Hourly Services Reviews

My experience with Katy from mbaMission was really wonderful!! Be prepared to spend money (mbaMission is great - but expensive!), but overall it was definitely worth the investment.

I originally decided to take the GMAT as kind of an afterthought to keep my options open since I was feeling pretty dissatisfied with my job. After taking the GMAT, I went to sit in on some classes at Bay Area schools and was sold on applying.

Immediately I contacted Katy, who I had spoken to during my 30 minute free consultation. I was pretty upfront in that I wasn't sure exactly what my future goals were or how business school would play into those goals (key components for business school applications). I come from a non-MBB consulting background with a non-traditional focus, which I think could have worked against me during the application process. During our first brainstorming session, Katy identified patterns in my extracurriculars that I would never have seen, helped me define my goals in that light, and even suggested firms that focused on what I was passionate about! Katy was equal parts life coach and admissions consultant!

Katy offered great advice at every step along the way, from school selection to picking my recommenders. Katy thoroughly reviewed my essays and helped me to dramatically cut my word count (which was SO helpful for me). During mock interviews, Katy helped me to define my story in a few concise points. She helped me frame my behavioral answers in the same way, which allowed me to avoid rambling!

Overall, I don't think I would have done nearly as well without Katy's help. Now I am in the stressful position of deciding which school to attend - definitely a good problem to have!

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This is a review for using the hourly services at mbaMission. I worked entirely with Rachel, beginning in early June, until my acceptance into my first choice school in late September. We had a kick-off call to discuss which schools I was applying to and she gave me really helpful feedback on my list, and suggested a few that I hadn't really considered.

I mainly used the hourly services for help with my essays. Throughout the writing process, Rachel gave really specific, detailed edits and feedback - I hadn't written in years, and when I wrote my first drafts, a lot of important details/aspects of my story were missing. I felt like Rachel really knew me, and knew where I wanted to go with my MBA, and so her comments and revisions were completely in line with my overall story; with her help I was able to translate my story into 250 or 500-word nuggets without losing important elements. Throughout it all, Rachel was very, very supportive but never shied from pushing me to deliver the best possible versions of my story to the Admissions Committees. She was incredibly responsive and was always willing to schedule a call if I felt like I had more questions. In the end, I was accepted into CBS early decision, and I give Rachel's guidance and coaching a lot of credit with helping me get there.

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I chose to go with the hourly services so that I could spread the consulting time out over a number of different schools. I had very little traditional business experience so I really needed someone to help me frame my story and experience in a way that would speak to the admissions committee. Today I'm happy to report that I got into my TOP school, and I really could not have done it without Melissa.

From day one she was very professional. She never wasted any of my time on our phone calls and was completely transparent about the amount of time spent on assignments and emails. Not only did I appreciate this level of transparency, it helped keep the costs down by allowing me to only buy as much time as necessary. I used every minute that I paid for.

Melissa initially helped me with school selection, which wasn't easy because I was aiming for Columbia with a GMAT of 640. But when I decided to forge ahead anyway, she was nothing but supportive.

We then spent a considerable amount of time on my resume. Like other people have stated, they do not write the documents for you. But that wouldn't be authentic anyway. Melissa's guidance on my bullet points, style, and structure transformed my resume.

When we worked on the essays every draft I got back from her had lots of helpful edits. Additionally, Melissa was particularly good at turnaround - I got most of my documents back in 36 hours or less, and everything definitely before 48. Again, the level of professionalism here was top notch.

After a lot of back and forth I ended up with a very strong application. I feel that mbaMission helped me communicate my story in the most relevant and convincing way possible. I would have ended up with a totally different set of documents had it not been for their guidance. When the time came, I felt very confident hitting "submit".

Then when I got an interview request, Melissa made time for me even though it was last minute. We spent an hour on the phone to prepare and the next day I interviewed extremely well.

Overall, I felt that Melissa was genuinely interested in my progress. It was especially great to get encouraging emails when I was struggling with the GMAT! I would definitely recommend hiring mbaMission. Even if you are someone who has been through graduate school admissions before, MBA admissions is a totally different game. You need someone who "gets it" to look over your documents and steer you in the right direction.

Finally, yes they are very expensive. But so is business school. A little investment upfront might make all the difference in how your tuition dollars are spent. It most definitely did for me.

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I used John during the essay & short answer portion of my application process. He was very diligent and thorough with his feedback and insights on building the best narrative that would draw the attention of the AdComm. John would not only edit my essays but also offer ideas on the structure of my story to make it efficient and effective. He was very timely in his responses as we worked through 3-4 versions of each essay. From the first draft to the final submission, I saw an incredible improvement in my story that I honestly would not have achieved otherwise. Highly recommended and worth the investment.


responding within 48 hours

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First off, mbaMission allows you to read up on bio's of the many consultants they have on their team. This is great because it allows you to choose someone who may have similar experiences to your own and makes it easier to connect with one another. That's why I chose to go with mbaMission and it worked out perfectly.

My experience with Helen Summers met all my expectations and in fact exceeded them (more on that below).

