The Application Process

I interviewed between 5 - 6 admission consulting services and narrowed it down between MBA Mission and Stacy Black (SB). I ended with Stacy and was paired with Bill Choinis. I had weak stats - a 610 GMAT Score and an average GPA. What attracted me to SB was the fact that they were direct with me. With such a low GMAT score, they explained they can't work miracles. I had another firm tell me not to worry about my GMAT score, that they can still help. SB was the opposite, they weren't just trying to sell me their services, they really wanted me to have success and be accepted, so they helped me set proper expectations with a low GMAT. The process with SB was excellent, Bill was always prompt and by the end of the process I felt as though he was a friend rather than someone I was paying to help me draft essays. I went with the comprehensive package with SB and can say it is the only way to go. With so many reviews all saying the same about their success with a consulting service, I can honestly say that SB is the one that stands out and is the only one to choose.

After being rejected from my target school I decided to use a consulting service the 2nd time around so that if things didn't work out again, I could hold my head high and say I did all I could. I looked into a few options and ended up taking advantage of Stratus Prep's free 30 min consultation. After speaking with Shawn and providing him with my background I felt confident they'd be able to help, even with a lower than average GMAT and GPA.

I was linked up with Jeff Mroz who would be my counselor through the entire process. Off the bat I realized Jeff and Shawn were not going to pull any punches. They'd be honest with all of their suggestions. There were some points on my essay and resume that I thought were strong and they explained why they wouldn't be. Or on the other hand, how experiences I thought were irrelevant would be great to use.

Jeff was responsive, flexible, and knowledgable. Most of our conversations needed to be scheduled with little heads up but Jeff was always able to fit me into his schedule at a time that worked for me. Since most (could be all) of Stratus Prep's counselors have admissions experience they know what schools are looking for and they are very knowledgeable of the do's and don't of the admissions process. But I don't think this is what sets Stratus apart from the other consulting firms. I think their process is uniquely effective. Jeff was adamant about going through each phase step by step, whether I thought some of the exercises were pointless or not. I realized that after all was said and done I created a product I was really proud of - something that was always in me but Stratus assisted in pulling out of me. Ultimately, I was accepted into my dream school with a scholarship. But to be honest, I would have recommended Stratus if I was rejected again. They do a tremendous job.

I signed up for a 4 school comprehensive package with Stacy Blackman and got accepted into my first choice school (top 5). I spent just over a month working with my consultant, Meredith. I honestly do not think I could have made this happen without her help. She took my pedestrian application to a very competitive one. She is very knowledgable in terms of what certain schools are looking for. She would even review my work over the weekends when I needed a short turnaround. She understood my situation fully and helped me bring out the plus points in my story and this resulted in a stellar application and an acceptance to my dream school. I highly recommend SBC services and especially Meredith if you are looking for some help and want to take your application to another level.

After my initial 30 minute call with someone from Stacy Blackman whose name unfortunately escapes me, the woman from SB suggested I work with Paul and I could not have had a better experience / it could not have been a better match for me.

From the first hour-long call with Paul it seemed like he understood the type of person I am and the right way to craft my application to (hopefully) differentiate it from all of the other private equity applicants. The thing I appreciated most about Paul was he was very objective and didn't seem to feel the need to change things / insert his thoughts just for the sake of it. He seemed to be much more focused on understanding the big ideas you could convey and pointing you towards the ones he thinks make the most sense for you. After our first two discussions to really drill down on exactly what it is I was going to write about, we exchanged 3 drafts and we were done. Based on a number of these reviews I've read, I was expecting it to be a tedious process, but after that 3rd draft, he said "any other changes would just be changing it from your voice to mine." I was so happy that when my family proof-read my essays they commented that they sounded like me.

Paul was of course very helpful in the other aspects of the process: creatively answering short answer questions to help your entire application tie together, resume review and interview prep, and in each case his approach was very much the same.

I am so lucky and fortunate to say that after working with Paul and applying to Harvard, Stanford and Wharton Round 1, this past week I was admitted to Harvard and Stanford (and am still awaiting notification from Wharton)!

I could not recommend Paul and SB any more highly.

