Ask Critical Square

Critical Square will take your application to the next level. With their help I went from WLed at Duke in Round 1 to accepted with scholarship at Darden in Round 2. I consider Fuqua and Darden to be peer schools and wouldn't have been nearly as successful in Round 2 without Critical Square's help.

I originally contacted several consultants in the Spring/Summer before I was to apply to business school. After a few free consultations, I concluded that given enough time I could craft a compelling story on my own and that spending a few thousand dollars on a consultant was unnecessary. I spent months writing my essays making sure each part of my application was polished. The result? I was rejected from all the schools I applied to in round one with the lone exception being Fuqua, where I was wait-listed. I was heart broken and a little unsure on what I should do next.

After returning from a Christmas trip in the Caribbean (where I was when I received the depressing news), I spent some time weighing my options. On a Saturday- December 27th - I used the GMAT Club website to post an urgent message asking for help. I received a response from Bhavik in less than 30 minutes - he remembered me from our free consultation the summer before. I sent Bhavik all my Duke documentation Saturday night and we set-up a wait-list review early Monday morning. The conversation lasted almost two hours and was very in-depth. Bhavik was blunt - he pointed out shortcomings in my application and thoroughly answered each of my questions. With Round 2 deadlines rapidly approaching, Bhavik informed me that he could only provide support on an hourly, a la-carte basis. As a military veteran who wanted a "civilian's" perspective and given my condensed timeline, I decided to purchase the hourly package from Critical Square.

Despite the fact that I had purchased only an hourly service, Critical Square helped me come up with a detailed round 2 game-plan and redo every aspect of my application for four different business schools. Because Round 2 deadlines were less than a week away I was really pressed for time, but Bhavik is a machine. I really don't know when the guy sleeps. I worked non stop all week on my applications and every time I sent Bhavik an updated essay or short answer to review he would respond in less than two hours - regardless of the time of day or day of the week. Each response would have detailed instructions on how to further shape the essay and would often include subtle changes that really took my applications to another level. During the process, it was also reassuring to have someone with limited military experience review my application. When Bhavik didn't understand military jargon he would call me to discuss and then we would reword the story to ensure that the key points I wanted to emphasize were obvious to the ADCOM.

The Round 2 results? I received interview invites to all four schools we applied to during that first week. I was accepted to three and received a significant scholarship to two. The only school of the four I wasn't accepted to was Yale, where I was wait-listed. I think that was due to my terrible on campus interview. I didn't use Critical Square for the interview prep, but wish I had.

If I could go back to last Spring I would purchase a more in-depth package from Critical Square. I'm extremely pleased to be attending Darden this fall, but I'm confident that if I had given Critical Square more time I would've been accepted to a top 7 school. They are a joy to work with and really understand the intricacies of what makes an application stand out in the crowd. I've already suggested Critical Square to several peers and would strongly recommend applicants spend the extra cash. It's a wise investment. A few thousand dollars now might result in tens of thousands of dollars in awarded scholarships. Thanks to Critical Square - it did for me.