I'm really grateful to Jessica and mbaMission for helping me craft the most compelling story and for being great support during the incredibly difficult MBA admissions process. Jessica helped me understand my strengths and weaknesses as an MBA candidate, and she gave an objective opinion every time. Now that I'm in the first couple weeks of business school, I am finding that the consulting sessions are still paying dividends. The resume that I'm now using to get internship opportunities has been edited and crafted with Jessica's help. But most importantly, I continue to use the narratives Jessica helped me uncover now that I'm looking for internships.

Read More

Dan is fantastic. First off, even before I had engaged him as a paid client he gave me very honest feedback about what I could expect and whether or not the schools I was considering were right for me both in terms of fit and the strength of my application. I also love how rather than holding your hand to craft an “ideal” cookie-cutter application for the schools you’re applying to, he puts a bigger focus on helping you to tease out what your own compelling story really is. His feedback was always insightful and his easygoing manner made him a pleasure to talk to and work with. Highly recommended.

Read More

I was a fringe candidate applying to a top business school. The bottom line is that I would not have been accepted without the help of mbaMission, and specifically John Sisk. He single-handedly improved my application by advising on my resume, essays, and anything else I needed. He also helped me develop my personal story, which is a must for admissions departments. Although expensive, I view it as a necessary investment for anyone pursuing an MBA at a top business school. I enthusiastically recommend John and his services. The service is unparalleled and the quality of his advice holds weight with top business schools.

Read More

I had the pleasure of working with Katy Lewis of mbaMission for my application to Columbia Business School and was ultimately admitted. As someone in my mid 30s who had always been working in academic biomedical research, I was initially unsure about how to put the best representation of myself through my essays. I spoke to a couple of different admission consultants from various companies but Katy was the main person who I felt a good chemistry. Moreover, she was able to give me a very balanced assessment of my situation in our first contact and I really appreciated that. In my 3 hours with Katy, the first 1-1.5hr was spent on brainstorming about my past experience and really got to the root of why I want to go to business school. This was an extremely important exercise between it gave Katy a chance to get to know me better while giving me the confidence that I could craft a strong story for my essay. During the actual essay writing phase, Katy was extremely efficient in turning around essay drafts that I submitted to her, typically less 24hr and with very helpful insights that were specific to me. Of course, I was absolutely happy with the final version of the essay. Even after the paid hours were up, Katy continued to check in on me and even gave me advice when I was waitlisted, which was a big surprise for me. Overall, my experience of working with Katy was extremely positive, not just because of her in depth expertise but her sincerity in rooting for my success. In conclusion, I have no hesitation in recommending Katy Lewis to anyone in search of a mentor/advisor for the MBA application process. In my humble opinion, it was money well spent!

Read More

Upfront and honest: Hiring an admissions consulting service was the best decision I made during the MBA application process, and if I had to do it all over again (thankfully I don't!), I would work with Susan again in a heartbeat.

Small caveat: I worked in the undergraduate admissions office at a Top 25 school in undergrad, and learned that the most important part of an applicant's application is not necessarily the "stats." Most everyone applying has around the same GPA/test scores, so just numbers alone help an applicant achieve parity with the rest of the applicant pool - not necessarily differentiation. The story that supported the stats, i.e. essays/letters of rec, was really where applicants separated from each other and unique students stood out.

Therefore, I applied the same insights to the graduate school application process. Knowing my grad school stats (3.4 GPA/650 GMAT) were going to be "average," the essays were going to be an critical part of my application in order to breakthrough the applicant log jam.

However, I had no idea where to start, what to say and how to say it. When trying to fit years of work experience and undergrad accomplishments into 250 words or less, having a clear perspective on the key points you want to say is mission critical before ever putting finger-to-keyboard. That is when I started working with Susan, and she absolutely saved me!

Here is what Susan did that was tremendously valuable:
- Gave me a place to start. The initial brainstorming sessions were painful soul-searching endeavors, but she knew the right questions to ask and how to ask them in a way that got me to be honest with myself about who I am, who I wanted to be, where I wanted to be and what made me unique.
- Helped me understand the application game. With her background in marketing, Susan helped me to understand that applications are really just an exercise in building your personal "brand." She helped me to look through my background, and recognize the experiences that were worth building a brand around.
- School-specific optimization. Susan also provided unique insight into each school I was applying to, the elements they're looking for in an applicant and how I could tailor my brand story to align with what each school was looking for.
- Time efficiency. Susan also kept our time streamlined so as to maximize efficiencies, which I appreciated. This mentality extended to the essay writing process itself, where she was also able to help me self-edit down (some times brutally, but necessarily) to the most important parts of what needed to be said in order to maximize every word.

I applied to four schools, each with approximately 2-4 essays and several resume iterations (professional and activities.) Susan provided feedback on time in every instance, helping me to meet deadlines as needed.

Additionally, Susan also provided encouragement when things were on the right track and honest feedback when an essay had gone awry. When words begin to swim in front of you, knowing I could trust her to give me real feedback made the process less stressful and more productive.

