I am still reeling from the second denial notification I received from NYU Stern (which follows the rejection from Columbia just few weeks before) two weeks ago and as such, my dream of attending an MBA in NYC has been wiped out (at least for this year). Now, if I told you that I applied with a 650 GMAT score , you may say that I should have expected such an outcome. Fair enough. But what you may not know is that I hired the consultants of SOP Advisory service to help me through the application process. I fell for their wonderful website where they brag about their incredible, high admission success-rate for their clients as prospective MBA candidates. Unfortunately, I experienced that their service was not wonderful at all: I can't know whether my poor GMAT score was the deal breaker in my application, but I can definitely say that the SOP ambition, to make your application as strong as possible and make up for other weaknesses in your profile, (among others a low GMAT score, it is one of first mentioned...take a look at their website under the most common application challenges list) has totally failed.

On top of this, every time I sounded the consultants out on any advice, I was treated with haughtiness and talked down to, both in the emails sent to me and during our Skype conversations. For example, I sent an email to my consultant last week saying that I has also been rejected from NYU and I am still waiting for his reply!!
On the other hand, the monthly payment reminders were sent like clockwork.

All in all my personal experience with SOP has been disastrous, not only for the very questionable service standard but also because of the poor customer care .
The service was very expensive and not value for money at all (LORs, essay and resume advisory for two business schools totaled 5,700 USD). Furthermore, the service should have included interview training as well. In the end I was rejected and did not benefit from the service. On top of this, I have never received even a partial refund from them.
I discourage future applicants to resort to this service: in hindsight I would never ever hire them!

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Kathryn and her team played a pivotal role in my acceptance to both schools that I applied to. With their help I’ll be attending Columbia!

Overwhelmed by the MBA application process, I first reached out to Kathryn in the fall of 2015 after reading the raving reviews on GMAT Club. During our initial 1 hour consultation Kathryn focused on understanding my personal history and immediately began building a framework for my personal narrative. With my GMAT exam a couple a couple weeks away and first round applications due in less than a month, Kathryn developed and outlined a strategy to tackle my applications for my target schools. With a plan in place, she left me to focus on studying for the exam. I took the GMAT a week later, and disappointed with my score, I scrapped my plans to apply to business school that year.

Fast forward to the spring of 2016. Destroyed but not defeated, I was back on the horse studying for the GMAT. Out of the blue Kathryn emailed me asking whether I ended up applying to business school last fall. We informally caught up and I confided in her about my struggle with the GMAT. Kathryn was able put things into perspective-that I was psyching myself out-which allowed me to take a deep breath and realize that the GMAT wasn’t do or die. While I still wasn’t satisfied with my results, this time I followed up with Kathryn after my exam. She did offer sobering news, that my GMAT score will work against me but assured me that my narrative and work experience would stand out to some select schools. She urged me to put the GMAT behind me and take a shot at applying this fall.

I took her advice and I was partnered with one of her advisors, John, who took the lead in managing the application process. John not only kept me focused and on top of a tight schedule, but also, through dialogue and self-reflection, got me comfortable talking about not only my past but also the obstacles that molded me into the person I am today. Most importantly, with his help, I was able to craft powerful essays that created narratives to interpret my past and link an MBA degree with my future. The finished products, from the resume to optional essays, were captivating, to say the least.

Kathryn and her team are relentless in their effort to make their clients shine to admissions committees and I can’t recommend their services enough!!

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I have nothing but positive things to say about SquareOne Prep, Kathryn in particular.

From the very beginning of my process (which started a year before I actually applied), Kathryn spent an enormous amount of time with me on the phone addressing my concerns, reassuring me and giving me extremely honest advice about how I should think about my candidacy. This was before she even signed on as my advisor. After multiple phone conversations, we agreed that I ought to wait, re-take my exam (I was barely crossing 300) and strengthen my profile for first round the following cycle. When it was time to kick off the application process, Kathryn reached out to me unprompted and asked if I was ready to begin our work together. Initially I was wary about hiring an advisor but after speaking with Kathryn and learning more about her curated approach to the application process, I knew I would greatly benefit from her coaching and acute knowledge of the admissions committees. I could tell she was truly invested in my success and was as intent on me getting into the school of my dreams as I was.

After our first official introduction conversation, for the first time I was excited about the cumbersome journey of the b-school application process. Kathryn made the process seem less daunting and more of an exciting road that we would be on together. Kathryn always made herself available, even if it was just to hop on the phone for 5-10 minutes. She gave me encouraging, honest and incredibly detailed feedback about each aspect of my candidacy – where I was strong and where we needed to strengthen. After taking my exam multiple times and still receiving a low test score of 305, I was convinced that going to a top b-school was not a reality for me. Yet, Kathryn believed in my potential and promised that we would overcome my low score by strengthening the rest of my application. When I was doubtful about applying to only top schools, Kathryn pushed me to go for it because what she believed in what I had to offer. With a strict timeline and thought out plan, I began my applications very early which eliminated last-minute haste and stress. Ultimately, I got in early to my top choice program – Columbia—and owe much of this success to Kathryn and Square One Prep.

