Applying to business schools can be a testing experience that requires a lot of self-reflection. I started using Harshad as a pay by the hour consultant to help tighten my stories. After working with him for a few sessions, I realized that I was going to need more help in coming up with my unique stories that would stand out in my applications. I upgraded to the full time package, and it was the best decision and money I spent in the application process.

Harshad has a unique ability to connect with the people he works with. We have only communicated over the phone and email, but I found myself quickly trusting him. I opened up about events in my life that I have told few people. He brought out powerful stories and emotions, some of which I had buried deep down inside myself.

Harshad will also very honest with you and is a great communicator. He will let you know if you produced a strong piece or a piece that needs more work. If he does provide constructive feedback, he does so in a way that never feels personal. I always felt that Harshad was rooting for me every step of the way.

All in all, I cannot recommend Harshad enough. He will bring out the best version of yourself and help you distill that version onto paper.

I was accepted into two great schools, and I have no doubts that Harshad was a big part of me getting into those schools.

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I had the opportunity to work with Melissa Merchant at mbaMission. I worked with Melissa starting in Spring 2017 throughout the end of R1 interviews. Throughout the process, Melissa was extremely helpful and patient; she was the primary reason I was able to get into my dream school of Northwestern: Kellogg.

For starters, I have a messy background that consisted of four different jobs in the span of six years. Melissa helped me craft a compelling and logical narrative that impressed the ad-com at both Kellogg ($$) and CBS ($$$)!

Melissa's two greatest strengths are her marketing background and her insistence on pushing for the best. After I submitted my initial stats and back-story to Melissa, she came back with 10, yes 10, different storylines to use for my essays. She has truly endless creativity. I would have NEVER thought to have written about the things I wrote about if I was completing the applications on my own. Melissa helped express my background into exciting and digestible stories, which is a testament to her background as a brand manager.

She also pushed me throughout the process. I was definitely frustrated at times when I had to submit the same essay for FIVE rounds of edits, but it was ultimately what I needed to be successful :) Consulting is not cheap, but you definitely get what you pay for and I'm thankful for Melissa and mbaMission. I would highly recommend her to anyone who is interested in traversing this difficult but rewarding process!

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Several friends recommended that I hire an admissions consultant for my apps, so I decided to give the free 30-minute consultation a try. My plan was to shop around different companies and consultants before committing, and my very first consultation was with Melissa. After the first few minutes with her, I was sold and knew that I didn’t need to look any further. After our consultation, the actual thought in my head was, “There’s literally nothing I would change about her and our dynamic, so I might as well end my search here!”

For me, the toughest part of the app process was essay writing. There were stories that I knew I wanted to share, but I couldn’t get the messaging down myself, and especially not within the word limits. Melissa helped guide my thinking to dig deeper, and at the end, my final essays were still very much "me" -- MY stories, and in MY words – just told in a MUCH more effective way. Her guidance for my resume and interview preparation was also tremendously helpful and insightful.

Melissa is everything you’d possibly want in a consultant – she’s reliable, personable, and knows what the admissions committee is looking for. I couldn’t be happier with my experience, and she’s one of the first people I called when I got into my dream school! I truly think that I wouldn’t have been able to get into all the schools I did without Melissa on my team.

Anyone in the market for an admissions consultant -- save your time and end your search here! I recommend Melissa 100%.

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I was recently admitted to the MIT Sloan Fellows Programme. I am an Indian entrepreneur with 11+ years of work experience and a 740 GMAT.

Taking this opportunity to review Harold Simansky, I would like to appreciate his support through out my application process. He has the following advantages that proved invaluable -

1. Extremely quick to respond and available 24x7. He often replied to my mails within minutes.

2. Is adaptable and understands the applicant's needs and story quick. I was running on tight deadlines for completing my application. Harold was flexible in his approach and fortunately able to work within my timelines due to which I could balance the application process with my work commitments easily.

3. Has great clarity of thought and solves queries instantly. As an entrepreneur with significant experience, I had many leadership experiences that I would have liked to share. Harold was quick to give me a feedback and help me remain focused on what I wanted to convey.

In addition, I would also like to thank Salma Qarnain from Stratus Prep, who helped me introspect during the application process. It was truly a rewarding experience working with her as well.

Thanks Harold and Stratus Prep for all the support !!
Ambuj

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I worked with Melissa on a 2-school package, and truly appreciate the time she put into every step of the process. From our 30-min consultation, she was really helpful in setting expectations about what was realistic and building my confidence that I could get into one of my target schools.

Melissa was really helpful in talking through potential essay topics in the application process, taking the time to get to know me as a person and highlighting stories and qualities I hadn't thought to talk about. She was extremely timely and thorough with essay edits, editing countless drafts of each essay. She answered all of my silly questions, and helped me feel confident throughout the process, which was something I definitely struggled with. She went above and beyond in the interview process, making me feel prepared not just for the interviews that were part of the school packages but for all of the business school interviews I had. In the end, I was admitted to both schools with scholarships! I can't thank Melissa enough for all of her help and support throughout the process and would highly recommend her to anyone embarking on the business school application process!

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Let's be honest, getting into a top MBA programme is not easy. Perhaps the easiest bit is the grades and the GMAT. Its straight forward and you just have to study to get the right score/grades. The difficult bit is actually deciding which school to apply to, navigating through the application process and in the end, perhaps the most difficult of them all, making a selection.

I worked with Harold to apply to 6 schools. My working with Harold actually happened by coincidence. I was first matched with another consultant with whom I felt like I was not connecting very well. Stratus offered to switch the admissions consultant I was working with and paired me with Harold. This experience showed me that they really do care and want me to succeed. Stratus is really there to help any way that they can throughout the process.

