It was so helpful to have Dan Richards' insight throughout the bschool application process. Sometimes the hardest thing is to begin writing, and it was a great motivator for me to be able to report back to him on my progress. Dan was direct and insightful - I was glad to be working with someone who has had so much experience, and came highly recommended. There were a number of times during the essay editing process that it felt like he magically knew how to phrase what I was struggling to convey. I was also impressed by the quicker than expected turn-around time on feedback. Crucial if, like me, you're up against a deadline! Mom and Dad may be the best cheerleaders, but Dan helped get me to the finish line! Was it worth the money? 100%

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I am what an Admissions Committee might call an "unconventional" MBA candidate - I took no math classes in college, and my career experience was entirely creative. As a result, I decided that having some sort of professional assistance during the application process to help me construct my narrative was going to be a good decision.

After speaking with a few different consulting companies, I came across mbaMission, and more specifically, Kate Richardson's profile. The reviews for both Kate and the company were overwhelmingly positive, and I was pleased to discover that an "Hourly Services" option was offered at a competitive rate ; I basically knew what I wanted to say in my applications and where I wanted to apply, so I didn't need a "package" deal with tons of additional services. I really just needed an additional form of guidance, and more importantly, a voice of reason.

Once I began working with Kate, I found her to be direct, a clear communicator, realistic about my school prospects, and very fast in responding to my questions (of which I had many!). She didn't try to sell me anything unnecessary, and overall, we created a winning application essay that represented me in my best light.

Ultimately, I earned admission to a Top 25 program, and even received scholarship $$$. There is no question that I couldn't have done it without Kate's professional expertise and moral support through such a grueling application process.

If you'd like to find someone to help you with your MBA applications who is extremely knowledgeable about many different programs and will respond directly to your needs with no time wasted, look no further than Kate Richardson at mbaMission.

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I used the hourly service because I mainly need help with proof-reading my essays and finding the right "story" to tell. My consultant has been very responsive to all my questions, and gave many useful comments on where I could provide more context and how I can make the essays clear and powerful. I also used mock group interview service, although it's a bit expensive, it helped to give me an idea of what kind of group dynamic and interaction I expect to experience in the real setting. I appreciate their nice and encouraging style, but I think sometimes they could've been a bit sharper on pointing out where I needed to improve. Overall it's been a positive experience working with mbaMission.

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This year was my 2nd go-around attempting to business school, and I found Katy to be instrumental in the process. Being an over-represented candidate (white male, finance), Katy did a great job helping me suss out key differentiating factors and experience I had to offer. More importantly, I honestly think Katy truly just wanted what was best for me, and wasn't pushing an agenda of a specific school or anything of that nature. I was 50/50 whether I wanted to go to school or not and Katy offered up some really good advice around the pros and cons of going to school vs not, and helping me figure out what I want to do next. While I ended up deciding to go to school, when I was leaning towards not, Katy was just as happy that through the experience I had gained a better sense of what I wanted to do with my professional career next

Lastly, I want to stress that I really appreciate how much Katy seemed to be working as hard towards my acceptance goals as I was - she took calls on weekends, over holidays, on short notice, etc - definitely super invested, which was really important to me.

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Katherine Lewis aka Katy, as I call her, is my guru who helped me to re-define my personality through a unique dimension. My relation with Katy dates back to 2012 when I reached out to her to seek b school advice through 30 min free consultation program. Unfortunately, things did not materialize for me but I informed her that I will approach her if I intend to apply in future.

I planned to apply to Haas-EWMBA in 2016. Personally, things were a bit challenging for me as my wife was expecting and I had a lot going on at work front too. However, with strong support of my wife, I decided to apply in 2016 and I contacted Katy in 2015 November. I am a re-applicant to the Haas program as it is the best option for me.

In my first meeting with Katy, I was bombarded with a series of questions that I took my own sweet time to fill out. From then onwards, things got exponentially better and Katy kept surprising me every time. Few things that I loved about her:

Summarizing power: She read through my 14 page bio and gave me an absolutely brilliant summary that boosted my confidence. In fact, looking back at all my activities, the theme of my personality perfectly fits her summary. That was the point when I felt that it was totally worth it.