I highly recommend Kathryn & SquareOne Prep to anyone going through the b-school application process, it is a wise investment.

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As someone who was looking to transition careers post MBA and with just over 2 years of work experience at the time of application ( not to mention the fact that I belong to the most competitive application pool ), I knew I needed help to differentiate myself and present the best version of myself to the adcom.

After much research and many free profile evaluations with several agencies, the call with Kathryn was a breath of fresh air. I was looking for someone that really understood me as a person and my motivation for this degree and could help me build an application around that. Square One was the perfect match. My career path post-MBA is fueled by my passion for a particular industry that isn't a tradition one for business school. Still, Kathryn was able to help me understand how I could channel that passion to create the perfect B-school application. Even during our free consultation, we spoke for over an hour ( was supposed to be a free 30-min consultation ) and Kathryn gave me some great feedback. In fact, Kathryn readily hopped onto Skype sessions for free for well over two hours in total even before I decided to work with Square One.

I think the Square One system of working with one consultant full time and then getting a second pair of eyes in the form of Kathryn to provide fresh perspective/feedback is excellent. I worked with an SOP consultant on my applications and he made the entire process so much easier. He tells it like it is and is incredibly patient from start to finish. As someone who was introspecting through the process, I found that immensely helpful. He encouraged me take my time with the essays ( I started the application process fairly early ) in order to get my content just right. Even when it sometimes took over 20 revisions to get my essays right, he would never lose patience with me and made sure the essay was exactly that, just right. His ability to take every sentence and transform it into impactful text made a huge difference in every essay. Additionally, I was particularly impressed with the finesse that I was able to gain on my resume with his help ( Nailed a few job interviews with this too! ). I distinctly remember sitting down to compare the first draft of my resume and the final version and the difference was remarkable. Kathryn is a stickler for authenticity and this not only speaks for the kind of work Square One does but also helps build the perfect application in my opinion.

My process was certainly not straight forward and I received a ding in R1 from a top 4 school. Kathryn was extremely supportive in making sure my head didn’t drop and reassured me that I was a strong candidate and that I would definitely get the call I deserved. It didn’t take long for that call to arrive! I got admitted to Fuqua EA ( Class of 2019 ) and I could not be happier! Fuqua was a dream school for me and to matriculate there next year is a dream come true. Safe to say, I would not be in this position if it wasn’t for Square One.

You guys are the best!

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I started my round 1 prep very late - just 20 days before deadline. Although I had a lot of experiences to share, my biggest challenge was to put it in writing and weave a story out of them. More importantly I did not recognize that some of the experiences I had could be pitched in a very powerful way.

I wanted to apply to Booth and Haas in round 1. I called Kathryn to discuss which image to use for the Booth essay. She patiently listened me talk about my experiences for one hour and came up with a much better framework than what I had for the essay. We even selected a different image. I was fully convinced of the direction she gave me and started working on it. I couldn't give a lot of time for the essays as it was a very hectic period at the office. So I wrote a document that had almost 4000 words of various experiences. Nothing tied them together. Kathryn helped me greatly in editing the essay and making a sensible and convincing story. It's amazing how she internalized my entire life journey and brought out all the important elements and created a cohesive story, much better than I ever could.

Time zone difference is no barrier while working with Kathryn. I got a feeling that she was working all 24 hours.

After applying for Booth, I just had a week to prepare Haas. Unfortunately I fell sick and had to be hospitalized for 2 days. I was surprised by how much Kathryn understood my profile when I called her to discuss Haas essays 4 days before the deadline. She suggested the right stories to use even without me reminding her one bit about my background. Kathryn was as equally committed to my application as I was.

When I began working with her, I was apprehensive of the expensive pricing. But as I worked with Kathryn, I was fully confident that her output is worth every dollar spent. It was a pleasure working with her and I would eagerly recommend her to prospective MBA applicants.

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I was looking for a strategist who can guide me to overcome a shortcoming in my candidacy. But after this journey, I realized that admissions consultants can not make you whole different person. All the idea, contents, and storyline has to be outlined by you. So, be honest and love yourself. You will never know until you try it.

I chose SquareOne Prep because Kathryn was very impressive to me. She doesn't look a sale person; she were genuinely interested with me, and willing to talk seriously even it was a free consultation.

My advisor, Manisha, was extremely attentive, organized, and very punctual. We communicated all most every day. We had struggled to come up with a goal - why MBA. I guess this was mainly because I was not clear about my vision, so we had to spend many hours to find a common ground.
Another hard part was school selection. I crunched all the data in spread sheet to compare schools, but all look same. I reached out several alumni as Manisha recommended me to do so, but I rarely got much insight.

