Hourly Consulting Reviews

Working with Alex was a crucial factor in my acceptances to CBS and UCLA Anderson. The application process is overwhelming and arduous, and I legitimately don’t think I would have been accepted into my two dream programs without his ongoing advice and guidance. Several years ago, I worked with a different consultant (and didn’t get into my target school). The difference in working with Alex was like night and day - he’s whip smart and he just gets it.

Alex is extremely incisive. During our first conversation, he took in every aspect of my candidate profile to assess my strengths and weaknesses, and was very candid about where he believed I could get in (spoiler: he ended up being correct). He quickly helped me craft application narratives that were strategic yet still authentic to me. My biggest weaknesses in my application were a low undergraduate GPA and a lack of quant experience - Alex helped me show quant thinking throughout my applications and helped me create a narrative that played to my strengths. It’s clear that from working with dozens upon dozens of students, he’s built a real expertise in the space. Guidance comes to him quickly and instinctually.

I primarily utilized Alex’s help for my essays. His feedback was critical and his judgment on what to add/where to zero in was always on point. I can be a wordy writer and he helped me immensely with cutting down on fluff and being as articulate as possible. He was consistently quick on the turnaround to give me notes, and I honestly couldn’t have asked for a better experience.

Initially, the cost of hiring a consultant made me super nervous, but in hindsight, working with Alex was a no-brainer. If you’re going to hire someone, just hire Alex - you won’t regret it.

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I had worked with Alex for my MBA admissions process and decided to re-engage him a year later for my school's scholarship applications process. Alex remembered pretty much everything about me. One of his superpowers is being able to get at what the selection committee might really be looking for from a question. He’s incredibly detail oriented and helped me come up with answers to questions (with stories from my past) that I myself might not have come up with. Alex specifically brought out vulnerable elements that were extremely personal, to shape powerful stories that made a significant difference. I was fortunate to get a full tuition scholarship. He brings deep insights, asks probing questions about you and forms hypotheses that guide you in the right direction. He has great empathy and spends the time to understand your context and background. You will be doing yourself a big favour by engaging Alex.

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I did a lot of research on the MBA admissions consultants, and talked with more than 10 people. Alex is definitely the most patient consultants during the initial consultation. He even had another consultation with me, since I had follow-up questions about his services and my applications. He made very sincere suggestions based on my profile and didn’t sugar coating anything. I didn’t end up with having comprehensive packages with him, because I didn’t have a very competitive score, and he was quite frank with me about that. Later on, when I had higher score, and I did hourly service with him.

I really enjoyed working with Alex. There are three things I was most impressed with: he really wants the best of his client, his flexibility, and his patience.

First, he really wants the best of his clients and was very creative. For both my essays and interviews, there are several times when I found myself pretty satisfied already, but his feedbacks really made me think harder and get the essays and my interview answers to a better level. He did not only provide comments, but also talked to me and helped me come up with the stories and the answers. For example, he really helped me figure out the entire story of my career plans. He was always able to come up with a different angle at presenting my experiences, and he was very creative on getting the essays to the word limits.

Second, Alex is very flexible and always tried his best to accommodate my schedule. There is countless time he worked at nighttime and over the weekend for me. There are two stories I was impressed the most. Once, I got an urgent question, I texted him pretty late at night, and he responded back to me right away with a very thorough answer. Another time, it was right before a school application deadline, he tested COVID positive, but he still reviewed the essays for me so that I can submit my application on time.

Lastly, he is very very very patient. I got panicked and had a million of question along the application process. Every single time, he answered my questions very patiently. One example, English was my second language, and I was so concerned about grammatical mistakes on my essays and resumes. He noticed that, and he was always very patiently double checking those stuff for me and making sure everything is correct.

I strongly recommend Alex Leventhal for MBA application advisory. I wish I had him for his comprehensive packages at the beginning. All my interactions was with him directly, and I can clearly tell that he personally did all the work himself. Because of his effort, my applications were brought to a whole new level, and I am so grateful for his kindness, patience, flexibility and creativity.

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Alex was beyond helpful throughout my application process. In addition to being an indispensable advisor in helping me craft my narrative articulately and succinctly, Alex spent extra time working with me to review every scholarship essay. My only regret was not reaching out to Alex sooner in my application process.

When I applied to undergraduate schools years ago, I did not have the privilege or funds to hire an external consultant. But coming from a well-represented demographic, and even with GRE scores well above all published median acceptances, I knew that gaining admission to a commensurate MBA program would be an uphill battle.

After spending significant time with Alex Leventhal and Prep MBA, I can sincerely appreciate how fortunate I was to work with one of the top consultants in the industry. Without Alex’s support, I probably wouldn’t have gotten into any of the schools I applied to. I highly recommend working with Alex to anyone applying to MBA programs. Alex’s parents seemed to have presciently given him the initials “AL” …because in this industry, he’s an Absolute Legend.

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I was searching for an admissions consultant who could very well understand my education and academic career in Life Sciences and help me cohesively tie it to my long-term goal of working as a biopharma strategy consultant post-MBA. After talking to a few admissions consulting firms, Alex Leventhal’s approach and service stood out to me. Using his previous experience in healthcare, he was able to help me extract the key points in my professional and personal journey that I could highlight in my essays. Moreover, after a thorough evaluation of my profile, he guided me to select schools with a realistic mindset. This approach in shortlisting schools is unlike other top admissions consulting firms which do not spend enough time to identify the programs where a candidate would have a better shot of getting in. Coming from a non-traditional background and being older than the average student admitted to a full-time MBA program, Alex told me to work harder to improve my score and seek some leadership opportunities that would improve my candidacy for the selected schools.

