Menlo Coaching Admissions Consulting Reviews

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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I had the pleasure of working with Yaron on Round 2 applications to Harvard, Wharton and Stanford. The process couldn’t have been a better experience. Yaron supported me in every aspect of the application, and was instrumental in helping me think through my strengths and weaknesses and how to highlight these in the application. If you are unsure about which admissions consultant to go with, I highly recommend you have an initial 30-minute consultation with Yaron. You will quickly learn that he is as experienced as it gets, fun to work with, supportive, and 150% committed to helping you achieve the best results.

Yaron helped me work through my applications within a stressful two-month timeframe. We started off with an initial chat about school choices. He was very helpful in this regard: he has a wealth of knowledge about the different programs and offered constructive arguments to help me decide where to apply.

This was followed by a conversation during which we discussed every aspect of my personal and career history, as well as my future objectives. With this information in hand, Yaron suggested a strategic outline for my applications: essentially a detailed document with his recommendation on how to pitch my best “story” in my essays. He helped me to dig deep and to introspect, identifying parts of my story that I had undervalued, and sharing observations about my profile and my character that I hadn’t thought of before, but made perfect sense nonetheless. He truly helped me learn about myself through the process; I sometimes even forgot that we were actually working on business school applications.

With Yaron's outline of my “business school story” in hand, we began work on my essays and applications. This is where the real heavy-lifting began during which Yaron brought immense value to the table. I submitted around 5 or 6 drafts for each essay to Yaron, until we reached the point when we both agreed that they were ready. When I sent him drafts, he was extremely responsive and usually turned it around within a day. The feedback I got from Yaron was consistently constructive, and, importantly, he kept me focused on my story and on telling it the right way (it can be tempting to get creative or go on tangent stories). Fitting the essay-writing around my work schedule turned out to be exhausting, and on many occasions I would have been happy to put down the pen, satisfied that my essay was good enough. However Yaron was relentless and pushed me very, very hard to improve the weaker aspects of my essays. His comments frequently challenged me to the point that I felt like I hit a wall and had total writer’s block. However, in these difficult moments, whenever I invested the time to really absorb his comments, it became obvious that the feedback was spot-on and that Yaron really is an expert at keeping a “macro-view” of my essays, whereas I frequently fell into the trap of getting too bogged down. Overall, Yaron’s relentlessness helped me achieve numerous breakthroughs in my essays which I would not have achieved without his excellent feedback.

Yaron was also instrumental in all the other parts of the application, including in deciding my recommenders, in reviewing and marking up my resume, and in drafting the various short-answer questions (which can end up taking a significant amount of time), and in preparing myself for the interview. In all of these areas he did added immense value.

With Yaron’s help I was able to secure admission from Wharton, as well as an interview with HBS, both of which were reach schools to begin with. For both schools Yaron was also available to discuss interview strategies and to do mock interviews.

All in all, I write this review with great pleasure as I owe Yaron huge thanks for his advice and support. Working with him will be the best investment of your MBA voyage.

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Alice and the team helped me got into my dream school – HBS! I got to know Alice initially through my friend who also got into HBS last year. I heard so many good things about Menlo and the team really exceeded my expectations. From crafting the personal story to preparing for interviews, Alice was super involved in every step of the process. For instance, she even helped me pick the perfect outfit for my HBS interview!!

In addition, I was working on a very tight timeline, and Alice not only provided detailed inputs/feedback in a timely manner but also constantly pushed me to deliver the best possible output. She is very candid and genuine. Instead of saying what you want to hear, she tells you what you need to hear. The team, in general, is very supportive. During the interview period, I did several prep sessions, not just with Alice but also with David and other consultants on the team. The mock sessions were tailored for each school, and a lot of the questions we practiced actually came up during the real interviews.

I really enjoyed working with Alice and the team, and I would highly recommend them to anyone who is considering getting an MBA, regardless of your background. Reach out to them early because the slots get filled so fast!!

