As a re-applicant, I was tentative about going through the admissions cycle again, especially since I wasn't clear about what went wrong the first time. I was also conscious of making similar mistakes compared to my first set of applications. This was when a friend referred me to Kathryn and I had my first introductory call with her.

From the outset, Kathryn did a great job of studying my previous application packages and pinpointing areas of weakness I hadn't seen before. She is honest and blunt, without sugar-coating her feedback in any way for the sake of 'winning over' an applicant, which I really appreciated and felt a lot of other admissions consultants do not explicitly do. It also helped me build a strong trust equation with her and the team. Her open and objective approach to diagnosing problems, and providing actionable feedback also convinced me that SOP was the right partner for me as I went into the 2022 admissions cycle.

Since Day 1, the Square One team has been absolutely fantastic in terms of walking through the basics of what is a long and grueling marathon. The challenge for me felt more daunting as I was a reapplicant with a largely similar profile to the previous year, which required me to tell a more nuanced story than last time. Kathryn, Wendy, and my SOP advisor, Garry, were immense in helping me through that as well as much more. The Career Narrative is an approach unique to SOP and was hugely valuable to me as it forced me to introspect more deeply about my goals and reasons for pursuing Business School, adding a strong sense of uniformity and cohesion to all of my materials across multiple schools, which is key when building a compelling narrative. Wendy also does a great job in terms of cross-questioning your research and thought process, forcing you to iterate multiple times until you have a vision you can be proud of and talk about in great depth during interviews.

My SOP advisor, Garry, was also a constant source of calm and support throughout the entire process. Often I found myself worried about impending deadlines and work still being done on each of the essays, but Garry's patience and clarity always helped keep things on track and helped me reach the finishing line with minimum fuss. His experience of working with a number of candidates with a similar background to mine also helped tease out the unique aspects of my own candidacy and position them in a more nuanced yet explicit manner compared to my previous applications, adding a whole new dimension to my materials. He constantly pushed me to dig deeper and was constantly available (even at odd hours!), whenever I needed to clarify any questions.

Overall, I would wholeheartedly recommend Square One Prep to anyone looking to apply to a top MBA program. Without them, I wouldn't have received offers from multiple top schools. Their structured approach (shout out to Allison as well!) and deep expertise will never allow you to feel overwhelmed by the process, while their patient and warm approach will make you feel like you're navigating this journey with a friend.

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I worked with Square one Prep for my MBA applications. I was referred to Square One by one of my friends who spoke very highly of their team and services. I talked to 4-5 consultants before deciding to work with Square One Prep. My primary reason for picking them was the fact that I worked not only with one person, but an entire team of people each with their specialized skillset. My initial call with Kathryn alone helped me realise a lot of mistakes that I was making while planning my applications as well as made me think about multiple factors, that I had previously skipped, when it came to deciding where to apply and why. My consultant was Rahul Kalita. It was great working with him. He made sure we worked on each aspect of the application in detail and was always available to answer any questions that I had. Applying for schools while working full time is especially difficult and the entire team was extremely accommodating of my needs. Rahul made sure he understood all my strengths and weaknesses and helped me prepare my application accordingly. His help on the Recommendation Packages was also beneficial as it made life easier for my recommenders; they didn’t have to think twice before committing their time for my applications. The step-by-step approach comes in very handy. It’s been an absolute pleasure to work with the Square One Team. I am very grateful to the entire team. I have an offer from all the colleges that I applied to and am now in the process of deciding where to go.

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I reached out to SquareOnePrep early in the summer as part of my reach-out to multiple other consultants. I was quickly impressed by the fair and sincere feedback from Kathryn, and she took the time to really understand my profile and requirements.

Their process is pretty elaborate and thorough: from onboarding to ideation to application. It enabled me to choose colleges, recommenders and figure out timelines in an informed manner. Multiple conversations around goals and core ideas ensured my applications presented a compelling case. I then worked with Matteo across colleges, and he offered sound advice and inputs throughout the process. Since he understood my industry and my work really well, it enabled a robust creative process of ideating essays and stories. He was honest and straightforward in his feedback while providing strategic inputs to improve the essays - an underrated aspect since it's easy to hit a wall while writing and iterating stories. Even while preparing for interviews, the feedback Matteo provided was precise, actionable, and candid. At every point, I felt there was constant and prompt support from the SOP team; and in a journey as daunting as the MBA application process, it helps to have a team backing you throughout.