We worked together for three applications in first round, which ended with disappointment. Manisha voluntarily revisited my vision and goal, and we decided to change goals and recommenders. After then, I worked alone in Second round, but I finally was able to get an admission from one of top schools after being waitlisted for several months.

I appreciate her dedication, and genuine care to support my entire process. Even I was not working with her in Second round, she has been always attentive and informative in various way.

As the person who passed quite bumpy road over the process, I realized this process is highly demanding, and you have to seek helps from many people. Admission consulting is one of the source, but can not be the only source. Get many reviews and discuss your idea with people. Trust yourself, and do not give up until the end.

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I worked with Mary and Kathryn from Square One Prep on my application to MBA Class of 2018 at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. As an international applicant, I felt like I could need some professional advice on the whole application process. By the time I reached out to Kathryn from Square One Prep, I had already worked with other admissions consultants on my applications to Harvard, London Business School, and INSEAD. However, I was not completely satisfied with my experience, so I wanted to try Square One Prep for my last application - which was probably also the most critical one (and the one with the least chances of getting in).

Before officially starting to work with Square One Prep, I had several initial conversations with Kathryn, the founder herself, about my profile. Kathryn's perspective was extremely valuable and her approach was very different to other admissions consultants, many of whom had quickly given me their sales pitch and were lacking a personal note. It's hard to describe in words, but I felt like Kathryn actually cared about my success - and that made me want to work with her firm.

Based on my profile, I was given a choice of three consultants and chose to work with Mary and this has probably been the best decision I made in the whole application process. Mary is a great consultant and with her help, I was able to craft two extremely personal essays. If you're thinking of working with someone, I would definitely give Mary my highest recommendations, because she is genuinely interested in your story and really pushes you to show your personality in your essays.

Since I have worked with a total of 3 consultants from different firms, I can say with certainty that my experience with Square One Prep was by far the best. And even though I ended up getting into the other programs I applied to, I chose Stanford in the end. Thank you Kathryn and Mary for helping me along the way - and for genuinely believing in me throughout the process.

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Why I chose SOP - As I was doing my due diligence, I had a initial consultations with all the major players in the Admissions Consulting business. For SOP, I discussed my aspirations and expectations with Kathryn, who also owns the firm. During that call itself, I was surprised to see how deeply involved I felt Kathryn was in assessing my needs and whether SOP could help me succeed (she really believes in this). I would really nudge anyone considering to hire admission consultants to have this free call with her and this is a benchmark the other firms need to raise themselves to.

Working with them - I worked with Manisha Shahane as my consultant. I started with just one school, but ended up working with her on all the schools that I applied to. Was this necessary? No, but she became such a trusted partner in my application journey that I wanted to involve her in any decision I took for my application and she was supportive right from Early Action till R4 dates. Manisha is highly competent and knows how to craft a compelling storyline for the top schools. Even though some of my timelines were aggressive, Manisha was always there to support me because of which I was able to put my best foot forward each time. Much of this work is creative as well as about respecting what the applicant's personal experiences are. Manisha is a thorough professional and understood where to nudge me to think deeper to bring out important nuggets of my experiences (and these are the real differentiators) as well as where to hold back so as not to influence the originality of my story. Workflow wise, she would always communicate the time-frame when she would send back the edits and I always had them back in that time. As MBA admissions have become so competitive with many variables involved, its really important to stay positive throughout the entire process. Manisha helped me there as well by keeping on motivating me throughout the process.

Another great benefit of working with SOP is their unique approach to handling LORs for multiple schools so that the process is not taxing on recommender's time. Kathryn's approach makes submitting LORs to multiple schools very straightforward and should be definitely emulated by all.

I wholeheartedly recommend SOP to everyone considering applying to M7 or even top-10 schools, as creating those schools' specific strategy is the best use of consultants like Manisha that SOP has.

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I was looking for some help while reapplying after getting waitlisted/rejected at all the schools I applied to last year. I reached out to Kathryn, the firm's owner, on what she thinks my chances are. She was the first consultant I spoke to who was genuinely interested and had sufficient time to hear me out. She gave me confidence that I could do better; she told me some flaws in my existing application, which I completely agreed to and I decided I definitely needed help. She talked to me for close to 1.5 hours and she even edited one of my letter I needed to sent out to an adcom member when I hadn't even signed up. Even though I ultimately decided I wouldn't use her services, I would highly recommend Karthryn to anybody who is looking for stress- free and insightful journey to their dream b-school.

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I worked w Kathryn, the head of the Square One Prepp, on my MBA applications for entry in the fall of 2016.
Kathryn knows the process for the different schools very well, and was able to provide me with detailed guidance on how to approach the application process for each program.
Even more importantly however, Kathryn was an amazing mentor and helped me find my own voice through the challenging essay writing process. The essays I ended up crafting came out very authentic and truly representative of who I am and what I am after! And the Wharton adcom recognized that too!

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