Square one helped me with a application strategy that was ambitious for my profile and score. I wanted to be aggressive and that meant it would be a tough journey. The team was very honest with feedback and expectations that helped me realistically optimise my chances coming from an overrepresented pool with a not too amazing gmat score. My favourite part of the service was the essay edits and career narrative crafting which helped in multiple aspects of the application process for the essays as well as the interview. Additionally, my advisor was very responsive and an email away for any queries or questions that I had!

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Kathryn and her entire team are true professionals. When deciding on a consulting firm to hire for the application process, I interviewed a few other firms, and none demonstrated a greater command of the process than Square One Prep’s team. Kathryn approaches each of her clients with the straightforwardness that you need as a top business school applicant.

Square One Prep’s process pushes you to look inward and gives you the tools and support you need to turn your ideas into a thoughtful, well-crafted application. Their strategy goes beyond essay edits by working with you to present yourself as effectively as possible in each application.

Your advisor will match every ounce of your hard work with the thoughtfulness and rigor that other firms simply do not offer. It truly feels like you have a full team working with you, taking so much of the stress and guesswork out of the application process. With the Square One Prep team behind me, I received over $350,000 in scholarships to my most desirable programs. I couldn’t have done it without their support.

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I absolutely loved working with Square One! As someone who approached the MBA application process with little to no familiarity, I really appreciate how the Square One Team and my personal advisor Garry have helped me every step of the way. By working with me in crafting a career narrative, deciding which schools would be the best fit, preparing for interviews, and even getting off the waitlist, Square One has been exactly what I needed in this journey.

I was immediately impressed by the structure of working with Square One, with the resume reviews and career narrative calls before applications even opened. Not only has Square One been proactive in helping me prepare for applications before they opened, but the personal aspect of working with Kathryn and Garry has given layers to my application that I wouldn't have been able to reach alone. Having in depth conversations about my personal story in meetings with the team has really allowed me to highlight the best parts of my candidacy while staying grounded in how I approach my weaknesses in my essays.

All of the conference calls and one-on-one meetings have really allowed me to think outside the box as an applicant with a nontraditional MBA background in nonprofit. The team has done an amazing job in getting me where I wanted to go, and at the end of this process I was fortunate enough to be accepted into multiple schools with various scholarships!

I am excited to matriculate at Goizueta this Fall and wouldn't have been able to do it without Square One! I would definitely recommend speaking to Kathryn for anyone starting this process!

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About SOP:
• SOP has a well-developed, structured process to help you build your application material within timelines, ensuring you are ready to submit your best effort well in time. With an air-tight process that ensures you put your best foot forward, the results seem guaranteed.
• The process is central to the development of your application components and guides you to explore your journey to this point, reflect deeply and translate it into compelling content through your essays. SOP IS VERY FOCUSED ON THE CLIENT, THE PROCESS NEVER LEAVES YOU OUT AND YOU REMAIN CENTRAL TO THE GOAL.
• My advisors at SOP were always prompt and always put in their best, becoming an integral part of my application journey.
• I was challenged to keep improving my application materials through various reviews and iterations.
• Through the several rounds of revisions, I was able to transform the material to shine and stand out to the admission committee.
• The resources are fantastic. You can access the content of previous successful applicants.
• On the introductory call I was able to ask all the questions and understood the process focused approach. The call itself served as a SWOT analysis and I understood my strengths and weaknesses as an applicant. With KATHRYN;’S VAST EXPERIENCE WORKING WITH CANDIDATES OVER THE YEARS AND NON SUGAR-COATING APPROACH, I WAS CONFIDENT IN THE EVALUAYION AND ALSO FELT ASSURED THAT THEY WOULD GUIDE ME IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION.
• THE STRATEGY IS FOOLPROOOF, WITH AUTHENTIC APPLICATION CONTENT CRAFTED AND STRUCURED TO DELIVER YOUR STORY, MOTIVATIONS AND GOALS TO THE ADMISSIONS TEAM, YOU BUILD YOUR CONFIDENCE FOR THE FURTHER STEPS OF THE APPLOICATION LIKE THE INTERVIEW.
My experience:
• Through the journey I took with SOP, I felt more confident and surer of my chances as a B-School applicant.
• Due to personal and professional reasons, I had limited time and was opting to apply to one college only.
• I was referred to SOP by several of my peers and seniors who had been successfully guided through their application process by SOP and were happily admitted to their dream schools. At the same time, I was aware that applications to top tier business schools are competitive and many fail to make it on their first attempt. In fact, I had seen the more common trend among my peers where they had applied unsuccessfully on their first attempt and only in their second year of application had offers from a few business schools. I also assumed this application to be my first attempt and with only one arrow in my arsenal, didn’t initially expect the application to convert to an offer. With a thorough and well-designed process, the application content evolved with my inputs and several reviews. The best part of the package is the unlimited reviews and Square One Prep partners with you such that they do not sign off on your content unless they are sure that it would be high quality and make the cut.
• The process made me reflect on my own MBA goals and at the end of it not only had I developed application material but was surer in my intent and motivations to join business school. While working on the content you forget the anxiety of the result

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The application process for MBA admissions to US B-schools is very different to college admission processes in my home country. To present the most compelling culture-adjusted narrative to the admissions committee, I felt I needed professional help and I chose Square One because of its methodical approach to the applications.