I worked with Ryan Barba at Stacy Blackman and had a fantastic experience. I worked with him on my Sloan application and ended up with an offer from Sloan! Ryan had a great sense of what the school was looking for in the essays, recommendation letters, and resume. He helped me always think about my materials in terms of how they highlighted the aspects that are important to Sloan, which I think made my application particularly good compared to others that were not perfectly tailored for the school.

I was working on a tight timeline, and Ryan was able to give me feedback really quickly so that we could move ahead at my pace, which was faster than the typical pace. He was easy to work with and was able to jump on the phone at a moment's notice. For the interview prep, he gave me really candid comments on our mock interview, and the questions he asked prepared me well for the actual interview.

I highly recommend working with Ryan and the rest of the Stacy Blackman team.

I would recommend Stacy Blackman. They're extremely professional and methodical. Initially, I requested for a 30 minute free session. That gave me a good feel of what I'm getting into and what to expect.
Esther Magna helped me realistically evaluate my profile without any sugarcoating.

I worked with Andy Pelletier from SBC on an hourly package. It started off with a strategy call which was a brainstorming session on how I would need to project myself in my applications. He really helped me frame my story in a powerful, concise way and then sell my story in the application.
The entire application process is pretty daunting; Andy helped me push myself and deliver my best.

Stacy's YouTube videos and e-mails give you little tips that are invaluable. Although they're a little expensive, they definitely deliver results and make you feel that it was all worth it in the end.

Removed

When I made the decision to apply to top MBA schools, I knew I wanted to maximize my potential and outcome; and after searching for the right consultation service, I chose Stacy Blackman after reading such positive reviews. I am truly glad that the reviews were spot on as I feel fortunate to have worked with SBC and Meredith Shields - especially as I look forward to heading to Tuck.

The SBC process is highly organized and helped mitigate my overall stress with respect to the application process. The 30 minute assessment with Esther Magna was painless as well; it really helped me understand SBC and I believe it was for Esther to match me up with a consultant who would be best for me, which I am grateful for because I had the pleasure of working with Meredith.

Although I was concerned about the overall strength of my application, Meredith immediately put me at ease. She helped me articulate my strengths and helped me understand that what I viewed as weaknesses should not necessarily be viewed as such. She challenged me to really understand what each school was asking for and helped me approach each essay critically. She is also very responsive and highly organized - she would follow-up with me on my timing and communicated with me regularly.

I highly recommend SBC and especially Meredith - she gave me the confidence in the strength of my profile and ensured that I approached each component of my application and to each school in a competitive manner; and I couldn't be happier with the results!

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to share my services. I'm a boutique MBA Admissions Consultant. My company is called MBA Wisdom and my website is www.mbawisdom.com. I provide GMAT tutoring, MBA admission consulting and interview coaching. Please feel free to sign up for a free consultation. I look forward to helping you get admitted to your dream school!

Regards,
Daniel

I decided to go for Stacy Blackman Consulting based the online reviews and following the success that I have achieved in the last few weeks (Admitted to Kellogg with Scholarship and Admitted to Tuck), I definitely recommend SBC to potential candidates.

My kick-off call was set up with Esther Magna and this call in itself gave me the confidence in SBC's ability to guide a candidate through the application. Esther set me up with Seher Khanna and Seher brilliantly guided me through the entire process.

I knew my strengths and my weaknesses but Seher helped me to organize my thoughts into one single piece that was specific to each application. She continuously challenged me to improve and moreover kept me motivated whenever I felt tired or dejected during the application process (one of the very important elements of a successful application from my perspective). She was extremely flexible with my ad-hoc requests for discussions and very timely with her responses; Over those 3 months I never had to wait for her response. SBC additionally provided 3rd person peer reviews of my application and this helped me to further identify the gaps in my application.

Honestly I was skeptical of SBC's claim of a "92% success rate in getting applicants into at least one of their four top schools" before I started but I can confidently state today that SBC and especially Seher's support was invaluable for me to achieve this success today.

I think there is no better way to get a sense of the quality of service you'll receive than asking for a free consultation.
Many of our clients have compared our services with what other firms provide before deciding to work with us, and I think this is the right approach.

Work with a consultant you feel comfortable with, not one that is recommended on discussion boards.
You should strive to make a well-informed decision before committing to what could be a life-changing decision.

