Anyone use admission consultants?

I worked with Scott of Personal MBA Coach.

I searched around on the internet for weeks and used introductory consultations from more than 5 different admissions consulting services prior to selecting Scott of Personal MBA Coach to assist me on an hourly basis with my applications. My only regret was that I chose to use Scott for just a couple of hours for each of my applications rather than purchasing more extensive packages for each school.

In addition to Scott's impressive background as an MIT and Wharton graduate and his extensive track record of success in assisting MBA applicants to get accepted to their target schools, there are a few aspects of Scott's Personal MBA Coach services that I believe really separate him from most MBA consulting services:

1. Rather than provide me with cookie cutter advice and examples, Scott made a true effort to get to know me on a personal level first. Once he really knew me, he then helped me decide which of my features and accomplishments would be the best to focus on in essays and applications.

2. Scott works around the clock and made every effort to work with me whenever was best for my schedule. This flexibility ranged from calls at 7 and 8 in the morning prior to work to help me develop my essay strategies to 10 pm on a Friday to conduct a mock interview for my interview the following week. Despite his busy schedule, Scott did a great job of meeting whenever was best for me and typically found time within just 24 hours of my request. This was invaluable when applying to multiple schools within tight deadlines.

3. Scott's advice was always honest and intended to help me create the best applications possible rather than to increase the number of hours I would require him (and in turn his own pay). Scott never pressured me to use him/pay him more and simply explained what he could do in the time that I purchased from him and what he thought was the most efficient use of his time. He worked super efficiently in the time I purchased from him.

Overall, I was extremely satisfied with the service that Scott of Personal MBA Coach provided me.

I was very happy with the help I received from Stratus Prep and my counselor, Santosh.

I applied to 3 schools in R2 and wanted help with various aspects of my application -- essays, resume, letters of recommendation, short answer questions, and interview practice. In every aspect, Santosh gave me helpful feedback and edits in a timely fashion. I can say with confidence that my applications were significantly stronger because of his feedback and our rounds of editing. It was clear he has a lot of knowledge about how to excel in the admissions process and he was always able to convey his feedback in a direct and honest manner. Given how competitive the admissions process is, I'm really glad that I took advantage of this resource to submit strong applications.

When I received my interview invitations from MIT and Wharton, Santosh and Stratus were tremendously helpful. Santosh coached me one-on-one for MIT, and Stratus also put together a group mock interview that mirrored the team-based interview used by Wharton. My experiences interviewing at MIT and Wharton were much easier because of this practice.

I'm thrilled to be attending MIT in the fall. I definitely recommend working with Stratus and Santosh if you're applying to B Schools. The extra help goes a long way.

When choosing a consultant, it's an advantage to get a direct referral from a friend or peer. 70% of my business comes from referrals. And another way to decide is to watch content from your potential choices.

Here is an extended video I did recently on crafting MBA career goals--this is a great place to start when embarking on this competitive yet rewarding MBA admissions process.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeEQyQQI4_U

While shortlisting the schools, I realized that my essays need to be crafted in an outstanding manner. My standardised test score was not in a high percentile, so I have to write a killer essays. I did my research about available admission consultants, and talked to them over the phone and emails, but no one was as convincing as Scott was. He is very enthusiastic, friendly, and intelligent. Furthermore, he is always reachable to give feedback and critique your application. With his help and guidance, I was admitted to UCLA- Anderson School of Management- Interestingly, this was the first school I applied, and I got an admit. I highly recommend MBA/MSBA aspirants to go for Personal MBA Coach.

After speaking with numerous consulting services about my background and specific plans to pursue a top-tier MBA, I hired Scott from Personal MBA Coach. I had a short timeline to submit four applications and knew very little about the application process. From the beginning, Scott appeared (and was) genuinely interested in my situation and made a point to gather every detail. By the end of our time working together, I felt Scott knew everything about me.

As stated in some of the other reviews, Scott is clear and to the point. I didn’t need someone to boost my ego and praise my accomplishments. I needed someone who could comprehend my background, goals, etc. and guide me in telling an effective story. That was exactly what Scott did throughout the process!

Scott continually pushed me to think about how I (my essays) would look to the admission committees. This was very helpful in writing essays that effectively displayed my strengths and specific motivations to attend the different schools. After submitting all of my applications, I was depleted, but I felt that I had submitted my best possible essays and left nothing on the table.

