mbaMission Admissions Consulting Reviews

I'm a busy lady and I decided to do this whole MBA thing last-minute - and woefully underestimated how much time and energy it would take.

I took the Boot Camp course to get oriented in the process and understand how I should be approaching the application, essays in particular. The course did that and more - it actually forced me to start in on actual essay work, which got me moving far ahead of when I would have started otherwise, and really motivated me once I understood how seriously I needed to take the essays - i.e. just being a "good writer" doesn't get you terribly far, it's really a specific writing craft that takes a lot of thought, time and revision - this course certainly prevented me from shortchanging it.

Angela is simply fantastic - she's the reason I actually took the course content to heart. I am skeptical of services like this and she was immediately credible, authoritative and clearly passionate about helping people do the very best they could with these apps. She sold me on the service and I used mbaMission for even more help subsequently.

I think this course gives you the tools you need to pull off the most important written aspects of the application well. I have gotten interviews at both schools I applied to (decisions havent come out yet) - they were extremely competitive and this program gave be very sound footing towards a real shot at both.

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I give Rachel Beck 5 stars! I got accepted to UT Austin and I couldn't have done it without Rachel's help and guidance - I would recommend her as a business school admissions consultant to anyone who is serious about applying to business school. She was very attentive, flexible, prompt and easy to get in touch with via phone and/or email. Rachel was able to work with my hectic work schedule and very quickly provided extremely detailed and insightful feedback. I was very impressed with her response time - we were under tight deadlines and she went above and beyond to help me reach those deadlines. She was always very positive and it was nice to have someone familiar with the process and what exactly the school's admissions department is focused on when evaluating the essays. I felt like I was more than just a job to her - Rachel has a great personality, is easy to talk to and really is looking out for her client's best interest.

Rachel was, without a doubt, money well spent. Before I started working with Rachel, I felt like my thoughts and essay topics were unorganized and didn't really tell the story that I wanted. As soon as I talked to Rachel, we had a plan and timeline set out that fit my needs. She took the stress away - gave me structure and small, achievable deadlines to hit when putting together the essays. She brought creativity out of me during our brainstorming sessions and key themes to my essays. I felt she really understood me and the direction I wanted to take my application. She really inspired me to write some great essays.

Her communication skills are strong and she is able to connect with clients on a professional level as well as a personal level. She is able to articulate my objectives or ideas to help me build cohesive, impactful essays. She has a talent for motivating clients, crafting and conceptualizing ideas and contributing to a final product that really reflects the client's personality and application.

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Who would you trust to review your essays? We all know how important essays are for an MBA application. But when i comes about sharing your most personal experiences (essays are basically about that) who would you trust to give you an objective point of view ? I decided to give a try with mbaMission without any specific recommendations. I had a very fast response from Aimee and in less than 24 hours i was already discussing my essays with Benjamin Shinewald. Let me get straight to the point: GREAT! The working process was amazing, I experienced it as a real teamwork! I was extremely happy with my essays and what the best thing is that it was still my essays! Benjamin really stick to your ideas and "just" help them to get sharper... all I can say: Thank you!

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I couldn't have been happier with the services of mbaMission consulting. All my questions were answered in a timely fashion, all my requests for constructive feedback were returned in a timely fashion, and all of the inputs I received were valuable. My consultant was available for mock interviews as well, and provided valuable feedback and information regarding the interview process. The mbaMission website was also extremely valuable and contained a wealth of information about the application process. I ended up getting accepted into 3 of 6 schools that I applied to, and my consultant predicted my results with great accuracy. I am convinced that using the consulting services improved my applications and made me more competitive in the application pool.

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I chose the 'start to finish package' with Rachel - I was applying to a top 5 business school I had my heart set on and it was a bit of my reach numbers wise (GPA/GMAT). I can confidently say I would not have gotten in without Rachel's help.

Rachel is a journalist with experience conducting admissions interviews, which makes her ideally suited to listen to her client's background and help craft his or her "story". Rachel picked out pieces of my background that I may not have noticed would make me interesting to the admissions committee. She didn't sugar coat: She told me not to use some of my essay ideas and worked with me to come up with better ideas. In retrospect, my original essay ideas would not have gone over very well.

Rachel was amazing throughout the entire process and always responded quickly and knowledgeably to my questions about all aspects of the admissions process. The interview prep was invaluable and I felt that I was very prepared for the kind of questions that would be asked.

I thoroughly enjoyed working with Rachel and feel that mbaMission is extremely well organized and constantly adapting to the competitive MBA admissions environment.

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With many years of experience writing documents and being a fairly expressive person, I thought writing an essay would not be a problem for me. After tearing up many versions and numerous start-overs, I remembered the presentation Angela made at a MBA fair. So I took up their free consulting offer. Angela was very very helpful in giving me all the reference so I decided to work with her. At first I was worried the essay would not read like my own if I get help. It turns out Angela is very good at facilitating and asking the right questions to help me express myself in the essay. Also her experience helped me avoid common pitfalls in writing an essay. She is a great guide in making writing the essay less agonizing and a great partner in describing me in my essay.

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I initially considered hiring an admissions consultant as a result of my insane work schedule - I was looking for support during the brainstorming process and for guidance to help me streamline the application process as a whole. I reached out to two friends of mine who had both been accepted into their top schools the previous year, and each of them emphasized the value of working with a consultant and explained that they provide so much more than brainstorming and general guidance.

