Harold's expertise and support were indispensable from start to finish of my MBA journey. His practical guidance and consistent reassurance made the daunting application process manageable and ultimately successful. Despite my below-average GPA, Harold’s strategic insights led to my acceptance at Dartmouth Tuck and Chicago Booth, with significant scholarships, and admittance to another T10 school.
The process began with strategizing for the GMAT. Harold advised me on the best timing for the exam and identified a score range appropriate for my target schools. His high-level tips were crucial in achieving my desired score within three months. Simultaneously, Harold facilitated an extensive brainstorming process to unearth and polish stories and accomplishments that would resonate in my essays and interviews. His keen eye for detail and deep understanding of what top business schools look for in candidates enabled me to select the most compelling content for my applications.
As we tackled each school's application, Harold's meticulous feedback on my essays was particularly impactful. He helped refine my narratives to ensure clarity and purpose, aligning them closely with each school’s values and expectations. His ability to tailor content to specific schools was remarkable, allowing me to present myself authentically and persuasively.
During the application process, Harold also provided strategic advice on which schools to visit, and which events to attend. He provided me with special contacts at some of the schools that I could reach out to for the particular industry that I was interested in. This not only enhanced my applications but also broadened my understanding of the MBA landscape.
Interview preparations with Harold were thorough, covering frequently asked questions and refining my responses to reflect each school's unique characteristics. His support was crucial in building my confidence and enabling me to handle the toughest questions smoothly, without sounding rehearsed.
After receiving multiple admissions offers, Harold guided me through the scholarship negotiation process, helping me leverage offers effectively to maximize my financial aid. For the schools where I was waitlisted, Harold advised me on additional information to submit and how to communicate effectively with admissions committees, further strengthening my standing.
Harold's professionalism and expertise were matched by his personal dedication and optimism. Throughout this challenging journey, his positive attitude and personalized approach not only bolstered my applications but also kept me motivated and focused. His guidance was a major factor in my successful MBA admissions outcomes, and I am grateful for his involvement.
For anyone navigating the complexities of MBA applications, I wholeheartedly recommend Harold as a knowledgeable, strategic, and supportive teammate who will go above and beyond to ensure your success. His combination of professional acumen and personal commitment makes him an outstanding guide for any prospective MBA student.

Read More

I had a fabulous experience working with Melissa. Her biggest strength is how incredibly engaged she is throughout the application process. During my journey, this meant she helped me understand the strengths of different schools, asked thoughtful questions while brainstorming my essay topics, had an impressively quick turnaround time on edits and questions, kindly kept me on track to my deadlines, and followed up after interviews to hear how they went.
The best part of working with Melissa was how thoughtfully she got to know me as a person and how loud of a cheerleader she was throughout my process. Applying to grad school can cause a lot of stress and uncertainty, but Melissa’s confidence and encouragement guided me through the most difficult times of applying. My admissions results are a testament to her skill. I’m deeply grateful for her partnership and will miss our calls while I’m attending HBS this fall!

Read More

Susan was a great consultant. I did the 30min free session with her at the start which helped me understand how many and which universities I should target. After purchasing the hourly sessions, Susan shared a lot of valuable resources she had prepared to help with the essay writing process. She was very efficient with her time, and I got through the majority of essays I needed to with the hours I purchased. In addition, she had a quick response time, enabling me to meet all my deadlines. Her experience shows, and helped my craft a unique story to stand out. In addition, she provided great resources so I could prep for the interviews and was easily reachable by mail. In the end, I got accepted into my target school!

Read More

I found Debbie when I was panicking in mid-Oct about R2 applications. At that time, I had a subpar GMAT and not even a draft school list. I had free consultations with a bunch of firms small and large, but I felt the most confident coming out of the conversation with Debbie. In our free consultation, she gave very practical and useful feedback. She suggested what schools I can consider based on my career goals and preferences. Some schools were ones that never crossed my mind beforehand. I appreciate how she left options open depending on my upcoming GMAT retake while other consultants didn’t think I could make it which discouraged me further in this stressful moment. Don’t be mistaken, Debbie doesn’t give you false hopes.

I also appreciate Debbie’s attitude towards potential clients. She never pushed me to purchase services and offered to recommend lower-priced consultants on her team. She reminded me about mbaMission’s service contract period, so if I wasn’t going to apply for MBA this year don’t bother starting a package yet. In all my free consultations, I asked how many schools clients typically buy for comprehensive packages. Debbie said 2-3 which I felt is an honest answer (rather than pressuring you to pay more) because you can reuse a lot of the content and learnings between schools. There are plenty of consultants out there who tell you to buy as many schools as you’re applying to. Due to the timing of the year, Debbie was also very practical in telling me what’s the max number of schools I should realistically apply to, and I decided to purchase a package less than that number.