Scott also coached me through the interview processes and performed mock interviews over the phone. This guidance was very helpful and gave me the confidence I needed to ace the interviews.

In the end, I was admitted to one of my top three schools (M7). I dedicated myself to those applications and feel worthy of admission, but credit much of my success to Scott. Without his knowledge of the process and ability to push me for more details and polished stories that were directly applicable to each school, there is no way that I could have crafted my story in such an effective way.

Review for PERSONAL MBA COACH - Scott Edinburgh

When I decided to apply to Bschool, I knew that I needed some extra support. After some research, I found Personal MBA Coach and had a chat with Scott. He was friendly, genuinely interested, and understood where I was coming from and my needs.

Scott was so helpful and open from the beginning and constantly challenged me. He critiqued my essays and references with great detail and endless patience. I have an unconventional background and was very unfamiliar with this kind of process; Scott helped me to pull out the right elements of my background and experience and convey it in the ''Bschool way''.
I had a low GMAT score for the schools I applied to and there's no way I would've gotten into LBS without Personal MBA Coach's continuous support, flexibility, advice and patience. I even got a scholarship from one of the schools I applied to! It was great to work with Scott - fun, interesting, and a great learning experience.
Thank you Scott!

I took the comprehensive school package with Scott. Since I had already created a shortlist of my schools, we concentrated more on essays/application content and interviews. The overall experience with Scott was excellent! With his help, I got into two of my dream schools (INSEAD + LBS).
I started preparing for applications pretty late (mid August with September timelines). This plus a demanding job meant I was working late in the night on applications and needed someone who could help me finish the applications in such short time with quick turnarounds. Scott exceeded these expectations and was as invested in my applications as I was! There were times when he replied to my mails with edits/quick responses within hours. I would send him content at 3AM in the night and he would respond by the time i woke up in morning and then I would take up the version control from there.
He is excellent at essays. He has a no BS approach to essays and when I compare the first and last version of my essays, I can see a huge difference. He gave direct and honest feedback on my essays and helped me craft my story well. His focus was not on completing the applications, but on making them perfect. This helped me create really amazing essays, resume and overall application.
If I have to compare him to other consultants (based on my initial free consultations and feedback from multiple other friends who used other consultants), I would say Scott is much better, personalized and invested in your applications/success than other consulting companies.
One important thing - Scott is great for essays/applications/interview prep/recommendation letter strategy. However, if you are looking for someone who provides you with a lot of content (e.g. pdfs about schools, resume writing document etc) like other big name consulting companies, you may need to look for someone else. I personally was able to research well using all the free content from the internet. All other things - Scott and I ran the show together!

Admissions Consulting Service Experience

After debating for some time on whether I should be taking support from admissions consultants for my B-school applications, I decided to take the plunge. Having a score of 710, and being an Indian male Engineer, I was in one of the most competitive pools of B-school applicants. I got admitted into 2 out of 4 schools I had applied to. These schools were chosen by me and not by Stratus.

I chose Stratus after talking to a number of admissions consulting providers. The ‘free of charge next round’ feature, where Stratus works with you to submit application to the school of your choice for free in case you did not get admitted in Round One, was attractive to me; a feature that I did not find in any other admissions consulting service provider.

My consultant was Santosh Prasad who has an excellent personality, friendly demeanor, and thorough understanding of the application requirements. Through the initial exercises, I developed a strong understanding of what detail to be included in the B-school applications. The meetings with Santosh was set up at times convenient to me. He even accommodated weekends, which was very helpful based on the busy schedule at work.

We, as applicants, need to understand that the ad coms have a limited amount of time to go through each application. Having said that, there must be something in the application that makes it stand out within that limited time. Santosh helped me carve out those unique features in my application. He also guided me on what points to include in my essays, and how to structure them.

I would also like to point out that the fees in Stratus are substantial, however, the other consulting firms that I checked with had similar fees as well. The point I am trying to make is that admissions consulting is an expensive service to avail.

On the whole, Stratus was a good experience and Santosh is the consultant you should look for in case you choose to go with Stratus.

I used Personal MBA Coach for this past admissions cycle and it was the best decision I could have made.

