Alex Leventhal Reviews

I contacted Alex after working with another admission consultant and receiving my first ding in R1. I was disheartened and was looking at someone to provide a fresh perspective on my profile. I called a number of admissions consultants, however was reluctant to accept any. That changed with Alex. Soon after our call I knew that he can help me and said Yes! He does not have a group of consultants working under him, but works individually with each client. I could tell that he was passionate about his service and honest in his assessment. I handed over a very difficult task to him – to help an Indian IT engineer, arguably the most over-represented applicant pool, with silver work experience (not golden) land a ticket in one of the top-MBAs in R2 admissions.

As I had limited time, I took hourly packages with Alex. However, he ended up becoming my mentor helping me in every stage of application process – school selection, profile assessment, essay ideas and edits, resume review, wait-list help, and most importantly interview prep.
His essay brainstorming and editing style is unique. End results of my essays, unlike my previous essays, were true, candid and confident reflection. They were well structured and much more engaging than my previous essays. His turnaround time surprised me! He was super flexible within my strict time-frames, and sometimes returned the edits on the same day. However, one area where I think I benefited the most was interview prep. He changed my presentation style from sounding like a robot to presenting like a confident and genuine professional. I could see a huge difference between my first R1 interview and my following two R2 interviews. I’m sure his interview advice is going help me throughout my career. I applied to 3 schools with him and got into 2, including one of my top choices – Michigan Ross.

I would highly recommend Alex Leventhal . No wonder he has been featured in Poets&Quants as one of the top-10 MBA consultants. While his Harvard MBA is definitely a good enough credential, his philosophy undergrad, I think, also helps him connect with his clients on a deeper level. He is an amazing advisor with whom I look forward to staying in touch.

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I remember in October 2016, I approached numerous consulting companies. I had initial sessions with many of them. After several conversations, I noticed that the majority of these companies does not assign those with highest scores on forums to you. Indeed, they use lower level people and they claim that the higher consultants oversee the progress. However, I wanted to directly work with an experienced person. One who owns the business not a middle man consultant who does this job on side. That’s why I chose Alex. It took me three weeks to reach this conclusion, and I think if you listen to my advice you can save your precious time.
I did two school package with, and I hourly based consultation. My background is relatively complicated. First of all, I’m an international applicant with just 40 months of full time work experience. And before starting my MBA, I was pursuing my master in science as well as working part time. I bet you may think, schools shouldn’t admit me. And to be honest, I was thinking the same.
In the first step, Alex sent me a workbook and I was supposed to answer them. The questions helped me to delve deep in myself. I came up with several events and achievement that shaped my life. This workbook helped us through the next steps.
We started with Berkeley. As you know those self-reflection essays are super hard. We tried 12 times to reach the final idea and framing. But for the second one it decreased to 3 essays. As an international student, Alex helped me a lot to come up with appropriate and inspiriting sentences and well structured essays. For the general essay “Why school X? Why MBA? Why now?”, the strategy that he developed was really helpful. It helped me to connect my ideas and experience with school’s values, and come up with several solid reasoning. Therefore, admission committee could trust on me.
I really feel shy to show my first draft of resume to anyone. It was a total disaster. I believe we went over that more than 15 times. The final version was a one page resume with precise wording and appropriate formatting. Don’t risk on your resume.
Last but not least, for interview we had three sessions. He taught me to be more likeable, something that really matter for BS. We developed numerous stories with solid answers that made me confident in front of interviewer.
I got admission form my top three choices Haas, Anderson, and Tepper. As an international applicant, I strongly suggest you choose Alex. He really cared about me. He is prominent in storytelling and writing skills. He knows what schools are looking for in their essay, what they want to hear. It’s a reasonable investment, as you will probably get into one of the top schools.

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I had a great experience working with Alex. From our very first call while I was still deciding which admissions consultant would be the best fit, I felt at ease with Alex due to his honesty and openness about the process. Because I was a college senior, applying to only deferred admissions MBA programs, I chose to go with 1 full-school package, and then hourly services for additional applications.