I spoke with Debbie almost every week from Nov to Mar whether it’s back and forth updates to essays, questions from me about the process, and other status updates. The cadence came naturally because there’s just that much going on! I like mbaMission’s essay turnaround time cutoff, because that schedule pushed me to send essays over at a regular schedule in order to be the most efficient with revisions. It helps us both be accountable rather than other firms that just reply “as they get to it” which can be much longer the closer we get to deadlines. Debbie generally responds quickly to non-essay emails, 1-2 day response rate. She’ll let you know in advance when she’s taking off and how that’ll affect the response time.

Debbie is great at decluttering my thoughts and pulling out pieces that are actually relevant to essays and interviews. She will tell you straight up if certain ideas send the wrong message or are incohesive with the rest of your story. This is the harsh criticism I needed. Of course, feel free to push back since this is your application, but Debbie will work with you to find a middle ground. She’s knowledgeable about what the schools prefer and what works in applications, but also understand she can’t know every single itty-bitty detail. You still have to do your homework!

Coming out of this process, I’m glad I found Debbie to guide me. I’m not the type who’s thought about getting an MBA for years and my network doesn’t have any MBAs. The idea only came to me over the summer, so I had a lot to catch up on in a short period of time. She really gave me the confidence to push through and get admits to two M7s and two T10s which I doubt I could’ve made it without her. I chose Debbie due to her personality (also happy to support Asian women) because we would work very closely together during this period. That helped me feel comfortable asking her weirder questions relating to applications. Thank you again Debbie for your patience in responding to my long emails and addressing my boatload of comments in each essay. 

Read More

When I first began my graduate school journey, I didn’t quite know what an MBA consultant was and began tackling applications on my own. I quickly realized that I had underestimated the degree to which grad school applications needed to be designed/tailored to tell a cohesive and all-encompassing story. As someone who was pursuing a dual degree and about to move to Australia from New York City for a professional rotation, I felt overwhelmed by all that had to be done and the standard that needed to be met.

Before moving from the US abroad, I had a 30-minute consultation with Katy, who immediately impressed me with her knowledge of the different graduate school programs (beyond MBAs), practicality and confidence in the guidance she provided, and her ability to be candid with me straight off the bat. I requested her support immediately and have never once regretted it.

Living in a new country, you naturally want to spend as little time at home on the weekends, although hard work and dedication are what graduate school applications demand. Katy helped me save tons of time on the 10 applications I submitted to MBA, MPP, and MAIR programs. Not only did she turn around essays, resumes, etc. incredibly quickly, but she also provided candid feedback on the content, made direct edits, and ensured I was telling my story in the most effective/strategic way possible by making the most of every section of the application. Katy was also receptive to my schedule, as I had to complete and submit 10 applications in 2 months (from mid-October to mid-December) due to work and personal travel commitments surrounding that time frame. From the beginning of the process through to the weeks following decisions, Katy was super open and excited about hopping on the phone, even for 15 minutes, to chat through my decision-making process and answer any questions I had top-of-mind. Even then, she remained straight-forward in her guidance and gave me her genuine opinion, rather than simply laying out the pros and cons.

I purchased the 3-school package with Katy for HBS, HKS, and Wharton. Of the 10 programs I applied to, I was accepted to 7 – MBA (UPenn Wharton, UChicago Booth, MIT Sloan, Dartmouth Tuck); Master of Public Policy/MPP (Harvard Kennedy/HKS, UChicago Harris); Master of Arts in International Relations/MAIR (Johns Hopkins SAIS Europe). I will be pursuing a joint MBA/MPP degree starting this fall – an MBA from Wharton and MPP from HKS.

I am steadfast in my belief that I would not have reached the same outcomes if it weren’t for Katy. I could not be happier with my decision and our partnership, and would recommend her to anyone considering additional support throughout the process. It’ll be more than worth it – thank you Katy!!

Read More

Katy is the key to a successful and positive MBA application process. I found a friend and mentor in Katy -- I came out of every one of our conversations with insight and food for thought that was pivotal not only in my application process but also in my personal and professional development. Katy is one of the most patient and generous people I've met - she will give you as much time as she has no matter how often you need to talk, or how many times you need to talk through the same subject. She is honest and won't be afraid to tell you the truth but is also incredibly compassionate in her delivery. Katy has incredible insight on the MBA process, schools, and overall knowledge of industries. I was consistently impressed at how much Katy knew about different topics and how well she was able to help me pivot to make my story more and more robust and creative.

With Katy, I was able to achieve admission to one of my top schools. With the work we did together, I used that writing for my four additional applications where I was admitted to each one with scholarships up to 140k.

Without Katy, I would not have known where to start in crafting my story and knowing how to write properly for an MBA application. I am so thankful for the opportunity to work with her. Consider yourself lucky if you are able to snag a spot working with Katy!

Read More

I worked with Julie-Anne for the MBA program and was admitted to both Columbia and Wharton.

I come from a tech background and decided quite last minute (<1 month left) to apply to the MBA program. Given the tight schedule, I needed to work with someone who had prior experience getting clients into top schools, understood my needs and was able to provide quick feedback on areas of improvement.

