Yaron Dahan Reviews

Yaron and the Menlo Coaching program are incredible, and I highly recommend them to anyone with hopes of attending a top business school.

The Menlo Coaching program is extremely structured, taking all the mental burden of process out of the applications, so you can focus on the quality of the content: writing the best stories you can, crafting the best narrative about yourself, researching schools and networking with them. When you sign on to work with Menlo, you’ll have access not only to genius coaching from Yaron and others, but also the infrastructure of people and tools that keep you organized and on schedule to accomplish all you need to do before deadlines hit.

Yaron is one of the best coaches (of any kind - sports, work, school) I’ve worked with because he guides you to the best answer, the best outcome, by asking prompting questions that force you to dig deep and do a lot of tough, creative introspection. For me, I had somewhat of a sense of what I wanted to say going into the applications, but Yaron took it to another level, making my story extremely personal, unique to me and compelling. We got there through a mix of one-on-one sessions where Yaron and I talked through my entire history – not just career and school, but what motivated me in life – and trading essays back and forth, Yaron asking me thought-provoking questions in his redlines. And lastly, perhaps most importantly, Yaron helped me then tie my personal story and life goals together to articulate to my top choice schools exactly why I was a perfect fit.

When interview season came along, Yaron made sure I was prepared to tell my story with excitement. And through Menlo, I also had access to a communications coach from Fearless Communicators, who put me through my paces in a 2hr session before my interviews began.

In the end I was admitted to my top choice school – CBS – with additional acceptances to Kellogg, Yale, Stern and Darden. I’m extremely excited to be heading to CBS in the fall and would highly recommend Yaron to anyone seeking success in MBA admissions.

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Working with Yaron was an absolute pleasure and made manageable what was initially a daunting process. Yaron’s expert advice helped shape my applications and stand out with a ‘dime a dozen’ background in the overrepresented finance industry.

Given that I was applying while simultaneously working a demanding job, I appreciated the efficiency with which the Menlo process allowed me to complete my applications. The process started with a series of helpful videos which provided the background insights that I would have otherwise had to gather through days of sifting through forums. Next, Yaron made it a point to understand my background and motivations through a series of discussions / interviews. Yaron ultimately leveraged small bits of background he gathered during these interviews to help craft my story once we started on the applications – this is where my I found my Menlo experience to be the most differentiated as, knowing how cheap I am, I would have never taken the time to let an hourly coach get to know me.

I really enjoyed working with Yaron and am proud not only of the results but of the application submitted to get there. Don’t think there’s any higher praise I can give – I recommend Yaron highly.

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I had a great experience working with Yaron. I’m so excited to join Booth (with scholarship) this Fall. Overall, I think the end-to-end service provided by Menlo makes the whole MBA application process so much easier and much more efficient. Yaron gave me step by step instructions throughout the entire cycle from Nov 2019 when I first signed up for the early bird program all the way to Jan 2021 when I received a scholarship from Chicago Booth. MBA applications are a big time commitment. Yaron really helped me streamline the application process of my original 8 target schools so that I was able to effectively work on essays, network with current students, talk to alumnus, attend school events, and communicate with my recommenders while handling a demanding full time job in the finance sector. Writing essays is a big part of the MBA application and it is normally the most time-consuming part. From brainstorming and selecting stories, to editing and polishing the final version, Yaron has elevated my essays to a different level with his years of experience and expertise in the industry. I can’t imagine how much more time I would have wasted on picking the wrong topics that would have hurt my chance. The other thing that I really appreciate working with Yaron is the timely response. Even though we are in different time zones, he always replies to my questions or provides comments to my draft essay within a day, sometimes I even got my response right away!

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Working with Menlo and with Yaron was incredible and even more than I had hoped for. There is a reason people say Menlo is the top admissions consultant. When looking at consultants to work with, I was struck by how robust and informative Menlo's website was. I think I learned more from the free videos on their site than I had in all of the rest of my admissions research, and was impressed by how Menlo's approach was the "white glove" service.

Once I took the plunge and started working with Yaron, I was happy to find that the hype was real. Not only was the whole Menlo process wonderfully well-oiled and time efficient for someone working full-time and studying to re-take the GMAT (thanks to the focus on videos over reading as pre-conversation materials), but Yaron and the Menlo team pushed me to go beyond my initial story and turn it into so much more. The way Menlo structures their modules, with each one forcing me to take a hard look at a different part of my application and goals, went beyond helping me craft a good story - it helped me understand what I actually wanted to achieve in life. This made the application process far beyond a simple check the box exercise - it was a journey of self discovery.

On a more tactical level, Yaron being in Europe was very helpful for my schedule, since he would have me edits first thing in the morning US time. He was very prompt to respond, and we were able to rip through multiple drafts over the course of a few days. His edits were very thoughtful and were very clearly tailored to me, not to some stereotype of what an applicant like me should say.

