To set the scene: It was mid-October. I had just taken the GMAT for the first time and was uninterested in repeating the ordeal. I had not yet opened an application much less determined to which schools I would apply. I also had neither a resume nor a solid narrative as to exactly why I needed to attend business school, yet I was adamant about applying in Round 2 - some 10 weeks later - and to some assortment of top tier schools no less. I realized quickly that I was ill-prepared.

Enter Angela.

Angela provided the necessary candor and experience to appropriately set my admissions expectations and to focus my list of schools. She diligently culled through my life story to help me develop my "why business school" narrative and accentuate my unique characteristics that set me apart from other applicants - both of which allowed me to gain a better sense of self. She aided my choosing appropriate essay topics (which is more difficult than one expects) and perfecting those stories through countless drafts. She instilled a greater confidence and speed in my writing, qualities that I had always lacked. She helped me pull together a resume from scratch in under 24 hours, coached me on interview questions, and answered countless paranoid e-mails. And when I was initially waitlisted at seemingly all of my schools, she enthusiastically motivated me to continue fighting for admission until I achieved just that.

The cost might be steep, but one is not gaining just an advisor in Angela. One is gaining a coach, a psychiatrist, an editor, a mentor, a confidant, a cheerleader, and a friend. And I truly needed all of those to have gained admission to a Top 5 school - my dream school, no less.

Thank you, Angela. I hope others will benefit from your exceptional, all-in-one skills as I did.

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When I started my application process, I was uncomfortable with my lack of experience and my “unconventional” application. I was in the process of vetting several consultants when I spoke to Jessica for a free consultation. I was instantly sold. She offered me more insight into the application process during that thirty-minute phone call than the rest of the consultants that I had been vetting combined.

From the very beginning, Jessica was invested in me, my story, and perhaps most importantly, how to help me present the very best version of myself/story. I can honestly say that during EVERY step of the process, Jessica went above and beyond what was required of her. Her knowledge base, attention to detail, and just overall brilliance, helped me to create what I viewed to be a perfect admissions package. She was so personally invested in my story that as far as I was concerned, I was her only client. She immediately responded to my emails and was always available.

What makes Jessica so special is her palpable excitement and energy throughout the process—and her unbelievable concern for and investment in my success. If you are at all concerned about the potential costs, Jessica’s insider knowledge and familiarity with the process, to me, in many ways, was priceless.

Overall, though, the most important thing about Jessica is how remarkably clear it is that she is always giving you her very best in every aspect of her work. I can honestly say, that if you decide to hire Jessica, I am absolutely convinced that you will be hiring the best. I am happy to say that because of Jessica’s help I will be attending Harvard’s Kennedy School in the fall, and Stanford’s Graduate School of Business the following year.

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Looking back, it was a bold move to go after 3 out of the top 5 MBA programs with no safety schools behind, especially during a time when I just took on a challenging project at work. With 60-80 hour work weeks in addition to time needed for GMAT study, despite my strong desire for a top MBA, I would not have survived the grilling 6 months – hitting all the key milestones and finally matriculating to one of my dream schools, if it weren’t for Monica’s push, strategic guidance, and frequent encouragement along the way.

Monica is awesome, personally and professionally. With an MBA from HBS and a range of diverse and impressive experience, she speaks with credibility. On top of that, she is patient, relatable, incredibly insightful, and very compassionate, wonderful qualities of an outstanding admission consultant. The easiness to talk to her helped me open up myself and, in return, allowing her to help me identify the best examples of my life for the essays. She impressed me with her ability to introduce fresh perspectives and, more importantly, magically transform my drafts and breathe life into my stories, again and again. She tirelessly looked for ways to smartly package my life experience into persuasive and attractive presentations. Throughout the application process, Monica constantly challenged me to think outside the box, leading me to uncovered strengths and shining points I was never aware of, and helped me stay focused and on track during rough times.

