Kathryn Lucas Reviews

I am immensely grateful to Square One Prep for their invaluable guidance throughout my MBA application journey. Their expertise and personalized approach were pivotal in helping me define my goals and develop a compelling narrative that resonated with the admissions committees. Their unwavering support and attention to detail ensured that I presented the strongest possible version of myself. But more importantly, their encouragement and calming presence helped me maintain focus and composure during what can be an incredibly stressful process! Take a deep breath and relax! I highly recommend Square One Prep to anyone seeking comprehensive and effective guidance in the competitive MBA admissions journey.

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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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After a recommendation from a friend, I sought out SOP to help me find the best way to share my story in my applications. SOP far exceeded my expectations. Working with Kathryn and Horatiu to build my career narrative and goals was critical to my essays and interviews. The career narrative not only helped my applications but will be valuable in shaping my priorities as I start school this fall.

Kathryn went above and beyond with her time and attention to hear my story and answer all question that came her way. She spent countless hours reviewing, providing feedback, and hopping on numerous calls. I can’t stress enough how valuable and thoughtful Kathryn’s expertise was to my applications and the entire process.

Kathryn is deeply empathetic and pushes you to introspect to get to the root of your story. At the same time, she gives straightforward and honest guidance to bring your applications to the next level. Through our conversations, Kathryn parsed out the multifaceted parts of my story (in ways I didn’t even realize!) and uncovered the unique experiences I brought to the table. This level of detail and understanding only comes through the significant amount of time Kathryn devotes to getting to know you.

This ultimately culminated in building a multidimensional and cohesive story in my applications that attracted top programs and a scholarship! I am incredibly grateful for Kathryn’s expert guidance, and I could not have done it without her!

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I was recommended to Kathryn by my supervisor/recommender who was also an MBA student ten years ago (!!) and he would still recall many memories for his work with Kathryn – that spoke a lot about his positive experiences back then. Many of the other MBA consultants from different regions that I talked to recommended me to apply the next year given my shorter working experiences, it was Kathryn who highlighted my accelerated career exposure and gave me confidence that I also have my unique life stories. I also like how Kathryn focuses on my personal experiences and motivations beyond my professional life, which provides a more holistic picture of myself. Kathryn’s extensive experiences in dealing with clients from all over the world and all walks of life is very valuable as well.

I enjoyed each and every step in this “soul-searching” journey (though not easy): career goal setting, resume, school assessment, life story brainstorming, essay editing, engaging with recommenders, interview preps, scholarship negotiations… We would have debates time to time but it is wonderful: I really appreciate Kathryn’s candid and convincing sharing on when it is ok for me to pivot, or when she would recommend otherwise; She provided me good preps for the interview, but also warned me not to “over practice”... She knows how to find the right balance!

I am really thankful for the journey with Kathryn and SOP.

I applied for other schools in R1 and my dream school HBS in R2. Kathryn was the best mentor and buddy throughout this journey, encouraging me to persevere when I had doubts about myself, and patiently discussing and fine-tuning the narratives many times with me. I love my final HBS application materials: it is really ME! And the answer from HBS was a YES!

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When I contacted Square One, I didn’t think I had what it takes to get into business school. But admissions firms offer free consults so I spoke to some to confirm my suspicion. All of them did, expect Kathryn. My call with her was different. Kathryn asked me questions other firms didn’t. For example, she was the only admissions advisor to ask me WHY my GPA as what it was, and then ask more questions as I probably didn’t give a very clear answer at first because I was embarrassed and shy. My GPA was terrible, a 2.48/4.00. I also left college after two years with a sub 1.00 GPA and had just graduated in May 2021 at age 34. Here too, she asked my WHY my path was what it was. She didn’t just tell me that my GPA and path were problems. Other firms did. They did not talk to me. They talked at me. Kathryn talked to me for close to 2 hours, not just the prescribed 30. She told me that she believed in me and would help me believe in myself.

What I gained from working with Kathryn – how I think about my past and my future, how I can make the most of business school, is invaluable.

She built a schedule for us to follow so I’d never worry about time. She understood that I am busy leading two companies. We did everything as a team. I didn’t know she’d help me as much as she did with all the application components.

In our first week, she spent 10 hours on calls with me so she could build my first draft resume, which was a huge help as I had never built a resume – I’d worked at my family company and then done entrepreneurial things, so there was no need. We then made it stronger as a team, and I was stunned by it by the time we were done. I actually began to believe in myself, just as she said I would.

The attention Kathryn brought to helping me build a strong resume she also brought to helping me build strong essays. I kept trying to sell and brand myself, and so I wrote a lot of bad essays. Some of her edits of my work were more like rewrites except that they somehow retained my voice. Kathryn steered me toward sharing things I couldn’t believe business schools would want to know about me. She connected with my heart. Just like with my resume, as I completed essays I began to feel more optimistic.

