Waitlisted at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business in 2016, the MBA candidate was clearly frustrated with his outcomes. So the he turned to an admissions consultant for advice. David White of Menlo Consulting agreed to go over all of his previous application materials and came to a simple conclusion for the less than positive reception he had received.
White believed the candidate, an engineer, delved into too much tehnical detail in his applications. Instead, he had to present himself in a one-dimensional way that would make him more appealing to admission officials. In a last ditch effort to get the candidate off Booth’s waitlist, White helped the applicant put together a video that provided a more well-rounded portrayal.
Ultimately, the attempt didn’t work. The candidate was dinged by Booth. But White’s advice, including his recommendation to retake the GMAT to get a higher score and target several other top schools, finally paid off this year. This time, the applicant was not only accepted by Booth, but also by Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business, Yale School of Management, the University of Virginia’s Darden School, and the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.
NEARLY 500 MBA ADMISSION CONSULTANTS ARE IN THE P&Q DIRECTORY NOW
“Two things stood out about David,” the candidate told Poets&Quants. “He was genuinely interested in my success and that showed by the level by the level of interest he took and the candid discussions we had…(and) unlike other consultants, in my experience, he wasn’t trying to make a ‘sale’ at any time. He wanted me to get to business school in the way that would be most logical and would work best for me.”
The kicker to this story? When the applicant reapplied to Booth and other schools this past year, White couldn’t even take him on as a client because he was already booked up. Nevertheless, the candidate says, White provided more advice and the applicant’s fortunes changed dramatically.
That level of service—reflected in the candidate’s enthusiastic praise for the consultant—has helped make White, along with Paul Bodine, the most favorably reviewed MBA admissions advisers in Poets&Quants’ sprawling directory of consultants. Since the launch of the directory in 2016, some 36 clients have sung the praises of both White and Bodine in reviews, all independently verified by Poets&Quants. That’s more than any other individual consultants in the directory, even though there are nearly 500 advisers listed.
‘I DON’T THINK I GOT MY MONEY’S WORTH’
There’s no doubt that some applicants have horror stories to tell about their consultants, with experiences so bad that they have actually demanded refunds. They’ve been swayed from dream schools, put up with long response times, and even mediocre advice. “We hear horror stories about firms whose coaches work with over 30 clients for each round, and end up confusing first names, the companies they work for, who volunteered for this or that,” says Matt Symonds, a co-founder of Fortuna Admissions, which limits its coaches to no more than eight clients each round.
One applicant recently rated her consultant two stars on our five-star scale, believing the advice she received wasn’t worth the cost. “I don’t think I got my money’s worth,” the applicant wrote in an assessment that is currently under review by Poets&Quants. “I don’t think she had a lot of faith in me, and she was a bit slow in responding when we got closer to the application deadlines. Also, I didn’t get the feeling that she understood what made each school unique and that’s what I was hoping to get the most. Ironically, I was admitted to the schools that I didn’t seek help on–and they were higher ranked!”
Not so with the counselors at the very top of the business. So who are the world’s most favorably reviewed MBA admission counselors. Poets&Quants has been soliciting client reviews on the nearly 500 consultants in the directory for more than two years. All told, some 140 consultants have gained reviews from more than 780 clients, a rich database of customer satisfaction. These days, in fact, as many as 10 reviews a day are vetted by our editorial staff.
ONLY FIVE OF THE ORIGINAL 11 CONSULTANTS ON LAST YEAR’S LIST MADE THE NEW TOP LIST
Last year, also in late April, we compiled a top ten list of the most extraordinary members of the club, the select few who have garnered the most raves from highly satisfied clients. A full year later, we thought it was a good time to update our list of the top ten.
In the first iteration, White, a former tech executive with Yahoo and Travelzoo who began consulting in 2012, was ranked fourth behind consultants at Fortuna, Bodine Consulting and The MBA Exchange. Paul Bodine, who has been counseling applicants for more than 20 years, was ranked second. Now, supported by 36 rave assessments each from clients, they are at the top of the list. Last year, by the way, it took only a dozen favorable reviews to claim first.
