Krista Nannery Reviews

If my word count was only limited to two, my review of Krista would be simple: The GOAT.

I put a lot amount of thoughts into big decisions or purchases, so when I was considering whether or not to use a consultant or who to use, I turned over every stone. I explored every firm and talked to a lot of different people. I watched Krista’s video on MBAMission and really resonated with her emphasis on getting to know the person behind the resume, along with her signature chuckle at the end, and felt as though I’d be comfortable really opening up to her so that I could put my all into my application. She was my #1 choice out of all of the chats I had done with consultants and words can’t explain how happy I am that I made the right choice.
Working with Krista surpassed all of my expectations. She overinvested in getting to know everything about me, not just my career, why I chose it and future ambitions, but the way I grew up, my family dynamics, the seemingly meaningless stories that have had an impact on my life, professionally and personally. Despite being hired as my consultant, it felt as though she doubled as a personal therapist throughout the application process. She was able to piece together all of the small details of my life, that even I had forgotten at times, and help me create cohesive and compelling essays tailored to each individual school that I applied to.
Despite my love for Krista the person, her professionalism and passion for the job is the true reason why I’m so thankful I chose her. I’m not a strong writer, but Krista allowed me to simply put everything down on a page that I wanted to talk about and she was able to take it from there. She was able to help me take my excessively long brain dumps and edit them down so that they would be the most concise and powerful versions. Her attention to detail and her ability to scrutinize every sentence, word and punctuation mark, to create the strongest possible essay was something I hadn’t ever seen before (including from all of my supervisors, bosses and MDs to date). Outside of the essays, she helped coach me on every aspect of the application from reviewing my recommenders’ recommendations or helping me with extracurricular descriptions to the most minute details such as what I should be including about my family background. No matter the aspect of the application, Krista never let me settle for good: It had to be great.
I know Krista sells out almost every year, but throughout my time with her, it always felt as though I was her only client. She often was able to get draft revisions back to me ahead of the MBAMission two business day timeline and was always available to hop on zoom to talk, no matter how large or small my problem at the time was (I’m surprised she didn’t bill my medical insurance for therapy charges). Throughout my application process Krista became much more than my consultant and now that I’m finished, I can say with absolute certainty that I’d trust her with my first-born child. She helped take my applications to a new level and because of her I was able to get a scholarship from Wharton, in addition to being accepted into my dream school, that I’m looking forward to attending in the fall: Harvard Business School.

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Crafting good application essays has always been a challenge for me as a non-native English speaker, but Krista helped me navigate through the journey effectively. During the brainstorming sessions, she helped me find highlights in my career and daily life, and encouraged me to incorporate them into my applications, advice that turned out to be extremely effective and made my essay outstanding. Before drafting an essay, she would help me organize my thoughts and go over the essay structure, which greatly assisted me in making the essays flow logically. The interview prep sessions proved to be effective as well, as we prepared a lot of questions that were later asked during the interviews. Looking back, I realize that I initially underestimated the amount of workload required for the MBA application and the value of an admissions consultant. Working with Krista was one of the best decisions I made during my application journey. She saved me a lot of time and truly made everything possible.

I would highly recommend Krista. She helped me brainstorm some brilliant ideas for my essays, refine my interview answers, and secure two offers from my top choices. She's super friendly and respectful. She truly cares about your success.

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From the get-go, I knew Krista would be the best to help me reach my full potential as an MBA applicant. I met Krista and was immediately blown away by her thoughtful advice; she did her homework, understood my profile, and quickly made suggestions tailored to my goals. This was just the consultation call! Before I knew it, she and I completely overhauled my resume as she taught effective frameworks and ideas to illuminate my greatest academic and professional accomplishments. Week after week, iteration after iteration, Krista's personalized resume, essay and overall MBA guidance gave me the confidence to effectively manage the application process. She is timely, highly organized, and possess a tremendous sense of humor which helped take the stress of critical deadlines and decisions! Without a doubt, I got into my top schools with ample scholarship money because of Krista's guidance and coaching, and I'm truly impressed by the ROI. If you seek a consultant who will help you effectively navigate the MBA app process, provide top-notch constructive feedback, and always treat you like as both her friend and mentee, then Krista is the right fit for you.

