Admission Consultant vs. Campus Visits (Where to spend $$$?)

[Franklincard]

Hi all, I'm contemplating whether to hire an admission consultant (eg Veritas Prep or Stacy Blackman or MBA Mission).

If you had to choose, would you rather invest money on one of those, or spend on quite a few (say, 5-8) campus visits across the country?

Here's my thinking: a consultant will probably cost like $5-7k and I may well get my money's worth! But I also wonder if I could simply rely on the wisdom of others and use, say, half that amount toward visits where I can build up a credible roster of on-campus experiences to draw upon in my essays (vs essays that, while professionally edited, draw upon tidbits sourced online, via emails with students, etc.).

Thank you in advance!

[myEssayReview]

There is no doubt that a campus visit will definitely help you with ideas to draw up in your essays. So you should definitely do that.

However, I do not think on -campus visits are substitutes to hiring services of admission consultants for they will work with you on your essays personally on one on one basis helping you through all the stages of essay writing -brainstorming, writing, revising, editing etc. If you don't want to spend $ 5-7 K, you may look for other lesser- known essay review companies that will charge you less and also provide you good service.

I hope it helped.

[Jon@Admissionado]

I would say, try and expand your budget a wee bit
And go for both.

I totally agree that a campus visit is an irreplaceable experience, and you can glean unique and personal info that an Admissions consultant will not know. Plus, maybe even more importantly, get a FEEL for the school yourself, to figure out how you might fit in.

However, just visiting the school won't make you strategize better, write better, choose better recommenders, or get any of the other support that a consultant would provide.

Of course, I AM a bit biased .... but my two bits.

[youngjames]

this is a great question. IMO, if you don't know which schools to apply to, going on a visit will help. visiting schools and attending classes also helps with essays, b/c you can get a sense of the culture and tailor your essays accordingly. mentioning these visits in your essays also demonstrates your enthusiasm to the program, which is smthg we liked to see when i was on the adcom.

with all that said, the costs can pile up quickly. one idea may be to attempt your essays without a consultant and see how far you get. this could defray the overall costs of using a consultant, and maximize your value with them. i wrote an article about this recently which might be of some help to you: https://www.thefirstread.com/mba-admissi ... right-one/ alternatively, you could limit the number of campus visits you conduct which will also reduce costs.

the value a consultant will add is just different from the value you get from an on campus visit which is why the comparison is difficult. the visits are more for you, while the consultant work is more for the adcom...if that makes any sense.

hope that's helpful,
-james young