Background:
I highly recommend choosing mbaMission, and Harold specifically. To provide some context, my application was an unusual one and Harold rose to the occasion remarkably. I’m from the Middle East. I have an engineering background and I have recently switched from Private to Public sector, and my goal from graduate school is to obtain a degree (or a dual degree) that focused on both policy and business. I started a bit late in the process. I submitted an application for MPA/ID program at HKS in December. Then, I decided to apply for MIT Sloan, to be a dual degree with the program from HKS. To hedge my bets, I also wanted to apply for the Master in Computational Analysis & Public Policy (MSCAPP) from the University of Chicago. Here was my challenge at the time: after I submitted my application to HKS in December, I was not very happy with my application and my test scores (high quant and not-an-impressive verbal). Furthermore, the deadline for both MIT Sloan R2 and Chicago MSCAPP were at the same day. I freaked out and realized I needed serious professional help if I wanted to increase my odds. Enter mbaMission. At first, I had a free session with Jessica. In only 30 mins, she gave me a lot of great advice! After some thinking, I decided to go with Jessica. She was unfortunately busy at the time to take on new clients. So, she suggested that I have another free session with Harold, given that he is an MIT grad and had previous clients from my region. I had another free session with Harold that extended for more than 30 mins. By that time, I already had free sessions for well more than an hour with mbaMission. I decided then to go with Harold, and I’m really glad that Jessica has recommended that we work together. I got excited to work with Harold so I took the start-to-finish package for both MIT and Chicago. Even though Chicago was a policy degree and not a business one, I still asked Harold to help me with it given that both schools were important for me to be admitted to, in addition to the fact that both were due at the same deadline.

Why go with Harold?
1. Crafting the right story:
o Laying the groundwork: Harold took enough time to understand my convoluted background and my aspirations in life. Like many who are seeking graduate school, not everything was a clear cut for me. I’m still figuring things out. In that sense, the process of understanding my story was a lot of work for both of us, but it was not a mechanical one.
o Drilling down on the important stories: After the brainstorming session, I uncovered parts of my story that I didn’t think they were worth speaking of in the first place. For example, I had a frustrating terrible experience with my start-up that I was not proud of to tell the truth. However, Harold advised a new angle on how to use this story in a way that reflected humility and growth, we are humans and not perfect creatures after all :).
o The right writing style while maintaining authenticity and your own voice: When writing something deeply personal I tend to be super conversational. While that’s good, maybe, some level of professionalism is still required. Harold was super helpful in pointing out when I went a little overboard with my style. That also meant that I often tend to exceed the word limit to get my point across (similar to what I’m doing now :)! ). As he puts it, he has a super power for cutting unnecessary sentences.

2. Navigating the nuances of the application process:
o Test Scores: As I explained earlier, I was not sure about my test scores. Balancing my test scores with my story, as well as being conscious of the limited time have, Harold advised me to maintain my current score and use the time I have to prefect my essays. This turned out to be a very pivotal advice as it allowed me to really focus on my essays. This was very bold of Harold to say, and counter to what many who knew my scores have advised. I trusted him and went with his recommendation (despite any outcome of the application process, his rationale made sense to me and it was all about prioritization of effort. It was still my decision to follow this advice or not!)
o Selecting recommenders: I had some difficult choices to make for determining which recommenders I should go with. Harold gave me great insights on how to set my strategy for recommenders (guess what, it worked!)
o How to engage with admissions team: Before meeting Harold, I was often not sure on how to approach certain topics with the admissions team. I didn’t want to on-the-nose with admissions. I thought it might backfire. However, Harold was super helpful in letting me know which types of communication with admissions are acceptable. He even helped in looking at some of the emails that I was about to send!

3. Interview prep:
o By far this was one of the most aspects I benefited from using Harold’s services. He prepped me really well for the interview. I walked to the interview with much more confidence compared to what would’ve been the case had I done it myself. The style of the interview and the questions he asked me was very close to what I got in the interview.

4. Making an incredibly concise and powerful CV
Important final note: When soliciting professional help for your applications, know that not one consultant would have a wand that would magically get you admitted. It’s really hard work form your part. The consultant will guide you every step of the way, but it’s your own application, your own voice and above all else, your future. As helpful as Harold was to me, I had to put in a lot of effort and make sure we were always on top of things and on schedule. A great advantage of Harold’s help was the constant guidance. In my previous experience without Harold, I would always get bogged down into very minor details that would make me lose track of the big picture. After using Harold’s help, he acted as a true anchor for me during the application process. Of course lets address the elephant in the room, this is not a cheap service! So this is a personal choice that depends on your financial situation, how badly you want the MBA and how comfortable you felt in the free session. Chemistry is important with the consultant! So use your free session wisely and only go when comfortable. If we go back in time, I would go with Harold every single time, regardless of being admitted or not!

