After working with Lorraine at MBA Prep on my Harvard and Stanford applications this past fall, I was admitted to both schools round one, and I truly believe that success stemmed from my work with Lorraine. I have to admit, I was very skeptical about the concept of a consultant at the beginning of the business school process, but looking back, working with Lorraine was incredibly helpful and absolutely worth the time and investment. I come from a traditional background (consulting/finance), but received mixed messages from my introductory calls with a few different consulting firms about my chances to get into one of my top two schools. I ended up choosing Lorraine because from the very beginning, she was intelligent about the application process and the various business schools, she always asked the right questions, she was honest about the good and the bad, and she was invested not only in my application process but also in me as person.

During our time together, Lorraine was incredibly helpful throughout the planning/brainstorming, writing, and interview prep phases of the application process. Lorraine was very hands on and very engaged from her consultant seat, and that stems from the fact that she was genuinely interested in helping me position myself in the best way possible for success. I found Lorraine to be incredibly flexible and forgiving of unpredictable work schedules, and she was willing to work with shorter deadlines if it would help my application. Lorraine was also very patient—she was a great listener and always willing to put my needs first throughout this time consuming process, and I found this to help alleviate stress. Lorraine was also very knowledgeable on a wide range of topics thanks to her diverse career experience. This was one of the more helpful aspects of working with Lorraine—she helped tease out and think through exactly what I wanted to pursue career wise in life and more importantly, why. Lorraine was also willing to go above and beyond traditional consultant services—I would constantly get emails from Lorraine with articles on leaders in my career field of interest, industry studies that were relevant to my career goals, or blog posts about the schools I was applying to.

I felt like I had a fair critic, friend, and mentor with me along the way for every step of the application process, and I could not recommend Lorraine any more highly.

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I found MBA Prep School to be an excellent resource and thought it was well worth the monthly fee. I stumbled on the website/service through a series of positive reviews about their one on one consulting service and decided to give it a try. Although I would have liked to take advantage of individual consulting, I found using the videos to be the next best thing. They were completely practical, to the point, and they told me exactly how to approach the process so that I could generate the best application that represents me. I was really impressed by how well they de-constructed the process and explained what schools are really looking for in an actionable format - they cut through the “we want to get to know you” statements that ad coms put out and explained what they really are looking for. The examples that are given in the videos are extremely useful because they made the concepts concrete and demonstrated what a really, really good example would sound like in terms of tone and level of sophistication. Every example was so impressive and it challenged me to come up with the best possible way to present my own story.

I also made use of the various templates and example documents as models. The template resume was extremely useful. I wound up using exactly that format and just plugged my information into it. It really helped as I was trying to boil down a 7-page CV into a one page MBA resume.

In the end I was accepted to my fist choice business school (Wharton). It was 100% worth the monthly fee (and I subscribed for 3 months).

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At 32 years old with a family and after a difficult 2013 MBA application season, I realized that it was now or never for getting into business school. In 2013 I applied to three northeast schools—Wharton (FT), Columbia (FT), and Stern (FT)—and was ultimately dinged from all three after interviewing at two and being wait-listed at one. I needed an edge to make sure that my next application season was successful and my last. While I spoke with several MBA admission consulting companies, after reaching out to Tyler Cormney of MBA Prep School and having my introductory interview with Esther Choy I knew I had found that edge with MBA Prep School.

After my initial conversation with Esther there were four reasons I selected MBA Prep School and especially Esther Choy and Faisal Khan to coach me for my 2014 application season:
• Their high historical success rate,
• Their school selection strategy aligned with my goals (i.e., diversify among top schools vs. go downstream with schools)
• They had the most collaborative and warm culture among the firms I interviewed (e.g., kicking off the essay writing process Esther said, “now the fun begins”—and she meant it!), and
• As a collaborative team, Esther and Faisal could provide a more rounded perspective regarding my application—Esther described it as getting both the “cup half full” and the “cup half empty” perspective.

While the application process was still a lot of work, it was a lot more fun than my previous go around and I felt more confident having a team supporting me in the process. I even looked forward to our update calls as the brainstorming process was so enjoyable. Some of the areas that Esther and Faisal helped the most were in the following:
• Capturing a compelling MBA vision,
• Brainstorming the most powerful story ideas to differentiate my vision and leadership strengths—with a team based model, this meant I got an extra “outside opinion” early in the process of writing an essay,
• Teaching me that stories can be used in many contexts beyond the most obvious ones and how to structure those stories for the most powerful effect,
• Providing editing recommendations, i.e., pointing out areas warranting elaboration, but especially for suggesting areas to remove content and details to make room for the most powerful story elements, and
• Providing guidance about selecting the most powerful recommenders among my pool of options.