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After working with Yaron Dahan from Menlo Coaching I was admitted to Stanford, Wharton, Columbia, and Sloan. I was initially waitlisted at Columbia, but was able to get off the waitlist in just a few weeks, with a scholarship, with coaching from Yaron. Yaron provided outstanding advice on my career goals that I believe set my application apart, and would often provide feedback in less than 12 hrs with both detailed and insightful comments. Yaron was fantastic with interview prep as well. The whole process of working with Yaron and Menlo Coaching was truly a pleasure start to finish. Rather than match you with an amateur coach who knows your industry, Menlo will give you a professional. If you’re investing in a coach, work with Yaron Dahan and the team at Menlo.

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I am so glad that I chose to work with Menlo and they helped me got into my dream school. My friend referred me to Menlo because of her wonderful experience working with Alice last year. I started working with Menlo about one month before the deadline. The time frame is really tight but working with Leslie has put away a lot of stress. She is super diligent, responsive and personable. She has answered all of my questions no matter how small it might be, usually within hours. She is also an alum of my dream school so she offers valuable insights based on her precious student time back then. I am very happy that we happen to be in the same time zone, so I feel like she is there with me 24/7. Leslie has guided me through this whole application every step of the way so there's no time or room for excess stress or panic. I am not always the most disciplined person so I really appreciate that Menlo's systematic approach to demystify this process. Leslie is the most caring, kind and responsible consultant that I can think of! I feel very fortunate to have met her!!!

Even though I worked mainly with Leslie, I also have everyone from Menlo on my team. Alice helped me narrow down my application school lists based on my profile. She always pitches in and offers some valuable advice. David has helped me with all the interview prep and is so much fun to work with! I love everyone at Menlo and feel very happy to be a part of this community.

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Yaron was the perfect consultant to support my applications and acceptances to all three of the M7 schools to which I applied. Coming from a legal background, I completely lacked the knowledge and support system that comes from knowing peers and coworkers who have attained MBAs. With Yaron’s personalized attention during the entire application journey, I was able to overcome the weaknesses in my candidacy and achieve amazing results.



Although my GRE test score (325) was evaluated at 50-60 points below the class average for the GMAT at most of the schools I applied to, thanks to Yaron’s guidance and continuous support throughout the whole process, I was able to gain admits at every school I applied to, include getting an admit at Wharton, and an offer for full tuition scholarship at another Top 15 program.



This result was only possible because Yaron knew exactly what the top programs seek in applicants and was an expert in helping me craft my story that showcased all of my best attributes. As I drafted my essays, he was an insightful and articulate critic, always available to hop on the phone and incredibly quick to return comments and answers to my questions. His honest and timely feedback was critical as I applied to many programs under tight deadlines. On top of this, Yaron's optimism helped me through many stressful moments during the application process.




If you're applying to the top business schools, I strongly recommend working with Yaron. Working with his expert guidance will give you the confidence you need to secure admission to the top MBA programs.

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I highly recommend everyone to consider a consultant especially if you are applying internationally (like I did). There are SO many ill-informed "facts" out there and what you should/should not do. Firstly, I just could NOT get anywhere near my target GMAT/GRE scores and ran out of time to even consider it further (do not recommend!). I was well aware that this was a huge risk submitting with a low 600 score, gave up hope many times, BUT throughout the whole process, David went above and beyond to ensure I was equipped to do my best in other parts of the application. With a low test score, it meant truly bringing out the best parts of my story in my essays and smashing those interviews (David does mock TBDs with real humans, other clients, and it was amazing). Everyone has a unique story (even when I did not think so and I bet you do too!) and David will help you bring this out. There are SO many more reasons I can write to recommend David further but I truly would not have been admitted into Wharton with a low 600 score if I did it alone and I would be very happy to use David/Menlo again but thankfully I don't need to!

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I highly recommend Rebecca Anderson at Menlo Coaching. Rebecca is extremely knowledgeable, strategic and meticulous. She had the expertise and experience to identify my unique value proposition and really took the time to help me craft my applications so that my personal and professional qualities shined through. In an environment where the top business schools have thousands of qualified applicants, standing out from pack is imperative. Rebecca expertly crafted my story in a way that helped the admissions committees see me as the unique individual that I am, and all that I had to offer! In addition, she pushed me to network with the admissions officers to give me an extra edge on top of other applicants. Most importantly, I could tell that Rebecca truly cared about my applications, going above and beyond to help me reach my goals. For instance, she reviewed my choices for recommenders and was able to confidently tell me why I should reach out to and go with others that I hadn't considered. This turned out to be the right approach due to my unique situation, and was something I wasn't able to identify myself. With Rebecca's help, I was able to get admitted to 3/3 of the MBA programs that I applied to, including my stretch school. Additionally, I received scholarship money, which is rare for part-time and executive programs. Once I received my offers, Rebecca continued to be involved, helping me with my communication strategy to negotiate decision dates and offers. I can't recommend her enough. You only get to go through an MBA program once, so make sure you're not short changing yourself by not working with someone like Rebecca.

