Kate is awesome! Aside from being kind and understanding, she was so helpful and supportive throughout the entire process. With all the different elements, from essays to interviews, Kate was an incredible resource and sounding board who helped alleviate so much stress by breaking up the process into manageable pieces. She gave excellent guidance, kept me on track, and was extremely quick to respond to any questions I had.

Kate really took the time to learn about me and my goals, and she helped me to develop my story in a way that would stand out to the schools I was applying to.

I am very thankful for the support she provided throughout my MBA application journey. I definitely would have felt lost without her help. I would absolutely recommend her as an admissions consultant!

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Working with Gavriella totally exceeded my expectations. The process was really smooth and although we were short of time she connected with my story immediately and helped me outline it in the best way possible. She was very detailed-oriented, and precise with her contributions… It was the third eye I needed to accomplish a well-rounded application. She was very efficient and we even had the opportunity to check other essays! After submitting everything we kept in touch, fact that made me notice she was very diligent with her work.
I was skeptical of acquiring this kind of services but it was an investment I'll never regret. I totally recommend MBA Mission and Gavriella.

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I suspect many MBA applicants view the admissions consulting business with a fair measure of cynicism. I certainly did. The upfront cost is high, most firms market comparable services at a similar price point, and online reviews are almost uniformly positive. Yet, after my first conversation with Katy Lewis, I immediately realized she would be a valuable partner and advisor. I am now fortunate to also call her a friend.

I write this testimonial as someone who was accepted to Harvard, Stanford, and Wharton in a historically competitive admissions cycle. Even if I did not achieve these incredible outcomes, I would value Katy’s services equally highly. Katy has received dozens of testimonials speaking to her personality, work ethic, dedication, and value for interview preparation. I wholeheartedly agree with these reviews. I now want to highlight some additional facets of Katy’s work that, while less obvious, are perhaps even more important.

Katy’s education and experience seem custom-tailored to her present role. She unites the strategic thinking of a McKinsey consultant with the discerning and critical eye of an attorney. As an HBS alum and former member of the Stanford GSB admission committee, she brings a true depth of understanding to the application process. Moreover, Katy has years of experience working with clients specifically targeting the top three MBA programs in the country. Carefully read the bios of admissions consultants from other firms; buried in a sea of self-congratulatory superlatives you might find one or two relevant substantive experiences. With Katy, every relevant skillset and experience is brought into play. If you are serious about optimizing your chances, why compromise?

Katy demonstrated a sophisticated and enthusiastic understanding of my background and career aspirations. Though we do not share a similar professional background, Katy immediately and intuitively grasped the “narrative arc” uniting my educational and professional experiences. This ability allowed Katy to provide individualized, thoughtful, and nuanced advice specific to my situation. Thus, contrary to prevailing wisdom, Katy advised me to apply in round 2, which proved to be a shrewd (and very beneficial) decision. Any consultant can provide generic advice about the various components of the application (essay, recommenders, employment, etc…) Katy’s value was most evident in those ambiguous situations that ultimately come down to a matter of sound judgment.

Katy was incredibly proactive at all stages of the application process. She volunteered to reach out to my letter writers to provide some insight into the MBA admissions process. As I come from a non-traditional background, my recommenders had never written a letter of recommendation for admission to business school. Understanding the admissions criteria helped my recommenders more effectively communicate their sentiments. Perhaps most importantly, I felt like my own voice, style, and values, and motivations were clearly present in each and every application. At no point did Katy attempt to “package” my unique story into a template.

Returning to my skepticism regarding admissions consultants, I do suspect that in 99% of cases they are ineffectual or downright harmful. Katy Lewis is the other 1%.

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I signed up for hourly services with Kate as a reapplicant to three T10 schools. Though I had friends (who went to M7 schools) help me with overall strategy and general guidance, Kate's input was valuable in crafting a unique and coherent story across different aspects of my application. She helped me with re-analyzing my career goals while nudging me into pursuing a PT MBA, given the stage of my career. Kate was always prompt in essay edits and timely in response to my emails. She also helped me greatly with my interview prep.

In the end, working with Kate turned out to be a great decision, as I was accepted into multiple FT and PT programs and I'm Kellogg bound this Fall!

Throughout my application process, Kate was a constant source of support and guidance. She is personable, humble, and very easy to work with. I strongly recommend her to anyone who is applying to a top MBA program.

