*** Deluxe Package Reviews

My Admission Consultant, Marcela Pipitone, has been incredible and I would recommend her to anyone applying to business school. When I began the preparation process I was determined to apply to a top 10 business school, preferably top 5. Among others, I was admitted to Chicago Booth and INSEAD. I am confident that without Marcela this would have not been possible.

What first stood out to me during our initial call, was how friendly she was. In comparison to other admission consultants that I had interviewed she truly seemed interested in understanding my whole story instead of just boiling down to the numbers.

Marcela has proved to be a great support throughout the whole process. When I began to draft my essays for Round1 I realized that my story would need some extra polishing to really shine. I shared this with Marcela and we devised a plan in which I would apply to several schools in Round 1 and the rest in Round 2. Marcela was extremely supportive in the moments where the whole process would be just overwhelming.

She is also extremely dedicated and professional. Her turnaround time for my essays and other application document revisions was very consistent (72 hours but most times less). Her comments were always sharp and made me notably improve my essays. I in fact shared several of my essays (first and final version) with different family members and friends to get a third opinion on how useful hiring a consultant could be. Everyone was impressed by the improvement. All agreed that I could not have achieved it alone, no matter how many hours I would have put into it.

I certainly recommend Marcela to anyone who is thinking to apply to business school.

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When I started planning for my MBA applications I knew I had lot to offer but I also knew that I wasn't really good at talking about myself, which is what admission essays are all about. So I consulted mbaAdmissions and Admissionado. My consultation with mbaAdmissions was disappointing. The mbaAdmissions consultant timed the entire converstation and didn't followup with me regarding our conversation until few days later. The experience made me feel that mbaAdmissions was too busy for my business and left me with a bad taste.

My next consultation was with Admissionado and it was completely opposite to what I had experienced with mbaAdmissions. Admissionado stayed on the call as long as it was needed to answer all my questions. The consultant also followed up right away the next day. I later found out that the consultant was actually on a vacation when he talked to me. I was extremely impressed with Admissionado team members and with their diligence in helping their clients (even on their day off!).

As I mentioned before, my schedule was always extremely busy. By the time I balanced work and took my gmats I had limited amount of time to get my essays done. Admissionado worked closely with me to not only help me tell the right story through my essays but they also helped me get them done in a timely manner.

At one point I misread the essay instructions on the application and ended up being short of one essay. Since the application deadline at that time was only one week away, I started to panic. Admissionado really pulled through for me in that situation. The team helped me get everything done with the same level of high quality.

The feedback on the essays were fantastic! They dug deep and asked some great questions allowing me to paint a detailed picture for the adcom. Needless to say the process also allowed me to learn a bit more about myself. English is my second language. Admissionado helped not only shape the content of the essays but also with how the story should be told. Best of all.. Admissionado made the stressful process of applying to MBA school a lot of fun!! The team was extremely approachable, helpful, and lot of fun to work with!

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I first knew about Admissionado (precision essay formerly) when I submitted a candidacy assessment on the beatthegmat forums almost a year ago. Jon's response was candid and honest. Others gave me gibberish consulting jargon (which I am full aware of as I am a consultant myself) or basically told me I got no realistic shot at my target school. I was not buying it.

I believed I got the qualifications for the schools I was targeting and I could get in them. But, I decided to enlist an admission consultant's help because:
1) I have an atypical experience/background (I like to think!) for the programs I was targeting.
2) I had way to much work on my plate that I knew I would push the admissions essays to the last minute.
3) I knew the program I wanted to get into, and I wanted to do everything that I could do to make that happen. Go big or go home.

I wanted the admission consultants will help get the best of out of my background into a strong application, push me to get the work done early, and, well, give me strong guidance through out the process.

Admissionado was the first that I talked to. Though, to ensure I have the right man for the job, I talked to 2-3 of the bigger-names admission consulting firms but they all seemed inflexible to me, or even discouraged my chances for the schools I want to apply to. I didn't feel comfortable with any of them. I was about to spend a lot of money from my savings to work with someone over few months, I wanted to make sure I feel comfortable with them.

Through the initial conversations, despite the over-use of the word 'dudes' or may be because of it, Admissionado really seemed flexible, understanding, and, well, real people. Furthermore, they gave me a good deal in understanding of my situation; I had recently taken a 70% pay-cut when I moved abroad to work with a start-up.

Then, I started working with Dave Harelick who, as his profile describes him, ".. oozes MIT…" and he truly does.