Only five of the original 11 consultants on the list (two tied for tenth with the same number of reviews each). That makes six counselors newcomers to the top ten (this year there is also a tie for tenth place): Jessica Shklar, Harshad Mali and Kate Richardson of mbaMission, Betsy Massar of Master Admissions, and Caryn Altman and Sherry Holland of Stacy Blackman Consulting. The current group of the top group of 11 consultants alone have received 294 individual reviews from clients.
Last year’s frontrunner, Fortuna’s Melissa Jones, fell off this year’s list, but not because of any other reason except that this remarkable coach spent much of the year on maternity due to the birth of her third child. Another extraordinary counselor, Angela Guido, also is absent from this year’s list, largely because she left mbaMission, where she had been a coach for years, to start her own firm, Career Protocol.
A WRITTEN ENDORSEMENT IS THE ULTIMATE IN CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AND LOYALTY
Skeptics may argue that consultants who rack up the most positive reviews are merely more assertive in encouraging their clients to write favorably about their experiences. But MBA applicants who take the time and effort to write their expressions of praise are the ultimate endorsements of superior consulting work. The more reviews any consultant has, the more credible and authoritative the result. When a client writes a positive referral for a consultant, that action goes beyond customer satisfaction: It becomes a measure of customer loyalty.
The reviews, moreover, often go into the kind of convincing detail that reveal the extent of a consultant’s commitment to client service. Admits to leading business schools generally convey how important it was to get honest, candid feedback on their efforts, to have a coach, mentor and cheerleader in their corner at every turn of what is often a grueling journey to a highly selective MBA program where the vast majority of applicants are routinely rejected.
They praise their advisors for gently leading them through an introspective examination of their personal and profiessional lives and for drawing out of them the most compelling narratives and the lessons drawn from them.
THE TOP CONSULTANTS ARE NOW CHARGING BETWEEN $400 AND $300 AN HOUR
None of this comes cheap, which is why hiring a consultant can sometimes be a difficult decision for an MBA applicant. At the high end, White’s services come in at around $400 an hour, though Menlo Coaching, the firm he and his highly reviewed wife Alice van Harten, is one of the few firms that doesn’t even publish its rates. Instead, Menlo coyly states on its website: “After consultation, we’ll design a package just for you. Most clients pay a low five-figure amount.” In general, hiring a top ten consultant will cost between $400 (for White or van Harten) to $299 (Paul Bodine) an hour.
Estimates of how many MBA applicants use consultants vary, but many consultants claim that as many as a third of the candidates who apply to top ten MBA programs use their services. Some merely get advice on their essays or do a mock interview to prep for the real thing. Others hire consultants from the very start of the process and seek their guidance through every phase of the application process.
Beyond the top ten, there are many superb consultants whose work is equal to these standout counselors. Often times, it may make more sense to hire someone more aligned with your goals than someone on the top ten list. “The irony of your list last year is that people wanted to work with Melissa (Jones) without really thinking why,” adds Symonds. “She spent six years at INSEAD, and has a near perfect record with clients applying to top European schools. But we would typically match enquiries targeting HSW and the M7 with our former admissions officers from HSW and M7.”
As was the case on our first list, some of the top ten work for a few of the largest consulting firms in the business. A few are solo practitioners, and a couple work in boutique firms. The group includes a fair number of MBAs as well, including those who have Harvard Business School, Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, Chicago Booth and INSEAD stamped on their resumes. In their previous lives, they were consultants at such firms as McKinsey, Bain and BCG as well as executives at Yahoo and Sony. Many of them do this work because it offers the flexibility of working from home, or because they are moonlighting for extra cash.
What’s telling about some of the consultants who make the best list is that they can be tough on clients. In an extremely positive review of Betsy Massar, founder of Master Admissions, an applicant who will be entering a top MBA program this fall, noted: “Betsy is not going to make you feel warm and fuzzy all the time. It is her critical eye, honest feedback and ability to pull stories of value out of you that you didn’t even know you had that makes her so great at what she does.”
Prospective students heaped praise on other tell-it-like-it-is consultants on the list. An applicant who was just admitted into both Wharton and Kellogg said of Harshad Mali of mbaMission: “Harshad doesn’t mince words, but he explains himself clearly and logically. His first set of comments on my first essay attempt were tough to swallow (but accurate) – this approach let me quickly kick it into gear and start making progress! When I was holding back and my responses were suffering as a result, Harshad would always kindly but directly call me out.”