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After graduating from college I had always had plans of attending a top business program. I decided to reach out early in my career to seek advice, so set up a few initial phone calls with admissions consultants. Although I wasn’t looking to sign up for any formal programs, I was so impressed with Alice and David during my initial phone call that I decided to hire them 3 years ahead of applying. Their initial thoughts about my background, story, and goals were extremely helpful and I was excited about working through their comments the next few years.
However, something unexpected happened soon after. I was fired from the company I was working at. It was a stressful experience, and I knew this would leave a blemish on my employment history that could potentially sink my MBA dreams. I felt comfortable opening up to David about this new development, and he jumped in to help me land on my feet in a new industry that I was very passionate about and that he had experience in. In addition to helping me fix my resume to highlight the transferable qualities and skills that would be attractive to my new employers, he also shared his perspective about the industry and where I should focus my efforts to achieve my long-term goals. David did not mince words, and was very honest and objective with his feedback. But I could tell he always had my long-term interest in mind and so I paid special attention to all his suggestions. After a few twists and turns I managed to secure my dream job, and finally felt like my career was back on track. This would not have been possible without David’s mentorship.
When I began applying to business school, you can guess who I turned to. However I knew it was a long shot. An admissions officer looking at my resume would wince at my incongruent path when compared against candidates with more pristine and understandable career progression. There was less associated risk. David helped me use the personal essay to explain who I was, the events that led up to the firing, and the subsequent decisions and actions that led me to where I am today. It was delicately done, something I am confident I would have botched on my own. But because David had taken the time to get to know me over the years, he was able to give me the important feedback I needed to write my story. He was very professional and instrumental throughout the process, responding back within the same day. By the end, and after back and forth revisions with David, I came away with a story I felt was uniquely my own and that I was proud of. Working with David gave me peace of mind that I put everything on the table. I applied to the top 5 schools, and received interview invites from two of them. When the dust settled, Booth gave me a call congratulating me on my acceptance and thanking me for my honesty in my application. All things considered, I was a risk and they took a chance on me. I could not have been more grateful and I know I would not have the chance to write this had it not been for David’s guidance, encouragement, and diligence through this long journey. He is a great person who will always have my thanks. Anyone looking to overcome obstacles in the admissions process would be extremely lucky to have him on their side.

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Alice and Menlo are more than just a (world class) MBA admissions consultancy. They are sincerely curious in you as an individual and want the best for you, and as a result, they will push you to reach your maximum potential. This sincere approach means that they really understand your strengths, values, weaknesses, and ambitions (and what sits behind those ambitions). Frank and honest, they will tell you when they expect more of you or when you need to take that extra step to have the best chance of getting into an MBA, which was hugely important for me at times. The working relationship absolutely feels like a partnership. Initially, you will go through a process where Alice delves deep into your story, and very skillfully she will pull out parts of your story that you may not have appreciated enough, or perhaps place too much importance on. Alice has a remarkable ability to understand your story and motivations and then reflect it back in a way that puts all the pieces together in a way that is compelling to a potential business school. Further, when I had big questions about things such as quitting my job and moving country, Alice provided honest constructive feedback. It is important for me to also say that Alice gives you the confidence to perform. She understands how to softly instill confidence in you. First for the essay writing stage and then the interview – she keeps it simple, light, and gives you a way of thinking whereby you enjoy the process. In summary, Menlo gave me absolute confidence at every stage that what I was submitting or presenting was the best that I could offer. Not quite sure how I would have done it without the Menlo team, I couldn’t speak about them more highly. They will push you but they will get the best out of you and your application.

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