My journey with Square One Prep was a game-changer. When I found myself in a frenzy of last-minute decisions in late July – no GMAT score, no clear career goals, and a misguided plan to apply to five schools for Round 1 – they brought in calm and clarity. They redirected my efforts towards Round 2, guiding me to define a clearer career ambition and the right list of schools for me.

Their attention to detail was unmatched. Every aspect of my application, down to the smallest detail and the daunting task of perfecting video essays, was meticulously reviewed. Their dedication ensured a final submission that filled me with confidence.

Yet, what truly sets Square One Prep apart is their empathy and support. Their founder, Kathryn, embodies this ethos, forming genuine connections with every student. They didn't just advise me; they celebrated every success as if it were their own.
If you found yourself navigating the treacherous waters of business school applications, I highly recommend taking the leap with Square One Prep.

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From the very first phone call with Kathryn, it was evident that she approached her job with a level of professionalism and dedication that truly set her apart. Her commitment to helping young professionals achieve their dreams of attending a top-tier MBA Program was palpable. As an applicant with a unique background and specific issues to address, I was understandably nervous about choosing the right team to work with. However, after meeting Kathryn and her team of advisors, I was reassured by their experience, intelligence, and organizational skills, which I knew would guide me through the rigorous application process.

Working closely with my advisor, Kelsey Wise, on my resume, scheduling, and essays, and collaborating with Wendy Bagdi-Durrua to refine my career narrative, I felt the authenticity behind their work and knew their support was genuine. Beyond their exceptional guidance, they also provided a
built-in support system that proved invaluable in maintaining my mental health and inner confidence throughout this demanding process. For anyone considering an MBA advisor, the number of options available can be overwhelming.

However, I can confidently say that choosing Kathryn and the Square One Prep team is an investment well worth making. Not only will you receive outstanding value for your money, but you'll also gain access to a support network that will not just make you a stronger applicant but also a better person by the end of your journey. When it comes to navigating the MBA application process, there is no one better equipped to guide you than Square One Prep.

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After hearing about a friend´s positive experience with SOP and talking with Kathryn about her method, it was clear that SOPs approach was the right one for me. Initially with the help of the greater team as it related to my narrative, and later with Amalia´s thoughtful and careful guidance around essay drafts, I was able to accurately and strategically present the best possible application to AdComs. As all applicants know the work does not end after the application is submitted, as that is when interview work begins. This is another area where both Kathryn and Amalia were extremely helpful. Their historical experience and insight into each school's specific quirks and styles was extremely valuable in understanding how best to prepare for each interview. Ultimately, the team´s diligent approach and genuine interest in my success led me to obtain multiple acceptances to various schools, including my number one.

All in all, I am beyond glad I decided to work with SOP. Solid recommendation all throughout!

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From the beginning, Square One Prep really impressed me. They took time on the front end getting to know me and sharing strengths and weaknesses about my application. Before reaching out to SOP, I felt so lost and indecisive about my application, but when SOP entered the picture, their confidence and decisiveness truly made the process stress-free and enjoyable. They have incredible professionalism, care for clients, competence, and structure. At any point, I knew my timeline and what next steps were required. SOP kept me accountable with reminders so that I din't fall behind. Also, the order that we went through each aspect of my application was super helpful, making the entire process served as a a very powerful reflective experience. Through a combination of Zoom calls, phone calls, and emails, SOP was very responsive and always guiding me with confidence. In hindsight, I can’t imagine having applied without the experience and help from SOP--worth every single penny! Before getting accepted, I felt so proud of my applications and felt that nothing was held back; I portrayed my authentic story, and if ADCOMs didn't like it, then at least I was confident that they know who and what they’re saying “no” to. All thank to Kathryn and Allison at Square One Prep for helping to synthesize my story and my future in a concise, meaningful way. I will be referring every single one of my friends to Square One Prep and if you're reading this, stop what you're doing and reach out ASAP!!!

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Working with Square One Prep was the best decision I made while applying for my MBA. My husband and I both used Square One to apply to our dream school of Stanford GSB and were both admitted to the Class of 2026. We genuinely believe working with Square One gave us the strongest chance of admission, and we are thrilled with the result.