Though I was late to the game (1 month from final deadlines) Scott Edinburg and his team at Personal MBA Coach were down for the challenge and jumped right in with me to make the most of my expedited timeframe. I prepared for the GMAT for a month and was only able to take it once but got a 710 (3.7 UG GPA). Working with the Personal MBA Coach team I was able to create succinct and impactful applications that were leagues above what I could have done on my own. I was invited to interview with both of the programs I applied to and, again, Personal MBA Coach was there to set up mock interviews with admissions personnel at top-ranked universities. I was recently accepted into my #1 program choice and could not be happier I chose to work with Scott and the Personal MBA Coach team.

I highly recommend them to anyone who wants to pursue their MBA education and is not afraid to jump in head first, follow their lead, and put in the work necessary to make the best application they possibly can.

I used Scott Edinburgh/Personal MBA Coach as my MBA consultant and it was the best investment I made in preparing for graduate school admissions.

I initially discovered Scott/Personal MBA Coach through a meeting with a recruitment member from the program I would be applying to. He spoke very highly of Scott and his team and recommended that if I needed help with any stage of the application or test preparation to consider Scott.

About a year later at a QS MBA fair, I sat in the different MBA counselor panels and Scott’s presentation and expertise hit the nail on the head for what I was looking to achieve (1) authentically branding myself for an MBA, (2) support and guidance during the application process, and (3) he knew the school I was applying to and could bring a different perspective that I wouldn’t be privy to.

In our first meeting (via phone), he explained the different services and packages, I chose the 1 school application and test prep services package and he outlined what the process would look like moving forward. He was very gracious and helpful in explaining the questions I had and making the plan customizable to what I would need. We set up the timeline to apply and he put me in connection to a tutor on his team to begin test preparations.

The tutor, Shaudi, was extremely helpful, accommodating and resourceful. We met twice a week over skype (using google docs and screen share also) and she was extremely generous with examples and additional material. Having used other test prep services to prep for the GMAT I was wary of signing up for another as I was just ready for it to be an expense that didn’t drive any results but this could not be further than the truth. I wish that I had just spent the money up front to do the tutoring rather than the 8-week group prep course I had done earlier.

I am an extremely type-A, calendar, to-do list driven person and they both were extremely attentive and organized which definitely helped settle my nerves. What I especially appreciated is that they broke the process down into digestible bits. I like to finish all my outstanding items/projects at once, and that approach would not have worked here and Scott and Shaudi organized it in such a way that I knew what was coming and could see how I was making progress each week. I cannot recommend Personal MBA Coach, Scott and Shaudi enough they made my application process go so smoothly and helped remove a great deal of stress I had.

Hi All,

I used Personal MBA Coach.
The Personal MBA Coach Team has been instrumental in my MBA admissions journey. They truly made it possible for me to achieve my long term dream of getting admitted to a top business school.
The team's thorough knowledge of the entire application process and guidance on how best to position myself along with various nuances related to each school, The Personal MBA Coach really customized and supported me extensively throughout the MBA process.
I am a non-traditional MBA candidate, with a PhD and a little older than traditional applications that was discouraged by other MBA coaching and advisory services in terms of my aspirations of getting admitted to a full time program. But once I spoke with the The Personal MBA Coach, he provided a lot of support, and helped me build confidence to peruse the effort and defined clearly a working strategy for me specifically.
He and his team are thorough, diligent, pragmatic and realistic. With my profile he was v ery honest about what I need to work on to get to my target and how to go about it.
Unlike other MBA admissions advisory services, The Personal MBA Coach is truly personal and goes the extra mile to provide best in class service, advisory and support through out the process of MBA admissions. They are available and ready to answer any question and very flexible in terms of scheduling.
Scott has a deep understanding of each school and what is needed for them to tailor the application in the best way. Through out the process of working with Scott and the Personal MBA Coach team, I not only got admitted into the Full Time MBA program - at the University of Chicago - Booth School of Business, but also developed key insights about myself, becoming a better writer, interviewee and strategic thinker.
My sincerest thanks to the Personal MBA Coach and team and I strongly recommend working with this team if one truly wants to achieve their MBA goals and dreams.