Final result: Full disclosure, I got admitted into both MIT Sloan and Chicago . I opted to go with MIT (in addition to HKS, where I will start at next fall hopefully)

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I knew I needed a consultant to reach my MBA dreams, and spoke with around five different people before choosing Dan. Other consultants told me that with my qualifications I was a slam-dunk for M7, but Dan was the only one who remained logical – and told me that with hard work, there was a good, but not guaranteed, shot. I liked that approach best and it really pushed me to go that extra mile on my apps. I purchased the 7-school package with him and applied to 3 others on my own (I know, I’m crazy.)

Dan was consistently timely and effective. (Just know that you will need to make sure to be on top of all of your own progress/deadlines.) That being said, he was always available. We went through many, many iterations of all of my essays and resume: he really shines in his ability to shape an essay draft into something great. He even had me send in my choices for the application drop down menus and short answers for his approval, which was great peace of mind.

I received 8 interview invites, and Dan graciously let me swap out one of my seven included mock interviews for a school that we didn’t work on together. The mocks were extremely helpful and I went into all of my interviews feeling confident and fully prepared.

I was admitted to two M7s and received three full merit scholarships to T15s. I ultimately chose Kellogg, my top choice – and Dan’s first suggestion from day one, I must say – which we successfully navigated the waitlist for together. We were even able to negotiate a hefty scholarship on top to boot. I am over the moon with my results and would suggest him to anyone in a heartbeat.

If you’re looking for a consultant to reach your goals, go with Dan. Working with Dan was an investment that paid for itself many times over, and I’d suggest him to anyone who is looking to reach their best potential. Thanks Dan!!!

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Harold was the best admissions consultant for me and he played a huge part in my success of getting accepted into Columbia Business School. Our work together focused on breaking the application process into individual components and developing a well though-out plan before any writing began.

Harold and I were successful for the following reasons:

Harold began the process by getting to know everything about me and took the time at the beginning to understand my story. Business school applications can be a very time-consuming and difficult process that requires organization and a well thought-out plan before the writing process begins. In this way, he is remarkably efficient at time management and we saved a lot of time by getting fully acquainted with my story in the beginning.

He showed me how to organize my thoughts and how to best showcase my characteristics and abilities for admissions committees. Harold was amazing at walking me through the thought process on writing essays. As someone who struggles starting an essay, Harold helped instill confidence in my writing ability and helped me get started. He also gave me clear and concise instructions on how to navigate each essay, especially focusing on the attributes and characteristics each school is looking for in a candidate. His insight was a major help.

Lastly, his turnaround time on essay comments was excellent. He communicated to me when he would have time to read through my essays almost immediately and he always returned comments well before his deadlines.

If I were to go through the application process again, there is no doubt in my mind I would choose Harold Simansky again!

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Dan is focused, honest and transparent about what you need to achieve your goal which worked perfectly for me. He was incredibly patient and when reviewing my essays and worked me hard till my essays were as strong as they could be - He wanted my application to be as competitive as possible and for all my qualities to shine through. He was also very quick to turn around feedback as he understands the urgency and need to keep things moving, which kept me driven and on-track. I was able to hit all my deadlines because of that. Overall, with Dan, I felt like I was ALWAYS moving forward and moving closer to my goal. I got into a Top Ivy League Business School with his help.

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I purchased the full package from Susan, and I was accepted to my number one choice, Columbia Business School (CBS). I highly recommend working with Susan, and quite frankly, I would not have been successful without her. She is motivating while also empathetic, and no doubt has a wealth of knowledge about MBA schools and the MBA application process.

Susan’s knowledge about CBS and its values and criteria shaped the way I approached my application and essays – and she has the same knowledge for any school you apply to. I can’t understate how important this is. Every call, despite my hours of research online, she would bring up several points that would improve my application and essay for CBS specifically and that only someone with her experience could know.

Beyond her wealth of knowledge, my favorite thing about working with Susan was her ability to remain empathetic and motivating, at the same time as challenging me to dig deeper. By “dig deeper” I mean two things: (1) MBA applications (in particular the essays) take a lot of self-reflection. She will push you to truly understand what motivates you, and it truly comes out in the essays. And (2) while you write and own all of your essays, she works with you to ensure that everything you do and write has purpose and makes sense in layman terms, which is particularly useful if you have been in industry for several years.

I would recommend Susan without hesitation.

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Jeremy knows exactly how to transform a candidate’s character traits / experiences / life story and articulate them in a way that is easily (and attractively) digestible for admissions offices.

The MBA application process is a very expensive “black box” between tutors, consultants, applications, school visits, online programs, etc. The scariest part of which is that you never truly know that you are on the best possible path towards admissions at your target program.

Jeremy takes the “black box” and lights it up for you. He is the most experienced person I have come across during my MBA application process by FAR, he knows the ins and outs of every school, is one of the best communicators that I have ever encountered, and is very easy to work with. These skills enabled Jeremy to help me in the most efficient and enjoyable way as I navigated the process, ultimately leading to admission to my top target school.

