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Consultant Heidi Granner
Heidi is extremely knowledgeable of the MBA process and is a really great partner to work with. She provides excellent feedback and really helps you dig deep and think critically throughout the application process.
As a younger applicant and coming from an overrepresented background, I knew I needed to distinguish myself from the rest of the qualified applicant pool if I wanted to get a coveted spot at any of the M7 schools. Safe to say, Heidi was great at providing excellent guidance in helping me craft a story that would help me stand out.
Heidi is very responsive and her turnaround was very prompt – something I really valued as I was applying on a tight timeline. I can honestly say she was critical in helping me meet deadlines and get quality applications submitted within a quick timeframe. She was really good in helping me highlight my accomplishments and organize my thoughts in a concise manner. Working with Heidi allowed me to feel confident about my application and through the process I felt she genuinely cared about helping me get accepted by my top choice.
In the end, I was accepted by the two M7 schools I applied to and I couldn’t be happier. I cannot recommend Heidi enough to future applicants!
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Consultant Harshad Mali
I chose to work with Harshad because of his direct communication style. From the onset of our partnership, Harshad never minced words about my strengths and weaknesses, making it easier to focus on executing a coherent strategy to maximize my candidacy. With Harshad's support, the application process went more smoothly than I was expecting - he pushed me to unearth stories and anecdotes to use in essays that I wouldn't have thought about on my own and was receptive/supportive when I (on multiple occasions) asked for his perspective on differing drafts for the same prompt. Overall, if you are willing to put in the work to make your application shine, I highly recommend Harshad. His support greatly helped me gain acceptance to a couple of M7 programs!
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Consultant Katharine Lewis
Katy was an incredible consultant and mentor throughout the entire process, from the initial consultation to navigating the waitlist process through the summer. I was ecstatic to get off the waitlist for Stanford GSB – my top choice – with Katy’s help, and couldn’t have done it without her! When I was waitlisted, Katy immediately helped me come up with a plan to stay engaged with schools throughout the summer, regularly and proactively checked in with me to see how things were going, reviewed all of my update posts, and gave me invaluable insights and motivation to stay committed to the process. The waitlist process can be nerve-wracking and confusing to navigate at times, and Katy’s endless support and encouragement made a world of difference in helping me ultimately get accepted. Katy is the best and I truly can’t recommend her enough.
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Consultant Jen Kedrowski
Working with Jen Kedrowski was truly a gift and likely the best investment I made for myself to gain admittance to my top choice, CBS.
About me: R3 extended applicant, above average GPA from a mid-tier undergrad program, untraditional background, employment gaps, strong EA. We completed 3 applications in about 1 month. Jen completely helped me to revisit and revise, taking my applications from decent to a top 10 admittance.
At the core of her is a ridiculous breadth of knowledge on how to best advocate for yourself and showcase your core truths, and thus, your most compelling MBA application. Her ‘make-it-happen’ mentality is peppered in with the perfect amount of urgency and confidence-boosting kindness. During brainstorming she got to know me well beyond my resume (I even joked saying she would make a great life coach!) and pushed me to dig deep to get to know myself. Jen spent ample time delving into my stories and strengths. I was impressed when Jen would reference stories, I brought up in the first brainstorming session, weeks later!
Jen’s strength is in story crafting, application strategy, and resume editing, which felt like the most daunting part to make everything cohesive. She was always super responsive and thorough, frequently responding into the early hours of the night and on weekends. I think I gave Jen over 15 pages of my scrapped essay material before I started with her. She went through everything meticulously and pulled material across essays, where I didn’t even think of. We cranked through 25+ essay drafts in a few weeks. Bonus – Jen’s years of experience at Kaplan were also helpful for GMAT/EA questions and strategy.
It was easy to lose steam through the application process. Jen kept me going at a strong pace to get through 3 big applications. I loved how sincerely uplifting, yet realistic Jen was; Her positive energy was always refreshing.
My biggest regret is sitting on the decision of whether or not to hire a consultant, wasting precious time spinning my wheels and writing countless essay drafts. If you are already in the headspace to hire a consultant, I can say with confidence that Jen is top-notch and worth the investment. THANK YOU JEN!
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Consultant Harold Simansky
I really enjoyed speaking with Harold and appreciated his expertise in many areas of preparation for my MBA application. While it can be a stressful process, it really helps to have someone on your side who knows the process inside and out. Harold is very responsive and provided advice that was tailored to my situation. He provided great feedback on my application materials, and I believe that this contributed to a successful outcome - I was thrilled to receive admission offers from multiple top schools. His perspective also helped me make an informed decision at that point, understanding the pros and cons of each option.
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Consultant Melissa Merchant
Headliner: With Melissa, I got into GSB, Kellogg MMM (competitive cohort of 65 people per class within larger MBA class) with the most prestigious full merit scholarship awarded to 20 people per class, and Berekely Haas with $130k in scholarships. I independently got into Wharton as well by using much of the wording from the essays Melissa and I worked on together for other programs.
Long-form:
Working with Melissa was an absolute pleasure and was worth every penny spent and then some!! I got the three-school package for GSB, Kellogg MMM (full ride merit scholarship), and Berkeley Haas (80% of tuition merit scholarship). Melissa helped me to strategically select which schools to use the consulting package on to get the most diverse spread of essay types. I absolutely believe I wouldn't have gotten nearly my level of successes without her help.