Best,
Ree

When I first applied to business school in 2016, I was rejected by six of the M7 schools. With Scott's guidance in 2018, I was able to secure acceptances from Kellogg, Booth and Sloan and was offered a combined $170K in scholarship money from Kellogg and Booth.

I started the process with the Personal MBA Coach (Scott Edinburgh) after meeting him in late July 2018 after the MBA Tour and listening to his talk about the 10 things that one must do to prepare for applications. He seemed very knowledgeable and mentioned his connections with admissions offices, all while offering insights that I would never find online. I immediately signed up with him and am so glad that I did.

Scott took the time to thoroughly understand my background before laying out our plan of attack. Scott's guidance made me feel very assured and confident in myself throughout the process. He steered me in the right direction on how to prioritize apps and plan out my essays for each school, recommending that I focus on particular topics that would resonate with admissions based on my background and what he knew they would look for. We developed such great chemistry that we would be emailing each other practically every other day for the next two months. We scheduled phone calls to strategize our attack for each school's application. He's also been available at a moment's notice for me to call him with more pressing matters, such as how I should rationalize the factors that went into my decision of deciding the business school this fall. This encapsulates what I have truly enjoyed most about working with Scott -- he is candid in his feedback, available at at a moment's notice, and provides great perspective on the admissions process given his history working with other clients.

If you are considering the investment, I would highly encourage you to sign up with Scott. Working with the founder of a top consulting firm is a huge plus, and I think it would give you the confidence that you'd need to secure placements at top MBA programs.

I used services of Personal MBA Coach (Scott Edinburgh).
I reached out to Scott while I was doing my research on various admission consultants, and after the first call with Scott, I knew he was the right consultant for me. Throughout the duration of our association, he has been available through a call / email etc especially when it is a time sensitive issue. We took a lot of time to decide on the target schools based on my application as I wanted to apply to a lot of them, but then he helped me streamline my thought process. His approach in helping me build my story was phenomenal as he was gave me ideas to ponder over instead of just enforcing me to use one strategy. This definitely helped me clarify the career trajectory for the application and in general as well. With his support, I got interviews almost in all the schools I applied, and have gained an admit from one of them. Still awaiting to hear from 2 top schools. I would definitely recommend him.

Yes, I used Scott Edinburgh, the founder of PersonalMBACoach.

The short version of my experience: Researched multiple consultants. Chose Scott over all others. Got into Wharton, Columbia, and Ross despite tremendous odds.

The long one: Since I was an Indian (read: one of the largest demographics) male (the most competitive gender) engineer (the hardest degree type to distinguish yourself in, especially when you are Indian), who was also a re-applicant with 8 years of experience, I knew it was going to be very hard to get into my dream school.

I contacted 10+ consultants and spoke to them at length to understand how they operate. Given my background, I knew that I would need someone who will understand my story properly and help me craft a unique story. After talking to a few of the major consulting firms, I realized that I needed a boutique consultant where I could deal with my consultant directly. Amongst all the boutique consultants I spoke with, I had the best connection with Scott. I liked his calm demeanor, the fact that he seemed to know the colleges well, and most importantly that he had worked with many Indians before and knew how to help them.

I realized his value while working with him on my first application itself. After we figured out my story, we exchanged a lot of drafts on bringing out the 'why'. Scott adds detailed notes in each draft and he always responds within 48 hours. The final essays were really really good, even if I say so myself. They made so much sense and compared to the essays I had written myself during the previous application cycle, these were crystal clear. There was a perfect balance - the essays logically and clearly told the adcom what I wanted to do while bringing out the emotional angle to support why I wanted to do it. Moreover, the last aspect which is so important - the interview prep - is the best part about working with him. My mock interviews were super important in making sure that I do well on the day! In fact without them I am confident I would not have been nearly as good.

Lastly, if there is one thing I can say that would convince you of how good Scott is, it is this - When I took the 5 school package with him, I followed his instructions precisely for 3 schools and went with my gut for the other 2. It just so happens that I got into all the 3 where I listened to him and got rejected from the other 2. Now, I could put that down as a remarkable co-incidence but after working with him over 9 months, I am inclined to believe that Scott knows what he is talking about.

I truly believe that he is the reason I am going to Wharton and I recommend if you are looking for a consultant, look no further than Scott.

I used such consultants, but they are not always effective.