Kathryn brought the same attention to my career path work, which we did with Horatio who was my career lead. The work I did with him became even stronger once Kathryn helped me mold my career path into a goals essay. Horatiu was great though. He was patient as I had no idea how specific I needed to be, I thought I could just say that I want to keep growing my business. He asked me a lot of questions to ensure I knew what to research in order to build a strong career vision. Kathryn pushed my further to build it into a real business plan.

Also, with the LORs, we built packages for my recommenders which was important because neither of mine had ever written one, so getting a lot of support was critical. Kathryn was instrumental.

I secured interviews at Columbia, Wharton, Harvard, and Yale, 4 of the 5 schools I applied to! By this time, she knew me, that I could struggle in interviews. She went above and beyond to help me prepare. We did 6 mock interviews for Harvard and full preparation for all the other schools. I saw how much she cared about me and my success. When I got into Yale I was amazed. With Kathryn’s help I almost got into 4 schools and did get into one of the best in the world. I can’t wait to start!

To anyone who wants a guide through the application process, someone you can trust will always be honest and focused on helping you grow and succeed, and will go above and beyond for you, look no further than Kathryn.

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I am fortunate that I came across SOP in my business school journey. After being rejected by multiple consultants (and fairly so) because of my below-average standardised test scores, speaking to Kathryn in our first free consultation session was a breath of fresh air. My advisor Paula, career coach Wendy, and partnerships manager Cristina, continued the momentum that Kathryn had built.

I have the utmost respect for Wendy: she brings in pertinent industry knowledge, rationality, and feasibility of creating and achieving career goals. She is honest and extremely committed to her clients. She, along with Paula, worked with me on 14+ versions of the career narrative document, enabling me to not only draft coherent goals for business school application but also to have a solid foundation for my professional journey ahead.

Paula, my advisor, was a true partner throughout this emotional and challenging period of my life. She shared high-quality deliverables within tight timelines and was always on top of all aspects of my application. She went way beyond her scope and believed in me when I did not believe in myself. She dealt with my shortcomings such as having self-doubt, second guessing applying to business school etc with grace and encouraged me to be positive. She took the effort to get to know me well and was able to bring me back on track when I broke under pressure. Paula made me feel very comfortable, as if I am working with a friend, who always had my best interest in mind. Her kindness is infectious and the compassion that she brings into her work is heartwarming.

Cristina, my partnerships manager, stepped in proactively to support my application.

Perhaps most crucially, Kathryn’s unwavering commitment towards my business school journey coupled with her two decades of experience in this field played a crucial role in me coming out of this process a little bit stronger as an individual.

I am grateful to the SOP team for helping me secure admits to Fuqua and McDonough.

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I had been applying to B-schools since 2020 and got more than a dozen rejections.

I decided to give myself a last chance in the 2022 application cycle. However in the early 2022, I lost my wife unexpectedly which pushed me into a deep depression. I thought with the passing away of the biggest support of my life, my dreams had also died. I gave up on everything including my MBA dreams.

A friend of mine who had worked with Square One suggested I speak to Kathryn, a request I denied multiple times. But on being pushed frequently by my friend, finally I decided to speak to her. Sure that after doing a free session my friend would stop pestering me and I could continue to stay in my deep depression.

I still remember those 50 minutes with Kathryn. , I never felt like I was speaking to a MBA consultant, but rather a mentor who was equally interested in me fulfilling my MBA dreams. She also cared about me as a person. She not only motivated me but pushed me to give my best. She was always there for me as I had tough moments where I doubted myself and felt depressed. Day or night, she was there, getting on calls with me or emailing me. She even helped me build some of my work directly. I never would have expected that.
Additionally, she reviewed ALL the materials I built with my advisors, some essays multiple times. This was not meant to be included in my package.

Writing my applications in the toughest phase of my life brought out the best in me and also created a positive distraction which helped me cure my mental health. Kathryn and her team understood that I’d have some bad days. They were always understanding.

Kathryn allowed me to choose the best advisor from SOP's several awesome advisors. I decided to work with Rahul Kalita. This guy is amazing; he pushed me hard to ensure I did my best. My career narrative expert was Horatiu who just in one single call helped me begin to build strong MBA goals, which out me at ease. Lastly, Cristina ( a very charming lady) was my admin support who helped me stay on schedule. So with this team I moved forward and secured an admit to my dream school. Not only that; I got a handsome scholarship! with a handsome scholarship

It seems like a dream to me but Kathryn and her team became the messiah of my MBA journey. I Cannot thank them enough!

So if you are applying to a b-school just do a free session with Kathryn and trust that everything will follow in line. I did not know there was a team like this out there.