I also worked with Susan for interview prep, and highly recommend the experience as well. Susan knew me as an applicant and was able to identify my key strengths/weaknesses along with suggestions as to how to address them in an verbal format. The mock interview along with her real-time feedback was particularly beneficial.

In the end, I got into 3 of the 4 schools, including my top choice, and was wait-listed at the other school. I am very pleased with how everything went, and I have Susan to thank for the positive outcome.

Read More

Working with Rachel from MBAMission was a very smooth and stress-free experience for me, for the following reasons:

- Rachel made sure I understood the process and helped me stick to a schedule.
- She listened to me carefully and asked insightful questions that helped me build a better application
- She was a thorough professional, turning around documents ahead of time whenever possible.
- She is committed to her clients, even working through an interview prep with me despite the fact that she had laryngitis.
- She has a solid work ethic i.e. she made sure I received all of the services I had paid for (school guides, interview prep for xx number of schools, etc). I didn't have to worry about following up for these types of things.

I didn't know what to expect going into the process, but looking back, I think Rachel & MBAMission were exactly what I needed to help me bring out the best in my application.

Read More

I knew I would benefit from using a MBA consultant but what I received was far more than what I had expected. Angela Guido was my consultant and I knew I would be a good fit after our initial complementary call. Coming from non-English background, I wasn’t particularly confident in writing essays. For this, I had expected her to “fix” my essay to make it more “glamorous”, but instead she guided me to write my essays on my own that would have my unique colors. At times, she would barely tell me to revise my essay even though I thought it sucked, and the other times, she would tell me to completely scrap my essay even though I thought it was a decent draft. Yes, my essays might have had some grammar errors here and there but they truly sounded like my own work. And Angela did a fantastic job guiding me to making that final product. From constructing good stories and a stronger resume to preparing myself as a professional interviewee, she was always there for me. She made me realize who I am, how much I have achieved and what I really wanted to do after business school.

The results were phenomenal: I applied to 8 schools from so-called top 15 schools (I did 5 schools with MBAMission) and I got interview invitations from 7 schools, waitlisted by 3 schools and accepted by 3 schools. I got off the waitlist from one school in the end. I also received $40k scholarship from one school and that’s where I am headed this fall. I was again impressed how Angela kept in mind of my success for the additional 3 schools I did on my own. She was genuinely happy when she heard the great news.

I don’t know if I would have had to same results had I done all these on my own but I highly doubt it. I would highly recommend Angela Guido and MBAMission to anybody considering going to the B-School. You won’t be disappointed by your return on investment. $10k does sound a lot but hey, you’re going to need to spend around $200k during your MBA and an additional $10k can really get you far.

Read More

At first I was very hesitant to sign up for a school package. I had heard about admissions consultants and thought that I would be able to get the same amount of valuable insight from forums online without paying the money. I ended up doing the free thirty minute consultation with Helen and realized I needed to sign up for a school package.

Helen is a perfectionist and is a great person to have on your side throughout the admissions process. She works with you to figure out how to make you shine and helps you convey your story in the best way possible. She goes above and beyond, constantly proofreading drafts and always giving really insightful feedback. She has a very fast response rate and I never felt like I was waiting for her to get back to me. It actually felt like she was keeping me on schedule! On top of it all, she is honest and gives feedback in a way that does not seem critical or judgmental. Applying to business school is stressful, but I always felt like I had an edge with Helen. I know I would not be going to a top program (with a fellowship) if it wasn't for all of her help and guidance.

Ultimately, I only wanted to apply to business school once. I wanted to be sure that I was selecting schools that I could see myself going to, but that I also had a good shot at getting into. I knew that if I didn't use a consultant and ended up not getting in anywhere, I would be really disappointed knowing I'd have to wait another year to re-apply. I decided I wasn't okay with wondering "what if" and so I bit the bullet and signed up to work with Helen. I couldn't be happier!

Read More

Hi all,

I wanted to share how happy I was with my hourly consulting services with mbaMission and my coach Susan Kaplan. With her help, I am going to one of my target schools (USC Marshall) and couldn't be happier.

In short, Susan knew how to make the most of the hours I was paying for. She provided specific feedback on my essays -- which was all I really felt I needed help with -- and didn't waste any time with fluff or vague notes. Everything was right to the point, and she really helped pinpoint my essays weaknesses, and offered some great food-for-thought suggestions on ways to improve. For anyone out there looking for that extra set of eyes to help truly craft "your story", Susan is the way to go!

Please feel free to reach out if you have anymore questions!

Read More

Katherine is more than an essay consultant; she is a true mentor and adviser. Not only did she exceed my expectations - helping me craft my essays, but she continued to help me craft e-mails to admissions staff, current students and alumni, which is what I believe sealed the deal. More importantly, she was a constant source of support and advice thought out what was a very stressful time.

I would have not gotten into my top choice school if it wasn't for her and I know my co-worker (who referred me) feels the same way. In fact, I recommend her to all my friends and wish I could still pick her brain as I apply for summer MBA internships.

I cannot imagine an admissions consultant better than her and I give her my highest recommendation.

Read More