Coming from the most competitive background, I eventually landed a dream college, and I couldn't have been happier to have made it! SOP helped me put my best foot forward, and I'm so glad I chose them!

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For applicants who are overwhelmed with business school applications, SquareOne Prep is a top choice.

After speaking to numerous consultants, I decided to work with SquareOne Prep because of the extensive support being offered by the team. I had an amazing advisor (kudos to Kathleen Danoher), a super thorough Career Narrative expert (Wendy- you helped me figure out what I wanted to do) and of course Kathryn (Team Lead) and Samuel (Lead Editor). My diligent team was as invested in my success as I was.

SOP was very methodical from the get-go; they took the time to get to know me (over a span of ~4 hours) before moving on to the Resume and Career Narrative sections. I felt very comfortable throughout the application process, which enabled me to be as honest as possible in my essays. Our efforts bore fruit as I was accepted to 3 amazing programs- Kellogg, Haas, and Tuck!

I genuinely recommend SquareOne Prep and urge a potential applicant to reach out to Kathryn for the first call.

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Square One Prep provided me with the guidance and support I needed to build the best application possible. Kathryn, Collin, and the rest of their team were with me every step of the way to build my story and highlight my most authentic self in my application. Going into this process, I was especially worried about applying to top schools with a lower GMAT score, but Collin and Kathryn reassured me every step of the way that if I put in the hard work, we, together, could make it happen. I am thrilled to say that with great success, I got into almost every program I applied to, and even with substantial scholarships! I truly cannot thank them enough for their hard work and support.

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The MBA application process is a grueling and stressful one, it is important to work with a consultant who not only helps you write great essays and put forward a competitive application but also one who helps you believe in yourself – SOP does just that!

Before speaking to Kathryn, I interacted with multiple consultants and the interactions made me feel stressed and underwhelmed. On our very first call, Kathryn spent nearly one hour getting to know me, my professional background, my requirements and posed thoughtful questions. This aspect was something that wasn’t done by any other consultant. Most importantly, Kathryn helped me see my strengths and persuaded me to apply to colleges I couldn’t have dreamed of! I eventually received an admit from a top program with a great scholarship!

During the process, the school selection with Kathryn was a highly comprehensive discussion with well-planned timelines. The mix of colleges Kathryn helped pick suited my needs yet pushed me to get out of my comfort zone.

For the career narrative, it was a pleasure working with Wendy, who helped me craft a compelling career narrative and helped me drill down my short-term and long-term goals with utmost clarity.

My advisor Lara was brilliant – she constantly challenged me to help bring out the best in my essays and provided clear, actionable feedback every step of the way. I couldn’t have imagined writing such strong essays without SOP’s help. The interview prep session with Lara was extremely fun and helpful. I am certain without the great interview prep session with Lara, my actual interview would not have been as impactful as it turned out to be (after receiving an admit, my interviewer actually emailed me telling me how remarkable and memorable my interview was).

Even after submitting the applications and receiving an admit, Kathryn and Lara have been extremely supportive and are available to provide realistic advice and encouragement every step of the way.

I would strongly recommend SOP to any MBA applicant (in fact, I’ve already recommended them to several friends)!

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TL;DR
- I strongly endorse Square One Prep
- They have a systematic approach
- They are always available and are continuously invested till you and they are satisfied with the essays/resumes

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I availed Square One Prep's services and would strongly endorse them.

Overview:
It never really struck me when people said that the real work begins after taking the GMAT. Square One Prep was strongly recommended by a close friend. In the preliminary assessment call SOP's founder, Kathryn, went above and beyond the 30 minutes advertised to genuinely learn about my background and aspirations. Soon my friend's glowing words resonated with me. What also was impressive is that, once I decided to go ahead with them, the time I spent with Kathryn was not lost. She maintained diligent notes and passed them on to her team.

Process:
SOP understands that there are different elements to submitting a strong application, and thus, they have experts handling each domain.

You get the opportunity to choose your daily advisor, who most likely is an experienced individual who has themself gone through the rigamarole of the MBA. My advisor was John.

You then get into a call with your advisor and Kathryn to determine your schools. I truly appreciate that Kathryn & John laid the facts in front of me and allowed me to make my decision.

After selecting the school you work with the experts to build your career narrative, resumes and finally move on to essays and application forms. For every item that you need to work on, you'll get to refer to samples created by successful candidates previously. All of them also undergo multiple rounds of review before Kathryn herself signs off on the quality.

When the time comes for interviews, the team trains you to find the genuine answers that most interviewers appreciate. You get to do a mock interview (that seems very close to the real deal) and are immediately given concrete feedback on how to improve.