I couldn't have asked for a better team for my applications. With Kathryn's honest feedback, Haratiu's analysis of my career narrative and Matteo's essay strategy and iterative analysis, I was able to craft a successful application. What differentiates Square One from the rest is that the team is as invested as you are in your application - which also means that as an applicant you need to be open to feedback, often brutally honest ones, every step of the way.

If you are looking to create a strong application and are committed to putting in the time required to draft one, don't think twice and have your first call with Kathryn.

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Rahul, Kathryn and also Anna in particular are exceptional professionals who know what they are doing, and I couldn't recommend them enough.

I applied to only a single school (the most selective one in its field). Although I had prepared the entire application myself, I decided to ask SOP for help in reviewing my essays and my narrative. Honestly, I was expecting them to be impressed – they were not. Kathryn in particular told me that my favourite essay was making the adcom's decision easy (as in that they would reject me with no hesitation).

With the deadline being ~10 days away, I opted for the hourly service. We made my narrative easier to understand and worked on some of the essays. Occasionally I disagreed with some of their comments, but overall we arrived at a result that I was very happy with, which clearly improved my admission chances. Everyone was also very available throughout the process.

The end result was that I got into my dream school with a full ride.

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I am a reapplicant and can objectively say that SquareOne helped me to not only secure multiple admits to top schools, but also unexpected scholarships ($610k in total) from the quality of my applications. SquareOne hand held me through the complicated application process, and even made it fun and interesting, which allowed me to stay motivated during the busy and stressful period.

My journey started with my consultation call with Kathryn, which ran to 2 hours. Compared to the ~10 other consultants who I consulted with, Kathryn did not try to fit me into a proven template/story, made extra effort to understand my profile as an international applicant coming with different brand names from applicants with an Americanized background, and strongly believed that I was an M7 candidate, which proved to be accurate, despite discouragement/non-commitment from other consultants.

Kathryn remembered my details as she matched me with her most suitable experts/consultants to optimize the different components (career narrative - Luis, personal stories, interview prep - Lara, etc.) of my application. My personal consultant Amalia was sincere in getting to know me and letting my personality shine through my essays. She never took the easy way out, and I felt challenged to dig deeper and think broader, to produce quality essays sometimes with 40-50 iterations/essay, even though this meant that she would have to spend a lot more of her time on me, while going through a pregnancy and eventually child birth (congrats!!).

Despite having many other clients, Kathryn and Amalia always made me feel like a priority, be it from the timeliness of their edits to their generosity with their time, advice and care. The application process can be emotionally draining, and Kathryn and Amalia provided support above and beyond my application package - checking in after my interviews to constructively point out areas for improvement before my next go, checking in on results day to console me for being waitlisted, while celebrating my admits and scholarships, and sharing my excitement in picking schools! Everyone at SquareOne is as committed to my success as a supportive parent sending me off on my first day, excited for my future journey.

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Square One Prep was fantastic throughout the entire process. I used the comprehensive package for 3 schools and was successfully admitted to a top 10 MBA program. Overall, I was very pleased with the process. From helping me structure my career narrative to helping me brainstorm essay topics, I always found Square One to be worth the money.

Kathryn was incredible. She is extremely professional, responsive, and diligent. She truly wants everyone she works with to succeed. I would highly recommend working with her. I worked with Chloe as my consultant. She was very helpful, particularly when it came to pushing me to come up with new and creative ideas for admissions essays.

My only critique of Square One would be the lack of materials/resources to fully evaluate different MBA programs. Of course, I was prepared to do the homework and evaluate schools independently; however, it would have been helpful if there were school-specific resources highlighting the pros and cons of each program to help expedite the evaluation process.

Overall, I would highly recommend working with Square One. They are a great service that is available 24/7 and pushes clients to succeed.

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After reviewing my profile with ~10 consultants, I decided to work with Square one prep for my application process. Kathryn was the only one who went the extra mile and extended the initial consultation call by 30 mins (the original call was 30 mins). It showed that she truly cared about me and tried to understand my story and my goals and shared her insights and experience.

I had expert opinions throughout my application process. I spoke to three senior advisors before I decided to partner with Alexandro, one of my good decisions. He was very responsive and was able to jump on a call within a few hours’ notice. His ability to articulate and curate your thoughts on paper is commendable!

There were times when I was tight on deadlines, but Ale made sure that I stayed on top of them and put my best foot forward. I applied to four schools and received an offer from one (with a scholarship). I’m glad I ran into Square One and would highly recommend them to anyone who wants a personalized experience in crafting an MBA application.

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My experience with Square One Prep was more than I could have asked for in pursuing my MBA aspirations. For me, the program struck an ideal balance between being collaborative and being challenging. I truly felt like I had the support of a team throughout, but I also appreciate the fact that I was pushed when I needed to be. A great example of this was the time spent in developing my career narrative. This process required a lot of introspection, research, and “soul-searching” so to speak, and once I realized exactly where I wanted to go (with the help of superstars like Luis), it made all the other parts of the application (i.e., essays) flow with ease. I also really appreciate how invested Kathryn was in my application journey, even though I imagine she was dealing with numerous other clients. Shout out to Garry for having my back and keeping me on the right path throughout all of this. Applying for an MBA is a long and stressful journey, but rest assured with Square One Prep you are in the best hands possible!

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