If you are just looking for a free profile assessment, feel free to also give our algorithm a try. It only takes 30 seconds.
https://www.mbaadmissionsadvisors.com/mb ... lgorithm/

Good luck with your application !

Vincent

I think there is no better way to get a sense of the quality of service you'll receive than asking for a free consultation.
Many of our clients have compared our services with what other firms provide before deciding to work with us, and I think this is the right approach.

Work with a consultant you feel comfortable with, not one that is recommended on discussion boards.
You should strive to make a well-informed decision before committing to what could be a life-changing decision.

If you are just looking for a free profile assessment, feel free to also give our algorithm a try. It only takes 30 seconds.
https://www.mbaadmissionsadvisors.com/mb ... algorithm/

Good luck with your application !

Vincent

I have nothing but the highest compliments for Stacy Blackman's services. I took the 4 college application package and worked with Meredith from July to October 2014. I needed to refine my goals and what I hoped to achieve from an MBA and Meredith helped me think through all these topics with great patience. Doing multiple drafts simultaneously for multiple schools can be taxing for anybody but Meredith handled it with aplomb and was very responsive and encouraging. When I didn't get into one of my schools (the only one), she even took the time to write me an email telling me not to lose hope. When I was invited to interview at the three other schools, Meredith coached me very well and we clarified the points and stories I should focus on and what the final message should be. My MBA application journey was made infinitely smoother with Meredith's help and I look forward to matriculating at Wharton in the Fall of 2015.

Review on Vibranture MBA consulting

I signed with Vibranture MBA consulting on 23Dec post a discussion 3 days back. While I had signed up for full services, he had shown keen intent on assisting me with application work and strategy. In-fact he had sent motivating emails on lets do a best crack at the school where I am making my application for. This person right after signing up does a brainstorming session with me (which is priced differently and quite heavily for a single package). Being a full service client, I had already paid Rs 48000 for two services - comprehensive essay package and resume service. In the 1.5 hour discussion that we had on 26Dec (which btw didn't happen on 25Dec cause Prince Peter, the consultant with Vibranture mentioned that he doesn't work on 25Dec. This bit I didn't know because I didn't account for days he doesn't work for when I only had 15 das for my deadline to application).
Post signing up, we did this brainstorming session where I had a total of 90 minutes based on the package I bought. We used only 60 minutes and decided to keep the rest 30 minutes parked for later. I returned back to him on 29Dec, that what would be his suggestion on how I work on my rough drafts cause though I had a brainstorming session with him but I don't see much value coming out that and I need more support.
His retort reply on that email was as follows. "I took you on as a client because you were a direct reference, and after you repeatedly affirmed that you wanted to go ahead with our partnership. I am/was also very clear about exactly what service is on offer.So, in a professional email it is difficult for me to accurately comment on your 'hope' that I would write your essays for you. Neither can I comment adequately on what I feel about you wastefully expending the time that I could have used to guide serious candidates.I am going against our no-refund once started policy and am making a complete refund minus Rs.20, 000 [Rs.16, 000 for ~100mins brainstorming time, Rs.4, 000 for time spent on the resume] so we both can move on."
Above was clearly demotivating for me provided I had already paid Rs 48000 to him with my worry of a deadline hovering on me. I approached this by calling him.
He was already fuming and not only he kept mentioning am not a serious candidate. He also kept mentioning that I am not making sense. After the call when I realized he ain't budging and has not given me any option. We decided to take some-time to think and his email came to me as follows follows: -
Hi Ruchi, 1. We very clearly state what our service offers. OBVIOUSLY we have no way of accommodating ideas or wishes that are alien to it.2. Our stated policy is NO REFUNDS because we have only limited time and once we allocate time for a candidate we obviously have to refuse other candidates and forgo potential billing. I very clearly told you during our last talk there are NO refunds once you start the service. You agreed and we started. Despite that, our offer of refund for LESS time than we have spent on you was simply so we both can move on.We spent more than a 100 minutes of our talk-time on you only because you were buying the full service and we wanted to understand your views better for the services that would follow. We billed only 60 minutes on that assumption alone; if you had bought the brainstorming service separately the billing would have been for two hours [Rs.20, 000]- there is no half hour pack. Thus 90 minutes is simply a compromise that works in your favor.The resume service charges are HUGELY subsidized - once again ONLY for full service clients. The cover price for the standalone service is Rs.25, 000. Once again we are offering you 60% refund though our stated policy is 0%.This offer of refund applies ONLY TODAY: else we will have to keep open even more slots for you and will have to refuse other candidates and lose further potential billing. Please let us know either way. Of course if you want to continue you are quite welcome: as long as your expectations are in line with what we have promised. Also if you are continuing we would urge you not to give false commitment on sending material - like you have the last two times - each time you do that we have to change our schedule and lose time/billing hours. Again, I am going against our no-refund once started policy and am offering a complete refund minus Rs.20, 000 [Rs.16, 000 for ~100mins brainstorming time, Rs.4, 000 for time spent on the resume] so we both can move on.Please send me your bank details: Bank Name, Account holder name, Account Number, Bank Location, IFSC Code.This offer of refund applies ONLY TODAY: please let us know either way by 5pm today.

