Admissions Consultants??

[darcknyht]

Hey guys,

I wanted to know what experiences people have had with admissions consultants? I realize Veritas and Stacy Blackman are all over here, but I'll even take biased viewpoints as well!

I'll provide my stats, I suppose they may be relevant if anyone has specific advice, which would be awesome:

-23, male
-Immigrant from Indian (when I was 4),
-Double major in Chemical engineering and Biomedical engineering from -Carnegie Mellon (GPA 3.6, GPA for final two years 3.7)
-GMAT: 730 (Q47, V43)
-Have a lot of research experience (was going to go for a PhD at one point) and worked at a fellowship at the Nat'l Inst. of Health
-Currently work for Merck & Co as a manufacturing supervisor, managing union employees on a production line
-Will be 25 (late birthday) and have 3 years exp. by Fall '09

Please let me know what you guys think about the needs of a consultant, how beneficial they have been for you, and/or how beneficial you all think one might be for me.

All the best,

[darcknyht]

whoa. sorry about the typos in that last post. I was getting a bit sloppy there, i.e. I'm from India, not from Indian

[Scottie@VeritasPrep]

Congratulations on your GMAT score. Your profile looks great! You should be competitive for any program you choose. An admissions consultant can help decide which programs best fit your background and goals, assist you in constructing and polishing your essays, differentiate yourself among applicants at different programs, and get strong letters of recommendation.

Remember, a large part of the application process involves marketing yourself. To determine whether you need a consultant you should decide if you are comfortable with all aspects of the admissions process. If there are any areas that concern you, check out the various consulting companies to see who can best meet your needs.

Hope this helps!

[darcknyht]

Scottie, thanks a lot for the insight and compliments! I have been looking into consultants and we'll see what happens!

Thanks again!

[wilderness]

An admissions consultant can .... get strong letters of recommendation.

I dont want to challenge anyone, but just want to clafiry a confusion here. How can a consultant help me get a better letter of recommendation? The letter has to be done by the recommender, and isn't it against the rules to influence his recommendation ? Secondly, i think it might actually be offending to tell a manager that he needs help from the consultant because he himself cannot write good letters.

Secondly, Some of my recommendors are not so good in English, but I think its more important to have a recommendation from a person who knows me well rather than a distant colleague with good English. I expect the admission committee to understand that my recommendor (a German national who has hardly worked outside Germany and read only basic English in school) will not be so good in the language. They should be concerned with my English, not that of my recommender. Is it allowed that I proof read his recommendation to correct any English mistakes before he submits them ?

[darcknyht]

An admissions consultant can .... get strong letters of recommendation.

I dont want to challenge anyone, but just want to clafiry a confusion here. How can a consultant help me get a better letter of recommendation? The letter has to be done by the recommender, and isn't it against the rules to influence his recommendation ? Secondly, i think it might actually be offending to tell a manager that he needs help from the consultant because he himself cannot write good letters.

Secondly, Some of my recommendors are not so good in English, but I think its more important to have a recommendation from a person who knows me well rather than a distant colleague with good English. I expect the admission committee to understand that my recommendor (a German national who has hardly worked outside Germany and read only basic English in school) will not be so good in the language. They should be concerned with my English, not that of my recommender. Is it allowed that I proof read his recommendation to correct any English mistakes before he submits them ?

I'm no expert, obviously, but I do not believe that is NOT the tactic used by consultants (I certainly will not be using it) for helping you with recommendations. What would generally happen is they will help you create some type of informational packet, or something, that would contain your resume and highlight information about yourself. You would in no way be writing the letter of recommendation.

To your second point, all of the applications I have looked at force the recommender to directly input their evaluation to the school electronically. You should not be involved with that process. Additionally, I was advised (not by a consultant, but by Mantauk's book) to not draft letters or review letters before submission, even if asked to. It brings up too many questions if AdCom realized this occurred.

Any professional or others with more experience have any input?

[Scottie@VeritasPrep]

It is not the job of the admissions consultant to guide your recommender in writing your letter. An admissions consultant will help YOU: 1) determine who from your academic and professional history will be most effective in writing the type of letter you need, 2) create a request that will ensure a letter that is in line with the rest of your application, and 3) determine the pros and cons of specific recommenders based on the school(s) you are applying to.

Hope this helps!

[wilderness]

Thanks VP_MBA_Expert for the reply but I am somewhat more confused.

2) create a request that will ensure a letter that is in line with the rest of your application, and

Do I need to write a special letter to get a recommendation ? I got recommendations in the past (for my MS) and it was a straight forward thing. Go to the person with the request and the required contact data where he needs to send the recommendation. Is there anything else as well to the process ?

1) determine who from your academic and professional history will be most effective in writing the type of letter you need,

I have chosen 2 people to do my recommendations. One is my current boss because I have been working with him for the last 3 years. Second is my boss from my old job prior to my masters (I did BS in Engineering, then worked for 2 years and then did a Masters in 2005 and have been working since then with my current boss). So this second recommender is from the job that I did between my undergrad and Masters. He would be helpful because he was not only my boss at office but also (when I was in univ) I was active with an professional Engg organization (IEE) of which he was a senior member. So he can comment on both aspects of my personality.

Now I am confused how can a consultant help me further with choosing the recommendors. A university professor recommendation would not be that useful here. However for the places like HBS that need a third recommendor I intened to request my former Incharge of Univ Debating Society (of which I was an active member). He also taught me for 2 years.