Upon beginning the first application, Alex provided clarity to an overwhelmingly open-ended process by helping me narrow down my story. He was extremely supportive in helping me explore multiple potential “career visions” until I could find one that was unique, realistic, and exciting for me. I firmly believe that I couldn’t have fully progressed through this initial planning without Alex’s help and honesty.

The other reason that working with Alex was invaluable for me was for his help with my essays. Again, he provided honest feedback, taking the time to help me understand why certain themes in my early drafts sounded forced rather than genuine. He didn’t simply type up some comments and leave me to interpret them – he offered to chat on the phone and make it a live discussion. Ultimately, with his support and reaffirmation that I had picked a unique idea, I decided to write an essay about a highly unconventional topic. I can truly say that I would never have submitted an essay on this topic otherwise.

When I received an interview from the Stanford GSB, Alex continued to provide good advice on how to avoid over-preparing and sounding too scripted. A month later, I finally received the positive news: I will be off to the GSB in two years! I know that the unique essay topic made me stand out – the dean of admissions even wrote a comment referencing the essay in the acceptance letter!

Reflecting back on the process, I would have told myself not to hesitate in working with Alex (I had been debating whether it would be a worthwhile investment or not). Knowing what I do now about b-school applications, I can’t picture help any better than I received from him. Another tip – during the “busy” times (before R1 and R2 deadlines), he firmly sticks to 48-hour turnover times on essays (very reasonable), so you can typically plan ahead based on this.

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As I began to consider pursuing my MBA, I was overwhelmed by the daunting application process, and felt alone, not knowing many people who had been through it before. Alex was recommended to me by a close friend whose sister had used his program and got into her dream school, HBS. The way my friend spoke of him made me feel like if I really wanted to be competitive and put my best foot forward with my applications, Alex was the guy to work with. This became evident from our first conversation together. Alex walked me through the steps we would take together to thoroughly establish my story and MBA goals before even opening an application. He took the time to get to know me personally and answer all of my questions thoughtfully. It was clear that Alex had many years of experience that translated into impactful coaching tools to help me be successful.



While I was certain that Business School was the next step for me, I initially had trouble verbalizing what I wanted to get out of an MBA and narrowing down concrete goals for my post MBA career. Without feeding me answers, Alex gave me frameworks to think through my strengths, and work them into a unique plan for myself that would stand out as a thoughtful career path in my applications. With Alex’s help, before even starting my applications, I felt equipped to take them on and confident that I would be a competitive applicant. As I worked my way through a 3 school package with him, Alex challenged my thought process and never settled for a product that didn’t completely exhaust all opportunities to make me stand out as a candidate. He helped me completely re-work my resume and write thoughtful essays. He praised my work when appropriate that gave me confidence, but mostly provided constructive feedback that I would have never thought of if I had gone about the process alone. I called Alex on many occasions to discuss changes to my essays (big or small), and felt that I had him as a constant support system.

All in all, I got into 3 of the 5 schools I applied to: Kellogg, Tuck and Fuqua (+$100K scholarship), and I know that Alex’s guidance was an integral part of my success. His level of expertise, natural skill for coaching and genuine personality made for a truly wonderful experience with PrepMBA. I would recommend Alex for anyone who might be weary entering into the application process and is seeking a real competitive edge.

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Working with Alex on my MBA applications was a fantastic experience. He was recommended to me by someone at my firm who had gotten into all three schools she applied to the year before. Beginning with the first conversation I ever had with Alex, I could tell that he is a straight-shooter and someone I can trust. From the start, he explained to me my strengths and weaknesses and the need for me to stand out given my well-represented background and profession. Over his long track record of helping MBA applicants getting into top business schools, Alex has developed a tried-and-true system that was easy to follow but also required me to continuously challenge myself. Alex works by himself, so I was always getting first-hand opinions and advice from him, as opposed to a team of junior assistants. Alex worked directly with me to craft my essay and short responses over many iterations. The first draft of my essay looks nothing like the final version I submitted. Working with Alex, we added life and color into my essay, including a much more memorable introduction and ending.

