Please note: I am not one to write reviews. However, I feel compelled in this situation. Jessica was simply wonderful.

Background: I only applied to one school (dream school). Since the rifle approach is not exactly the smartest way to apply to school, I decided to seek counsel and hire a consultant. Jessica came highly recommended from a friend she helped in the 2012 class cycle. She is incredibly smart and hard working. She understands the process and really spends time understanding your candidacy. She is thorough and takes the time to develop a strategy and package you appropriately. Nothing deceitful – just maximizing what you have already accomplished and communicating it effectively and efficiently.
She helped me articulate why I made each career choice, placing it in the context of my broader career goal (including why B school choice was meaningful).

While hiring a consultant is expensive, I urge you to think of it as an investment in your future. Jessica gave me the best possible shot. I was admitted and I simply can’t thank her enough. She will spend a great deal of time with you; she really invests herself in your story. She cares deeply and I know finds great satisfaction in her job. Really a pleasure to work with.

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Dan was thoughtful, diligent, an expert word-smither, a great sounding board, and overall a great resource to have throughout my application process.

Dan truly made my essays better. I initially engaged Dan for only 2 hours, but by the end of the application process I had spent around 10 hours total working with him. As the weeks went on, I just kept adding hours because I knew Dan was helping my application and essays immeasurably.

I brought Dan in towards the end of the application period, but without fail he turned things around very quickly as well as was completely transparent about his process. Without a doubt, he improved the quality of my essays as well as alleviated a lot of the stress I was putting on myself. If nothing else, simply having someone say "yes" or "no" was invaluable. Though, obviously, he did a lot more!

I highly recommend Dan!

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I enthusiastically recommend Akiba at MBA Mission for the following concrete qualities and inputs:

1- She knows very well how to communicate ideas: oftentimes I had a certain accomplishment or story to convey and she helped me phrase it in appropriate ways without omitting details or making assumptions. Eventually, her coaching allowed me to write fluid essays that the Adcom can understand and that demonstrate my thought process and experiences. Akiba will spare no efforts to edit and critique the smallest details and often success comes from those small details that the experienced eye of the Adcom can spot.

2 - She is very professional in terms of time management and client relationship: Akiba respects deadlines and you can expect her to give her best to answer any of your questions. This created a level of trust and commitment that was essential for any applicant to business schools. Also, she gets well prepared for our calls and that is surely inspires confidence. She does not overpromise and acts as a reality check to push the client to realize that the competition is tough. This was true for pushing me to retake the GMAT to reach an acceptable level and for my expectations for interviews.

3 - She is personable and interested to help you: I previously worked with an Admissions consultant from another top firm and realized after the first call and discussions that I was not going to be comfortable with the person. The consultant was arrogant and with a US-centric mindset and not really interested to deep dive in the details of my experiences. When I move to MBA Mission, I quickly felt that Akiba is going to be of great help. Akiba was a trusted advisor for all the smallest details of my MBA applications and she inspired me on different levels to think more clearly, leverage my strengths, and grow as a future leader - as I believe this application process is also a terrific opportunity to develop further.

In a nutshell, I highly recommend Akiba. Without her fantastic help, I would not have been able to get into Wharton.

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I did a lot of research into programs, and decided that MBA Mission would be the group I would use. They exceeded my expectations and were truly fantastic. I considered myself a mediocre candidate off the bat - just two years of work experience, OK GMATs and academic record. The team at Manhattan GMAT helped assess my entire profile to help find the angles that would be most effective to tell my story. I found them to be well worth every penny. They provided very powerful upfront materials - a resume and personal statement guide, interview tips, and a brainstorming document to help pull out the parts of your background worth telling through your application.

The consultant I worked with Regan Clarke was terrific - she was a pleasure to work with and really knew her stuff. I highly highly recommend both her and the MBA Mission team. She could sniff out the BS in my essays, asked questions that probed me to think harder and work smarter. I couldn't have asked for a better consultant to work with and am very grateful that I will be off to my top choice program in the fall, a school I never expected to get into in the first place. Thank you Regan and the MBA Mission team - the best in the business.

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Many might be skeptic of why they should invest into admissions consulting services, but trust me, it is well worth it. mbaMission's Benjamin Shinewald was very knowledgeable the field of graduate school admissions strategy. His level of expertise and professionalism really gave me the edge to get into the school I wanted. Even though I was just using their hourly services, I felt that Benjamin was providing me with same amount of attention and seriousness as any of the full package clients. The advice and strategies which Benjamin tailored to my profile and situation really impressed me, he really showed me that he had the insight and experience from many successful cases and made me feel like I was in good hands. I think I can say this with a certainty, without his help, my chances of getting into a business school was almost near zero.

Whether you are a strong candidate aiming to for the competitive top schools or a weak candidate that needs an edge getting into the school of dreams (like me), I think mbaMission has the solution for you.

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I setup the free 30 minute consultation with MBA Mission on a whim and randomly chose Rachel Beck based on her availability. I figured free advice for 30 minutes was a pretty good deal and even if I just got a pointer or two, that would be all I could really expect. However, within the first three minutes of the call, it became apparent to me that Rachel is a true professional at MBA admissions.

Rachel gets it. She knows what the AdCom is looking for (Wharton, in my case) and she knows how to structure the entire application to tell a compelling story. I thought my resume was in pretty good order when I sent it to her for review. Within hours, she sent me back a modified draft that reconstructed my employment experience to show my growth path of how I got to where I am today. (After I did some additional research on Wharton’s website, I discovered how much AdCom really values professional growth. Thanks Rachel for knowing this upfront and making this an integral part of my resume!)