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The answer is YES! When I got the HBS offer finally, there were too many people I want to say thank you. Among them, I think the critical person is my HBS mock interviewer Devi Vallabhaneni. I feel so lucky to know her from another HBS alumni, who also got huge help from Devi. He told me that Devi is very effective and sharp. I booked Devi’s mock session immediately. Although I only had one week left to my HBS interview, Devi still helped me arrange two mock sessions with qualified interval for me. I extremely enjoyed the mock sessions with Devi and her mock questions did happen in the real interview. One of the answers that Devi guided me also impressed my real interviewer of HBS because the real interviewer sent congratulations letter to me and mentioned that answer. Without Devi’s help and encouragement, I cannot improve so effectively and quickly. Devi told me the secret of interview. I felt so satisfied and happy after my real interview because I prepared almost every question and I knew my answer was sharpened by Devi’s professional advices. It’s Devi that helped me perform well and got HBS offer!
If you see this, trust me, Devi is the best and the highest ROI investment in your MBA application journey!

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What started as a mentoring-mentee relationship turned into almost a friendship at the end. Devi truly connected with me to learn more about my background and how that can help me in my interview. Every step of the way, she encouraged me to be my true self, and guess what, it worked!
Her tips are priceless. Her advice on your story is second to none!
What started as a mentoring-mentee relationship turned into almost a friendship at the end. Devi truly connected with me to learn more about my background and how that can help me in my interview. Every step of the way, she encouraged me to be my true self, and guess what, it worked!
Her tips are priceless. Her advice on your story is second to none!

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As many prospective students will quickly find out, top MBA programs really want to hear your story and there is no better person than Katy to help you with the introspection process. She has this unique ability to get to know you as a person and help get that authentic self across to the admissions committee. Together, we were able to brainstorm specific themes of my life, how they were important to me, and communicated those in my essays.

Through all of her help, I was able to secure R1 interviews at 6 top programs - Stanford GSB, HBS, Booth, Kellogg, Tuck, and Yale. She spent a lot of time prepping me for my interviews and provided her perspectives on each of the different programs.

Because of Katy's help, I was able to secure multiple offers and ultimately accepted my offer to attend Stanford GSB. I truly cannot recommend Katy enough as an admissions consultant and now as a friend!

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I found Helen extremely useful for soundboarding all things MBA related - from the admissions process to brainstorming to essay construction to the interview prep! Her knowledge and expertise made me feel at ease and confident in her advice. It took me several iterations before I settled on the topic of my essays but throughout the process Helen was extremely patient and able to help extract the stories that resonated most with me. Her advice never lacked clarity or reason, and I found her warm yet to-the-point style extremely helpful in making progress. Ultimately, I was accepted into both schools I applied for!

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My first encounter with Nisha was through one of mbaMission’s free online workshops. I was quickly drawn to Nisha’s bright personality and her passion for helping applicants realize their MBA aspirations. As I listened to Nisha present, it became clear to me that she had extensive knowledge of the application process and experience working with many different types of candidates.

Shortly after the session, I decided to purchase the Start-to-Finish package and I’m so grateful that I chose Nisha as my MBA consultant. Right from the start, Nisha provided great insight into the application process and worked with me to come up with a detailed game plan for my applications. I was very impressed with how much time and effort Nisha put into getting to know me and understanding my background as well as my motivations for pursuing an MBA.

Nisha always came well prepared to our discussions and it was very easy to have an open conversation with her. I really appreciated how Nisha pushed me to dig deep and self-reflect on my experiences, helping me to make the most of my stories. She gave targeted feedback throughout the essay writing process and was extremely responsive, answering any questions that I had along the way. Nisha was also incredibly helpful in my interview preparation; she advised me on the different types of interview styles that I could expect to see and ran me through mock interviews that closely simulated my actual interviews. Practicing my stories with Nisha and incorporating her feedback helped me feel confident and much more comfortable during my live interviews.

Overall, Nisha far exceeded my expectations and I highly recommend working with her to any applicants beginning their MBA journey. With her guidance I was able to get into one of my top programs and I can’t thank her enough for all her support throughout my applications!

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I worked with Helen Summers on my application for HBS and GSB. I was accepted into HBS and interviewed for GSB.

For me it was important to have someone who resonated with me, had experience with the schools I was applying for and could be candid in their feedback...Helen for me ticked all of these boxes!! She was very energetic, super easy to work with and gave very direct and candid feedback when I was going off on a tangent in my essays/short-answers. I also recommended Helen to my partner who has been admitted into both HBS and GSB!

Although the financial commitment to hire a consultant can be very daunting (I personally thought about it A LOT before committing), Helen helped me to ensure every part of my application was at its best, which gave me a huge peace of mind knowing that I was putting forward my best application.

Good luck!

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