However, beyond the more immediate goal of getting accepted to business school, I feel like working with Esther and Faisal has given me tools that will make me more successful in business. The experience has made me not only both a better writer, but also more able to communicate a compelling vision in broader contexts. Currently working in consulting, I foresee this having immediate benefits with:
• Communicating my personal vision and strengths to colleagues and clients,
• Pitching our company’s vision to clients to win projects,
• Developing compelling client recommendations that clients actually want to read, and
• Creating a more compelling individual performance narrative that allows me to earn a higher performance rating and achieve a more rapid promotion timeline.

Ultimately, I was accepted to all four schools I applied to—Wharton (EMBA), Columbia (EMBA), Kellogg (1Y FT), and Tuck (FT)—and even earned a sizeable scholarship from Kellogg. While I was expecting good things to come out of this application season, after my previous year’s application season performance, I was not expecting this level of success. That’s another of the many reasons I’m so thankful for Esther and Faisal’s help, guidance, and ability to make the process more fun that made this experience so successful and rewarding. If you’re looking to learn the tools that will make you more successful in the b-school application process and in business in general, look no further than Esther Choy and Faisal Khan at MBA Prep School.

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A good consultant is highly adept at helping with editing essays. A great one is so much more – he is a mentor, a coach, and a friend.

I can say, without reservation, that Chris is a fantastic admissions consultant. I would recommend him without reservation. With his help, I was overjoyed to get admitted to a top 5 school. But even if my application process had been unsuccessful, I would still recommend him.

Firstly – Chris genuinely interested in *you*. I interviewed 7 other admissions consultants before selecting Chris. Unlike others that simply delivered a ‘templatized’ pitch, Chris had done his homework into my background, and seemed genuinely interested in learning more about who I was on our call. This is critical because the more interested a consultant is in digging deep into your specific story, the better his ability and desire help you craft a unique message.

Secondly – Chris is approachable and balanced. Through the process, Chris helped draw out not only my strengths, but also my weaknesses. Because he’s just such a “good guy” it’s really easy to open up to him. This is absolutely crucial in developing an authentic, self-aware application.

Thirdly – Chris pushes you – hard. Applying to business school can be a physically exhausting and emotionally draining process. While Chris sympathizes with this, he doesn’t let you off easy. He pushes you to go through every aspect the MBAPrepSchool process (which in itself is great, by the way) and constantly drives you to conduct deeper research to better understand yourself and develop more specific messages.

Fourthly – Chris is aware and nuanced in his approach. A small but telling example – every time Chris came across a blog / article that he thought could help me – he’d email me its link. Another example - some admissions consultants conveniently told me that all of the schools were “pretty much the same”. Chris believed the exact opposite and drove me to understand the unique flavor of each school. Additionally, I’m an Indian applicant – and Chris, well, isn’t Indian. But his general awareness and ability to learn quickly was so high that this didn’t matter – indeed he served as an excellent bridge between my Indian mind-set and the culture of each of my US target schools. In an environment where you’re constantly trying to differentiate yourself from peers with similar backgrounds, while simultaneously trying to demonstrate fit with your target schools, these little things go a long way.

Finally, and most importantly – Chris is highly committed and always exceeds expectations. Despite my hectic international travel schedule, Chris always figured out a convenient time for us to speak. Most importantly, I never felt like I could not reach out to him because I was using ‘too much’ of his time. Quite the opposite – he pushed me to engage with him constantly and we spoke as often as I felt necessary. His turnaround time for feedback was consistently quick – responding to multiple essays within 12 hours. As admissions deadlines approached, I expected his availability to reduce drastically given the pressures of juggling with several clients simultaneously. This did not happen. I don’t know how he managed to do so, but he always made time for me. Chris never compromises in helping me put my best foot forward, even if it meant going beyond what was ‘contracted’. When things unexpectedly get tough, you want somebody that you can rely on in your corner no matter what. Chris is that person.

The obvious outcome of my interaction with Chris was that I was able to get into a ‘dream business school’. But on reflection, I realize this engagement has had a more lasting impact – through it I learned a lot about myself. This will not only help me through business school, but life as a whole!

Thank you Chris!

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You think you can do it without a consultant. You think, ah that's expensive, I'll just do it myself. Well... bad idea.

The extra money you spend on Tyler's help, which will ultimately help you get into your dream school, is a drop in the bucket considering all the costs associated with b-school.