Overall, for my 3 schools, she edited well over 90 iterations of my essays and applications. And I can’t remember how many my times I sought last minute feedback and she was able to quickly turn around her revisions.

From the start, I knew I needed a strategic adviser and accountability partner for my MBA application journey, end-to-end. Truth being told, I would not have got into one of the best business schools in the world, without Monica’s help. She pushed me to make my dream come true. :)

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Monica played an instrumental role in my admission to the school of my dreams, HBS! Not only is she an incredibly warm, upbeat, and patient person, but she also has an uncanny knack for pulling out the "common threads" amongst various life stories - those recurring themes that bring out the "aha" moments in an essay. It probably helps that Monica is an HBS alum herself, which I felt gave me unique insight that other consultants may not have been able to provide. At first glance, I had a fairly typical applicant profile, but Monica was able to help me to convey my unique qualities and experiences that differentiated myself from other similar applicants.

I signed up for mbaMission's all-inclusive school package, which entitled me to a brainstorming session, a few school guides, unlimited essay reviews, recommender strategy, and interview prep. While this package is sizable investment, I absolutely got my money's worth, and then some. If I had gone the hourly route, I probably would have spent more.

Monica, like any good consultant, did not write my essays - rather, she provided a mix of insightful high-level and specific comments. Monica's turnaround time was excellent, and she also made herself readily available for follow up calls. It was so helpful to have Monica to bounce ideas and get that needed boost of confidence at the 11th hour. I strongly recommend Monica to all applicants!

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I think it's safe to say that anyone seriously considering a top school is probably competent enough to write a decent essay (or two or three). With that in mind, it's tempting to unknowingly write off admissions consulting as an essay-editing service.

Admittedly, I too was unsure as to the value of hiring a consultant. It's not inexpensive, and it definitely adds a third party to an already complex and stressful journey. But I was fortunate to work with Angela Guido from mbaMission, whom I had known after having taken her GMAT and LSAT prep courses -- and she really made a world of a difference in my applications.

Keep in mind, I was a less-than-ideal candidate: decent but not stellar GMAT, strong but not save-the-world-type work experience, white male from the 'burbs. Oh, and a sub-3.0 undergrad GPA. The deck was stacked against me in some really big, important ways.

Angela's strength -- which turned into my advantage -- was to help me craft an entire narrative about myself. To uncover strengths that I didn't realize I had. To articulate the differences I had made in the lives of others. To really get to the heart of what challenges, motivates, and perplexes me. Angela helped me through a lot of introspection that enabled the true "me" to translate within my entire application "suite" -- my resume (don't underestimate the importance of this!), essays, interviews, and more. I can barely recognize my initial drafts against my finished products, and I have her to thank for that.

Angela also kept me on track. I'm a serial procrastinator, and being accountable to an agreed-upon schedule ensured we had ample time to bounce ideas off one another, draft essays, and prepare for interviews. She was always available, whether by email (the easiest for both of us) or frequent calls. Even with what felt like dozens of items on my plate, she made my life easier by being a sort of "advocate" along my way.

In short, I emerged a far more confident applicant than I ever would have been without this help. And in the end, this humble 2.79-GPA-er was accepted to Ross and McCombs; waitlisted at Booth and Johnson; and will matriculate with nearly full scholarship at Kelley. I don't think any of this could have happened without Angela's guidance and support.

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When I initially began working with Angela, i had vague ideas about what I wanted to get out of an MBA, but what Angela really helped me with was translating my ideas into a concrete story with clear short term and long term goals. Instead of just creating the story for me, Angela asked questions that allowed me to develop the story myself and highlight what I was truly passionate about. After these initial brainstorming sessions, Angela's comments on my essay drafts were not just simple grammar corrections, but were rather insightful and challenged me in a way that resulted in strong, cohesive essays. My essays (and applications) would not have been the same without her help. I enjoyed working with Angela and would recommend her services to anyone!