From my very first conversation with Kathryn, I felt fully supported by Square One. After agreeing to work together, I had a few conversations with different SOP consultants and decided to work with Amalia because I believed our styles would work well together. I am 100% confident working with Amalia was the right choice for me. She is interesting and kind while simultaneously pushing her clients to create their best work. She is decisive in her resume and essay edits and helped me cut out extraneous details and better frame my stories. Working with Amalia took the stress out of the application process and made it genuinely fun. I knew she wouldn't let me miss my timeline or submit sub-par work.

Something extremely useful and unique about the SOP process was the career narrative. Through nearly therapy-like sessions, Amalia and I talked through my life trajectory and future goals, eventually culminating in my presentation of my "career narrative" to Kathryn, Amalia, and Wendy. By writing out and presenting my career goals in granular detail, I gained clarity that helped immensely in my essays and interviews.

I can't recommend Square One Prep enough! They have been fantastic partners and ultimately helped my husband and I realize our dream of attending Stanford GSB together.

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It was an absolute pleasure working with SquareOne for my MBA application. The advisors have all the expertise, experience and dedication to help with anything you need for the application process. Square One offers a comprehensive process leading the applicants from figuring out their career goals with extensive research, to putting these down on paper connecting all the dots from your life experience - they truly create a top quality application.

The support and advisory also came beyond the application itself - besides getting your essays right on point for the admissions process, please also expect strong emotional support and a career narrative process that impacts beyond your application!

I would highly recommend their consulting service to anyone looking for no regrets!

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I spoke with almost a dozen consultants before landing on Square One. From the moment I spoke with Kathryn on our initial consultation call, I got the feeling that they were the most transparent organization and really had my best interests in mind. I didn’t feel like they were pushing me to buy more services than I needed like a lot of other companies. Additionally, Kathryn gave me the encouragement to pursue my dream schools on our call.

After I decided on Square One, it was time to choose an advisor to work with. I was initially planning to hire a standard advisor but after speaking to Kathleen Danoher, I was blown away by not only her rich professional experience but also her extensive experience of working with clients of diverse backgrounds. Most impressively, her earnest attitude shined throughout our interactions. I knew from that moment that I would not want to work with anyone else but her.

I was on a tight deadline applying to 12 programs in round 2. I really should’ve started earlier but it was the difficult situation I had gotten myself into due to putting off applications for far too long. However, Square One managed the deadlines beautifully and guided me on my MBA application journey amid my busy work/life schedule. They were on top of everything and made sure I needed to be where I need to every step of the journey. They were also able to fit in calls between my busy weeks of work travel and they were always there whenever I needed, typically getting back to me within just a few hours. I feel like the structured process Square One has built for building a career narrative, resume, recommendation letters, and individual essays really brought out the best version of myself on my applications.

I ended up doing 3 schools comprehensively with Square One and the applications I built with them gave me a solid foundation and the confidence to build the rest of my schools. My results were exceptional given my background, the selectiveness of the programs I applied to, and the competitiveness of the 2023-2024 cycle – I interviewed at 9 out of 12 schools (which included almost all T10 programs) and have been accepted to 6 so far, including two full scholarships, and a few other programs are still pending and/or I’m still on the waitlist for. I’m extremely grateful and lucky to have work with Square One and I would highly recommend applicants to work with them. I could not have done all this by myself.

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From my introductory call with Kathryn to my first acceptance – SOP was there through it all. I felt the attention and care that went into my MBA journey as soon as I received the personalized timeline that made me feel at ease instantly towards a daunting journey. I was en route to apply for R1 but was not hitting the GRE marks that I wanted – SOP quickly pivoted my timeline for R2 and began strategizing to help me have a strong application that highlighted my other strengths. Luckily I was able to hit the GRE scores I needed and with the guidance and continued support of SOP I was able to get accepted into both of my top choice schools with partial scholarships!

The entire process is extremely thoughtful and personalized to what you need as an applicant and I feel very grateful to have chosen Kathryn, Matteo and the rest of the SOP team!

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In my first "supposedly" 30-minute free consultancy meeting, the founder, Kathryn spent 1.5 hours discussing every "raw material" I had such as work experience, leadership activities, and goals. That's why I chose SOP over the top 5 companies that have the highest numbers of reviews on GMAT Club that I have talked with.

