Just a little background about me to make everything easier to understand: I am Chinese but moved to the United States more than 10 years ago. I attended Rice University for architecture and graduated in 2021. During college, I took the GRE and scored 330 (163+167), maintaining a GPA of 3.52+4.0. Rice University awards architecture students two degrees: Bachelor of Art in Architecture and Bachelor of Architecture. After graduation, I worked for an architecture firm in Chicago for three years before applying to MBA programs, accumulating four years of work experience in total.
Strengths of the Consulting Service:
1. Industry Understanding: Harold possesses a deep understanding of my industry, which is crucial for a non-traditional applicant like myself. As a Chinese male in architecture entering business school, I was apprehensive due to the rarity of individuals from my field pursuing an MBA. Harold's experience in real estate proved invaluable during our sessions. Unlike other consultants, he comprehended the nuances of my industry, providing tailored advice. For instance, he suggested exploring real estate private equity with a social impact focus, aligning with my volunteer work. This insight connected my short-term and long-term career goals in a way that only someone familiar with the industry could achieve.
2. Resume Refinement: Harold excels at refining resumes. He guided the transformation of my architectural resume into a business-oriented one, emphasizing numerical achievements and impacts. Through multiple rounds of refinement, he even sought input from his colleagues, ensuring a comprehensive and polished result.
3. Essay Theme Development: Harold demonstrated a keen ability to identify and articulate the central theme of my essays. After reviewing my extensive brainstorming materials, he promptly proposed a theme that perfectly aligned with my vision. In this case, we nailed down “notion of home” to emphasize my architecture’s identity. Our collaborative approach allowed us to refine the essays further, selecting impactful life stories tailored to each school's essay topics. Harold's constant infusion of creative ideas elevated the quality of my essays.
4. Timely Document Turnaround: As a busy architect, I appreciated Harold's efficiency in turning around documents. Despite my weekend writing schedule, he consistently returned revised essays within 1-2 days. This professional approach provided a steady rhythm for the application process. Please note: Sometimes Harold has gotten documents back to me in less than 2 business days, it is only because he was able to sneak them in. As approaching deadlines, his queue will be at a 2 business day turnaround as indicated in the contract.
5. Recommendation Letter Review: Harold's proficiency extended to reviewing recommendation letters. Upon evaluating my boss's letters, he identified the need for concrete examples and communicated this clearly to my recommender, enhancing the letters' credibility.
6. Emotional Support: Harold's unwavering support played a pivotal role throughout the stressful application process. Facing moments of doubt and panic, his availability and encouragement helped alleviate the challenges. The importance of a supportive consultant cannot be overstated during such a demanding process.
7. Insider Information: As part of a large MBA application consulting team, Harold provided valuable insider information, including previous interview questions and strategies to help me transition from a non-business background to speaking confidently as a business professional.
In conclusion, Harold's professionalism and expertise were instrumental in my acceptance to Booth, CBS, Kellogg, Haas with scholarship, Stern, and an interview invitation at HBS. For anyone considering an MBA consultant, Harold is the ideal choice. The application process is a joint venture, requiring both the applicant's diligence and the consultant's expertise to ensure success.

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I've been working with Jen for the past few months and my experience with her was amazing. Firstly, my situation was very nuanced (I was considering forgoing a part-time US program and applying for a European full-time program). Second, I did not have too much time applying when I started working with her and wanted to apply for the R1 deadline. Jen took time to get to know me and did not get scared away with my special circumstance. Instead, she called out several areas that I had never thought about before that I thought were super helpful for my application. Once I started working with her, a few things stand out as well. First, she is very knowledgeable about the whole process and especially on European programs. Her expertise and knowledge make my application more efficient. Second, she is real friendly, patient, and effective. For each of my draft she spent thorough time to review and comments. Her feedback was honest, but also help me unlock ideas and stories for future drafts. She always deliver on time, and even went above and beyond. I treated her as a thought parter and coach, and really appreciate her advice. Eventually, I've received offer from both Cambridge and Oxford. Without her, I think getting my dreams programs will be much harder. Thank you Jen!! :)

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Debbie helped me get into 2 out of 3 HSW schools, including my DREAM school. To start, I had consultations with several consulting firms (Stacy Blackman, mbaMission, Fortuna, etc) and immediately gravitated towards Debbie. The most important thing you want in an MBA consultant is someone you feel comfortable with and Debbie was definitely that person! She's extremely nice, encouraging, and constructive (while also being positive). During our sessions where we brainstormed essay ideas, I never felt judged when I shared my ideas, even if she didn't necessarily agree. Instead, she built off my thinking (in order to keep the essays genuine to me) while steering me in the direction that would lead to a more successful application essay for each respective school. Each school has a preferred “style” for their essays that I never would’ve known if it weren’t for Debbie’s insight. During interview prep, Debbie provided really helpful feedback and, more importantly, boosted my confidence to ease my nerves.

Debbie became one of my biggest supporters during the application process, and I’m so glad to have chosen her, and mbaMission, to guide me along the way. Definitely recommend!

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Harold is a rock star. I'm so glad I decided to go with him and mbaMission, and I truly would not have been admitted to Sloan without him. He was incredibly invested in my admissions process, and since Sloan was the only school I was applying to, he was incredibly pointed and diligent in making sure I put together the best possible application. I never had to worry about delayed responses or missing deadlines since Harold was incredibly timely (oftentimes responding at 5 or 6 a.m. to exceed expectations). He always had a smile on his face and offered his unwavering support during each step of my application.

Harold was also tremendous at editing my essays. I'm forever grateful for Harold and would not have gotten to where I am without him.

