Working in investment banking, I did not have time and was unfamiliar with the MBA application process. I selected MBAMissions because of their affiliation with ManhattanGMAT, a company that I have trusted through my GMAT preparations. Further, I selected Jessica because of her outstanding reviews, in addition to the 30-minute free trial. I evaluated several consultants at the time and, after talking with Jessica, I felt that she was the right person. In the 30-minute free session, Jessica genuinely tried to help me instead of selling me on her products as many other consultants whom I spoke with had done. I purchased the 3 school start-to-finish package and was accepted into Columbia Business School through its early decision program. Looking back, Jessica was the best option for me. Below are the key features that I would like to highlight about Jessica:

1. Genuine care – throughout the process, Jessica not only cares about your essays (which she demands excellence from, as per other reviews), but she also genuinely cares about her clients’ paths and progress. This showed throughout the essays, as it made them that much more personable and real. To this day, Jessica still reaches out to check on my progress.

2. Rapid response and patience – I have asked Jessica a thousand questions throughout my MBA application process (and afterwards as well), and she has always responded within the agreed-upon timetable, often times well within the timetable (in less than an hour for quick questions). Having had long hours, I would often email her at 10-11pm only to see a new reply from her 10 to 15 minutes later. If you want someone who puts your needs first and takes her job seriously, Jessica would be the person.

3) Direct and authentic – Jessica is a no-nonsense person who will let you know the truth, a characteristic which I found to be the most efficient and rewarding. It provides me with the ability to make my decisions without thinking whether she filled it up with fluff or not. With her guidance, I was prepared for exactly what to expect – no surprises.

As such, I would like to strongly recommend Jessica. You need experts who can look into your stories and express independent opinions. It is an investment, and ensures that you don’t look back and question whether you gave the opportunity your best shot.

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My Background:
- Born in Central Asia, but got my undergrad in the US.
- 3.9 GPA in college
- Worked in public accounting and finance
- 4+ years of work experience

Experience working with Angela:
My biggest concern with my school selection was my GMAT score as I scored in the 730-740 range in my GMATPrep practice exams, but only got a 690 on my first actual exam. Angela encouraged me to retake the exam for the 2nd time, and my score improved to 700, which was still nowhere near the range of my practice exams. Then again, Angela encouraged me to retake the exam for the 3rd time, and my score improved to 710. Due to my school selection, Angela encouraged me to retake the GMAT exam the 4th and 5th time since there was time before my deadlines. She wanted to help me make sure I put my best application forward. Furthermore, Angela believes that retaking the GMAT generally does not hurt, but instead shows perseverance.

My overall experience with Angela was great. Angela was always prepared and knew every single detail in my personal story. She also seemed to be very personally vested in my success – this by far was the most important aspect of our relationship! Angela sincerely believed in me and my story, and because of that she was able to help me frame the challenges I faced in my life in the most inspiring terms/ways in my essays. Furthermore, Angela not only encouraged me to do my best but also pushed me a little more yet again, resulting in a very polished final product with which I was extremely happy.

As a result, we put together my application in record time (you wouldn’t even believe how fast!!) Once I received an interview invite, I was again pressed for time with my schedule, and Angela was so nice as to accommodate to my schedule and carve out some of her time over the weekend to conduct my mock interview. In the end, thanks to Angela’s help and guidance, I was admitted to my dream school – Berkley Haas! It wouldn’t have been possible without Angela. I am forever indebted to her, and would HIGHLY RECOMMEND her to anyone applying to business schools!

Thank you, Angela!

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In summer 2015, I decided to hire MBA Mission’s Jessica Shklar to work with me to apply for top business schools in the U.S. Jessica really lived up to her reputation – she turned out to be the most professional, insightful & empowering coach I could imagine to guide me through the hectic application process.