Harold is very experienced at MBA Applications. He knows what schools want to hear and how you can structure your applications to stand out from the crowd. His help on my applications have been invaluable. I had so many ideas on how to structure these very short essays and I really struggled to pick which ones are the stories I should tell. Harold helped me every step of the way and explained what I should do and why I should do it. Beyond the essays, he was always there to talk to me whenever I had a question. It really was a tremendous support to have an expert by you to bounce ideas off of.

Perhaps my most memorable experience is when Harold recommended a certain MBA programme to me that was not on my radar. He found a school and a programme that had a specialization in the area I wanted to work in. School is such a good fit and my application was so successful that I got accepted into the program with a 50% scholarship despite having a GMAT score that is 40 points below the average. I must say, scholarship more than justified the fees I paid to Stratus.

In the end, I benefitted greatly from working with Harold. Not only I succeed in getting into the schools I wanted, I also learned a lot about myself and the career that I want to pursue.

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Harold and Stratus were incredible and well worth the cost.

I began the application process early and worked with Harold for many months to begin refining my story to be as strong of a candidate as possible. Working with Harold through reflection periods were key to my success on the essays and crafting the right story to catch the admissions committee's eye. I know I would have written a completely different essay had it not been for Harold's insights into my own patterns of behavior that he identified just from speaking with me and understanding my background.

Harold went above and beyond every time - spending many hours on the phone and even meeting with me in person when I visited Boston to get a better understanding of who I was as a person and applicant.

As well, the complete Stratus package is incredibly thorough. With personalized interview assistance, multiple essay readers, brainstorming tools, etc. you are positioned for success and to be the most competitive candidate you can be. I would recommend the full package to anybody looking at business school who is willing to do thorough career and personal reflection.

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I cannot express how deeply grateful I am to Jessica for supporting me through the entire MBA process – from the brainstorming sessions, to the essays, and interviews and perhaps more importantly, the life changing conversations. If there is one thing that I can say for certain it is that applying to an MBA program is a journey and not a destination. What Jessica excels at is really allowing you to find your story and craft your journey. There were multiple points in this process where I had to deeply reflect on what my deepest priorities were and Jessica was masterful in helping me through this thinking. In addition, she is an exceptional writer who really simplifies complexity, whilst preserving the integrity of your thinking. As i reflect on my time working with Jessica, I am confident that she has made me a better story teller, but I am as grateful for her endless curiosity, desire and commitment to stretch my thinking, find my deepest values and express them with clarity.

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Applied to 5 different schools, four among them were part of the elite M7 group. Not a single ding. Invited to interview from all five of them! Now, I am on my way to enroll at my dream school, Chicago Booth! Yes, my decision to work with Heidi turned out to be a killer deal for me. But the problem with quoting just impressive statistics like these is that they are but a snapshot of a nearly year-long process and very often don’t exactly reveal the entire story. Heidi made me realize that success rates alone don’t define a consultant. It is the experience that counts. Working with Heidi was one of the best and most memorable part of my entire application journey and when I say this I am least guided by the end results. It was a realization that hit me barely a couple of weeks after I started working with her. Patient, diligent, considerate, accommodative, and I can go on with more and more adjectives to describe her. But above all, it was her comforting presence and her cheery outlook that made me feel so self-assured. At no point during the entire process did I even have an iota of doubt about the outcome. Being an Indian male with an engineering background, it was supposed to be insanely difficult to differentiate me from the entire applicant pool. But Heidi managed to do exactly that in style. I still remember the very first call we had, when Heidi, after having read my entire biography, zeroed in on seemingly inconsequential stories of my life as must-haves in all my application essays to differentiate myself from the Indian applicant pool. That statement from her stands out as a remarkable prophecy today. And it was not just about creating quality essays. Being a Booth graduate herself and having been a consultant at one of the Big 3 consulting firms, she’s not just an admissions consultant but a perfect mentor to guide you in your post-MBA goals. I can confidently state today that my business education journey started the very same day I started working with Heidi. Long story short, if you are ever looking for a person who would go beyond being just an admissions consultant and stay with you as a friend/mentor/counsellor to guide you and steer you through the rigorous application process then Heidi is the one you should be looking for. I have extremely fond memories of my application journey only because of Heidi and they are mine to cherish forever!

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Going into the application process, I honestly felt like my profile was fairly mediocre for the schools I was targeting. As a white male from the finance industry and working at a largely unknown company, the competition was abundant/tough and my numbers weren’t anything special. Like many, I was initially reluctant to use a consultant because of the cost; there’s no doubt it’s a big decision. But a good friend referred me to Jessica and told me she was the best in the business and that I had to work with her. The opportunity to go to a top b-school is once in a lifetime and I’d seen it open incredible opportunities for others, so I figured I’d give it my best shot and try to get any edge I could in the application process. After all, I’d already committed to the idea of leaving the workforce for two years and spending my life savings (plus some) on school itself – so might as well do it right.

Now at Columbia Business School, I’m still pinching myself because just a few years ago this didn’t seem like a possibility. And I can say with great certainty that it wouldn’t have been without Jessica’s help. Jessica helped me tell my story in a way that took my borderline profile and made it a standout one. She’s passionate about getting the best out of her clients, and she understands the application process and the perspective of admissions committees better than anyone. Always a straight shooter, she’ll constantly push you and tell you exactly what you need to hear. It wasn’t always fun or comfortable, but I wouldn’t have wanted to do it any other way because it resulted in the best possible application. She’s truly as invested in your success as you are at each and every step of the process – she was just as excited as I was when I got accepted to Columbia. In retrospect, I can’t believe I ever considered going through the application process by myself. If your dream is to attend a top business school but you think it might be a bit of a stretch, then I can not recommend Jessica enough.

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