MEET THE TOP TEN MBA ADMISSION CONSULTANTS
1. David White: Part of the husband-wife duo at Menlo Coaching, White has been working on MBA admissions for the past five years since 2012. Before helping MBA applicants, the Berkeley-trained engineer had racked up a 15-year career in the tech industry, with roles as a senior vice president at Travelzoo, a senior director at Yahoo, and general manager for Europe at a startup acquired by Adobe. White finished in fourth place last year.
Five-Star Review Excerpt: “While I have had the plan of attaining my MBA since high school, only recently did I have an idea of why I wanted to do so. David helped me immensely in crafting my story for the application process especially considering my non traditional (engineering) background. He provided me with an unbiased opinion of areas to improve to give me the greatest results from the process. While I had done my own research initially into application strategy, David helped to clarify the goal of each individual piece, i.e. what I should be communicating in the essays or how to present myself in the interview. Even from the initial sessions I could tell that David was concerned with my success throughout the entire application process. David is also extremely knowledgeable about the different programs’ strengths and weaknesses, providing observations that are not biased by the lens of current students or the admissions office. This led me to apply to programs that I had not originally considered. Overall I cannot recommend David enough!”
1. Paul Bodine: Based in San Diego, Bodine cut his teeth in the admissions business with Accepted.com long ago after working as a freelance writer for the Orange County Register and having his own writing consulting shop, The Operative Word. He’s been helping MBA applicants for the past 20 years and is the author of six admissions books including of Great Applications for Business School. Bodine finished in second place last year.
Five-Star Review Excerpt: “Thanks to Paul, I am heading to MIT Sloan!! This was my first choice for a top MBA program and he guided me well through the entire application process. Paul has an impressive ability to help you with valuable introspective analysis; much needed especially as you prepare your essays and overall game plan. Always attentive and responsive, Paul has in depth knowledge about each MBA program and uses this knowledge to help you build a sharply focused strategy for applying to your school(s) of choice. I highly recommend Paul’s services to anyone who’s serious about applying to a top ranked university. Thank you Paul!”
3. Alice van Harten: The other half of Menlo Coaching with David White (above), van Harten had worked as a strategy consultant at Bain & Co. and manager for strategy, science and technology for Elsevier before founding her admissions firm five years ago in 2012. With a PhD in the classics from the University of Cambridge, she also has been a lecturer in the humanities at Stanford University. Van Harten was in fourth place last year.
Five-Star Review Excerpt: “I am so happy I found Alice through a friend’s referral. From the start we clicked and I could tell she really cared about finding the best MBA fit for me (she helped me narrow down the list of schools I was applying to based on personal/family needs). Then while writing the essays, she always followed up, helped me think through my story, and paid attention to the smallest details so that I came across as dynamic and not just a typical “finance person.” I knew when I submitted each application that it was as perfect as possible – and I ended up getting admitted to Wharton, MIT, and Booth with an 80k scholarship!
She is also a great resource to practice interviewing with (we prepped for about five hours total) and is as invested in the process as you are. I think this is because she doesn’t overwhelm her schedule with clients – so once she is fully booked, she doesn’t accept more clients in order to ensure quality time with the set that she has. That was really helpful, especially when I was finishing essays last minute.”
4. Jessica Shklar: Shklar was what we commonly call a non-traditional MBA applicant. With a degree in anthropology from Harvard College, she had worked in non-profit education, inititally on curriculum development for an adult education center and later in the admissions office of a small university is Los Angeles. But she clearly knew how to apply to an elite MBA program. Shklar was accepted to every business school to which she applied, including Stanford, Kellogg, and Yale. She ultimately chose to attend HBS, where she completed her MBA with distinction (graduating in the top 10%). She has worked at several Fortune 100 companies, including American Express and JPMorgan Chase. She has been a full-time admissions consultant with mbaMission since 2008.
