roadblock, she can think of another incident or student and draw insights from that. Krista's turnaround for essay review was fast, and she addressed weaknesses that I wouldn't otherwise have noticed, because I haven't seen the sheer volume of essays she has.

Aside from her solid feedback, Krista was also a shrink to me. She was always patient in offering me emotional support and reassurance during a highly stressful time, when I was trying to balance applications and a full-time job.

You could say Krista was more than a consultant to me--she was a friend and mentor. She always tried to be available, and I looked forward to all my calls with her, where I could raise burning questions and count on her for emotional support. When I was accepted to my top choice school, her genuine excitement was palpable. I would recommend Krista to anyone in the market for an excellent admissions consultant.

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