Tyler is a mix between an editing guru and a psychologist. He helps you narrow down what you want to do in life and mold all of your experiences into a compelling story. His customized schedule is perfect for someone, like me, who is working full time and trying to get all different aspects of the application not just done on time, but executed professionally.

I cannot recommend Tyler enough and hope everyone will use his expertise to show their best self to the admissions committee.

BTW - I got into my top two schools CBS & Sloan.

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I worked with Daniel J. on my Stanford and LBS application and got into both schools! Daniel is an experienced and trustworthy consultant. He is very responsive (I usually get feedbacks to my essay drafts within 1 day), very good at story-telling (he always helps me see my own stories from a different yet much better perspective) and has a good sense of humor (very important too if you need to spend hours talking to your consultant every week!)

Daniel insisted on spending a lot of time going through my stories, experiences and strengths before I started to look at essay questions. This process turned out to be one of the most important steps in my MBA application because it helped me select my brightest achievements and also helped me to examine my past experiences (extremely important for Stanford applicants!)

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Tyler Cormney, the co-founder of MBA Prep School, is absolutely amazing, the best of the very best! No words can really describe how thrilled I am about our work together and the awesome results, but I will do my best. Not only did I get into the school of my dreams (and others I applied to), but also learned a lot about myself and what future life- and career choices I should pursue.

Coming from a finance background, and with some considerable weaknesses in profile, I knew I was up for an intense competition but wanted to get into a top program (think Harvard/Stanford/Wharton). Given my age and professional category, I didn’t want to leave anything to chance or have a single regret. For this, I needed THE best MBA admissions consultant, who would work as hard as I would and help me create absolutely rock-star applications. You have to have full confidence in your admissions consultant and in entrusting your fate in this process in her- or his hands. You can’t compromise on quality here – the process is just so competitive. You need someone who is as invested as you are in your success.

I first came across Tyler Cormney, and MBA Prep School while doing a thorough diligence and speaking to several consultants. His application philosophy, and the organized and comprehensive MBA Prep School application process, appealed to me a lot. Most of the consultants out there looked good on paper, and sounded encouraging. However, among all of them, Tyler really stood out by his unique background in both business (incl. Harvard Business School MBA) and creative writing training. Excellent track record and reviews written by his former clients, and a great impression from our introductory conversation (where he shared valuable insights and we connected on an interpersonal level), ultimately convinced me to embark on my “MBA application journey” with him. I signed on for a multi-school comprehensive package. This was the single best decision I made in the MBA application process!

As said, I had (very) high expectations, which Tyler instantly started exceeding. We spent weeks doing an extremely organized and comprehensive review of my background (in line with MBA Prep School methodology) and designing application strategy, which produced stunning material for the “real fun” later – essays, application forms, supporting recommenders, and interviews. Right away, I saw that I made a great choice. Tyler was extraordinarily responsive (still don’t know how he manages to turn stuff around and answer emails so quickly and so thoroughly!). He drew exactly the right information from me – often stuff I would not have considered important, but through his creative and experienced eyes, he saw how the dots connected into something powerful. From an “ocean” of content, step by step, week after week, we described the real “me” at my very best. It was completely personalized – nothing “cookie cutter” or “fitting into a template.” He got to know me inside out, remembered everything, pointed to connections and themes I didn’t see myself, and in the end I knew what my “story” had to be.

It quickly turned out Tyler is not (just) an “MBA admissions consultant,” or advisor. Tyler became way more than this – a confidante, a strategist, and really a friend. He was there to help on anything, and no matter what – incl. GMAT strategy and answering my last-minute frenetic emails at light’s speed. Already at that stage the Skype calls we had and emails we exchanged counted probably in hundreds, and their content could fill a new thick novel or memoir on MBA applications. Tyler keeps you on track with timing and process, sends emails reminding of upcoming deadlines, and I can’t even count how many times he “rescued” me by squeezing rush (and voluminous) work in his schedule to save. Whenever I needed something extra, he was there to help by making personal sacrifices and squeezing work into my mad schedule and deadlines. In fact, he over delivers both on timing and on quality. Working with him, you’re fully confident you’re with the best pilot and on a seat in the “private jet.” And I really, really admire his superhuman patience, kindness, and authentic friendliness!