From the first phone call, I could tell that Jeremy knows this process cold. Furthermore, his ability to dictate prose and work with me to craft my story in an articulate and professional manner for admissions officers gave me comfort that I was putting myself in the best possible position to secure a position in the class of 2022.

Lastly, my final recommendation is to not be intimidated by Jeremy’s cost. What you spend with Jeremy will be returned back to you 10-fold during the process in terms of stress mitigation, time spent going in circles, and more (regardless of your MBA admissions outcome). You should plan to book Jeremy a year in advance and commit to putting in the effort with him throughout that timeframe to ensure a successful process for yourself. Jeremy’s reputation does precede him, deservedly so, and he does book up 6 – 12 months in advance of the first round application deadline. Hire Jeremy before his slate gets filled with other candidates.

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I am confident that without Krista, I would not have experienced even close to the level of success in my business school application process, let alone been accepted into my dream school.

I graduated from a top 30 undergrad university with a 3.6 GPA and applied to business schools with a 710 on the GMAT. I applied R2 to six schools: four with Krista’s help (Wharton, Booth, Kellogg, Stanford) and two without (Sloan, Haas). I received offers from Wharton, Booth, Kellogg and Sloan and will be attending Wharton.

I was initially on the fence about hiring an admissions consultant because of the price, but now that I’ve completed the application process, I am extremely glad that I did – it was worth every penny. I picked mbaMission because my friend applied to schools during R1 and got into her top choice. She had great things to say about her consultant, so I decided to give it a shot. After speaking to Krista on an intro call, I was very impressed with how professional, straight-forward and organized she was. My main concerns were 1) relatively low GMAT score and 2) starting the application process late (I had my initial call with her in mid-November and apps were due the first week of January). Krista helped me set proper expectations in terms of the schools I wanted to apply to and was able to reduce my concerns about timing by very clearly laying out the steps of the application process.

Krista was an absolute whiz at helping me figure out my story. One of the first things I did after signing up with her was fill out a background memo on myself. I spend a few hours answering the questions (some of which seemed random at the time). After hopping on a call, however, we were able to piece together my story which I hadn’t even realized existed in my answers. She found connections that I never would have recognized, and I was able to leverage her insight and suggestions to write my essays.

Krista is also exceptionally organized and never missed any deadlines to return her edits to me. Her comments were very helpful and I knew that I could count on her to provide perceptive answers to my questions (regarding relevance, flow, sentence structure, word choice, among others). She would push me to explain the reasoning or meaning behind my words which resulted in me writing better essays. Every time I spoke with her, we set a timeline of when I should send the next deliverable to her, and it made staying on top of all my applications effortless.

By the end of my process, I felt like Krista knew me better than I knew myself. She could have easily answered any interview question better than I did during my interviews. She was incredibly invested in my success, very timely in her responses and an absolute pleasure to work with. I strongly recommend Krista as an admissions consultant!

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Nisha was extremely helpful with every step of the process, breaking down what seems to be such a daunting task into digestible steps and pieces. Even knowing that I wanted to pursue an MBA and having a target list of schools, there still was a great deal of guidance and support which only comes from experience that Nisha provided in terms of best practices and strategies. From school selection, to research and brainstorming, to application crafting, to essay writing and editing, and to decision strategies, Nisha was greatly beneficial, and I am very appreciative for her support along the way.

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As a member of an over-represented group (white male in financial services), I found Katy’s keen insight and expertise to be particularly helpful. With only a 720 GMAT (weak on quant) and a 3.7, I would not have been admitted to Kellogg (and potentially Booth!) without Katy’s brilliance. Here’s what I found helpful in list form:
– Right off the bat, Katy helped me figure out what I want from my MBA with our brainstorming sessions
– She helped me create a plan for which schools to apply to and when I would need to execute each step
– Her expertise really shined on the resume and letters of recommendation. These are without a doubt the most overlooked part of every application, and I think she’s the best in the industry at it. None of my friends applying to M7 programs got anywhere near as acute of advice as Katy gave me.
– She knew how every program interviewed and helped me prepare for each interview based on the school’s specific style
– She has an insanely high hit rate on getting clients admitted from waitlists and navigated me through the waitlist process at Kellogg and Booth.
– Her coaching has been paramount as I’ve negotiated for financial aid

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I initially was unsure whether to use an admissions consultant at all. Looking back, I'm so glad I found Katy and decided to work with her through this process -- I couldn't be happier after having been admitted to my two top choice programs, HBS and GSB. Katy truly "got" my story from day 1 and guided me through the entire process to help me put my best foot forward while staying completely true to myself -- and coaching me through a number of broader life and career choices along the way! Highly recommend for everyone, especially for others who may have very busy day jobs -- the resources and experience Katy was able to bring to bear really made the process as smooth and efficient as it could possibly ave been. Could not be happier with Katy and mbaMission.

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