They start with a general detailed assessment or questionnaire. When I first looked at the initial profile questionnaire I was a skeptic. I didn't understand why I needed to do that, but I did it. After a phone discussion with Dave about them, he helped me by drafting an "action plan." Basically, the essentials of my story. And, it was then clear why I needed that. It simply helped me clear out my vision and story; throw away the garbage, the clutter, and the unnecessary. Now, that I am preparing for the interviews, that action plan is a gold-mine.

We then talked about my list of schools. I knew my top school - but honestly had no clear idea about other programs. Beyond my top choice, they all seemed the same more or less. So - he helped me shuffle through my list and helped me eliminate many schools that I was considering for the wrong reasons or were definitely not aligned w/ my goals. (examples of not convincing reasons: INSEAD: "well, it is nice to live in France for a while." Harvard: "well - I gotta apply to Harvard. Gotta give it a shot!")

And, then the drafting begun. I soon realized that .. nope, this process is not saving me time. I was working waayyy too much on this. But Dave's feedback was warranted - I could see the significant improvement of the essays. So, yes, I worked on the essays A LOT. As you can read in other reviews, the feedback you get is not simply "this is not good." Dave really gave me detailed (and sometimes lengthy) feedback about the story. And, he was honest and clear about it (but not rude!). If it was too corny, he would say so. If he thought it is not strong, he would say so. Not only that, he will exactly, and in details, tell you what you need to do with it to take it to the next step. Also, you would hear him say "SHOW ME" and don't "tell me" so many times, you would think he's directing a play. But, really it works. Adcoms read hundreds if not thousands of self-praising applications - only if you show them how this self praise is warranted does your application stand out.

Now I can say that the content is all mine. Yes, the essays have been fleshed out, edited, chopped up, put-together, and re-written several times. But, they are mine, and they are pretty epic (if I may say!)

And here is my biggest advice to any person working through this process: you have to work hard to convey your story - at least to your consultant. Your consultant does not know your life, was not there when the story took place. If you feel he's not getting your story - then email him about it in layman words. If that is not working, call him up. And, with Dave, or Admissionado, this is simple - they are responsive and all ears. They just need to really understand what the story is, and then they can help you phrase it and write it.

I have not gotten any admits, yet. But I have just received my interview invitation at the LGO program at MIT. For y'all out there who're thinking about Sloan or the LGO, you would understand that getting the interview for Sloan and/or the LGO is them asking you to come out and seal the deal - getting the interview is more than half the battle. Consultants are a rare breed at the LGO program. Nonetheless, I have 4 years of pure consulting. In-fact, I went from tech consulting to strategy/management consulting over the last year. Further more, I realized that I had a missing period and a missing word that I inflicted on the essays in last minute changes after Dave's last polish, I still got the interview - which means my essays were strong enough that missing words and punctuations didn't matter (still- don't miss too much with your essay after a consultant worked on it!) Now that I am preparing for the interviews, I had a first call with Dave to give me general outlines about the interview process - and we have mock-up interview lined up this week.

I feel that the flexibility of Admissionado gives every candidate the ability to tailor the service to exactly what they need within the Deluxe package - but you have to also set the expectations right and talk to your consultant about what you are finding hardest to put together.

If you want to get in Sloan - you won't find any one more knowledgeable or helpful consultant than Dave. Despite the endless hours I spent online researching the school and the program, he always managed to send me a link or two about Sloan that left me thinking "well - this is awesome. how did I miss it?!" He's still very active within the Alum network and up-to-date on the happenings of Sloan. He's always responsive to his email, and has no problem getting on the phone on short notices (given it is reasonable requests!) Even more, he did go a couple of times beyond the 'four drafts' of the process to edit further revisions. Other consultants had told me that they won't put in more than a set amount of hours in the total process - and that included phone calls. Oh - one more thing - turn around was always very good and as promised.

Again, if your dream school is MIT and you are curious whether to enlist an admission consultant or not, I advice you to talk to Dave - you will immediately see clear the immense value that Dave will add to your application in any capacity you decide to work with him on the application.

And, if you are looking for an admission consultants to actually work with you rather than try to fit you in one of the molds they created, then talk to Admissionado - you will be happy.

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I belong to a very competitive pool of applicants: Indian, IT, male. Unless you have exceptional essays and application, it is difficult to get an interview call and then convert it to an admit. This is where Admissionado comes into play.

One of my friends who had used Admissionado's services and gotten into INSEAD recommended them.