Seeing his uncooperative behavior really did piss me off and especially so because I had already paid with him not delivering and chickening out and asking me to pay up significantly more to tune of Rs 8000 over and above Rs 12000 which we wanted to deduct for brainstorming session. I debated with him on how it is unfair that he just used time on my resume but he has not yet delivered and doesn't have any intent on delivering as well. Nor did I take up an extra brainstorming session to which he was charging me money.
Following is my email communication to him: "Dear Prince It has been a short and worthwhile association with you. Though we tried but I feel somehow this partnership may bound to have unmet expectations keeping our deadlines in mind. I agree that unwarranted surprises ain't ideal.I understand that you didn't take new clients. I do respect your time. As you see that since your strong recommendation came from Abhishek, I completely do trust you with your abilities.A) I understand and trust that you may have put some time in the resume and I'd get to see some drafts of it that you may share. So I am okay with your policy of refunding 60%. Thanks for making me the exception. However the value of services were also monetized in sync with application. I am willing to still go ahead with whatever you suggest.B) Though for the strategy session, I feel that charging full-rate is unreasonable. We are aware that we had a conversation as part of the comprehensive services package, where strategy is always bits and pieces as the comprehensive services allows that. What we discussed in first half an hour were guidelines and not strategy, as you clearly guided. When one hour strategy begun and stopped, you informed me so. We decided that I could use the next half hour to fix a strategy session for the hanging matters still. If in any case I would have bought the services of a strategy session, then I would utilize it. Please think about it. Well, that decision is up to you. I can only mention as much as above. I value our professional relationship much more than such underlying details. And really hope that when time is right, we get to work again together.
To which his uncooperative response was as follows: "Hi Ruchi, Our stand is very clear: the partial refund is unfair to us but we are willing to do it to let us all move on. The policy is - and the fair refund should be - ZERO: that would be fair because we lose potential clientele when we sign up a full service client and more importantly because that is the policy that was very clearly stated to you. DESPITE that, the offer of a substantial refund is simply a gesture that will allow us to move on.Also, there is no 'strategy' session [in fact that word is not even mentioned in the service page]- there is just brainstorming TIME: as I mentioned before, if you had bought a standalone brainstorming service the clock would stop at 60mins; the rest of the time was spent on you because you reiterated and promised your status as a full service client. And there is NO question of ANY further input from us on ANYTHING, certainly not on the resume: in case you want a standalone resume service the balance would be Rs.21, 000.In case that is acceptable to you, we would be happy to bid you farewell and make the refund minus Rs.20, 000.Please let us know if the refund of Rs.28, 000 works for you ; because while we will wish you the best post this episode, we really would be happier not to communicate with you further, after the refund.Regards.Prince"
I feel I have been unfairly charged and been duped on grounds of mis-representing information as: A) Prince peter knew that I was working on strict time-lines and he had promised support before signing up. He not only didn't provide support. Cheated by shaving off lot of money but also didn't cooperate by taking offs as was no warranted or discussed about. B) All he was interested in was how the time was used not how he delivered value . I didn't get value out of the brainstorming session that I had and he himself agreed he discussed more from perspective of seeking information than giving because he needed information to work on next processes of the application. By virtue of that it is clear, the brainstorming session for which he charged me as an individual package was unfairly charged. C) Prince peter is a hoax and an inappropriate person to work with. All he did during the time was shout or scream and be mentally corrosive so as I could be further worried about a short time-line that I were working with. Also as I mentioned, he was not interested in sharing his insights on resume to which he charged Rs 4000 already. Plus he charged me Rs 8000 for the thirty minutes which were guidelines discussion and not brainstorming session as initially occurred.

