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Critical Square was 'critical' factor in turning my unfruitful 2 year struggle to get into a good business school into a success beyond my expectations. In my first year of trying for b-school I had hired another local admissions consultant, but I was not able to get an admit even though I got to the interview round. Their interview prep was off target. So a second time around, I was reluctant to get help from an consultant. But seven R1 denials, even from very safe schools, made me very shaky.

I wanted to go to b-school that very year, so I reluctantly decided to hire a US based admission consultant. I reached out to a number of admissions consultants asking them if they could suggest a package which was within my budget. Critical Square offered me a customised hour based plan which was affordable as well as suited to build upon the work of the older consultant. I had asked for a ding analysis which was not a part of their standard services, but they accommodated anyway!

I want to say this about my consultant - he gets you. That ding analysis turned out to be very helpful to my overall application. He saw through and through my application and was brutally honest in pointing out red flags. I was not even aware they were there. This helped me point out the sections I would work on and take their help.

I ended up signing up for resume editing, school selection, and help with 3 schools essays. A note to all b-school aspirants, there is a ton you could seek their help in, but it would be more effective if you know where you want to concentrate your efforts. They don't hold your hand and instruct you and you are in the driving seat the whole time.

With a revamped resume, and essays reviewed by Critical Square at least once, I applied to 3 schools. I also leveraged that work to apply to two additional schools. When the schools started shortlisting candidates for interview I was amazed to get interview calls from all 5! I signed up for interview prep for my top choice UCLA and scheduled mock interviews with different consultants. They do that so you get completely unbiased interview help - it's really helpful. Both sessions were tailored to UCLA and I was given a prep package and a detailed action tracker to track how I performed in each question and what further work was required which was very helpful. The actual interview turned out to be exactly the same as my first mock.

I ended up with 3 admits including UCLA where I am matriculating. I believe Critical Square helped me become a great candidate in the eyes of the adcoms. They are well aware of what the adcoms are looking for in an application and try to help 'you' say 'your' stories to achieve the best results. So to all aspirants who find themselves in a similar situation. If you are getting dings, there is something wrong with your app. You cant find it if you don't know what to look for. Critical Square does.