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When I decided to start the process of applying for MBA programs, I knew that I wanted to work with an admissions consultant that would encourage me, push me and be honest with me every step of the way. I have a “non-traditional” background, and so I also knew that I needed to put my strongest foot forward in my essays; I had to communicate my story convincingly and passionately, in a way that would make it hard for the Adcom to ding me. I spent a long time evaluating different admissions consulting services. There are so many consulting services out there, but as soon as I spoke with Angela Guido at mbaMission, I knew I’d found what I was looking for.

From the start, Angela struck the balance between providing an honest assessment of my chances at my target schools and enthusiastically motivating me to stretch for my dreams. Together, we carefully assessed which schools that would be the best fit. Then the real work started! Angela was awesome to work with during the initial brainstorming…she quickly got to the root of my best stories and experiences and together we decided on the most effective approach to highlight my best strengths in each essay.

When I finished drafting my first “failure” essay for one of my target schools and got feedback from Angela, I quickly realized that she would be a major asset throughout the process. She immediately could sense that I was holding something back in my essay…that I perhaps hadn’t fully owned up to my failure. It came as a surprise to me that working with Angela to perfect my failure essay actually made me realize there were aspects of the story that I hadn’t even faced up to after all this time!

Angela is without question a perfectionist, and she pushed me to be simultaneously economical with my words, and eloquent with my ideas. We went through so many drafts of my essays that I was practically dreaming the words in my sleep! But that’s what it takes to get into a top school today…its intensely competitive and working with Angela gave me the edge I needed to tell my story convincingly and passionately.

She worked me hard, and never settled for an average essay! There were so many times where I felt like I’d never get my ideas right, but she stayed positive and enthusiastic, especially in those moments! At the end of the process when I hit the submit button, I had no doubt that I’d been honest with myself and the adcom, and had done the very best possible job.

If you are thinking about starting the process for applying for an MBA at a top school, I strongly recommend mbaMission, and specifically Angela. In my personal opinion, the competition for spots at top MBA programs has become incredibly fierce, and the talent pool is global, and it was awesome having someone in my corner throughout the process. I have no doubt that working with Angela and having her challenge my ideas, push me in my writing, bringing the best out of each paragraph, sentence and word is what got me in the door with my target schools. I recently got the news that I have been accepted at Chicago Booth, and I know that Angela was a huge part of helping me find success in this very challenging process!

Thanks for everything Angela!

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The school package Katharine provided offered everything I needed from start to finish for my business school applications. The brainstorming session she held with me extracted my best qualities and experiences valued by business schools. She guided me through the processes and made sure my essays and short answer questions are free of any arrogant and application-killing words. However late and wherever she was, she would respond to my questions right away. And her answers are always helpful, insightful and to the point. She also made sure I am fully prepared for every stage of my interview.

Katharine is the one who goes the extra miles to help me. She would check in all the time to make sure I was on the right track and perform mock interviews with me however many times until I was ready. She is not only a superb consultant, editor and guide, but also a caring friend, career mentor and life counselor.

I highly recommend her!

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I first met mbaMission and Angela Guido through a free thirty-minute consultation referral from Kaplan. I was skeptical of using a consultant for two reasons – I was unsure how helpful a consultant could actually be and hiring a consultant is expensive. Well, after the first thirty minutes Angela had revamped my entire resume, helped articulate my goals, and revised my list of target schools to include much tougher programs, all during the free consultation. In the end, I was accepted to both of the Top-10 programs that I applied to. It was the best money I’ve ever spent for all of the reasons below.

• To me, there was nothing particularly impressive about my background when I began the application process. I assumed I had mediocre “paper stats” including a 3.2 GPA from a relatively unknown undergrad business school and a 700 GMAT score. I also had six years of experience in a field that wasn’t particularly sexy to an adcom. Brainstorming with Angela helped me realize that I have an extremely unique set of experiences that make me a much more competitive applicant than I originally thought.