Five-Star Review Excerpt: “Jessica is a phenomenal admissions counselor. My working relationship with Jessica began over 5 years ago when I applied to the HBS 2+2 program as a college senior. During the initial consultation, Jessica and I immediately clicked and I knew that her knowledge and experience would be invaluable. I chose to go through my 2+2 application without any support and was not admitted. Five years later, I decided to re-apply to MBA programs. I submitted a request for another consultation and, to my surprise, Jessica emailed me back. During our chat, she was very optimistic about my profile and chances for admission. I interviewed seven other admission consultants just to make sure but with Jessica I felt the most comfortable. Over the course of 5 months, Jessica spent many hours helping to refine my application and make sure every aspect was perfect. I couldn’t be happier with the result – I was admitted to my top choice – HBS!”
5. Caryn Altman: A Kellogg MBA, Altman worked as an admissions officer for her alma mater where she read and evaluated written applicant essays and recommended admission to Kellogg. She also conducted numerous applicant interviews assessing candidate fit and future potential at Kellogg and beyond. Preceding her time at Kellogg, Altman was a senior marketing manager for Gatorade, leading Gatorade’s efforts to a variety of consumer targets. Concurrently, she co-led all of the Kellogg recruiting efforts for the PepsiCo Chicago office. Before earning her MBA, Caryn worked in corporate finance and public accounting with CPA certification.
Five-Star Review Excerpt: “Caryn takes her job very seriously. She treats your application as it is her own. Caryn would e-mail me daily, sometimes multiple times a day, with essay rewrites, tips, friendly hellos, etc. I should note that this is because I was very involved in the process and would constantly be e-mailing her first! I am thrilled by my results. After applying to 6 business schools, I got into three of them (one being a top 5 school where I plan to attend next year).”
6. Betsy Massar: A Harvard Business School MBA, Massar had first worked for Goldman Sachs and has spent most of her professional career in and around the financial industry, working on both the sell and buy sides (Barclays Global Investors, now Blackrock), and on Wall Street (in the 80’s), Asia (in the 90’s), and San Francisco (in the new millennium). Founder of Master Admissions, she has been doing MBA admission consulting for TK years.
Five-Star Review Excerpt: “The choice to select an MBA consultant can be a big one, and I am so glad to have found Betsy. I was not looking forward to the introspection, and I was daunted by the process of distilling myself into the essays. Fortunately, I received personal attention from Betsy and felt like I was able to create a real relationship. Because of this she was able to better guide me and help me push through the hard work. Often, she would help me cast something through a new lens or help me find a creative direction that surprised me, but she was also extremely collaborative and supportive in me retaining creative control. She was committed to my success and a true partner in the process. On top of having an incredible experience with Betsy, I was lucky enough to secure excellent outcomes with her help. I applied to the M7, received four interviews, and two acceptances. I cannot recommend her highly enough!”
7. Jessica Burlingame: Based in the New York metro area, Burlingame has been an MBA admissions consultant with The MBA Exchange for the past 13 years. A Columbia Business School MBA who also has an undergraduate degree from Columbia in English and comparative literature, she previously worked in healthcare consulting, private and investment banking, as well as editorial and business development with The Condé Nast Publications and Vault.com. This is her second appearance on the P&Q list of the top ten.
Five-Star Review Excerpt: “I started the application process for 2018 R2 late in the cycle and felt I was very underprepared. Throughout the engagement, Jessica was extremely diligent, thorough and direct in her approach. Her feedback was invaluable in helping me bringing out my best stories and building a tight narrative. I was delighted when I was accepted at my top choice (Yale SOM) with a merit scholarship. Working with Jessica was hands down the best decision I made in this successful journey and I strongly recommend her to all applicants who are looking for a brilliant, no-nonsense consultant.”
7. Sherry Holland: A former assistant director of admissions for Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, Holland has been an MBA admissions consultant with Stacy Blackman Consultng for just over ten years. She has a bachelor’s degree in industrial and labor relations from Cornell University after which she worked in human resources for I. Magnin for three years. At Fuqua, from 2001 to 2005, Holland traveled extensively throughout the U.S. and abroad to recruit, interview and evaluate applicants to Duke’s MBA program.