I used an hourly service and went in with a particular goal. I had my application to HBS fairly complete. I wanted Helen to essentially review my full application as if she were an admissions counselor at HBS. Based on the premise of not having any other information other than what I have provided in my application - what would her take be? Understanding that we'd be missing the recommendations component, how could I improve the overall application and chances to get to the next interview stage?

Helen provided amazing feedback on my application which helped guide me towards my final submission. Where she exceeded my expectations was that I originally asked to receive this feedback while anticipating that all my paid for hours would be used up with that round of feedback. However, Helen provided feedback on my HBS application and still left more time which allowed me to get her take on another school's application! She doesn't waste any of your precious time paid for!

In the end, I got into HBS - the school of my dreams!

Thanks Helen. And best of luck to future B school prospects!

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Hello all -
I highly recommend using mbaMission and specifically I worked with Adam Grossman as my consultant. I was applying to Duke CCMBA program - Class of 2016 start date 07/15. I read reviews on GMAT club just like everyone else. It was probably one of the best decisions I could have made for myself. I contacted several consulting services but i didnt get an honest feedback. I am someone whose GMAT score was lower than an ideal candidate, but i had a good gpa for my undergraduate studies and professional experience that showed progress. Adam really helped to identified my gaps and strength. I only had a little over a month to work with him. He was really quick at getting back in terms of revisions, answering all of my concerns all the way through the process. It was a pleasure working with him. He helped me edit my resume, brainstorming and revising two essays and interview prep. I got in!!!!

Those that know which schools they would like to go - hourly services works. You dont need a full package. It worked for me. Also, I didnt have enough time to spend time going through the full package as I was also studying for my GMAT.

Five stars :)

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I was applying for schools while living abroad, so the hourly service was the best way for me to receive the support I needed while halfway across the world. John really helped me shape my story from the beginning, making it more logical and concise. He also challenged me in areas of my application that needed to be challenged. Moreover, I am happy that I elected to do the hourly services, because once I had the initial direction I was able to apply to my remaining schools on my own (I was admitted to both schools). My only qualm would be that it was sometimes hard to rectify stylistic differences via email, which due to our geographical limitations was my only means of communication. Overall, John was a great help and I would recommend him and mbaMission to other prospective MBA students.

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I was admitted to the part time programs at Booth and Kellogg. My GMAT was 80 percentile, so I knew that the qualitative components of the application would need to be top notch.

I did a FREE 30 minute consultation with Angela Guido. I specifically chose her because she is a Booth alum and is very familiar with the Chicago MBA landscape. She also had great reviews and a reputation for story telling. After going through the application process, I now believe that story telling is the #1 most important aspect of a successful MBA application. A quality story and personal brand can absolutely compensate for weaknesses in other areas of your application...and this is something that you have 100% control over.

General Experience:

I was surprised by the amount of ground we covered in 30 minutes and the high quality feedback that Angela provided in such a short time. I had three pages of useful notes by the end of the call. This wasn't a session to upsell me on services, this was quality conversation for 30 minutes straight and I felt that Angela genuinely wanted to help me.

Angela knows her stuff and was immediately able to identify areas of concern in my overall application package. She was super easy to talk to and made me feel comfortable despite the fact that I was exposing myself for constructive feedback.

I feel like I was set on the right path and was given useful feedback to use immediately. I'm confident that she could add extensive high quality feedback through a regular consultation package after seeing what she can do in 30 minutes.

Immediate Value Gained:

The most valuable feedback I got was on my resume. Moving from showing responsibilities to showing impacts and how to do this. This was sort of a wake up call for me overall and translated into viewing the components of my overall application in a completely different way.

Angela also gave me a lot of feedback on areas of my experience to highlight that would resonate with the adcoms of both schools.

I felt like it was a great use of 30 minutes because I was able to takeaway very specific pieces of feedback and was able to apply general feedback to the overall application.

I would recommend Angela to anyone going through the MBA application process.

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I chose to have an advisor as I began to start my application essays for Stern Langone NYU part time MBA. My friend had used Adam so I chose him based on her positive experience. I ended up choosing well as Adam himself had attended Stern full time and had really thrived there.
He was approachable, efficient and very helpful in the application process. He turned around documents in a couple days time and really had good feedback on most of my essays. If you are looking to applying to one vs. several schools he also had clear feedback and I could tell that after seeing multiple candidates and working with many students, I could trust his advice. I ended up getting admitted to Langone (not even asked for an interview, just straight acceptance), and I do not think I could have done it without him. Great coaching while still willing to listen and always available for phone or email chat.

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Honestly, I would have never been able to craft my most compelling story with the same conviction without Susan Kaplan's guidance. She was incredibly pleasant and had a knack for pushing all the right buttons to bring out the very best in me. In hindsight, I should have just purchased the entire package deal because I trusted her and sought her input every step of the way in the application process.

With Susan as my coach, my work became more efficient and targeted! And, when I strayed, she was not afraid to bring me back on point. I was so confident with the strength of my final application,and subsequent interview, that I decided to apply only to my top school and wait for a decision. I was accepted – Ivy League Executive MBA!

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