I did the two school package and was accepted into my first choice HBS. Throughout the application process, I was in constant contact with Alex, going over the progress I’ve made and discussing the next steps. We would schedule 30-60 minute calls, often once a week or more when needed, to connect live on the specific topics we were working on. Not only could I count on Alex for his professionalism and his personal touch, he was also extremely helpful as a sounding board for creative ideas going into the applications. I would absolutely recommend Alex to anyone else who is thinking about applying to top business schools. In fact, I have already recommended him to my co-workers.

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Coming from an overrepresented applicant population (banking->private equity male), I was recommended to shop around for an admissions consultant who fit well with my needs and character to help develop my story. After my first call with Alex, I was impressed by his honest appraisal of his own services as a “boutique” admissions advisor. I appreciated the personalized, high-touch nature of his approach and so eagerly signed up.

During the questionnaire call, I was surprised by the amount of detail with which Alex reviewed my documentation, and found myself opening up to Alex through a very organic, natural conversation. Already, Alex was pulling out “themes” which would shape my application. The brainstorming process is frustrating and Alex will pull no punches – he will tell you when he thinks you are BSing him, the admissions committee, or yourself (all of which, won’t fly during the application process), and Alex will push you to really dig deeper to that next level. He challenged me to be a better writer, told me when he thought I could do better, and when he thought my essays were about ready to go. Coming from private equity with a somewhat mediocre score (a score that, in Alex’s words, “weren’t going to blow anyone away, but one we could go do battle with”), I had set my eyes on the top schools.

All in all, Alex reviewed four of my applications, of which I was accepted to three (HBS, Wharton/Lauder, Columbia). With Alex’s help, and through his process of challenging me to continuously reflect on my career and personal experiences, as well as what I wanted to get out of the MBA program, I put together applications, which no doubt, helped me gain admittance to these top programs. I am more than happy to serve as a reference for Alex

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I utilized Prep MBA for both a comprehensive school package and for an independent interview prep. Alex was phenomenal. He not only has a great personality for preparing you to apply to MBA programs but he also has a great process to back him up. I found that the entire application process was much more intense than I anticipated and Alex was great at helping me walk through a structured process. His process is incredibly helpful for introspection but also understands how to tailor that to the program that you're applying to. The way that I approached applying to school A was unique to school B and he was able to simply explain those nuances.

As far as the interview prep that I did with Alex, if you are applying to a program like Wharton where you are interviewing with a group, you'd be at a huge disservice if you don't use Alex. He setup a session for 5 of us to get onto google chat and conduct a mock interview. The session was a great way to have real prep for the interview and each of the 5 of us that did the prep session are now at Wharton!

I would highly recommend Alex to anyone considering appying to a top MBA program!