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I started working with Krista unsure if I could get into a top MBA program. I was worried about my subpar GPA and average test scores. Overall, I wasn’t very confident in myself or ability to get in. Because of Krista, I got into my top schools PLUS I landed sizeable scholarships! I’m so happy and 1000/10 recommend!

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From the first interaction, Krista was the ray of sunshine that cut through the fog and turned this murky, arduous process into something very clear, doable, and possible. She is so warm and easy to work with and so knowledgeable. Krista has an amazing process for getting key information out at every turn. The intake was key, she asked what I needed and had a clear process for me leading up to apps. She sent me the right emails at the right times and kept me honest and accountable both over e-communications and in meetings.

Essays were where I struggled most. As we went through, she helped me find the interesting, amazing nuggets and helped me focus on those as I wrote. I gained SO MUCH confidence throughout the process and felt myself growing and communicating better. The edits, ideas, redirects, and feedback Krista gave me were invaluable and she really pushed me to tell my story in a compelling way. The turnaround time for edits was also really appreciated, I knew I was pushing it toward the end of round 1 and she often delivered well before her guaranteed 48-hour window. By the end of it, I knew I had amazing applications and there would be nothing better.

Also, I really appreciated that Krista knew what I didn’t know and then would then ask me about it or nudge me into doing it. This was VITAL because applications are overwhelming and there is so much that you don’t know until it pops up (or you miss it.) Krista prepped me for each turn while also sharing AMAZING resources for anything you could conceive (coffee chats with students, school guides, visits, interviews, etc.) She also answered all my questions and connected me to opportunities I wouldn’t have known about.

One last thing - I really appreciated how Krista is so genuinely kind, pleasant, and wonderful to work with. We all need someone super qualified and good at what they do but you don’t know how much you really need someone who really cares about you, is in your corner, and is there for you on this crazy ride. That’s Krista, truly the best.

Bottom line:
Krista is an amazing coach and person. I got into my schools WITH scholarships and it was absolutely worth it. Invest in yourself. Go with Krista.

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Overall: Krista is fantastic. I cannot leave a more positive or heartfelt review. Working with Krista was the best decision I made during the application process and the result: “The answer is yes!” (I got into HBS, my dream school!) The b-school application process is stressful, time consuming, emotional and overall exhausting. Having a guide like Krista was truly life saver. She is a dream to work with and without a doubt worth the investment.

Bedside Manner: Warm, supportive, honest, insightful, professional, bubbly. Gets to know you as a person beyond your application. Cheerleader, cares about you and is invested in you.

Essay specific: What made Krista really valuable during the essay process beyond just an objective third party’s feedback were 2 things: First, she provided very specific guidance on the structure and content of the essays. After filling out the comprehensive brainstorming doc (~19 pages), brainstorming with her over zoom and proving bullets on my ideas for a particular essay, there was so much content to work through. Krista not only digested all this content, but knew it by heart and came to the session with a blueprint for each essay - 250 words on x, 100 on y, then 400 on Z. This took all guessing away from the essay writing and let me focus on telling my story in the best way possible. It was a huge time saver and took away all of the guesswork.

Second, Krista understands how to speak the language of each school and what resonates with AdCom. Every school has a different culture, different things that they look for in students, different ways AdCom evaluates someone’s story. Krista’s deep first hand knowledge and experience on how to speak to each school and how they’ve historically reacted to someone’s story was invaluable to me. My story never changed, but the way I told it and what I highlighted did depending upon the prompt and the school. This was, for me personally, the single biggest value add. Krista was brilliant in helping me craft my story to speak to my target audience in a compelling way. No 2 essays of mine were alike.

Beyond those two points, the feedback she provided was always spot on. She was extremely responsive and detailed. Extremely adaptable to my feedback and the overall evolution of the essay. And always trying to show you at your best.

Interview Prep: Krista prepared me extremely well for all my interviews (5 in total). There wasn’t a single question I wasn’t prepared for or hadn’t thought about due to our prep together. She also gave very specific feedback to each answer I gave drawing on her accumulated knowledge of me.

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Krista is the reason I was admitted into top programs including HBS, Wharton, Tuck, and others, and almost all with scholarship money totaling almost $500,000. Go with Krista, you won’t regret it.

From our very first conversation, Krista believed in me when I had doubted myself. I was on the (slightly) older side yet didn’t have direct management experience; I came from a decidedly “non-analytical” background; and there was a long tail of other insecurities I had about my candidacy for business school. Krista saw something in me, and she helped me find and amplify my authentic voice. I was on the fence about hiring an admissions consultant because I considered myself a good (enough) writer, but boy am I relieved I was able to work with Krista.