Julie-Anne was very effective with her time with excellent reviews. Julie-Anne has worked on getting many students in different programs so she knew what are good areas to be highlighted in essays and characteristics of different schools. With essay reviews, she is really good at pushing you to think through what differentiates you and how you can highlight yourself.

Julie-Anne is also excellent at resume reviews. Throughout my career, I've had multiple people across work, friends and mentors take a look at my resume and Julie-Anne is exceptional at ensuring the key highlights across work, personal and education are communicated and making sure there are no wasted sections.

Overall, I had a phenomenal experience with Julie-Anne and would work with her again in a heartbeat. She is extremely dedicated to her clients, effective with her time and most importantly, provides catered reviews to highlight you as an accomplished individual amongst others in competitive school programs.

Read More

I would highly recommend John to anyone who wants to get into their “reach" school. I decided to get an MBA late in July and signed up for a 4 school package in November. I was so tied up with the GMAT that our work only started in late November (In hindsight, I would recommend you to start working with a consultant the moment that you decide to get an MBA). I got offers from 3 schools (one of them with scholarship) and 1 waitlist. CBS was my dream school and I'm heading there this fall!

Despite how my GMAT score was below the median, John encouraged me to look beyond it. John's greatest value is the storytelling, crafting a coherent and compelling narrative for my career transition and uncovering my unique attributes that I otherwise would have overlooked. John is extremely committed, supportive, and engaging, putting in more time and effort than contracted. Due to the time difference, our meetings are often early morning/late night, but every meeting was worth it and essay exchange was highly productive. The interview prep effectively streamlined the process and relieved the stressfulness. I had an urgent interview and we managed to scheduled the mock interview at 6AM (my time zone) with just a few hours of notice. He emphasised that it’s a “conversation” and I’m naturally good at communicating, so do not over prepare.

The school package is expensive, but I think it’s worth it because going to school is an even bigger investment and you want your 1st choice!

Read More

mbaMission offers a variety of service package. I chose the hourly service which allowed me to use the time flexibly and wisely. I applied to Stanford MSx program and got admitted. I picked Debbie after I read others' review and her own video which largely aligns with what I want from a consultant: have experience with Stanford GSB admission and a Stanford GSB alumni is a bonus, easy to communicate, give specific comments (rather than high-level conceptual comments) which where very easy to take action on. Debbie also gave a lot useful tips and strategic comments which allowed me to be more focus on the most important things. She was also very professional and strictly followed the turnaround time. The entire process is very efficient and effective. I really enjoyed it. I highly recommend Debbie to anyone who wants someone to understand you and help you build your story and make it a compelling application.

Read More

I started my process at mbaMission with a 30-minute free consultation with the next available consultant, and was intrigued enough that I decided I would definitely be using the service to guide me through my MBA applications.

Once I got the score I wanted on the GMAT (710), I read through all the consultant bios and quickly knew Kim would be the right person for me. I ultimately chose her because I was a D1 college athlete (so was Kim!) and my professional background is in advertising/marketing, which is where Kim spent most of her career prior to doing MBA admissions and consulting work. I decided to do the hourly services rather than the school package when working with Kim, which turned out to be perfect for my needs.

Kim is extremely empathetic, kind, and positive. Her warm personality made the stress and tediousness of MBA applications and interview prep easier to handle. When working with Kim, I almost felt like I was working with a mentor trying to help me succeed, rather than someone I had hired. I decided to apply to 1 reach school (HBS), 3 target schools (Ross, Fuqua, and Darden) and 2 safeties (Kenan-Flagler and McDonough). I had pretty much decided on these by the time I started working with Kim, but I wish I had asked for her input on other schools to apply to or widening my net beyond 6 schools. She was honest with me about what would be a stretch vs doable vs very doable, which I appreciated!

Kim mainly helped me with brainstorming/editing my essays, certain short-answer application questions, recommender prep, interview guidance, and negotiating for additional scholarship money once I got admitted. She is an excellent editor and I felt she made a big impact for me on that part of the process. We would sometimes go over teh edits in Zoom calls (per my request) or just via email/track changes on Microsoft Word. mbaMission provides lots of resources throughout the process that Kim made sure to provide me with - such as interview guides specific to each school - but Kim also went above and beyond by sharing her own school-specifc interview guides based on feedback she had gotten from her own clients over the years. These made the interview process 10x more manageable.

I ended up getting rejected from HBS without an interview, and I think that was mainly due to factors outside of Kim’s advice or control, such my lack of work experience and my recommender choice (due to particular circumstances I wasn’t able to get a current or former manager to do my recommendation). I got interviews, offers of admission and scholarships from all 5 other schools. The lowest amount of scholarship I got was 50% of tuition, and I even got a full-ride scholarship to one of the schools I applied to. I attribute a lot of this success to Kim’s help. Kim also helped me negotiate even more scholarship money at one of my target schools, which I ultimately chose.

Overall, Kim was a fantastic partner, and I would choose her again if I was going through the process all over again. I genuinely hope I stay in touch with her professionally!

Read More