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I am not from a traditional background and had to admit I don't know much about MBA initially when I decided to apply. From a 30-minute call with Debbie, I was able to create a rough plan for my MBA application journey. Since I got in touch with her early in the cycle, Debbie provided some good advices on how to enhance my profile with more extracurriculars.

During the brainstorm session, Debbie helped me find a unique story out of my ordinary background, which was a result of multiple deep conversations. It's the most critical step when I worked with Debbie since it settled the whole theme of essays. Throughout the essay drafting process, Debbie is very responsible, and reply within the timeframe as always. We devoted quite some time to the essays together, and I am very happy about how the essays turned out.

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Katy is phenomenal at what she does – I would highly recommend her if you are thinking about applying to top MBA programs. I worked with her for my round one applications and got accepted into the MS/MBA Biotechnology program at Harvard as well as the MBA programs at Stanford GSB, Wharton, and MIT Sloan. What stands out to me about working with Katy is her highly personalized approach and deep expertise in every aspect of the admissions process across schools and programs.

During our brainstorming session, Katy did an excellent job of guiding me to reflect on and weave together different elements of my life story to develop the outline of what would become my main essay for Harvard and Stanford. Then, we worked together on dozens of drafts of these essays. I have a penchant for writing a lot, and what I loved about working with Katy was the way in which he helped me whittle down words while keeping the essence of my voice and making my essays even more compelling. When I read my final essays, I was left feeling more inspired and motivated to pursue my dreams.

She did the same thing for the many short answer questions I had to complete, meticulously reviewing them and providing sage advice on how to harness them as an opportunity to bring to life my whole personality and range of experiences to the admissions committee. When I got invitations to interview, Katy prepared detailed mock interviews tailored for each school and did a stellar job of preparing me to feel confident and natural in all my interviews. Because of the coaching Katy provided me, I genuinely enjoyed all my interviews – I have never felt this way before.

Overall, I absolutely loved working with Katy. She is very smart, empathetic, kind, honest, strategic, and generous. In addition to being an exceptional MBA admissions consultant, Katy is a wonderful life counselor given all the wisdom she has amassed from working with so many accomplished clients and her rich and diverse career experiences (McKinsey, law, education, government) and educational background (Harvard JD/MBA).

My main advice to applicants who want to work with Katy – speak to her as soon as you start thinking about business school and start the application process very early. The more time you have to reflect on your story and aspirations, shore up your credentials, and work on preparing your applications, the better the outcomes you will achieve.

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I recently had the pleasure of working with Michael Guttman for my round 1 application strategy. I bought a two-hour package with MBAmission and feel that despite the high price tag, it was money well spent. Michael made great use of my limited time, advising me on how to present myself as a non-traditional candidate and providing helpful feedback to my recommenders.

Michael helped me clarify my story and significantly improve my resume, pushing me to dig deeper and highlight my best leadership accomplishments while cutting unnecessary details. I feel that this was very high impact work - I think anyone would benefit greatly from working with Michael. I ended up with admits and significant scholarships from Booth ($80k), Haas ($100k), Ross (full-ride) Anderson ($120k), and Kenan-Flagler (full-ride)!!

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With Debbie's support and guidance, I have recently been accepted to 2 M7s and 1 T15 programs!

Debbie is the supportive, methodical, and insightful consultant I knew I needed when I first started out on my MBA application journey. Just a few reasons (of many!) that made her stand out...

1. Confidence - Going into this process, I had felt this pressure to stand out against a sea of applicants and feared that my background / experience was too "average." Debbie helped me build the confidence to present my authentic self and share my unique story. I loved that she never tried to change my voice as I was writing essays (one of my biggest fears when I was first considering a consultant!) but rather focused on asking probing questions or highlighting opportunities for improvement - without sacrificing my personal color.

2. Structure - MBA applications can feel overwhelming and stressful, especially when you are also balancing professional and personal lives. When I first started, I wasn't even quite sure where to begin. But Debbie provided the needed structure and kept each of our meetings targeted and efficient with a clear outcome. This made it easier for me to take things in bite-sized chunks.

3. Support - Debbie is extremely personable and supportive! I think it's important to work with someone you trust and someone who is invested in your success. Debbie has been consistently encouraging and excited about the milestones along the way - from my first interview invite to my latest acceptances - and I'm truly grateful for this level of support and investment.

I highly recommend working with Debbie - she's the best!

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Nisha is truly the most amazing consultant. I was hesitant to pay for an admissions consultant at first, but my time with Nisha was 100% worth it. For the 4 schools I applied for, Nisha helped me get accepted from Harvard, Wharton and MIT, waitlisted from Stanford - seriously the best outcomes possible.

She is extremely warm and supportive - Nisha made me feel so comfortable, ensuring I could get very vulnerable in my applications.

She was an amazing sounding board - to make sure every story and anecdote in my application reflected the best part of me, and also she is an expert at knowing what the schools are looking for.

When it was essay crunch time, Nisha went the extra mile to make sure I had edits as soon as possible. She always responded to emails promptly, scheduled Zoom calls when needed and helped me so much to be concise! With any questions, Nisha gives a firm and kind response - she also will double-check with other mbaMission consultants to get their input, so you get the best answer possible.

Could not rate Nisha more highly!!!

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Michael was fantastic to work with throughout the application process. I would highly recommend working with him. When deciding on a consultant, I met with a few different ones to get a feel for how they work. Michael was the only one who looked past my lower GMAT scores and offered solutions to bolster other aspects of my application. He genuinely took the time to get to know me and was hands-on throughout the process. He met me at my needs, providing prompt and detailed feedback on each of my essays, and really dug in to help craft my story. As a result, I was accepted to Wharton and Columbia and will attend Wharton! I didn't think any of this would be possible just a few short months ago, so I would highly recommend working with Michael.

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