I could not be happier that I chose Krista after doing many free consultations. Here is what I think she brings:

Krista has a preternatural ability to bring stories to life. As a person with a technical software background, I was concerned about explaining my accomplishments in a way that felt impactful yet understandable to a non-technical audience. It turned out not to be a concern at all. For every technical project that I explained in my resume or in one of my essays, Krista encouraged me to “paint a picture” for the reader. Going from an “I did this” to a “this was the impact” mentality was difficult for me, but with Krista’s help, projects that were so esoteric that I almost considered leaving out of my application were now the strongest advocates for my candidacy.

While Krista guarantees a 48-hour turnaround time for reviewing essay drafts, she consistently over-delivers, providing feedback more often than not within 24 hours. As a chronic procrastinator, I felt solace knowing that Krista had my back and actively supported me even—or rather, especially—when R2 deadlines were fast approaching. I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to iterate on drafts of my essays quickly enough before the deadline, but Krista went above and beyond in establishing even quicker turnaround times that worked with my personal timeline. During times of unbelievable stress, it is a huge relief knowing that your admissions consultant is in the trenches with you, fighting just as hard for you as you are fighting for yourself.

I could go on and on about how she has key insights about specific schools and programs that you can’t find online, how she is always willing to meet with you for even the most trivial of concerns, or how she sends you pump up emails on interview day because she is so invested in your personal journey, but if you’ve made it to this section of the review, I hope you are already convinced. Krista was able to take an incredibly stressful application process and turn it into a fun and enjoyable experience.

I cannot recommend Krista enough to anyone who is truly serious about maximizing their chances to get into a top business school. I can’t imagine what my application would have looked like without Krista’s help, and thankfully I don’t have to.

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I had the pleasure of working with Krista during the 2022-2023 application season. She supported me through the essay writing, interview, and decision-making process. When I think back on my MBA application journey, one of the best calls I made was hiring Krista.

There are a few qualities that make Krista stand out:

1) Krista is a great editor – Krista had an uncanny ability to transform essays without changing the underlying tone or meaning. Some of my initial drafts were vague and not specific enough. Krista rejiggered them and made them more concrete. When my initial drafts were strong, Krista added details here and there that really pushed them to the next level. She would turn “solid” essays into “exceptional” ones.

2) Krista’s timeliness – I paid for Krista’s hourly services and was told that work would be returned within a 2-day timeframe. In the nine months that I spent with her, she never missed this window once. I knew when I sent in an essay, résumé, or org chart that it would be returned ASAP. In some cases Krista would even get back to me within 24 hours. I was particularly impressed by this because I knew she was juggling multiple clients at once. She did a great job of making each candidate a priority and getting back to people in a timely fashion.

3) Krista’s breadth of knowledge about MBA admissions – After my applications were submitted, throughout the interview phase and beyond, I would frequently ask Krista one off questions about next steps (e.g. what to wear to an interview, whether to do an interview virtually or in-person, how the employment verification process works, etc.). She was able to answer every question thoroughly, accurately, and promptly. She would even go above and beyond and provide me with links to resources off the Internet or at mbaMission that would give me a more in-depth explanation to a question that she had already answered. If I was in doubt, I knew Krista would be able to help.

Most importantly, though, with Krista, I never felt that I was going at this journey alone. The MBA application process is draining, mentally, physically, and emotionally. While it can be helpful to have family and friends there to support you, in my view, it is even more critical to have an expert who is well-versed with MBA admissions so that you can feel as prepared as possible for anything that may come your way. I felt that I had all of that in Krista and more.

In the end, I was admitted to four of the M7 programs, including my #1 choice: Wharton HCM. I know that it would not have been possible without Krista’s support. I cannot recommend her highly enough. If you are looking for expert help and guidance throughout the MBA application process, choose Krista. She was faultless from start to finish.

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Working with Krista Nannery from mbaMission was the best decision I made during my MBA application process. Krista helped me to create the best application I could by really taking the time to understand my story and my strengths. I felt really seen and supported by Krista. She regularly beat expected turnaround times on drafts I sent her, and her edits and comments were always spot on and thoughtful. The MBA admissions process is tough, and Krista was my rock throughout it!! I am thrilled to have been accepted to my dream school, and I truly don't think I would have gotten here without Krista. I can't recommend her more highly!!