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Thanks to Kathryn, Annie, Horatiu, and the rest of the SquareOnePrep team, I breezed through the application process for business school. Their all-inclusive approach to helping me construct my career story helped me concentrate on what was important to me and enabled me to show my best self to business school admissions committees.

What is the rationale behind SOP?

I spoke with a few MBA consultants from various companies. As far as I'm concerned, I don't want to work with someone who either overestimated or underestimated my abilities. My first conversation with Kathryn from SOP was positive, but she also pointed me what I needed to improve upon based on the results of my application. Her words of wisdom were a great boost to my self-esteem and practical in nature.

The four key components of their services are Resume, LOR, Career Narrative and Essays.

Resume: Many hours of phone calls with Annie, my academic adviser, were spent developing my résumé, and she pointed out many aspects of my academic and professional achievements that I had overlooked. In the end, the resume that was created using SOP was quite thorough and compelling in its content.

LOR: Even though I had previously applied to a master's programme and submitted a professional letter of recommendation, this LOR prepared with SOP for MBA was very striking and had a number of personal & professional tales. The SOP presented my supervisor with a wealth of information to consider when making their recommendation.

Carrier Narrative: The nicest part about SOP is that they take 3-4 separate sessions to set short-term and long-term objectives. This encouraged individuals to look at various career objectives, companies, and the impact they had on society, and eventually a clear path post MBA short and long term goal was established.

Essays: Each of my meetings with my adviser was helpful and supplied me with a wealth of useful information, which helped me write more effective essays.

Overall, I'm glad I selected SOP for MBA consulting, and I know it would have been exceedingly tough for me to be in the place I am now if it hadn't been for their help. Thank you SOP, and thank you Kathryn!

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I chose Kathryn from Square One Prep for a premium comprehensive package. She is a great admission consultant who really understands how to communicate and distill stories for you to help you succeed. I would not hesitate to recommend Kathryn to you if you are serious about your applications! One thing to hightlight about Kathryn is that her help to you does not end at admission. In fact, the relationship extends beyond the admission offer letter! She also helps guide you all the way until you start school, sometimes even over a lengthy period of time to help you best communicate with the school. I highly recommend Kathryn!

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The SOP Team (Kathryn, Anna and the career-narrative expert) did a fantastic job in helping with my applications. I got into multiple schools and my top choice T15 school. Kathryn is an extremely dedicated, honest, empathetic and a resourceful person who has decades of experience in helping students reach their potential. I realised, it makes a huge difference to work with advisors who love their job and are truly working to help you put your best foot forward.

Kathryn is one of the best advisors - especially with her knowledge on B-Schools and what ticks in an application. You cannot go wrong working with Kathryn. Check out the other testimonials on how amazing Kathryn and her team is on advisory work, crafting the application, the thorough and structured process, the quick turn-arounds, the career-narrative process and the top-class service overall. While this is exactly what all of us, as applicants, need, I also want to highlight how SOP genuinely supported me and in the process, changed my perspective of the whole application ordeal.

I still vividly remember making the choice to reach out to SOP with exactly 4.5 weeks to go for school deadlines. As is the amazing process at SOP, after my conversation with Kathryn, I spoke to 3 advisors to choose one that I would work with for the next few weeks. The process enabled me to work with Anna, a truly amazing human being, a fellow international applicant who was in my footsteps a few years ago. She has since become a great friend for life. The next 4-5 weeks of crafting applications to 5 schools went through like the best breeze there could be, because mentally I never felt it was just ‘my’ B-school application. Anna spent countless hours – mornings and nights, and at times while she was on treks or in flights – helping me throughout the journey. I can write many pages about Anna’s work but the two things that stood out were how she equipped me with the tools and created agency, and how she was empathetic and had a strong grasp of my values. Many times, Anna would mention a couple of points below an essay prompt alluding to things she believed I could mention about my career/ life/ extracurriculars - have you ever seen an advisor like this?!

With SOP, I had an entire team to help me brainstorm, vet my drafts, my ideas, ask deeper questions in each essay draft and bring out the best side of me in my applications. Truly, to me, the application never felt like work. I’ve heard many applicants say that crafting the applications was a tougher task for them than taking up the standardized tests, but for me (with SOP by my side) it was the total opposite. I had taken the standardized tests multiple times, but after working on my applications with SOP and having conversed with Kathryn and Anna, every single day, I realised my perspective on the application and my test journey had changed - I had immense confidence in what I had to offer. I felt mentally stronger and calmer. I retook the test after submitting my application, and fared way better than the previous few times. A huge relief! I asked for strategies on sharing updated scores and waitlist updates with schools - each time Kathryn and Anna were always by my side, helping me more than I could imagine. I am truly grateful to the SOP team for their work and their presence in my life. I could not have asked for better advisors. I have a lot of respect for the amazing work Kathryn does, the company she has built and the team she has hired - Having seen first hand her commitment to her work, I’m almost certain she never sleeps :)

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