In previous year, all the top schools I applied for dinged me. I was very insecure about my chances as an older Asian male who has never lived outside Asia. MBA Mission has a well-established process to make sure the consultants gain a holistic understanding of each applicant. On top of the process, Jessica is insightful – I felt that she immediately understood me, my stories & the vision I had to become the best possible version of myself. I started the application process only one month before the R2 deadline, but Jessica gave up her personal time to make sure I could meet all the deadlines. Some of my friends read the essays Jessica worked with me to develop - they were moved to tears.

In the end, I got offers from 4 very good business schools. Out of the offers, I decided to go to Austin with one year deferral.

From no offer to 4 offers – Jessica really made a difference for me and to me, she is much more than a consultant – she is more like a well-trusted mentor that any young professional would be lucky to have.

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I worked with Angela for MBA applications in R1&R2 2015. In R1 I chose Haas and Stanford. Those two schools are known for "hard to get interview schools", but I got both interview from them. Stanford is my dream school. It cannot work without Angela's help!
1. Choose school: Angela is not like other consultant that will say school A would be a stretch for you I will recommend you B, C... Angela never does that, she always say let's try that.
2. Essay and Resume: Angela is so patience to answer every question I had. I'm so impressed that she can remember every detailed aspect I mentioned to her so she would remind me to use those details when I wrote my essay. Angela cares my success not the service fee. When I started my R2 application, she offered me the help to read my essays for different schools without charging me additional fee. She also did a regular check to see whether she can help.
3. Interview: Angela provided great mock interview. With the recorded mock interview and the resources for specific schools I can practice a lot.
4. Waitlist experience: I was unfortunately on two schools WL , but Angela remained optimistic and helped me navigate the waitlist process. Finally I got in both waitlist and got another offer.

I thoroughly enjoyed working with Angela and I will go to Sloan this fall. Highly recommend Angela Guido if you need a MBA consultant or a friend to talk about your career goals.

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Two years ago I started thinking about applying to business school and it seems like a very far away dream. I met Angela through a workshop she gave for the Forte MBA Launch, and I was amazed by her positive energy and ability to make something very complex like storytelling seem so simple. I decided to have her as my MBA Admissions Consultant through mbaMission.

The business school application process is long and exhausting at times, but with Angela it became a lot easier. She (and mbaMission) gave me a lot of material to go through to help guide my decision on which business school I should apply to, and what a good GMAT score looked like for my profile. I ended up not getting a stelar GMAT score, but because of my overall story Angela made me feel confident that my application was strong enough as it was.

The best part about working with Angela was her ability to highlight the best pieces of my story in a way that I myself couldn't. Sometimes we accomplish something and we don't realize how big of an accomplishment it is until someone from the outside reinforces it, and that's exactly what Angela did. She helped me see my story with a different eye, and with that I was able to create a solid business school application that truly represented the best version of myself. I would not have been able to do so without Angela.

Before working with Angela, I had incredible fear about the interview process. I wasn't sure that what I had to say was enough. Angela and I had a few mock interview sessions in which she gave me great feedback and most of all made me feel confident enough to walk on interviews and not feel nervous at all. I was so confident on my story, and I knew so much about it that in the end I wasn't worried about doing well on the interview or not. I just wanted to be my best self, be true to my values, and let the process do what it's supposed to do.

With Angela's help, I was accepted at Booth, MIT Sloan, and Kellogg. Kellogg had always been my first choice, and I was lucky enough to also receive a Fellowship from them.

If you are considering Angela as a consultant for you, it's a no-brainer: DO IT and you won't regret!

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Katy was a godsend in my application process—I’ve said as much many times, to myself and others, over the course of the past year. I have no doubt that my final results would have been starkly different without Katy’s start-to-finish guidance and involvement.

Before starting my applications, I had a prosaic view of the path they would take: write essays, take GMATs, hope for interviews and acceptance letters. Within the first half hour of speaking with Katy, I realized that my applications would be, needed to be, more personal. We started with a “deep dive” into my psyche. Katy wanted to know everything about my professional aspirations, and get to know me as a person, so that we could construct my “story”.