I would never recommend Vibranture to anyone. My earnest attempt is to save poor souls from duping their hard-earned money from unscrupulous characters.

NUTSHELL: VIRANTURE MBA CONSULTING DEFINITETLY NOT RECOMMENDED

Review on Vibranture MBA consulting

I signed with Vibranture MBA consulting on 23Dec post a discussion 3 days back. While I had signed up for full services, he had shown keen intent on assisting me with application work and strategy. In-fact he had sent motivating emails on lets do a best crack at the school where I am making my application for. This person right after signing up does a brainstorming session with me (which is priced differently and quite heavily for a single package). Being a full service client, I had already paid Rs 48000 for two services - comprehensive essay package and resume service. In the 1.5 hour discussion that we had on 26Dec (which btw didn't happen on 25Dec cause Prince Peter, the consultant with Vibranture mentioned that he doesn't work on 25Dec. This bit I didn't know because I didn't account for days he doesn't work for when I only had 15 das for my deadline to application).
Post signing up, we did this brainstorming session where I had a total of 90 minutes based on the package I bought. We used only 60 minutes and decided to keep the rest 30 minutes parked for later. I returned back to him on 29Dec, that what would be his suggestion on how I work on my rough drafts cause though I had a brainstorming session with him but I don't see much value coming out that and I need more support.
His retort reply on that email was as follows. "I took you on as a client because you were a direct reference, and after you repeatedly affirmed that you wanted to go ahead with our partnership. I am/was also very clear about exactly what service is on offer.So, in a professional email it is difficult for me to accurately comment on your 'hope' that I would write your essays for you. Neither can I comment adequately on what I feel about you wastefully expending the time that I could have used to guide serious candidates.I am going against our no-refund once started policy and am making a complete refund minus Rs.20, 000 [Rs.16, 000 for ~100mins brainstorming time, Rs.4, 000 for time spent on the resume] so we both can move on."
Above was clearly demotivating for me provided I had already paid Rs 48000 to him with my worry of a deadline hovering on me. I approached this by calling him.
He was already fuming and not only he kept mentioning am not a serious candidate. He also kept mentioning that I am not making sense. After the call when I realized he ain't budging and has not given me any option. We decided to take some-time to think and his email came to me as follows follows: -
Hi Ruchi, 1. We very clearly state what our service offers. OBVIOUSLY we have no way of accommodating ideas or wishes that are alien to it.2. Our stated policy is NO REFUNDS because we have only limited time and once we allocate time for a candidate we obviously have to refuse other candidates and forgo potential billing. I very clearly told you during our last talk there are NO refunds once you start the service. You agreed and we started. Despite that, our offer of refund for LESS time than we have spent on you was simply so we both can move on.We spent more than a 100 minutes of our talk-time on you only because you were buying the full service and we wanted to understand your views better for the services that would follow. We billed only 60 minutes on that assumption alone; if you had bought the brainstorming service separately the billing would have been for two hours [Rs.20, 000]- there is no half hour pack. Thus 90 minutes is simply a compromise that works in your favor.The resume service charges are HUGELY subsidized - once again ONLY for full service clients. The cover price for the standalone service is Rs.25, 000. Once again we are offering you 60% refund though our stated policy is 0%.This offer of refund applies ONLY TODAY: else we will have to keep open even more slots for you and will have to refuse other candidates and lose further potential billing. Please let us know either way. Of course if you want to continue you are quite welcome: as long as your expectations are in line with what we have promised. Also if you are continuing we would urge you not to give false commitment on sending material - like you have the last two times - each time you do that we have to change our schedule and lose time/billing hours. Again, I am going against our no-refund once started policy and am offering a complete refund minus Rs.20, 000 [Rs.16, 000 for ~100mins brainstorming time, Rs.4, 000 for time spent on the resume] so we both can move on.Please send me your bank details: Bank Name, Account holder name, Account Number, Bank Location, IFSC Code.This offer of refund applies ONLY TODAY: please let us know either way by 5pm today.