Five-Star Review Excerpt: “I could not recommend Sherry highly enough. She made the entire process so much more manageable. From the start Sherry was responsive, understanding, and friendly. I had an interview at Duke the next weekend, and she immediately offered to walk me through a mock interview to help me prepare, even before we did the initial call. She read all of my essays and responded promptly – even essays that were for other, non-MBA programs that I was applying to. She completely reworked my resume and made me feel like I had a handle on the process more than I ever thought I would. After being in the working world for 4 years before deciding to go back to school, Sherry was exactly what I needed to get me through. She was honest but also comforting, and I would have never gotten into the schools I did without here.”
9. Alex Leventhal: An HBS grad and philosophy major undergrad, Los Angeles-based Leventhal worked in pharma/healthcare consumer products prior to my MBA, and then post MBA worked in life sciences tech and management consulting. Before founding MBA Prep, his admissions consultancy, he’s been employed by such global firms as Johnson & Johnson Consumer Products, Eli Lilly, and Siebel Systems. This is a return trip to the top list for Leventhal who finished tenth last year.
Five-Star Review Excerpt: “I did a 4-school package with Alex and applied to the very best schools: HSW & Columbia. It was an ambitious goal, and most would have suggested a “safety” school but Alex knew that I wouldn’t settle for anything less and that despite my over representation, I stood a good chance if I put in the effort. Ultimately, I received interviews with three of four schools (Stanford, Wharton and Columbia) and got into both Wharton and Columbia. I also received a siz-figure merit scholarship at Wharton! In my day-to-day job of private investing, our ideal situation is to generate 10x returns on our capital (i.e. invest in companies that ultimately generate 10 times our initial money into the company) and many in my industry search for years to find such opportunities. In the case of Alex and my merit scholarship this statistic was clearly true! I would recommend Alex in a heartbeat and have already done so to friends. Applying to business school is not an easy process and having a consultant like Alex working tirelessly on your side can really improve the odds!”
10. Harshad Mali: After graduating with the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business in 2013, Mali struck out on his own, co-founding a consulting start-up to address the operational and product commercialization challenges faced by small- and medium-sized manufacturing companies. Among his peers on this list, he’s a relative newcomer, having become an admissions consultant for mbaMission slightly more than two years ago. This is his first apperance among the most favorably reviewed.
Five-Star Review Excerpt: “Before I was connected to Harshad, I’d spent several months narrowing my list of schools, visiting, thinking about why I wanted to go to school, what matters to me, and what I wanted to do when I grew up. In December, I found myself planning to apply R2 having done a lot of thinking, but with no essays or concrete application progress made. After a 30 min “real talk” consultation with Harshad, I was off. With his support, I turned the many thoughts into compelling coherent applications. His support and guidance was critical to my success, and ultimately contributed to me getting accepted at both Wharton and Kellogg.”
10. Kate Richardson: In her four years as an MBA admissions consultant for mbaMission, Richardson has advised nearly 200 applicants to top MBA programs. A Booth MBA, with a bachelor’s in psych from the University of Illinois, she got early experience in the business, working as an admissions fellow at Booth as a student, reading applications and doing on-campus interviews with candidates from 2006 to 2008. After earning her MBA, she worked for several years in management consulting at Axiom Consulting Partners, a boutique strategy execution firm. Originally from the Chicago area and having spent most of her professional career in Washington, DC, Richardson now does her consulting work from Columbia, South Carolina.
Five-Star Review Excerpt: “After looking at the extremely competitive admission statistics for top business schools, I decided to work with consultant Kate Richardson to identify strategies to differentiate myself. I was immediately impressed with Kate during our initial brainstorming session. Kate challenged me to think of a breadth of life, academic, and work experiences that would show why I wanted to attend business school and why I would be a desirable student. This discussion proved instrumental for crafting responses to essay prompts and interview questions. Throughout the application process, Kate motivated me to write essays that were unique and consistent with my story. During our revision sessions, we would discuss what I wanted the admission committee to learn from my essays and how potential responses would contribute to my overall application. I was also impressed with Kate’s knowledge of top business schools. She had very useful advice about the types of responses that each school would find more compelling.”
Get ready for yet another cheap shot at business schools. This coming month will see the publication of “Shut Down the Business School: What’s Wrong with Management Education” eloquently authored by a little-known professor from a business school that fails to make either the Financial Times or The Economist rankings.