Career Narrative:
Most MBA programs will at some point ask you what you intend to do. Had it not been for SOP's robust process, I would've left it to be extremely generic, and thereby uninteresting. The exercise conducted by SOP's career narrative expert (Wendy Bagdi-Durrua) will help you dig deeper into your aspirations.

John Shaw:
I can't begin to capture the support John extended. While he took the conversation forward from Kathryn, he spent nearly 2-2.5 hours going through my details. John, in fact, kept diving deeper. Our conversation came up with things that I hadn't thought about for years. John helped me polish my resume to make it action-oriented (the evolution of which I still use at my MBA program.) My first essay draft for my first school was so abysmal that we practically had to rework it completely. John patiently helped me see how I can improve the content. The exercise helped me churn out better drafts for subsequent essays. John also prepared me for my interviews. He conducted a mock interview that allowed me to understand the format and purpose of an interview and prepare accordingly.

All In Service:
When a couple of my applications turned out to be waitlists. The Square One Prep team was prepared and invested to help me convert the offer. They even helped me with the material for my re-applications at no additional charge.

I wish:
The one thing I wish Square One Prep had done was to prepare me to interact with current students. While they did convey this step, I didn't understand the gravity. I wish I spoke to more students and attended more school events, something I figured out after turning in my applications.

Conclusion:
The work I did with Square One Prep has continued to help me. Be it the resume, or efficacy in writing, these are skills I am glad to have picked up from my interactions with them.

My Stats:
I opted for a 3 school package with them and applied to 7 other schools across two years.
I got material for all the schools and was waitlisted at an M7 school and a T10 school, and secured admission to 4 other schools.

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I'm glad I chose Square One Prep for business school applications! From the start, I enjoyed Kathryn's honesty in our consultation. Coming from a background with no experience & connection to business school, I wanted a team that would be honest about my chances and how I could improve my application. Before we started on application work, Lara and I did a very comprehensive review of my experiences & resume, pulling out themes that we eventually used for the essays. We also worked with a career narrative expert, which I thought was super helpful--I always had an idea of what I wanted to do in the future, but found it difficult to put into words. The career narrative work prepared me well for that. Then, when we started work on the essays, Lara was a great thought partner. I am glad she focused most of her time on the themes and messages within the essays and not the superficial grammar & punctuation errors (although she caught and fixed those as well). For example, Lara was not afraid to tell me to toss out the entire essay and start over when I was not properly answering the prompt. Lara and Kathryn's support was integral to my acceptance to my dream business school!

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Working with Square One Prep was essential to my admission to several business schools. From the beginning (when I was just starting to think about business school), Kathryn was always available to offer me knowledgeable guidance. It is no secret that applying to business school can be extremely stressful, and I had no idea where to start. The Square One Prep team helped me narrow down my school list, craft a compelling story about my background and future goals and prepare for my interviews. Square One Prep also provided a helpful schedule to ensure I was on track to hit application deadlines, as well as helped me with my waitlist strategy when I was unfortunately waitlisted (but was later admitted!). I had the support I needed every step of the way, not only from Kathryn, but also from my advisor Afiya Bediako. Afiya was always available to me, even for simple questions, and truly brought light to even the most challenging aspects of the application process. She was there to encourage me, while also providing realistic and useful feedback. I definitely recommend Square One Prep for anyone looking for apply to business school!

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I cannot speak highly enough of Square One Prep and its entire team of advisors and experts.

When I first embarked on the business school application process, I was wary of working with an advisor given the cost. My mindset quickly changed when I had my first phone call with Kathryn, the founder of Square One Prep. Unlike other admissions consulting companies, which gave me, at most, 30 minutes of their time, Kathryn took two hours to walk through my professional background, discuss my interest in applying to business school, and share the Square One Prep process. I left the conversation feeling confident that Square One Prep would help me put my best foot forward in my application, particularly given that I was working under a tight timeline.

In the weeks that followed, the Square One Prep team ensured that I stayed on track to deadlines and shared resources that I never would have had access to otherwise, including examples of business school resumes, essays, and letter of recommendation packages. My advisor, Leila, struck the perfect balance of challenging me and offering guidance and reassurance when I needed it. My career narrative expert, Luis, helped me define my short- and long-term goals, which I have since used not only in the application process, but also in sparking pivotal career conversations.

I truly can’t thank the entire team at Square One Prep enough for guiding me every step of the way and making my dream a reality!

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