After I got interview invites, Menlo had personalized interview prep sessions and a forum for other members to share their experience. I felt almost laughably prepared - by the time I got to the actual interview, I'd been through it several times in my head and knew exactly what the questions were likely to be.

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Working with Yaron was a life-time experience. He changed the way I was perceiving communications, from McKinsey's situation-complication-resolution to a narrative and storytelling. He made me rewrite the core Stanford's essay (what matters for you most and why) 8 times, always from scratch (we had only 6 weeks till the deadline). Each time I felt like an onion losing next layer. At some point we went so much personal, so that had to take a few steps back, into business-related dimension. He helped me to think of my story in a sincere, unique and powerful way.

What to expect from Yaron? Genuine curiosity in your personality, professional attitude, quick response, readiness to involve his colleagues when needed, patience, no stress. What not to expect? He never offers his ideas on what to write, it's only you and your story. His touch is powerful but invisible.

If you feel you are an average applicant with somewhat boring background and low to zero chance to get into top-10 schools, you are wrong and you should talk to Yaron. You will maximise your chances, learn on the way and enjoy the process.

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Working with Yaron has been a fantastic experience. As a business owner, I faced many challenges while applying to business schools including a tight work schedule and a less than ideal GMAT score. Despite these setbacks, Yaron provided intelligent and honest feedback in a very timely manner. I knew I wanted to get an MBA, but working with Menlo, I was able to articulate my story while connecting the dots in a very effective way. With a powerful story, I had more confidence approaching other parts of the application process such as the networking, which initially seemed daunting. With this new sense of confidence, many new opportunities opened up and Yaron, with his honesty, definitely kept me on track. With his response time being so quick, I was pushed to work faster, leading to seven well executed applications. He guided me through every phase of the process from helping me decide which schools to apply to, to negotiating scholarships with the four schools I received offers from. I was impressed with how well structured the process was and the amount of insight Menlo Coaching offered during every step. If I had to do it all over again, I would certainly use Menlo. None of the other firms seemed as good or as personal. I was so pleased with my work with Yaron that even after I got accepted, I continued to work with Menlo for recruiting.

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Working with Yaron, and Menlo coaching, was one of the best decisions I have made throughout the MBA application process. As someone coming from a lower-ranked undergraduate school without a prestigious resume, I knew that I was fighting an uphill battle from the start. However, with Yaron’s constant guidance, shockingly fast turnaround times, and his deep understanding of story, I was able to get fantastic admits at multiple programs.

Yaron’s biggest strength is that he understands how to tell a story. Yaron was able to ask me the right questions and to help me understand what my MBA goals were and how to tell my story to the admissions committee. As I started working on my essays, I realized the time zone difference was an advantage, with Yaron turning things around as I slept or while I was at work.

In times where Yaron was a little uncertain on how to advise me, he quickly brought in other consultants with subject-matter expertise. I’d recommend Yaron, and Menlo to anyone who is willing to do the hard work needed to get into a top MBA program and who needs help navigating the incredibly demanding and time-consuming MBA application process.

Another great advantage of the Menlo program I wish to highlight is the group sessions with the community of peers who are applying at the same time, and the Menlo network. Through Menlo’s network, I was able to connect with students and alumni, who were extraordinarily helpful, and this was an unexpected benefit of working with Menlo.

As a result of my work with Yaron, I was able to punch above my weight and was accepted into five of the eight top-10 programs I applied to. I couldn’t be more excited by the results, which I could not have gotten without Menlo. When I see my peers who have been accepted to the same top-tier MBA programs as I, I am often the only one in the room who didn’t work for MBB consulting, a bulge bracket bank, and didn’t have an Ivy League education. It is thanks to the guidance and insights of Yaron and Menlo that I got the results I did.

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Yaron is a wonderful admissions coach, I really cannot ask for better support from any coach throughout this MBA journey. I applied to nine (!!!) schools, and Yaron went through every single application as thoroughly as if it was the first application. I certainly wouldn’t have gotten the six admits and two waitlists including INSEAD and Yale without him. What’s most incredible is that I got into my first choice of dream school LBS, which was a long-shot and I can’t wait to move to London later this year.

I have talked with many admission consultants before deciding to go with Yaron because I can see he will genuinely help me to maximize my chance of admission and won’t see me as just another client to churn through in an assembly line process. Yaron definitely lived up to the expectation by tailoring every step of the process to my needs, from having detailed discussion about the school selection, to tailoring the dozens of essays for my nine applications, and he never stopped challenging me to make sure I do everything I could to maximize my odds of admission.

Yaron is also very patient and didn’t mind me asking everything to the nth degree, such as selecting what folder I should bring on interview day. Lastly, he is very quick in turnarounds and it is not uncommon for us to have two to three iterations of an essay on the same day, allowing me to apply to nine schools within the tight deadlines. Most importantly, Yaron really is deeply invested in my application and the results, and he goes above and beyond for his clients. For example, my first application is due on a Monday so he logged in during the weekend just to proofread my final application so I can submit it with time to spare; there are many instances where he surprises me and sometimes I wonder if he ever sleeps!