Working with Alex was worth the investment. Each of his advice to me was very personalized and at times he would go over the designated time for our call or an application section if it was needed to get a better outcome. In fact, there were a couple of applications where we were pressed for time, but he was able to accommodate his schedule to help me. He is genuine, approachable, and quite funny. He also walks you through the entire application process very methodically.

I would recommend working with him without hesitation.

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Alex was extremely helpful in focusing me on the areas which I needed to spend the most time in the admissions process. After completing my GMAT exam, he worked with me to create my career purpose and story, which helped guided everything else in the process. He was thoughtful and honest in delivering feedback on my resume, essays, and interview prep. Not only was his process efficient, but also allowed me to submit my application early in the cycle and ultimately gain admission to my top choice program. Would recommend using Alex to get into your top choice school in an efficient and professional manner.

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I was completely satisfied with the service Alex provided during my MBA admissions process. Alex had several helpful tips and brought up ideas that I would have never found otherwise. At first I was not sure if I should bother with an admissions consultant, but I believe that without his assistance I would not have gotten in to the schools I wanted. Alex also gave a personal touch I highly appreciated, and took the time to get to know me to give personalized advice and service. Alex regularly checked in with me to see how things were going, even though I was only an hourly client. Great guy and highly recommend.

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I came to Alex with a pretty unique situation. During a prior application cycle, I had applied and gotten accepted to my target school. Ultimately, I declined the admission’s offer to take a flier on a startup. Fast forward 18-months and my situation had changed, I was now ready to get my MBA. Further, given my industry and geographic preferences, the same target school was an obvious first choice (and this school ended up being the only application I submitted).

I reached out to Alex approximately 2-weeks prior to the application due date—which was obviously a very short turnaround. Although some consultants might up-charge this type of time crunch, Alex rose to the challenge without blinking an eye. He quickly read through my prior (successful application) and quickly dissected a plan of attack for my new, re-application. He brought a ton of experience and advice to strengthen my application. In particular, Alex helped with my essay’s strategy, while working within the context of my prior application to clearly articulate how my situation was different this time around.

He also demonstrated in-depth knowledge about my target school’s “self-identity” versus their peers—which was critical to my application articulating a very strong “why ABC school is the only option for me.” Given I had rejected my target’s prior acceptance 2-years earlier, I think this was critical to getting readmitted. School’s care a ton about yield and Alex was quick to focus in on this as a key for me. Alex really got to know me and my unique situation. Alex doesn’t take a cookie-cutter approach to his work. Instead, all his advice felt custom to my application which added a ton of value.

I think Alex’s help was critical to my application’s success—especially given my unique situation as a re-applicant. Whether you’re a first-time applicant or have a unique situation like I did, Alex brings a dynamic and experienced approach to get the job done.

Please note: For this review, I chose to not name the school I was accepted at given my application’s uniqueness as a formerly accepted re-applicant. Think US News #8-12 range in terms of ranking. That said, I have no doubt Alex can assist across any range of schools and application situations.

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I would definitely recommend Alex's services to anyone applying to business school. His help in crafting my essays and preparing for my interview was critical in helping me get into HBS.

When I first connected with him over the summer as a Round 1 applicant, I could immediately tell that he really valued genuinely getting to know his clients. We ended up chatting for 40 minutes about my story. His feedback about the strengths and weaknesses of my application in that first conversation were super insightful and got me thinking critically about my own story and rationale for applying to business school. I ended up working with Alex on an hourly basis on my essays for my R1 applications and then did interview prep with him for my HBS interview.

In terms of essay prep, Alex helped me identify areas where I could stand out from the crowd and he helped me add significant depth to my application. I felt that he was able to do this because he had taken the time to get to know me. Alex's feedback is honest and he brings humor into an otherwise stressful process, which I really appreciated. Once I had gotten my interview to HBS, I did mock interview prep with Alex which was fantastic! We spent over an hour running through questions as Alex provided live feedback and ways for me to improve my answers. We strategized on answers to the common and uncommon questions that may surface during an interview. Ultimately, when I interviewed, I wasn't stressed and that was thanks to prepping with Alex.

If you're considering working with an admissions consultant for business school applications, look no further. I highly recommend you work with Alex!

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When I first decided that I wanted to get my MBA, I knew I wanted to go to NYU. Initially, I wasn’t sure about using an admissions consultant. However, a former boss suggested that I reach out to Alex, so I decided to give it a shot. We set up an intro call and in only 20 minutes it was clear to me that he would make a huge difference. Rather than push a sales pitch, we spent most of the call going over my credentials (GMAT score, GPA, work experience, etc.) and discussing my chances at gaining acceptance to NYU. He was quite honest about everything, which is exactly what I needed. My undergraduate GPA was below average, and I wasn’t exactly sure what direction I wanted to take my career; however, he explained that with the right approach - I had a chance.

Over the next few weeks we discussed my career and he helped me craft a cohesive story within my application. He was able to help connect all of my previous experiences and clearly explain the importance of an MBA to achieving my goals. I’m convinced that this story is what got me in to NYU, and I never would have been able to do it without Alex’s help.

Throughout the whole process he worked with me directly and was always easy to contact, whether it was to answer a quick question or review an entire essay. He’s funny, easy to talk to, and clearly very smart. He knows exactly what he’s doing when it comes to understanding the business school application process. I would strongly recommend Alex to anyone.

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