What happened once we started work on the actual applications was simply a masterpiece. I had read reviews from excited clients about Tyler’s creative writing knowledge, and what I experienced first-hand was way greater than I had even expected. Having survived MANY revisions of outlines and “first drafts” (again – immense kudos to his incredible patience; you can tell by reading this review that I like to say it all...), we started producing applications, which evolved from decent in my first draft to extraordinary (after Tyler’s editorial suggestions and our countless Skype discussions). Whenever I thought my work was already great, and felt satisfied, Tyler proved it could be taken to the “next level.” When I opened a file coming back from him, I couldn’t help but say “woooow.” We never stopped until it was all perfect. And this applies to absolutely all items of my MBA application – essays, data forms, resume, guidance for my recommenders’, and absolutely every, tiniest detail. Upon submission, my applications were holistic, school-specific (Tyler knows the nuanced differences between schools) and presented an authentic 3-dimensional picture that I felt very proud of. At the interview stage, his help was just as fantastic, and the preparation equally brilliant. The call(s) from AdCom saying I was accepted are the ultimate proof!

It’s not only the quality Tyler guarantees, and the outstanding output which results from working with him, that makes him so special. It’s also the attitude, and the 1000% dedication in client’s success, like it was his own. It is my biggest pleasure to wholeheartedly recommend Tyler Cormney and want to say with total confidence that however gruelling the MBA application process might be, embarking on it with him makes it a completely different experience – to the point you can even enjoy it (I’m not joking). I’m heading to the business school of my many-year-long dreams, filled with joy and knowing it is due to TYLER that it happened.

THANK YOU TYLER, you are the best!!

- Top-3 MBA, class of 2016

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I interviewed several consultants and would recommend any MBA applicant to do the same. Ultimately the rapport and personal fit between you and the consultant is most important as you will spend a lot of time working together and will need to be comfortable opening up about your strengths and weaknesses.

I immediately appreciated Chris’ fair, honest feedback. He was comfortable being critical and asked a lot from me, but was always diplomatic when bearing bad news. For example, he convinced me to write the GMAT a second time, and rewrite essays numerous times.

I found the introspection necessary for strong essays difficult, but Chris asked the right questions to find great stories, recognize new value in my experiences, while rightly convincing me to disregard others. His advice was substantive, constructive, personalized, and actionable from day one.

It was also very important to me that Chris was always available to help, whether calling me from the airport after I sent him a stressed out email or pulling late nights as I put final pieces together last minute.

In addition to Chris’ consulting, the structure that MBA Prep School’s online platform provides was key to my success. They have effectively compartmentalized self-reflection, and turned the application into a step-by-step process that is much more approachable then staring at a blank word-doc.

Also, Chris was able to leverage the expertise of the rest of his team for their school specific experience, and varied creative writing styles to help me get into my dream school. Additionally, Chris opened his own personal network to help answer career focused questions I had.

Chris truly went above and beyond what I expected from a consultant, acting as a friend and mentor who was truly invested in my success. The value Chris provided far outweighed the cost. Because of Chris’ help I will be attending Columbia Business School, but more than that, conversations with Chris helped me identify and solidify my long-term goals such that I am confident that I will get the most out of my MBA experience.

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The business school application process can be daunting, including the process of choosing a consultant! Tyler stood out to me because of his extensive experience and more importantly RESULTS. Tyler came highly recommended by friends who were successful as a result of his help. During my initial consultation, I appreciated that Tyler was realistic about my candidacy. I felt like he saw possible pitfalls and solutions that other consultants missed.

I was not disappointed. In regards to my essays, Tyler was able to help me pick apart major events in my life and narrow in on an interesting theme, which I believe helped me stand out from the pack. Not only did he provide great advice on the application, but he also provided a much-needed push when I started to get worn-out. I felt like he was personally invested in helping me get into my dream school, Harvard Business School! Make an investment in Tyler. You will have the peace of mind of knowing that you are putting your best foot forward with your applications.

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I come from a fairly traditional/over-represented background (2 years of banking, 3 years of private equity) and I was concerned about my chances of being accepted into HBS or Stanford. After interviewing 7 different admissions consultants, I selected Tyler for a couple reasons: (1) some of my close friends had used him in the past and had nothing but great things to say [and had also gotten accepted], and (2) I felt like Tyler would be someone that could help me create a unique, personal narrative unlike some other consultants who like to squeeze all their clients into a pre-determined mold.

Regarding point 2, I would say that Tyler has exceeded my already high expectations. Tyler guided me through a step-by-step process to bring out my most relevant / interesting / unique stories and helped me craft them into powerful narratives in my essays. He is disciplined, responsive, and in particular, his attentiveness almost made me feel like I was his only client.

If you come from an over-represented background and care about crafting a unique story that still represents who you really are, PICK TYLER!

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