Getting Yaron as my MBA admission coach was the best decision I made for the MBA process, and I have no hesitation recommending him to others; as a case in point, I am looking to see whether I can get his help regarding my career during the MBA programme as well.

For those who are in doubt and in particular for those who want to sign up, make sure you get in touch with Yaron as early as possible. As testament to how popular he is, there’s a long waitlist for the 30 minute initial consultation and Yaron only takes a limited number of clients each year, so you can miss out if you leave it too late, and I promise you won’t regret having a chat with Yaron.

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My time working with Yaron could not have been more enjoyable! I took my GMAT on July 1st with the goal of applying R1 to Harvard, Stanford, and Wharton, and knew I needed to quickly turn my attention to my applications.

I have a relatively overrepresented professional background and was concerned about how I could stand out from the many with identical work experience. I knew I wanted to engage a consultant and knew I needed someone who (1) could dedicate the time to truly understand what makes me ME, (2) keep up with my rapid pace of iterations, and (3) had a diverse client base such that he or she wasn’t giving the exact same, cookie-cutter advice to dozens of other applicants struggling with the same issue. Further, I knew that my working style would require a lot of consultation, discussions, and experimenting with ideas, thus I knew I needed an “all-you-can-eat” model (vs an hourly model).

I did an intro call with Yaron and quickly gained comfort around my couple of key criteria. I was attracted to the fact that he only takes on ~10-15 clients (vs 50+ elsewhere) and that he repeatedly told me we could chat on the phone as much or as little as I wanted. He also emphasized that he not only had worked with a number of people with my same profile, but also many people with very diverse profiles, which gave me confidence he had good context for what I bring to the table as well as a good barometer for how that would look when compared to other candidates.

Once we started working together, I was extremely impressed by Yaron’s commitment to my application push. He spent hours on the phone with my drawing out every detail of my childhood up through my current job, taking detailed notes and spit balling some potential essay topics. Yaron was also willing to speak with my parents for a few hours and used that conversation to fill in some of the detail around my younger years. What I was most impressed by, however, was the pace at which Yaron turned things around – I would send him multiple full essay drafts almost every night before I went to sleep (~between 12am and 3am) and would get back thoughtful comments on each draft the very next morning (even on weekends!). Yaron’s geographic location (Europe) allowed for this dynamic, and it was clear to me that he was reviewing my essays for hours starting from the moment he woke up.

I was incredibly proud of how my applications turned out and I attribute a great deal of my success to Yaron’s hands-on, white-glove approach to the process. I got the sense that he really cared about getting to know me and helping me reach my goals, which made the whole process that much more enjoyable and productive.

I have enthusiastically recommended Yaron and Menlo to all my coworkers and friends and hope my excitement has come through here. With Yaron’s help, I ultimately earned acceptances at Stanford GSB and Wharton (along with a deferral at Harvard that is still pending at time of writing). Thank you again, Yaron!

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Yaron is exactly the kind of trusted advisor I hope to be in my own future investment banking career, and that is no exaggeration. He begins by developing a deep understanding of you, the individual applicant, borne out of genuine curiosity, an enthusiastic desire to see the best in people, and the insight and tact to help identify and refine your flaws. From there, his approach is utterly original, completely customized, and has no hint of a template, box-checking, or trying to fit you into a standard “package.” Yaron’s input into my application was far, far more than technical finessing; he acted more as psychologist/coach/confidante, looking insightfully behind everything I said to identify my real motivations, drivers, values, and what matters to me most deeply on a personal level—before then harnessing and honing that into an application, and finally clarifying its expression to fit within word limits and show as best as possible. Yaron’s ultra-high-touch approach also manifested in another important way. I did a lot of things in an unusual, mercurial fashion: applied without a recommendation from my current employer, wrote the shortest essays first, had a tendency to tear up drafts and start over completely, and—based on the aforementioned self-discovery I experienced working with Yaron and refining my story—decided on Christmas Eve to apply to 3 more schools, including one with a January 3 deadline. Throughout it all, Yaron was thoroughly strategic and perceptive, hyper-responsive and accommodating, and a true thought partner in a process that was as educational and rewarding as it was stressful. He not only clarified my story, both in style and content—he also guided me on school selection, the GMAT, and a whole range of other subjects. What a guy, what a process, and what amazing results. I ended up with offers at four schools, each one offering something compelling and each one “better” than any other school on at least one metric that mattered to me (location-personal, location-professional, culture, placement). Deciding among them was extremely tough, and here again Yaron came through with sage counsel and a highly sincere, unwavering commitment to my best interests. My ultimate destination? The incredible Chicago Booth—that January 3 deadline school I decided to apply to on Christmas Eve, the one Yaron refined my essay for on New Years Day. Oh, and fully funded. Thank you, Yaron.

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