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Consultant Heidi Granner
The Beginning:
Once I decided I wanted to apply to the top full-time MBA programs, I reached out to several highly-rated admissions consulting firms. After numerous conversations and profile evaluations, I chose to work with Heidi. To me, Heidi checked all the boxes and more: MBA grad (Chicago Booth), admissions committee experience (Chicago Booth), impressive background (MBB consulting), and exceptional reviews. But most importantly, during our initial phone call, I felt a strong connection with Heidi and believed she had a genuine interest in me and my goals.
Working with Heidi:
Heidi did an excellent job of turning what can be an overwhelming process into a manageable game plan. She was with me every step of the way. When we were brainstorming for essay content, she left no stone unturned. Her feedback on my essays, resume, and short answers was clear and invaluable. She was also a terrific mock interviewer. Additionally, Heidi suggested certain activities that I believe helped strengthen my candidacy.
For me, the MBA journey has been a time of deep reflection. I felt very comfortable working with Heidi and never had second thoughts about running an idea by her or sharing a story I never told anyone. In fact, she now probably knows me better than most of my friends do!
The Result:
I was accepted to my dream school (M7) and will be attending this fall! I truly believe Heidi helped maximize my chances of getting into an MBA program. Heidi is not only an amazing admissions consultant, but also an incredible mentor and person. I feel very fortunate to have worked with her. I highly recommend Heidi!
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Consultant Susan Kaplan
Susan is truly an invaluable asset in the MBA admissions process. I was very nervous going into the process, as I was coming to the table with a non-traditional educational background (social sciences undergrad degree), a non-quantitative job, and good, but not amazing, test scores. From the beginning, Susan worked tirelessly to get to know me on a personal level and what was unique about me; using her background in marketing, she refers to herself as your “personal brand manager” throughout the process. As we prepared my applications, she consistently questioned and challenged my assumptions about my motivations for getting an MBA and my future career plans to help me narrow down my exact goals, which helped immensely during essay writing, networking with the schools, and interviewing. As other reviewers mentioned, Susan is tough, but in my opinion, in the best way possible. She puts so much time and effort into making your application the absolute best it can be with copious thoughtful comments and revisions to essays and pointed questions during brainstorming and interview prep. At every step of the process, Susan was by my side, simultaneously pushing me forward and cheering me on.
Thanks to Susan’s help, I was accepted to 3 out of the 3 schools I applied to with her, two of which we both agreed were reaches and one where I received a full ride. Every time I found out I got in somewhere, Susan was one of the first people I wanted to tell. If you’re considering getting a consultant to go through this process (which I absolutely believe you should), I would 110% recommend hiring Susan!
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Consultant Julie-Anne Heafey
Julie-Anne was instrumental in helping me secure a spot in the top MBA program on my list. I scored 700+ on the LSAT and had a good undergrad MBA, but from a non-target school. I graduated from undergrad in 2016 so had limited work experience. I was nervous about my chances of being admitted, but Julie-Anne helped me brainstorm essays that highlighted my strengths. Julie-Anne also prepared me for interviews by hosting Skype mock interviews, which I found very helpful. She was always quick to respond with helpful thoughts on my essays. I would highly recommend Julie-Anne to anyone applying to B-school!
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Consultant Jessica Shklar
From the first time I spoke with Jessica, I could tell that she genuinely cared about not only helping me get into a great business school but also letting my true character and personality come through in my applications. I realized immediately that I was working with a professional and I found it particularly reassuring to be receiving guidance from someone who really understands the admissions process and the expectations of the schools' admissions teams. I knew generally what I was going to write about in my applications but the advice Jessica offered on how to structure my ideas and concisely articulate my story was extremely valuable. I also have a pretty unconventional professional background and Jessica helped me to navigate this in my applications and highlight my unique work experience and qualities. By the end of this long and crazy process I was admitted to one of my top choice schools, thanks in large part to Jessica's help!
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Consultant Kate Richardson
Like many others, I went through the process of doing the initial 30 minute consults with many other admissions consultant firms. Right away I could tell there was something different about Kate. She didn't focus just on the raw scores but on the compelling story we could tell based on my background.
Throughout the 4 months I worked with her the process could not be smoother; timelines were established, there was constant follow-up and communication. She was also honest about feedback and made sure the essays were genuine.
With her help I made it into some of my choice schools! I would highly recommend her to anyone.
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Consultant Katharine Lewis
Over the past two weeks, I've just finished my MBA interviews with HBS, Wharton, and Oxford. As most of you know, each of these interviews are very different in approach and I finished each feeling very confident and also incredibly thankful that Katy Lewis had helped me prepare for each of them. Katy went above and beyond to prepare for each mock interview with me with specific questions tailored to me and based on the tendencies of my interviewer - I can point to specific questions in each of my actual interviews where I am really glad that I not only got to rehearse my answers with Katy, but also brainstormed with her to refine them.
Taking a step back, this is the second year in a row that I've worked with Katy. She has become a friend to me personally and a mentor to me beyond this business school application process. Beyond the tactical of my essays and how to work with my recommenders (which Katy has done an unbelievably great job), Katy helped nudge me toward my most transformative career decision (and self-discovery) between last year's application cycle and this year's. I am very proud of the person I've developed into because of Katy's help. Most importantly, I personally feel how much Katy genuinely cares about me and my success as a friend, from the way we chat and from how often I feel my warm appreciation of "you didn't have to do all this for me but you did!"
