Hourly Services Reviews

My consultant was Heidi Garner. She guided me through the process of choosing business schools. I aimed to apply to 20 top schools in a short period. After extensive discussions, we carefully selected six fitting options and prepared the necessary materials. Heidi was accurate and concise in helping me highlight key differentiators in both my essays and resume. Although crafting the first draft took time, it was worth it. My second Kellogg essay was so impactful that made myself cry!
It was a very hard job for me and Heidi to create a unique and impactful story since I used GMAT waivers. Thus, the story should have been very perfect to be shortlisted for an interview and we successfully made it!
I prepared my applications for Kellogg, Sloan, Darden, Ross, Johnson, and Questrom, securing interviews for 4/6. Heidi remained humble and approachable throughout the whole process, patiently answering all my questions. After receiving the interviews, she generously provided a free one-hour mock interview and gave me detailed feedback on how to answer the questions, prepare the logistics, and dress. All helped me secure a seat in my dream school!
In the end, I got admissions to Kellogg, Ross, and Questrom—and a waitlist for Johnson. Truly the best moment of my academic journey!
I truly enjoyed my experience working with mbaMission and Heidi and recommend their service.

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Nisha has been an absolute pleasure to work with throughout my grad school application journey. Her expertise and guidance were invaluable as she helped me brainstorm and refine meaningful stories for my essays. She made sure that I effectively highlighted my impact and experiences. Her quick turnaround time with her feedback was impeccable, and she was very communicative about her time availability, ensuring I knew when to expect her feedback and response. Her expertise, dedication, and personalized approach truly made all the difference in my application process. I wholeheartedly recommend her to anyone seeking assistance with their applications. Thank you Nisha!

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Harold's expertise and support were indispensable from start to finish of my MBA journey. His practical guidance and consistent reassurance made the daunting application process manageable and ultimately successful. Despite my below-average GPA, Harold’s strategic insights led to my acceptance at Dartmouth Tuck and Chicago Booth, with significant scholarships, and admittance to another T10 school.
The process began with strategizing for the GMAT. Harold advised me on the best timing for the exam and identified a score range appropriate for my target schools. His high-level tips were crucial in achieving my desired score within three months. Simultaneously, Harold facilitated an extensive brainstorming process to unearth and polish stories and accomplishments that would resonate in my essays and interviews. His keen eye for detail and deep understanding of what top business schools look for in candidates enabled me to select the most compelling content for my applications.
As we tackled each school's application, Harold's meticulous feedback on my essays was particularly impactful. He helped refine my narratives to ensure clarity and purpose, aligning them closely with each school’s values and expectations. His ability to tailor content to specific schools was remarkable, allowing me to present myself authentically and persuasively.
During the application process, Harold also provided strategic advice on which schools to visit, and which events to attend. He provided me with special contacts at some of the schools that I could reach out to for the particular industry that I was interested in. This not only enhanced my applications but also broadened my understanding of the MBA landscape.
Interview preparations with Harold were thorough, covering frequently asked questions and refining my responses to reflect each school's unique characteristics. His support was crucial in building my confidence and enabling me to handle the toughest questions smoothly, without sounding rehearsed.
After receiving multiple admissions offers, Harold guided me through the scholarship negotiation process, helping me leverage offers effectively to maximize my financial aid. For the schools where I was waitlisted, Harold advised me on additional information to submit and how to communicate effectively with admissions committees, further strengthening my standing.
Harold's professionalism and expertise were matched by his personal dedication and optimism. Throughout this challenging journey, his positive attitude and personalized approach not only bolstered my applications but also kept me motivated and focused. His guidance was a major factor in my successful MBA admissions outcomes, and I am grateful for his involvement.
For anyone navigating the complexities of MBA applications, I wholeheartedly recommend Harold as a knowledgeable, strategic, and supportive teammate who will go above and beyond to ensure your success. His combination of professional acumen and personal commitment makes him an outstanding guide for any prospective MBA student.

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Susan was a great consultant. I did the 30min free session with her at the start which helped me understand how many and which universities I should target. After purchasing the hourly sessions, Susan shared a lot of valuable resources she had prepared to help with the essay writing process. She was very efficient with her time, and I got through the majority of essays I needed to with the hours I purchased. In addition, she had a quick response time, enabling me to meet all my deadlines. Her experience shows, and helped my craft a unique story to stand out. In addition, she provided great resources so I could prep for the interviews and was easily reachable by mail. In the end, I got accepted into my target school!

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I worked with Julie-Anne for the MBA program and was admitted to both Columbia and Wharton.

I come from a tech background and decided quite last minute (<1 month left) to apply to the MBA program. Given the tight schedule, I needed to work with someone who had prior experience getting clients into top schools, understood my needs and was able to provide quick feedback on areas of improvement.

Julie-Anne was very effective with her time with excellent reviews. Julie-Anne has worked on getting many students in different programs so she knew what are good areas to be highlighted in essays and characteristics of different schools. With essay reviews, she is really good at pushing you to think through what differentiates you and how you can highlight yourself.

Julie-Anne is also excellent at resume reviews. Throughout my career, I've had multiple people across work, friends and mentors take a look at my resume and Julie-Anne is exceptional at ensuring the key highlights across work, personal and education are communicated and making sure there are no wasted sections.

Overall, I had a phenomenal experience with Julie-Anne and would work with her again in a heartbeat. She is extremely dedicated to her clients, effective with her time and most importantly, provides catered reviews to highlight you as an accomplished individual amongst others in competitive school programs.