I am just wondering if there any additional thing a consultant can do in regards to this choice of recommenders ?

[Linda Abraham]

Hey guys,

I wanted to know what experiences people have had with admissions consultants? I realize Veritas and Stacy Blackman are all over here, but I'll even take biased viewpoints as well!

I'll provide my stats, I suppose they may be relevant if anyone has specific advice, which would be awesome:

-23, male
-Immigrant from Indian (when I was 4),
-Double major in Chemical engineering and Biomedical engineering from -Carnegie Mellon (GPA 3.6, GPA for final two years 3.7)
-GMAT: 730 (Q47, V43)
-Have a lot of research experience (was going to go for a PhD at one point) and worked at a fellowship at the Nat'l Inst. of Health
-Currently work for Merck & Co as a manufacturing supervisor, managing union employees on a production line
-Will be 25 (late birthday) and have 3 years exp. by Fall '09

Please let me know what you guys think about the needs of a consultant, how beneficial they have been for you, and/or how beneficial you all think one might be for me.

All the best,

Since you are open to biased opinions, I am going to add mine. I recently posted on the benefits provided by admissions consultants, specifically Accepted's consultants in Admissions Strategy and Admissions Consultants.

Regarding your profile, you have a competitive profile for the top programs. What schools are you aiming for?

Best,
Linda

[darcknyht]

Hey guys,

I wanted to know what experiences people have had with admissions consultants? I realize Veritas and Stacy Blackman are all over here, but I'll even take biased viewpoints as well!

I'll provide my stats, I suppose they may be relevant if anyone has specific advice, which would be awesome:

-23, male
-Immigrant from Indian (when I was 4),
-Double major in Chemical engineering and Biomedical engineering from -Carnegie Mellon (GPA 3.6, GPA for final two years 3.7)
-GMAT: 730 (Q47, V43)
-Have a lot of research experience (was going to go for a PhD at one point) and worked at a fellowship at the Nat'l Inst. of Health
-Currently work for Merck & Co as a manufacturing supervisor, managing union employees on a production line
-Will be 25 (late birthday) and have 3 years exp. by Fall '09

Please let me know what you guys think about the needs of a consultant, how beneficial they have been for you, and/or how beneficial you all think one might be for me.

All the best,

Since you are open to biased opinions, I am going to add mine. I recently posted on the benefits provided by admissions consultants, specifically Accepted's consultants in Admissions Strategy and Admissions Consultants.

Regarding your profile, you have a competitive profile for the top programs. What schools are you aiming for?

Best,
Linda

Hi Linda,

My dream school is Stanford followed by Harvard, and I will be applying to both. I would like to study general management and currently am interested in management consulting. I'm looking for an admission's consultant to help me choose more schools to apply.

Thanks for your post. I've also checked out your blog.

[Linda Abraham]

Hey guys,

I wanted to know what experiences people have had with admissions consultants? I realize Veritas and Stacy Blackman are all over here, but I'll even take biased viewpoints as well!

I'll provide my stats, I suppose they may be relevant if anyone has specific advice, which would be awesome:

-23, male
-Immigrant from Indian (when I was 4),
-Double major in Chemical engineering and Biomedical engineering from -Carnegie Mellon (GPA 3.6, GPA for final two years 3.7)
-GMAT: 730 (Q47, V43)
-Have a lot of research experience (was going to go for a PhD at one point) and worked at a fellowship at the Nat'l Inst. of Health
-Currently work for Merck & Co as a manufacturing supervisor, managing union employees on a production line
-Will be 25 (late birthday) and have 3 years exp. by Fall '09

Please let me know what you guys think about the needs of a consultant, how beneficial they have been for you, and/or how beneficial you all think one might be for me.

All the best,

Since you are open to biased opinions, I am going to add mine. I recently posted on the benefits provided by admissions consultants, specifically Accepted's consultants in Admissions Strategy and Admissions Consultants.

Regarding your profile, you have a competitive profile for the top programs. What schools are you aiming for?

Best,
Linda

Hi Linda,

My dream school is Stanford followed by Harvard, and I will be applying to both. I would like to study general management and currently am interested in management consulting. I'm looking for an admission's consultant to help me choose more schools to apply.

Thanks for your post. I've also checked out your blog.

You're welcome. If you have leadership in your extra-curricular activities in addition to your current supervisory post, then yes you have a shot at HBS. And if you have taken initiative on and off the job that demonstrate your values, you would have a competitive shot at Stanford. No guarantees, but a competitive profile.

Best,
Linda

[jelt]

Thanks VP_MBA_Expert for the reply but I am somewhat more confused.

2) create a request that will ensure a letter that is in line with the rest of your application, and

Do I need to write a special letter to get a recommendation ? I got recommendations in the past (for my MS) and it was a straight forward thing. Go to the person with the request and the required contact data where he needs to send the recommendation. Is there anything else as well to the process ?

Hi there, it is not in fact a 'straightforward thing'. Recommenders must be managed too, in order to steer them towards what you want portrayed. Schools want to hear back from your recommenders on which exact matrix you stand out on (realistically, you can't be a standout in every area) and if the recommendation letters paint a contradictory portrait of yourself as compared to your essays (eg. fun and easygoing vs serious and sullen), surely you can see that's not necessarily beneficial to your application.

In addition recommenders, on occasion, appreciate you pointing out to them examples that you wish included in your essays. Applying to business school is far harder and more complicated than applying to an MA programme.