The Application Process

I posted this review on Poets & Quants but wanted to share here too. I worked with Paul Bodine (founder of Admitify) for Round 2 of this cycle and highly recommend him. Working with Paul was one of the best decisions I've made.

Prior to working with Paul, I tested out 3 other admissions consulting consultants (all were top 10 consultants in Poets & Quants each year and are household names in the game) and was told that my role at a Financial Services company (an extremely competitive bucket) and my ethnic background as an overrepresented minority would be a tough bucket to crack for M7. I was consistently told by other consultants to "aim lower".

But not Paul. After our first intro call, Paul was able to spot something unique in my profile and told me to aim high. With Paul's help, I submitted to HBS, Wharton, and Sloan in Round 2. Not only was I accepted to Sloan with a 120k merit scholarship, I received my dream acceptance - an HBS acceptance. Not too shabby for someone who was told by other admissions consultants that M7 would be tough to crack! And it was all due to Paul's help.

Paul has an innate ability to spot unique differentiators in his clients, and he gently probes and unravels parts of one's life experiences and backgrounds until all the pieces fall into place to create a memorable story that is both unique and genuine to the applicant. Paul truly cares about his clients, and having Paul's support helped to make an otherwise stressful process…even fun.

While some other consultants I've worked with made sessions feel transactional, as if it was purely a numbers game for them, Paul will give it his all to help his clients succeed. Not only did I walk away with acceptances to some of the best business schools in the world, I learned so much about myself through the thorough "gentle probing" process that Paul deploys, and walked away more clear of my goals than ever before.

To prospective applicants reading this, go with Paul. Coming from someone who tried out 3 other top admissions consultants and still ultimately went with Paul, I guarantee you won't regret it!

Thanks for sharing this information

thank

Hi Guys,

There are plenty of good consulting firms in the USA and India. The Indian consultants charge a lot less than the US-based ones. I used the service of Accepted and got dinged in HBS, Stanford and other M7 schools in 2022. Their service charges were astronomical.

In 2023, I contacted three Indian-based companies - Gyonone, Pythagurus and MBAEssayConsultant. I had a discussion with all three consultants. Thereafter, I chose to work with Sandip from MBAEssayConsultant. He has lots of patience and gave me a lot of time to clarify all my questions. An excellent editor, he offered me lots of suggestions for writing great essays. His detailed knowledge of the culture of various US MBA schools helped me a lot to tailor my applications. Finally, I got admitted to the Columbia MBA program. I got admission letters from Duke and Booth as well; but was dinged at HBS and Stanford.

I have seen from my own application that a good consultant can make a hell of a difference. Hope this helps.

Thanks,
Prady,
CBS Class of 2026