• Angela helped me utilize my personal and professional experiences in my application. Without Angela’s assistance, I would have completely overlooked my leadership experience with several volunteer organizations and personal experiences that helped mold my passions. Brainstorming with her allowed me to uncover valuable stories outside of just my professional experience.

• While some consultants may push applicants to apply to safer programs to boost their acceptance stats, Angela did just the opposite. I thought I had a very small chance of getting into a Top-10 program. I was going to apply to Kellogg as my stretch school with other target schools in the 10-25 ranking. She encouraged me to apply to Booth and Kellogg in R1 and to save the other schools for R2 if I need them. As a Chicago native, getting into local schools would be that much more challenging.

• No one in my personal network has gone to business school. My personal resources were limited when it came to application knowledge and advice. It was emotionally rewarding to have someone to call and ask all of the minor questions and encourage me throughout the process. Angela was incredibly vested in my process and application. She genuinely wanted to see me succeed. She was my first phone call when I got invited to interview and when I was accepted.

• Angela has mastered the art of storytelling. Applying to MBA programs is a unique process in which you have to show the adcom all of your impressive accomplishments without sounding like a braggart. This is incredibly challenging and quite easy to get wrong. Angela helped mold my story using my own voice. Some schools have cut back on word counts to where you now only have one main essay with others less than 200 words or even a PowerPoint presentation. It’s quite hard to communicate an entire story in less than 200 words.

• Each of my essays went through at least five drafts before being complete. One essay in particular went through about seven drafts and neither Angela nor I loved it because it was a bit dry and lacked my personality. We eventually scrapped it and started over from scratch using a completely different story. It turned out to be my favorite essay. It’s important to note that consultants do not do any of the work for you. They ask insightful questions to pull stories from your own experiences and edit the essay as many times as it needs, but it’s still your own stories and work in the application.

• Even after several drafts of each of the essays, Angela helped me to review the entire application as a whole to ensure a solid theme was communicated. After applying to several programs, it’s easy to overlook something that needs to be included with each application.

• It was also incredibly useful to have someone keep me on schedule to submit multiple applications in Round 1. Angela responded well before the allotted timeframe and helped to lay out an efficient timeline including all areas of the applications.

• Angela also helped me to formulate my long-term goals. When I began the application process, I knew that I wanted to do management consulting immediately after graduation, but I couldn’t articulate why or what I wanted to do afterwards. Based on my experience and interests, she helped me discover a realistic career path that has now become my elevator pitch for b-school. She gave me the confidence that my long-term dream is not only attainable, but I am already on a successful path to achieve it.

• Thanks to Angela, next fall I will be attending my dream school, Booth, which I wouldn’t have even applied to without her help or encouragement.

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I strongly recommend Katy Lewis at mbaMission. From big picture brainstorming down to nitty gritty essay edits, Katy was always prompt and helpful in our interactions. I bought the 1-school package and only applied to two schools in their 2nd rounds. Though she didn't have direct experience with either of the two schools I applied to, her experience with a top ad com helped tremendously in creating an effective application.

I decided on working with Katy directly after my free consulting session with mbaMission because she made me feel like I had a workable story. In another session with another agency, the consultant oversold the service and didn't shy away from being slightly condescending in an effort to show how she could be useful.

I appreciated that Katy was candid in her feedback about which ideas or experiences I should use in my application. This is probably because she has plenty of experience reading applications and we had a mutual interest in creating a successful application. I liked the brainstorming process at the beginning because a) I got my experiences and goals on paper b) it gave Katy a solid perspective on how I view myself and the foundation of my story and c) we constantly referenced my brainstorming document when answering essay questions. I think she is in high demand because of her credentials, but I took the liberty of asking any questions I had about the application process when I had them. She was very responsive even in the thick of application season in the fall.

I've already referred my girlfriend who is currently a client. mbaMission is cheaper than many of its competitors in a market where they can mercilessly price gouge. Don't take my word for it. Scan Jeremy Shinewald's book to get an idea of how systematic their approach is.

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