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mbaMission offers a variety of service package. I chose the hourly service which allowed me to use the time flexibly and wisely. I applied to Stanford MSx program and got admitted. I picked Debbie after I read others' review and her own video which largely aligns with what I want from a consultant: have experience with Stanford GSB admission and a Stanford GSB alumni is a bonus, easy to communicate, give specific comments (rather than high-level conceptual comments) which where very easy to take action on. Debbie also gave a lot useful tips and strategic comments which allowed me to be more focus on the most important things. She was also very professional and strictly followed the turnaround time. The entire process is very efficient and effective. I really enjoyed it. I highly recommend Debbie to anyone who wants someone to understand you and help you build your story and make it a compelling application.

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I started my process at mbaMission with a 30-minute free consultation with the next available consultant, and was intrigued enough that I decided I would definitely be using the service to guide me through my MBA applications.

Once I got the score I wanted on the GMAT (710), I read through all the consultant bios and quickly knew Kim would be the right person for me. I ultimately chose her because I was a D1 college athlete (so was Kim!) and my professional background is in advertising/marketing, which is where Kim spent most of her career prior to doing MBA admissions and consulting work. I decided to do the hourly services rather than the school package when working with Kim, which turned out to be perfect for my needs.

Kim is extremely empathetic, kind, and positive. Her warm personality made the stress and tediousness of MBA applications and interview prep easier to handle. When working with Kim, I almost felt like I was working with a mentor trying to help me succeed, rather than someone I had hired. I decided to apply to 1 reach school (HBS), 3 target schools (Ross, Fuqua, and Darden) and 2 safeties (Kenan-Flagler and McDonough). I had pretty much decided on these by the time I started working with Kim, but I wish I had asked for her input on other schools to apply to or widening my net beyond 6 schools. She was honest with me about what would be a stretch vs doable vs very doable, which I appreciated!

Kim mainly helped me with brainstorming/editing my essays, certain short-answer application questions, recommender prep, interview guidance, and negotiating for additional scholarship money once I got admitted. She is an excellent editor and I felt she made a big impact for me on that part of the process. We would sometimes go over teh edits in Zoom calls (per my request) or just via email/track changes on Microsoft Word. mbaMission provides lots of resources throughout the process that Kim made sure to provide me with - such as interview guides specific to each school - but Kim also went above and beyond by sharing her own school-specifc interview guides based on feedback she had gotten from her own clients over the years. These made the interview process 10x more manageable.

I ended up getting rejected from HBS without an interview, and I think that was mainly due to factors outside of Kim’s advice or control, such my lack of work experience and my recommender choice (due to particular circumstances I wasn’t able to get a current or former manager to do my recommendation). I got interviews, offers of admission and scholarships from all 5 other schools. The lowest amount of scholarship I got was 50% of tuition, and I even got a full-ride scholarship to one of the schools I applied to. I attribute a lot of this success to Kim’s help. Kim also helped me negotiate even more scholarship money at one of my target schools, which I ultimately chose.

Overall, Kim was a fantastic partner, and I would choose her again if I was going through the process all over again. I genuinely hope I stay in touch with her professionally!

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I had the privilege of working with Nisha on two applications, and was admitted to both programs with funding support. Initially, I thought I had a fairly good sense of the programs I was interested in and what I wanted out of them. My plan was to review the available guides and apply on my own. Given the high cost of MBA programs (both financial and commitment!), I decided working with a consultant would be a small investment to ensure I was targeting the best fit programs and putting forth my best application. I am so glad I did and found Nisha! She was very approachable, responsive, and offered great questions and feedback throughout the whole process. She was also a wonderful thought partner on several key decisions - offering considerations that I had not thought of so I could be sure I was making the best possible decision in short turnaround times. Besides the applications, I am confident the insights, self-discoveries, and articulation skills I gained from working with Nisha will help me in school and beyond as well! I will wholeheartedly work with Nisha again if I had the chance.

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As a non-traditional applicant, applying to business school was a bit intimidating. When I first met with Harshad, I could tell right away that I wanted to work with him. He is skilled at and passionate about crafting a story that is not only compelling to admissions committees but also speaks to your unique strengths. On top of that, he is very quick to respond to emails and often provides detailed and thoughtful feedback on the same day. With his guidance, I went from being lost and confused to getting into fantastic schools!

If you are applying to business school, do yourself a favor: work with Harshad!

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Thanks to Kim, I was truly able to put my best foot forward in the MBA admissions process. With all the unknowns and mixed information out there about the application process and MBA programs in general, it was so helpful to have a seasoned expert to go to for questions on everything from GMAT vs. GRE scores to school culture and essays. Kim is thoughtful, highly organized, supportive, and encouraging. I even shot Kim a few mid-existential-crisis emails during the process, to which she quickly responded with reassuring guidance. She felt like a real teammate in this process!

While I consider myself a strong communicator, responding to broad application prompts with tight word limits presented a real challenge. Kim helped me to bring out the strongest examples in each of my essays, and tailor my experience and aspirations towards the elements of each program that interested me, producing genuine and enticing applications for each school. As a result of Kim's support, I was accepted to all the top programs I applied to, receiving scholarships at 3 of 4.

If you are hesitant to engage a consultant given the price tag, I highly recommend signing up for a free 30-min consultation, just as I did. During those 30 minutes, I could tell Kim truly wanted to give me the most value, speeding through my many questions, and even following up with a thorough email of recommendations and guidance. I felt no pressure to move forward, and did so only because I was shown how much value she would add to my admissions process - I was 100% correct!! I am incredibly grateful to have had Kim's support during my MBA admissions process, and cannot recommend her more!

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