My “story” came a long way from our first phone call. Katy identified unique strengths in my profile, which business schools would love to add to their incoming class—strengths I might have otherwise glanced over. She also illuminated how to buff up weaker portions of my background. By the time we had finished with dozens of essay drafts, my final submission was entirely different—and so much stronger—than anything I could have come up with on my own.

Perhaps the most rewarding aspect of having Katy as an advisor—aside from being accepted into several top-choice schools—was that she encouraged me to think beyond the application, and towards my future aspirations. Even though she had clearly worked with many, many individuals before me, her guidance was never generic. Unquestionably, she helped me to solidify my long-term professional goals, by pushing me to hone my natural skillsets, and consider how I intend to apply those strengths—as I enter business school, and beyond.

It was a welcome pleasure to have Katy advise me in this process, and I recommend her service to anyone considering, or in the midst of, the MBA application process.

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Jessica was awesome, and I definitely recommend her to anyone looking for guidance in the MBA application process. She was extremely personable in her approach and took the time to get to know you at a deeper level (and she has an amazing memory so everything you say, she'll remember and remind you later later). During our sessions, she wasn't afraid to be honest or push back when an idea wasn't working out, but never excluded any possibility! She's also a pretty fast talker so your sessions will definitely be productive and efficient. The focus of our work together ranged from (in order of time spent) essays, brainstorming, application, resume, interview prep,

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I am from Europe and I belong to one of the over represented groups. From the outset, I knew I needed a concrete and balanced plan to get into business school, which led me to believe that some help would be extremely useful.

I looked at quite a few Admission Consultants but mbaMission’s feedback and their 30mins free consultation won me over. Though I would not be able to comment on other consultants, my decision has definitely worked out for me. I worked with John Sisk for my applications and he was extremely helpful in me securing a place at one of the top business school’s in the World.

I took the two school package and John’s insights into which schools to choose were spot on as I was able to use my application experience for my other applications. John began by dissecting my profile and making sure my motivations were correct. We then meticulously went through the Brainstorming document I had written to flush out my stories. He understood the chaotic world of MBA admissions and he helped me make sense of it by guiding me to tailor my stories towards specific schools.

Once I started writing the essays, it was a constant to and fro between John and me. He was very patient and tolerated my over the top writing and always provided feedback to get me on track when needed. His patience and constant support pushed me to bring out my best. He showed me what the admission committee looks for and worked with me to bring out those exact qualities in my essays. He drilled in me that every statement in the essays should count. Lack of space entails that one should make the most out of the word limits. After about 7-8 iterations per essay, we were satisfied enough to submit the applications.

I got quite a few admission interviews and I really appreciate John’s help during this incredibly stressful period. We did mock interview rounds a few times and he definitely went out of his way to ensure that I am fully prepared for all eventualities. Thanks to him, I had multiple interviews and two confirmed admits. I would highly recommend John and mbaMission.

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Initially, I approached Angela as a career coach, not an MBA admissions consultant. My existing job was coming to an end, and I needed to figure out my next career move. The problem was that I had no idea what I wanted to do. An MBA was appealing, but I thought my situation was too complicated for me to get into a top program, since I was about to leave my job. For this reason, I wanted Angela to help me gain some personal clarity and navigate the job search.

My first assignment was to fill out a document that captured my accomplishments, failures, preferences, etc. and I exhaustively completed it. I wrote a ton and provided a bunch of supporting documents from performance reviews to journal entries to personality assessments. I totally overloaded Angela with information about me and needed her to help make sense of it all and find themes. In fact, I was desperate for thoughtful feedback. I had hit a wall personally and professionally and had been searching for answers to no avail.