I will sum this up by saying - three years ago when I reached out to Katy, I was privately cynical about MBA consultants in general, but I knew an MBA is so important to me that I couldn't take the risk. BEST DECISION EVER THAT I DIDN'T EVEN FULLY KNOW THEN. Whew!
My advice - I still don't know about MBA consultants in general, BUT DO NOT MISS OUT ON KATY LEWIS! SHE IS THE BEST!
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Consultant Jessica Shklar
I'm one of those people who like to do a lot of research before committing to a company/service/etc. I spoke a quite a few consulting companies and I'm so glad I was able to find Jessica and MBA mission in the end. As an "older" applicant, the other companies that I spoke to seemed to be using this "fear based" model to sell their services - making me feel terrible about my odds and my candidacy at the top schools first, then offering their services to help me out. I didn't realize that's what they were doing until I had my first phone call with Jessica, who was so enthusiastic, encouraging, and genuine about her thoughts on my candidacy. I knew right away that I’d want to work with her. She didn’t have any spots available for R1 so I signed up to work with her on R2 on two of my dream schools, which was the best decision I made during this application process.
From day 1 of working together, I could just tell that Jessica is an absolute genius. For several months I had been trying to come up with a thread for my essay, but I just couldn’t figure out how to connect the dots and I felt lost. But Jessica was able to do that in ONE DAY - I sent in my brainstorming document and the very next day during our phone call she was able to come up with a genius thread that connects all the dots and showcases my strengths in a very compelling way. She goes so deep during the brainstorming part and asks the right questions to uncover all the aspects, then on the spot she could come up with a theme for the essay. I was blown away by how good she was. I remember getting off that phone call feeling super excited about writing the essay (which is very rare because I always hated writing) and I had to call my best friend to share how thrilled I was to have found Jessica and how great her ideas for my essay were.
I always thought I had to write 8-10 drafts of essays before I could get it to a “top school quality”, but I was wrong on that because Jessica is so good at helping me frame up the essay (paragraph by paragraph) that I got to a final version quality within only 3 drafts. She’s just that good!
Jessica is very professional and caring. She always turns around things and answers questions very quickly. When you are working with her, you can just feel that she’s not just another consultant for you, but she’s truly on this journey with you – she cheers you on during the tough and stressful times, goes above and beyond to make your application shine, she was like this awesome big sister that I never had and I’ve never even met her! Just a few days before the applications deadline, I had a family emergency, everything was like my worst nightmare. Jessica was an angel and helped me out so much during those days. Her comforting words really helped me grieve during the most stressful time. She turned around my items just a couple hours after I sent them to her to allow me to focus on my family and grieving. I was in such terrible shape and I honestly don’t think I would’ve gotten my applications through without her help.
Perhaps the best part of working with Jessica was that I have learned so much about myself throughout this process. She really helped me see myself from a new perspective and get more clarity on who I am and what I want to do with life and not just with an MBA. In the end, I realized crafting the essays, the stories, the post MBA goals wasn’t just about getting into the dream schools any more, it was more about asking the deep, tough questions to myself and figuring out who I truly want to be. And I’m forever grateful for Jessica for that. I got interview invite to my dream school and now working on the interview prep.
Jessica is all around top-notch. I still can’t believe how lucky I am to have worked with her.
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Consultant Jessica Shklar
Words cannot express how amazing Jessica was during my business school process! I had applied the year earlier to schools and did not get into a program that I wanted to attend. Having worked with a consultant in the past I was extremely skeptical of what mbaMission could bring to the table. Jessica was introduced by a friend who was ecstatic about getting into Booth when he originally had been targeting schools in the 10-20 rankings.
The 30 minutes complimentary phone call was a game changer. Jessica was on point, had a clear strategy, and it was immediately apparent that this was going to be a different experience. I wish I had known her one year earlier. I quickly recognized that if I wanted to get into a business program it would only be with Jessica’s help. I had a very mediocre application. I had a solid 10 years of work experience but a low GPA and a low GMAT! Jessica was amazing during the brainstorming and essay writing sessions that identified a clear message and story we wanted to share. Jessica was extremely responsive, thoughtful, and supportive as we tracked multiple applications. She pushed me and held me accountable throughout the entire process.
In the end, it was Jessica's recommendation to add another program to the list that landed me at the Stanford GSB. I would not be at the GSB if it had not been for Jessica’s help and guidance, for which I am endlessly grateful.
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Consultant Jessica Shklar
I highly recommend working with Jessica if you're looking to apply to business school. She got me into my dream school, and I genuinely wouldn't have gotten in without her guidance. Here's how it played out:
I decided to apply to R2 on a whim, and reached out to Jessica for an initial consult. During our first call, Jessica sought to genuinely understand why I was applying to business school, and what factors differentiated me from the rest of the applicants.
Over the next few months, Jessica acted as a thought-partner in every step of the application process. She would help distill and curate my essays, refine my resume, and even helped me prep for interviews. I was constantly emailing Jessica with questions, and she was exceptionally responsive.
The result was me getting into my #1 school (which I wasn't even going to apply to as I didn't see myself as competitive)! There is no question that Jessica helped make my application much more compelling. If you're thinking about that dream school, go with Jessica.
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Consultant Jessica Shklar
I have worked with Jessica for more than a year for my MBA application and re-application. Compared to other consultants I worked with, she has been an outstanding admission consultant. She is very interested in learning about my stories, and provides valuable insights on how my stories can fit into essays. Also, with extensive experience in admission consulting, she shares specific knowledge about the business programs I'm interested in, and gives specific suggestions about the schools. I would not image how my application will look like without her assistance. Jessica's help is very much appreciated. I would recommend her without any hesitation!