Melissa gets it and keeps it real. This journey is tough -- brutal at times -- and can be incredibly lonely and filled with self-doubt. Having an expert, and an empathetic one at that, was critical on every level. Melissa was a soundboard for extremely tough decisions, listening actively and asking insightful questions to help coach you to draw your own conclusions and direction. You can tell she earnestly cares about you and your story. And not to mention, Melissa is incredibly good at editing. I'm a verbose writer and she was able to give critical feedback on things to cut when I got too attached to certain sections, slashing to get me to word count. You will work hard -- getting in is on you, but having a partner like Melissa was grounding and helped maintained my sanity at several points over the last 1.5 years. Believe me when I say, you WILL want an empathetic, skillful, responsive expert to work with and Melissa is a rare blend of all three.
I highly recommend MBA applicants consider Melissa as their consultant. I truly do not think I would have gotten the large merit scholarships without her expert help, so the ROI on this investment really paid itself off enormously.
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Consultant Rachel Beck
Rachel came highly recommended from a very close personal source, my older brother, and after our first 30 minute phone call I knew exactly why.
My timeline was a bit rushed, but with Rachel there was never any doubt. We first connected in January of 2020 as I began toying with the idea of applying to MBA programs, but as my career kept progressing it became increasingly difficult to make the move.
After seeing that my dream school Columbia had extended R3 deadlines due to COVID, in mid-April I reached back out to Rachel to get her POV on my chances during this uncertain time. Her confidence and eagerness to help me craft my application gave me the push I needed to pursue my MBA dreams, and I am SO glad I did!
In less than 2 months time, Rachel helped me string together a top notch application, as I simultaenously completed standardize testing. Opting for the "School Package," Rachel was there to help with even the smallest of details, constantly reassuring me that "there are no stupid questions." She kept things moving and was quick to get back to me, adding value every step of the way. Her tremendous writing and storytelling skills helped me craft a purposeful application that felt cohesive, yet made each section work very hard to convey something unique about me as an applicant, ultimately helping me get into CBS!
I am so grateful for Rachel and couldn't have imagined going through the application process without her.
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Consultant Harold Simansky
I had the pleasure to work with Harold throughout my MBA application process. Harold is extremely kind, proactive, and helpful. I spoke with a few other consultants before choosing Harold but felt that Harold really took the time to personally understand my story and that he would be the best to help me on my MBA process.
During our process, Harold was supportive, timely, and invaluable. He was very quick to get back to me and was happy to hop on the phone if I had questions or concerns. I ended up doing a final push for rolling admissions during COVID, and Harold would immediately get back to me and help me meet my last-minute deadlines. His feedback on essays and overall applications was extremely helpful. He had great attention to detail, and really knew the schools inside and out.
Ultimately I was accepted to UVA Darden and am excited to attend! I know I couldn’t have done it without Harold and am extremely grateful. I would highly recommend Harold to anyone (in fact I’ve already referred one of my friends)!
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Consultant Harold Simansky
It might be easy to stand at the end of this process, having turned down a scholarship at my #3 school for a place at my #1 school, and say that “everything works out for the best”. I would say instead that things have worked out – better than I would have dreamed – despite waitlists, late nights, dreaded GREs, thousands of corrections, and many tears. I have countless stories that I could recount about calling Harold at off-hours in a puddle of self-doubt, where he managed to re-assure and motivate me to continue putting one foot in front of the other. Things worked out, because I was lucky enough to have Harold as my consultant.
I started working with Harold soon-after taking my GRE for the first time. From then on, he helped me weather some early insecurities about my lack of quant background. At a certain point, we shifted strategy from re-taking the GRE yet again to focusing on telling my story in my application. I am truly indebted to him for the tactical and emotional support he provided me with throughout this early part of the process.
Landing on an actual list of schools to apply to was yet another arena in which Harold’s expertise was invaluable. Though I had thought that I had already identified schools that were a good fit, he continued to push me to consider a few more options. His counsel helped me land on a list of schools that fit with my goals and personality. I’ll particularly emphasize that he was so supportive of the schools I had initially fallen in love with, but remained grounded in challenging assumptions that may have been guiding my preferences.
Settling on a strategy of applying to my dream two schools round 1 and a number of others round 2, Harold steered me through a forest of essay questions. He was so prompt with his responses, always leaving me with plenty of time (and work!) to remain on track. He always kept my best interests at heart, making sure that I was producing essays that told my story, resonated with specific cultures of the schools, and clearly defined my hopes and dreams. Though challenging to receive an email from him telling me to completely scrap an essay for the second time, it made clear to me just how invested he was in my success.
From essays to interviews to final decisions, he was there every step of the way.
I really cannot over-state how absolutely fantastic it was to work with Harold throughout my application process. From start to finish, he was a trusted advisor, effective coach, brilliant editor, and – when times got tough – fantastic motivator. I truly do not think I could have ended up with an acceptance to my dream school without him.
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Consultant Julie-Anne Heafey
My GMAT score was 650 only, and I was already much older than the MBA students average age.
To maximize my lean chances to be accepted at a top business school, I knew that my essays, my resume, and all the rest of my application should be impeccable. I decided to get specialized help, but was advised by two different admissions consultants to drop my dream and seek another way to pivot my career. I hopelessly insisted a third time, and that’s when I met Julie-Anne Heafey from mbaMission.
For the first time in a free 30-minute consultation, someone went beyond basic parameters such as my GMAT score, GPA, or my age. Julie-Anne patiently took the time to listen to my story and holistically understand my goals. On that same day, I signed a 6-school-package with her and we started right away to craft my applications.
On my resume, Julie-Anne was strategic, helping me to not only evince the quant skills the admissions officers expect from good candidates, but also translate my achievements to a more clear business language. On my essays, Julie-Anne’s sharp and direct questions helped me to significantly tell my story and consistently explain how an MBA would allow me to achieve my next goals. For each of the six schools, she kept dedicated, reviewing countless versions of my applications.
It was a long process, but Julie-Anne was always motivating and supportive, pushing me to overcome myself, find my voice, and deliver the candidacy that allowed me to be admitted to Stanford.