A few takeaways from Angela’s response.
• Her observations resonated with me and were really insightful. She saw themes and characteristics that I couldn’t articulate. Even now, I frequently reference her comments as I continue to think about my personal brand.
• She read and went through everything I sent, even the stuff I told her not to worry about; this was significant because of how much stuff I sent her. On our debriefing call, she made reference to a random and minor comment I made in one of my “exhibits.” I was pleasantly surprised by her attention to detail and thoroughness. It demonstrated a true commitment to helping me.
• She told me that nothing was wrong with me and that I had a lot of great qualities. She was enthusiastic about what I brought to the table and incredibly optimistic about the next phase of my career. I needed to hear this, and I needed someone to genuinely believe in me. While I would like to attribute this connection to how special I am, it’s more appropriate to acknowledge how adept Angela is at finding the awesomeness that lies in everyone.
• She thought I would be a great candidate for a top business school, even if I applied while unemployed. In fact, she encouraged me to apply if that’s what I wanted. I don’t think I would have gotten similar encouragement and enthusiasm from other coaches/consultants.

I decided to apply to MBA programs, and Angela became my admissions consultant. Below are a few highlights from this experience.
• I didn’t know how to tell a compelling story in light of being unemployed. How should I spend my time off to enhance my application? What do I tell school representatives about my job when I visit? Should I write an optional essay, and if so, how should I approach it? In my interviews, how do I frame my unemployment status and what’s the right spin to put on it? We were constantly talking about these questions because I needed a lot of help controlling the narrative. With her assistance, I was able to get in front of the questions that I was scared of getting and do so in a manner that captured my own voice and followed the “formula” for application success.
• She really got to know me well. At times, I felt like she knew me better than I knew myself. For one essay in particular, the topic she suggested was the perfect direction for me to take and one that I wouldn’t have thought about on my own. It encapsulated a theme that is core to what I’m about, enabling me to highlight several unique experiences. That topic was meant for me and only me.
• Career coaching/application consulting is what she does. It’s her full time gig, and she’s approaching it with a fresh perspective that intertwines how we connect with others and how we tell a good story. I really appreciated this type of thoughtfulness and her level of expertise.
• She went well beyond just helping me with application deliverables and proved to be the ultimate sounding board. I had a lot of questions and needed a lot of guidance and encouragement (encouragement about my profile, the GMAT, and the schools that I should apply to). I was a high maintenance client, but she always exceeded my expectations. I couldn’t have done without her.

— Top 15 Business School Admit and Scholarship Recipient

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I met Jessica through a 30 minute free consultation, and was immediately impressed. She was sharp, had pointed questions, wasn't shy to point out my weaknesses, and quickly illustrated she had a game plan to help me create a strong application. I choose to work with Jessica for R#1 admission for 2 school, but found working with her so valuable and insightful that I did not hesitate to expand my package ultimately to 4 schools.

The application process seemed daunting and chaotic (especially when you have a demanding full time job), but Jessica came to the table with a structured approach that was key for success. It began with a thorough brain-storming session, where Jessica quickly honed in on accomplishments/personal stories that would stand out to the admission committee. Having seen potentially thousands of application she provided invaluable insight on what differentiated me as a candidate, things that I might have potentially overlooked. Together we formed the "story" I would tell, which we continued to refine throughout the process. Even at that point I was amazed to see how vested she was in ensuring my "story" was tight, and demonstrated all the characteristics of a successful candidate.

Next was the writing process, where I think Jessica really shines. While I would rate my writing skills as above average, with Jessica's guidance I was able to take it to a higher level. In reviewing my drafts (at all hours of the night... I swear I got emails from her at 2am), her feedback was brutally honest (i.e. this sentence bores me, or love this intro but the rest just does not deliver) and full of clear guidance. Often I found it difficult to articulate what I was trying to say, so Jessica, draft after draft, would ask clarifying questions on that section until finally the right words landed on the page. This was a clear indication of her relentless commitment to ensure I had a superb essay. Similarly, when I pointed out I wasn't 100% happy with an introduction or conclusion, she never said "no its great" but pushed me to improve upon it/offered new approaches, so to ultimately ensure that the essay was the best reflection of myself.

Ultimately, I was accepted to 3 of the 4 schools an accomplishment that Jessica was invaluable to. I would highly recommend her to anyone looking for someone who gives honest and transparent feedback, has a structured approach to the application process, is a great writing coach and has an unwavering commitment to the success of her clients.

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