When it comes to helping with the essays, Rachel is first class. I don’t know how she can turn around an edited draft with such astute comments within 24 hours (and many times a lot quicker.) Maybe it’s her professional background as a journalist. I often questioned whether she had any other clients because she was so in tune with my application and so prompt with her responses. Her writing approach is simple but profound: “show” the reader, don’t “tell” the reader. Rachel guided my essays into carefully crafted stories that provided a complete and compelling picture of who I am. Don’t you think AdCom would rather read an interesting, distinguished, well told story rather than another boring “this is who I am” essay?

Not only does Rachel provide great insight and feedback, but she also works with a tremendous respect for the billing clock. As a “per hour” client, I was apprehensive in the beginning about asking for too much help, thinking it would lead to excessive hourly charges. It became perfectly clear after we concluded the first project (fixing resume) that Rachel works efficiently and deliberately. Every comment she wrote on essays, letters of recommendations, short essays, etc. provided clarity and advanced the work in a positive manner, all while keeping the billing to a minimum. It’s certainly not cheap at $275/hour, but I would use Rachel again any day based on my exceptional experience working with her.

While I seldom write online recommendations, I was so pleased with Rachel’s that I felt it was my duty to share my experience working with her. But don’t just take my word for it, call her up for a free 30 minute session!

Thanks again Rachel for helping me get into Wharton!

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I chose mbaMission after an info session I attended. After consulting with Jeremy Shinewald about my candidacy I gained the confidence I needed to go ahead with the application (my GPA was strong but my GMAT was below the top schools’ average). I signed for a 4-school package and contacted Rachel Beck, my advisor, to schedule a brainstorming session. Rachel is an incredible consultant: she has insightful comments, keeps you on track, presents wonderful ideas, and most importantly always there for you with quick responses to your questions and essays drafts (trust me, when crunching time arrives this is one of the most important attributes you should look for in a consultant).

What I valued most about working with mbaMission and especially Rachel is that beyond the professional ideas and advice her belief and support in my candidacy really pushed me to work hard and reach my potential.

The bottom line is that I was rewarded for my investment and was accepted to Wharton. My advice is to go for an info session, in which you will find out for yourselves that mbaMission is the company you want to work with, and Rachel Beck is the consultant you want by your side in this long arduous process.

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I reached out to mbamission after going 0/2 last year from 2 "stretch" schools. My consultant was Akiba Smith-Francis who I selected after reading several glowing reviews. I didn’t have a whole lot of cash to splash so I selected 1 school and added another later.

I asked her which schools should I use her for and she suggested the ones that I find most difficult. She could have easily suggested the easier ones.

So I started off with two sets of applications where I didn't know where to begin as I'd used all my best stories and material last year. I was totally stumped and this is where my consultant came into her own.

We did a series of brainstorming sessions in which she pushed me to bring out some answers that truly answered the questions at hand. This only got better as she got to know me better for the second application. Akiba was so helpful in explaining which parts of my profile would be worth mentioning in my essays and which parts wouldn’t – often contrary to what I was expecting. I was very focused on what I wanted to do post MBA and what parts of my profile might help me get there, Akiba pointed out several experiences in my past that would be interesting to adcoms. By the end of these sessions I had a plan for what I’d write for all the essay questions, writing the essay was just like filling in the blanks.

In the end I had two sets of applications that were far better and focused than my previous applications. While I was waitlisted at one of these schools, my GMAT and GPA were far below the averages of these top 5 schools, and my work experience is distinctly average.

Akiba is an extremely bright woman able to frame responses in a way that will resonate with adcoms. She is very popular and I only got to use her as she had a last minute pull out, so I suggest if you are keen to engage her then start early. I highly recommend her, I don’t think I could have had anyone better!

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My review is specifically for Daniel Richards.

I've worked with Daniel on strategy, consulting and editing serves for admittance to an MBA program this year. Daniel is extremely experienced (he's worked with hundreds of applicants) and is professional and helpful.

What you can expect from the service:
1 - strategy of personal essays (by school, by essay type) - he clearly identified what my strengths and weaknesses were (from my resume and phone conversation), how to play up my strengths and what is most important to emphasize for the Admissions Committee.
2 - consulting and coaching - Daniel coached me on how to structure my essay and clearly tie in my experience with my reasons for enrolling in an MBA program and with my short and long term goals. His knowledge allowed me to see and think from the Admissions Committee perspective and helped me strengthen my essays in a ways I could not have done alone.
3 - editing - Daniel is an incredible writer and editor - he is concise and knows where to "trim the fat". My essays really went from zero to hero!

I know that mbamission services are expensive but the ROI on using them pay off. I strongly recommend Daniel's services.

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To frame this discussion, I will say this: I applied to the two hardest programs to get into with some less than savory topics to address in my essays. I did this at at roughly the last second... in the middle of cross-country move.

mbaMission sold me on BootCamp, which I did to prep and get oriented. When it came down to it though, I really wanted more in-depth help with the app I felt was harder and more important. Daniel not only pulled through, he was a windfall of help in the eleventh hour. He was informative, completely transparent as to the process and what he could and couldn't do, and above all the quality of his guidance was stellar - I felt infinitely more confident about my difficult situation and I know I handled it in the application 10x better than I would have otherwise. Daniel made a huge impact, without question.

Testament to this is the fact that I've gotten interviews at both schools. No decisions yet, but at the interview level I once again went to Daniel for help and he once again shepherded me through the process with really practical, credible advice - specific to me and the programs to which I applied. And once again, the end result made it worthwhile.

I'm typically very wary of services like this insofar as they can provide expensive, generic, "one-size-fits-all" advice. To the contrary, Daniel and the other folks at mbaMission know their stuff inside and out and - importantly - make it personal to YOU. And since these applications are made or broken on how well you convey yourself as an individual, that's pretty invaluable.

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