Coincidentally, both of my contacts had worked with Jessica Shklar and guaranteed that she would be a great fit for me - professional, responsive, and willing to push her clients. Jessica's (and I'm sure other mbaMission consultants) knowledge of each top program was beyond impressive, and the insight she provided for each of my questions (which were plentiful) was extremely valuable. Before working with Jessica, I had determined what "stories" I would focus on through my essays, but after a 2-hour brainstorming session with her early on, she did a fantastic job of teasing out additional experiences that I had not considered which provided a more holistic picture of who I am as an applicant and as a person.

While working on my essays, Jessica was extremely responsive and most often provided feedback and constructive criticism within 24 hours (company policy is within 48 hours so earlier was always a bonus). I recall times when I considered an essay complete after the second or third draft, but she pushed me to provide more articulate details - or clarify my decision making process within the essay - or scrap everything after the first paragraph and start over (that was fun!) - which resulted in a much stronger final product.

While I am confident that I had a strong application going into this process, I am certain that my presentation was significantly strengthened by working with Jessica Shklar, and do not believe I would have been admitted to my dream school (MIT Sloan) without her support. I cannot say enough to recommend Jessica, but will warn you that she hits her max # of clients earlier than most (she was at max capacity when I first reached out to her but fortunately one of her clients decided to wait until R2 so I took his/her R1 spot - lucky me!).

Best of luck to all future applicants - the letters of acceptance are worth the months of work.

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I offer my highest recommendation to Akiba. I’ll try to sum up my experience with Akiba in 3 brief points.

1. Akiba helped me tell my story with integrity, creativity, and purpose. Always a patient listener, Akiba made the effort to get to know me. This paid off -- her in-depth knowledge of me and my experiences helped her deliver valuable insights throughout the application process. Often times her insights would be pulled and patched from conversations we had months earlier.

2. Akiba didn’t sugar coat anything. I was seeking honest feedback, and that is what I received. I was happy to hear “we need to re-think this… this could be stronger… I don’t really like where you’re going here.” This ‘real’ communication ultimately made my essays stronger. (She also offered tons of positive encouragement throughout the process). She was especially talented at restructuring sentences to lose the fluff and emphasize what was important.

3. I am extremely happy I had to the opportunity to work with Akiba. There is no doubt that my applications were stronger after working with Akiba. My partnership with her earned me interviews at 2 top 10 schools and a sizeable scholarship from a top 15. I am now reviewing offers from multiple schools. If you are going to work with MBA Mission, seek Akiba out. You won’t regret it.

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I worked together with Angela on a hourly basis to craft, and edit my essays as well as edit my resume.

The process was amazing, and Angela was very efficient, organized and helpful. We were working on a tight deadline 1.5 weeks from start to finish, to complete the brainstorm, 3 essays and my resume. All of her work was very thoughtful and insightful. Even though we had a tight deadline, she was able to break out the work into batches, and we plugged away at it.

When I was being generic in my responses she was blunt and honest, and did not let our time deadline effect the quality of work. She pushed me ( in a good way ) to uncover my true motivations, feelings, and emotions, and had me effectively express myself them in my essays.

Her editing skills are second to none, and really helped me create essays the flowed, and read well. Some very helpful tips and hints helped to perfect my applications.

I was recently admitted to Stanford GSB and couldn't have done it without her! I would highly recommend her.

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I cannot recommend mbaMission highly enough and specifically Jessica Shklar. I don't know if I could have gotten into HBS without her. To say that she was instrumental in my MBA application is a massive understatement - she literally transformed my application and my essays, made them come alive. I think the most difficult aspect of these applications is that no matter how much time, heart, and soul you pour into them, you still self-doubt and over-analyze. The amazing thing about working with mbaMission's extremely talented writers is that you can rest easy with the knowledge that you will really, truly submit your best possible application - you don't have to worry about whether you could have done something better. Not only do you get external affirmation from an expert who has read thousands of these essays, but you also will have fine-tuned it with her to the point where you feel happy with your application, and I think that this is critical to stay sane and happy throughout this process.

mbaMission, specifically Jessica Shklar, are by far the best consultants out there in my opinion. I have spoken to friends who have tried other consultants - the problem with others is that 1) they may not care as much or really give it their all...Jessica responded immediately to a million e-mails a day from me with depth, knowledge, and guidance, and every draft I got back was insightfully edited word-for-word (she entertained my debates and over-analysis of literally every single word); and 2) they are not professional writers in the way that mbaMission consultants are - Jessica is a brilliant, gifted writer who will bring your essays to life and make sure your story comes out comprehensively, compellingly, and powerfully enough to resonate with the AdCom. She framed so many of my essays into words that I was unable to get on paper myself. She has the ability to cut through a jumbled, non-sensical mess of words on the paper and say, "This is what you are REALLY trying to say. This is the crux of it, the meaning that is coming out. Try saying it this way instead..." Her suggestions every single time were so brilliant I counted my lucky stars that I had found her.

Jessica truly exceeded all of my expectations. I did not think that I could find a consultant who would be there for me as much as she was, through every single line, draft, and question. The best thing about her is that she is a straight-shooter - no bs, no nonsense, no sugar-coating. She tells you how it is and doesn't waste time. If your draft is no good, she will tell you, but then help you to improve it step by step. She will not rest or allow you to submit until you both are 100% happy with it. And she helps not just with the essays (though at essays there is no one better in my opinion), but also with the entire application, interviews, etc. Hire mbaMission and Jessica Shklar - best decision you will ever make if you want to get into the school of your dreams!!

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