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I got to know Alex through a colleague who Alex helped get into a top 10 school with scholarship. After calling two other admissions consulting firms, I gave Alex an intro call and his articulate communication style and interest in helping me immediately stood out. In addition, I wanted a consultant who I can trust to manage the whole process and going with Alex guaranteed that, as compared to other admissions consulting firms who pair you up with consultants that you do not interact with before payment. I was so convinced that Alex was the right choice that I immediately signed up for a 5 school package with hourly work for an additional 2 schools.
Right from the start of working together, Alex was incredibly helpful. He was very detailed in finding out about my background, motivations, leadership style, extra-curricular activities etc. We then worked together to craft a career purpose that really fits well with my aspirations. This initial phase of the process (including totally revamping my resume into one that really stands out) took multiple correspondences between me and Alex, but Alex was extremely patient and did not stop giving me advice until we have perfected every detail in my career purpose and resume. Eventually, we managed to build a holistic personal story for myself that combined my background, regional developments and personal interest.
During our essay writing, Alex’s logical train of thought and creative use of language within the word limits really helped me to build character in my essays. This was also apparent in the multimedia submissions for some schools (such as PowerPoint or videos). Alex helped me to not only tailor my career purpose essay for each school, but he also helped me to really shine in the personal expression essays. In fact, the AdCom member of my first choice school that I got into specifically mentioned how much they loved my essay!
Most importantly, I want everyone to know that signing up for Alex’s services will be an incredible experience because of his personal touch. He will always make time for you and ensure that no matter how busy your schedule, he will help you to get your submissions over the line. He is super detailed in his advice throughout the process and really makes you feel like he is as much a part of the application as yourself.
With Alex’s help, I wound up getting admitted into my dream school, Columbia. I strong recommend going to Alex and will be recommending him to several of my colleagues who are considering doing an MBA. His mentorship throughout the process helped me to create a distinctive story that was convincing and unique. I remember that Alex advised me to have more chutzpah during my interview with Columbia as I lacked confidence at times when speaking to others. With Alex as your mentor, he will give your application the chutzpah to get into the school of your dreams.

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I initially was skeptical about using the services of an admissions consultant when beginning the application process for business school. I considered myself a good essay writer so I was questioning what value could really be added. After reviewing the testimonials on Alex’s site, and chatting with him for about 30 minutes, I was convinced he would be able to help me in the process and I am sure glad that I decided to work with him.

Alex was very honest with his feedback on what schools were realistic targets. After discussing some options, I settled on a five-school package. Although I had gotten started a bit later than I would have liked, Alex worked with me to get in four Round 1 applications, and one rolling admission application (still on the early side).

Alex really helped me to think outside the box in terms of my essays. He helped me take my story of why I was pursuing an MBA and helped me to express it in a clear, concise, and relatable manner. He also encouraged me to be creative with the essays that were in a non-traditional written essay format. With Alex’s help, I was admitted into three of the five schools to which I applied, including Chicago Booth, which I will be attending as part of the Class of 2018.

In addition to crafting my story, and assisting with the essays, Alex’s interview preparation was extremely helpful. Coming from a finance company, I was used to very stiff and formal interviews. Alex helped me to relax and focus on conveying my reasons for pursuing an MBA, and encouraged me to let some of my personality shine through in the interview. After spending time preparing with Alex, I felt much better about my interviews, and was admitted to each school at which I received an interview!

I had an exceptional experience working with Alex. He is sincere, reliable, and holds his clients to a high standard, which helps give them the best chances to get in to these very competitive programs. I highly recommend him!

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After contacting several top admissions consulting firms, I found that Alex handled our introduction differently than his competitors: he was far less concerned with selling me a package, and far more concerned with getting to know my goals and me. Additionally, he never limited our conversations to a designated amount of time, rather aimed to accomplish certain objectives with each correspondence. When you hire Prep MBA, you get Alex Leventhal, never a junior consultant. This combined with his no BS approach was what ultimately sold me on his service. He was always honest with me about my shortcomings as a candidate, and helped me strategize accordingly.

Hiring an admissions consultant was a tough decision for me, but working with Alex was absolutely worth it. He tailored his service to my needs and made himself available when I needed his help. I did a two-school package, and was ecstatic to get into my first choice, Harvard. My background before applying to MBA programs was very unconventional, and the time we spent strategizing about how to present my story had a massive impact on my final application. I can say with certainty that without Alex’s help my application would have missed the mark on many things, some as simple as essay word count and career goals.

I’ve recommended Prep MBA to several people already, and will continue to do so in the future. Alex has an amazing knack for pinpointing the crucial elements of a person’s story and helping them convey those points concisely. He’s a super sharp Harvard MBA with years of experience and a passion for the service he provides.

Working with Alex gave me confidence that I had done everything in my control to achieve the outcome I wanted.

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