I was applying to 1-year MBA programs in India at IIM Ahmedabad , Bangalore and Calcutta. As Admissionado works primarily on applications to schools in US and Europe, I was a bit hesitant, wondering whether they had the expertise needed to apply to colleges in India. Then I spoke with Mark Lellouch, one of their MBA consultants. Talking to him put my doubts to rest. He was very knowledgeable about the entire application process and, in the very first call, he helped me put a plan in place to get into a top MBA school even though I hadn't signed up with Admissionado yet. After this call, I signed up for the Deluxe package for 5 schools.

One of the things I like most about Admissionado is that it’s not just one consultant assigned to you. You have the entire Admissionado team behind you. Once, Mark had to go on vacation and I was ready with the first draft of my essays. Lauren, the Director of Operations, jumped in and made sure that my essays were reviewed by another senior member of the team.

Mark is very patient and will address all of your queries, no matter how small they may seem. There were times when our scheduled half hour calls went for an hour. He will make you think about your answers. He will be there for you whenever you need him. Sometimes it felt as if he himself were applying to the school!

But don't be fooled by his soft tone on the calls. He will review your essays and rip them apart till they are perfect in every sense. His feedback is very straight – and tough love works! Some of my essays went through 5-6 rounds of edits. And every essay in my package was reviewed by two MBA experts, to make sure every angle had been considered.

For one of my applications, I was close to the deadline but was not ready with the final draft. Mark worked till late and reviewed my essays till 2 AM so that I could meet the deadline. This kind of professionalism speaks volumes about the kind of commitment you get from the Admissionado team.

Mark also helped me a lot in preparing for the interviews. We had numerous calls and mock interviews to go over my answers till they sounded flawless, yet relaxed.

I applied to 1-year MBA programs at IIM Ahmedabad , Bangalore and Calcutta, and ISB, got interview calls from all of them and admit offers from IIM Bangalore and Calcutta.

Since I was admitted to my school of choice, I didn't end up using the services for all 5 schools. Lauren promptly refunded the amount for the schools remaining in my package.

I would definitely recommend Mark and Admissionado to anyone who wants to apply to top business schools and is willing to put in the work to make their dreams come true.

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They say - "It is the first step which is the most difficult one!"
After five straight dings from top B-schools and being doomed into the net of oversubscribed pool of Indian IT male aspirants, I was demotivated to the core and had absolutely no ideas of how to take that first step.

I was not only looking for support related to essay-editing process but also for the direction to come up with a strategy to differentiate myself in this competitive pool.

Right from the beginning, Mark helped me to come up with strategy to overcome this challenge. He scheduled initial brainstorming sessions constantly asking questions about whats/hows/whys of the different stories of my personal and professional life. After several iterations we came up with an action plan for tackling all the different types of essay questions. Mark's probing abilities to dig out different stories from both personal and professional facets proved instrumental during the strategy-building process.

Secondly, team admissionado really did a good job for me during school selection process. Their approach is ambitious yet realistic at the same time. This means that you are always concentrating your resources(time, money) on your top choice of schools while also concentrating on your some realistic targets.

Next came the essays!!!

My initial drafts were verbose and lacked details. From reducing word counts(almost 40-50%) to substantiate a particular thought with examples, Mark left no stone unturned during this entire process. The difference between my first draft and my final fourth draft of essays was incredible. I literally fell in love with my final version of essays.

Overall, the entire admission consulting was a great learning experience in itself. While I am still waiting to hear the final results from my schools, I feel that Mark and Team Admissionado did a terrific job in nailing down the curious case of this Indian IT re-applicant.

I would highly recommend future aspirants to check out the services of Team Admissionado.

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I was lucky enough to work with Mark Lellouch at Admissionado. I spoke to over 10 different admission consulting services before I spoke to Mark (I was checking who was genuine) and after the initial 1 hr talk I knew that he was different.

From the 1st second he probed me on why I did what I did in my career and on why I chose certain career goals. He forced me to think of certain moments in my life that shaped who I am today and this really allowed me to realize what I truly wanted to do. My essays benefited from this and evolved over the time that I worked with him.

My resume was flawless (I never would have got it to this level without him). I applied to 3 top 5 schools and was interviewed at all 3.

When preparing for interviews he once again showed me the way and at this point I felt as though I was meeting a friend. He really is that good of a guy.

Marks dedication is superb- It almost seemed as though he was applying to the schools himself. He goes the extra mile and it is something that you will not get from most places. I know of people who paid what I paid and got half the level of commitment (from other consulting services). Mark was never late for an appointment and the turnaround time for every single part of my application was immediate (mostly 1 day - maximum 2 days).

If you are serious about getting into your dream school trust Admissionado and if you are lucky enough to get Mark you are in for a LIFE CHANGING experience.

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