Seeing his uncooperative behavior really did piss me off and especially so because I had already paid with him not delivering and chickening out and asking me to pay up significantly more to tune of Rs 8000 over and above Rs 12000 which we wanted to deduct for brainstorming session. I debated with him on how it is unfair that he just used time on my resume but he has not yet delivered and doesn't have any intent on delivering as well. Nor did I take up an extra brainstorming session to which he was charging me money.
Following is my email communication to him: "Dear Prince It has been a short and worthwhile association with you. Though we tried but I feel somehow this partnership may bound to have unmet expectations keeping our deadlines in mind. I agree that unwarranted surprises ain't ideal.I understand that you didn't take new clients. I do respect your time. As you see that since your strong recommendation came from Abhishek, I completely do trust you with your abilities.A) I understand and trust that you may have put some time in the resume and I'd get to see some drafts of it that you may share. So I am okay with your policy of refunding 60%. Thanks for making me the exception. However the value of services were also monetized in sync with application. I am willing to still go ahead with whatever you suggest.B) Though for the strategy session, I feel that charging full-rate is unreasonable. We are aware that we had a conversation as part of the comprehensive services package, where strategy is always bits and pieces as the comprehensive services allows that. What we discussed in first half an hour were guidelines and not strategy, as you clearly guided. When one hour strategy begun and stopped, you informed me so. We decided that I could use the next half hour to fix a strategy session for the hanging matters still. If in any case I would have bought the services of a strategy session, then I would utilize it. Please think about it. Well, that decision is up to you. I can only mention as much as above. I value our professional relationship much more than such underlying details. And really hope that when time is right, we get to work again together.
To which his uncooperative response was as follows: "Hi Ruchi, Our stand is very clear: the partial refund is unfair to us but we are willing to do it to let us all move on. The policy is - and the fair refund should be - ZERO: that would be fair because we lose potential clientele when we sign up a full service client and more importantly because that is the policy that was very clearly stated to you. DESPITE that, the offer of a substantial refund is simply a gesture that will allow us to move on.Also, there is no 'strategy' session [in fact that word is not even mentioned in the service page]- there is just brainstorming TIME: as I mentioned before, if you had bought a standalone brainstorming service the clock would stop at 60mins; the rest of the time was spent on you because you reiterated and promised your status as a full service client. And there is NO question of ANY further input from us on ANYTHING, certainly not on the resume: in case you want a standalone resume service the balance would be Rs.21, 000.In case that is acceptable to you, we would be happy to bid you farewell and make the refund minus Rs.20, 000.Please let us know if the refund of Rs.28, 000 works for you ; because while we will wish you the best post this episode, we really would be happier not to communicate with you further, after the refund.Regards.Prince"
I feel I have been unfairly charged and been duped on grounds of mis-representing information as: A) Prince peter knew that I was working on strict time-lines and he had promised support before signing up. He not only didn't provide support. Cheated by shaving off lot of money but also didn't cooperate by taking offs as was no warranted or discussed about. B) All he was interested in was how the time was used not how he delivered value . I didn't get value out of the brainstorming session that I had and he himself agreed he discussed more from perspective of seeking information than giving because he needed information to work on next processes of the application. By virtue of that it is clear, the brainstorming session for which he charged me as an individual package was unfairly charged. C) Prince peter is a hoax and an inappropriate person to work with. All he did during the time was shout or scream and be mentally corrosive so as I could be further worried about a short time-line that I were working with. Also as I mentioned, he was not interested in sharing his insights on resume to which he charged Rs 4000 already. Plus he charged me Rs 4000 for the thirty minutes which were guidelines discussion and not brainstorming session as initially occurred.

I would never recommend Vibranture to anyone. My earnest attempt is to save poor souls from duping their hard-earned money from unscrupulous characters.

NUTSHELL: VIRANTURE MBA CONSULTING DEFINITETLY NOT RECOMMENDED