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Krista understood my story and what I’m passionate about. She helped me showcase who I am in a very practical, descriptive, and consistent way across all of my MBA applications - and I got into 11/11 business schools (including Harvard, Wharton, and Stanford) with nearly $1M in offered scholarship money.

Some things that stand out about Krista:

1. Helped me maximize the time. From the very beginning, Krista advised me on how best to use the hours that I purchased from her. We regularly exchanged materials with very detailed instructions on where/where not to focus her review time - and she stuck to it every single time. This made me feel like she prioritized me and what I needed vs. running down the hours (which can be a concern for hourly services in any space). She also suggested what I could do on my own as well (e.g., grammatical reviews), so that she could focus on higher-value feedback for the money that I spent. Krista always tailored her approach to me, which made me feel cared for as a whole person during what can be an incredibly vulnerable process.

2. Invested in me holistically. Even with me being an hourly client, Krista still offered other materials (e.g., school guides and FAQs) and ongoing support (e.g., check-in emails the day of acceptance days) that made me feel like she cared about me holistically. Another way Krista showed her investment in me was by always keeping up with my storyline across all 11 of my applications. For example, Krista offered very targeted suggestions of what I should pull into one of my applications from an earlier application based on the prompt and what my story may have been missing. This helped me focus my efforts, use my hourly services more efficiently, and made me feel heard and seen - Krista truly believed in me and what I could accomplish.

3. Believed in me from the beginning. From our initial conversation, Krista believed in my applicant profile and what I could bring to every MBA program that I applied to. I had concerns about my test scores, which Krista did provide support for me to increase slightly, but I knew I needed my application to stand out in other ways. Not only did Krista help me strengthen my narrative, but she provided endless encouragement along the way. She gave me so much praise on my materials (when it was warranted) and regularly reminded me of how much I’ve accomplished in my career (and as a person) to get me to this point. Krista’s support had an incredibly positive impact on my entire MBA application process and kept me going when times were difficult.

Krista came recommended to me by a very close friend - and now I’ll recommend Krista to everyone I know. Although I’ll never know why these schools accepted me, I’m confident that my applications were better because of Krista.

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I’ll start out by saying that I don’t think I would’ve been in the position of choosing between M7 offers if not for Krista.

When I decided to go with an MBA consultant my one and only hope was to find someone that would really champion me and who genuinely wanted to see me succeed – I got that and MORE from Krista!! We laughed, cried, and most importantly celebrated together and I couldn’t have asked for a better person to work with me on this journey.

I spoke to other MBA consultants, but once I spoke to Krista, I pretty much signed up for a package the next day. From the very first conversation, Krista was warm, friendly, and optimistic. I loved that she had clearly read through my resume in detail, and even recommended I apply to some M7 schools I had not thought of applying to.

Krista was probably the only person that could help me throughout this process. I’d say I’m someone that can be quite realistic to a fault, so much so that I cancelled out applying to some schools, thinking there’s no way I’d get in. Krista was there constantly encouraging me, even when things were not looking promising. In fact, I had said to Krista I was not applying to one specific M7 as there’s no way I’d get in. She was eventually able to convince me, and 2 months later, I received a congratulatory email to one of the top business schools in the world.

Throughout the process, Krista was always clear with instructions, paid great attention to detail, and would always get back to me exactly when she said would. She was so invested in my success that there were times she’d even remind me of things I had achieved that I could add into my applications! Her mock interviews were fantastic, and I learnt so much about myself and how I interview. Krista also has a magic touch of transforming your essays, whilst still keeping your tone of voice.

Finally, Krista is extremely fun and bubbly, and we never ran out of things to talk about! Every zoom call we had, she’d always dial in with a different background photo of my country and we would end up talking about popular food spots in my city. As an International, I loved that Krista was always genuinely interested in learning more about my country and it always made our sessions feel very relaxed and informal.

My MBA journey was a wild rollercoaster. But that is where I am extremely grateful for Krista, she was always encouraging, optimistic, and supportive. I 1000% endorse Krista and could not recommend her enough. If I had to give one advice to her future clients, it will be to trust her advice!!!! She really does know everything about the schools, and anything she suggests is always going to be in your best interest. So please do make sure you take her advice – you won’t regret it!

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