Then I work with Allison on my application and interviews, Horatiu on my career narratives, and Kathryn on school selection, and final essay drafts.

I think the service of SOP is top-notch for 3 reasons.
1. Structured approach.
- Kathryn and Allison helped me to build the school list that fits my risk appetite and then proposed a clear timeline to complete all the applications
- I got detailed guidelines for every part of my application, with tons of examples from other admitted students

2. Candid and helpful feedback
- In everything from career narratives, resumes, and LOR to essays, Allison and Horatiu pushed me over my comfort zone and achieved the best of what I could do.
- Horatiu gave me a clear view of how I should build my career story, which I definitely could not build by myself. He had practice industry experience along with high-admission consulting for many students
- Allison is an excellent writer who spent a lot of time brainstorming topics with me, gave me prompts to write the idea more clearly, and helped me to fine-tune my points in beautiful ways.

3. Impressive turn-around time
- Allison gives me feedback in 12-36 hours, most of the time, even on holidays. This high-intensity support really helped me to complete all the materials I need.

Results:
- I worked with SOP at 3 schools and got admission to all of them: Judge, Yale SOM, and Kellogg. Even my manager did not think I could get into M7
- With the materials on hand, I applied to other schools and got admission from Ross with a full ride of $170K.

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Working with Kathryn, Alessandro (Advisor), Wendy and Cristina from Square One Prep has been instrumental and integral in earning admits to LBS, Oxford and Cambridge. Kathryn has been an amazing coach, expert consultant and awesome mentor throughout the entire process. She provided me with strategic guidance, incisive insights and comprehensive advice throughout each phase and facet of the MBA application process. I really appreciate Kathryn’s well-intentioned candour and advice on the MBA application process, including school selection, application work schedule, essay review, video essays edits and interview prep which had helped me put my best foot forward on each step of the process and calm my nerves! Kathryn had provided unparalleled admissions advice throughout the entire admissions process which have allowed me to craft the most impactful applications.

My advisor, Alessandro has been an amazing and exceptional mentor, expert coach and advisor throughout the entire application process – from initial onboarding / profile assessment, career narrative, formulation of post MBA goals, school selection, tailored application essays for each of the schools, filling of application forms and extensive interview and video-essay preparation. Alessandro is an expert coach and has provided me indispensable advice on school-specific application strategies, crafting of unique and compelling essays and guiding me through a highly introspective and holistic process to determine why MBA, why Now, and my post MBA career goals etc. Alessandro is an amazing guide, and provided invaluable school-specific feedback, coaching and edits to ensure that my essays holistically conveyed my voice / personality, unique experiences and authenticity. Alessandro had also provided unparalleled guidance and training on strategic interview strategies to ensure that my answers were well-structured, comprehensive and succinct to ensure that I had aced all my interviews with flying colours!

Working with Kathryn, Alessandro and Wendy has been incredible, as they provided me with critical insights and feedback to substantially strengthen my essay drafts, including personalisation, elicitation of my voice, structure and advice on focal areas of the essays. Through the highly extensive career narrative module led by Wendy, I was able to introspectively brainstorm and research on my post MBA industry and goals. Kathryn, Alessandro and Wendy had fleshed out the cogency of my post MBA goals and ensured that I crafted realistic goals which were achievable and substantiated with industry context / trends (given my profile). Through SOP’s guidance on the career narrative module, I was able to craft a powerful post MBA goal narrative which had immensely strengthened my applications.

I am extremely fortunate and lucky to have come across SOP when searching for MBA consultants. SOP also provides highly tailored and bespoke advice specific to my profile. SOP’s advice had helped me to direct my focus on areas in the application process which are pivotal to admission. Kathryn, Alessandro, Wendy and the team were also highly responsive to my numerous questions throughout the application process.

I had a phenomenal and outstanding experience working with SOP. The SOP team are true experts in every area of the MBA admissions process. I highly recommend working with SOP on the MBA application process – an expert consultant, partner and guide for admissions to your choice MBA programs!

I can’t thank you enough, Kathryn, Alessandro, Wendy and Cristina!

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