Extremely responsive: She reviewed all my essays and provided crucial suggestions in a timely fashion. I was sometimes late in giving back my drafts but she was never late. She made me feel comfortable with my way of portraying things and made me better at it.

Stress management: Well, I may be one of the numerous folks saying that it is extremely stressful to apply to b-school but trust me, it definitely is (with my wife expecting anytime soon and me racing against deadlines-gosh!). Katy was always there for me. She was always very supportive and helped me to look beyond the current limitations

Great counselor: Here comes the hard fact but I owe this totally to Katy. I was waitlisted in the first round and my memories from 2015 came crashing onto me. It was like a deja-vu and I was going through the most stressful times of the year. Katy came as a pleasant surprise to me. She kept confidence in me, helped me to push my application further and gave extremely constructive feedback to make my case stronger. (Have you heard of guys who did not make it as they went late to an interview- well I am an exception and I owe this to Katy-she helped me to give my best)

Economical: I was offered a free session (worth $270) once as she had to reschedule. This incidence took me by a pleasant surprise. Moreover, she wanted to see the best in me. Unlike other consultants who may charge you for every small pep-talk she gave full support to me at absolutely no cost when I was waitlisted. I really loved her spirit and enthusiasm.

To summarize, I am extremely elated to let you guys knows that I am admitted to EWMBA-Haas program and all my limitations seemed very trivial with the support of my guru/cheerleader Katy. I would definitely recommend her. Do not miss her if you are serious about getting into one of the best b-schools.

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I found that working with Krista was a very beneficial experience that was well worth the investment. She assisted me in fine tuning, organizing, and getting the most out of my essays. She was also very helpful in preparing for the admissions interviews. I appreciated that she shared her knowledge regarding the admissions process and more importantly how I could get this most out of my application.

The hourly services exceeded my expectations and I would highly recommend working with her. By having a mock interview with her, I was more confident in communicating my story, explaining why I was applying to the specific schools, and where I wanted to eventually take my career. Great experience!

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Through her expert, customized and prompt advice and her warm, welcoming demeanor, Katy Lewis helped me put the finishing touches on my HBS application.

In a short time, Katy developed a deep understanding of my personality and story. She also enhanced my understanding of the cultures of the top MBA programs, which cemented HBS as my top choice (I didn't even apply to GSB). Through our conversations, Katy helped me refine my essay in a way that much better represented my story and themes.

Also, Katy's mock HBS interview was essential! During our mock interview, Katy asked many of the questions that my HBS interviewer ultimately asked. Katy helped channel my nervousness into excitement, which made me feel much more at ease during my actual interview.

Also worth noting: MBA Mission's preparatory materials are impressive and comprehensive. They gather all sorts of extremely helpful info -- including school marketing materials, applicant testimonials, past questions, and MBA Mission's own 10-15 page school summary -- all in a digestible packet. I reviewed this packet many times as I finalized my application and prepared for my interview.

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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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Gladly, I have recieved MBA admissions from four schools, which are Emory University, University of Rochester, Southern Methodist University, and Babson College. All of these schools had an average GMAT above my score, yet I was able to recieve admission from them. This was partially due to the help of MBAmission on my MBA Applications. They have helped me on three aspects of my applications: Essays, Resume, and School Selection.

I have worked with my consultant, Krista, to review all my essays before submitting any application. She was very critical in her reviews, where she has helped in crafting and finetuning my essays. She, also, has helped me identify potential gaps in the essays which helped in creating a smooth enjoyable story. She did research the schools or the subjects sometimes and identify potential points worth mentioning in the essay.

Additionally, She has helped me review my résumé which resulted in me changing most of it. This helped me to better present my achievment and show the career progress. Additionally, she ensured that proper aspects of my resume are present to make it more relevant to my future goals.

In terms of schools selection, she has helped me identify the critiria that should be considered for selecting a school after recieving multiple admissions. This made it easier to make my own decision, regardless of any public or official ranking.

Lastly, the things I learned through my work with MBAmission, and Krista in specific, are invaluable assets to me. My writing skills has been enhanced dramatically. I know how to better read and write a resume. I would very highly recommend them for any prospected applicant to any business school in the future.

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