We’ve come far since we opened our doors in 2007. And we’ve made some friends – and fans! – along the way. In addition to the invites to graduation parties, weddings, and baby showers we’ve received over the years, we’ve also gotten a LOT of fan mail. (We feel like Beyonce!) Here’s a small collection from some Admissionado Alumni. #blushing #winning
I GOT IN TO BOOTH! The best MBA program in the world, according to Financial Times. A “Terrific 10″ school and “Magnificent 7” school! This has been my dream for 8 years. Through dozens of rejection letters, finally it has come to this. And it would never be possible without you, your support, your patience and your wisdom.
AI – Kyrgyzstan
This is my final application, so I am unbelievably ecstatic to be done with this process.
Mark, I enjoyed working with you to reach this finale. With your guidance and sharp eye, I’ve created compelling works of art that depict my genuine self. I am so proud of the finished products!
MI – Japan
When I reached out to you guys I had also already had a conversation with MBA Mission. Right off the bat.. team Admissionado was far more impressive than MBA Mission. Phillip took time to listen to my concerns and answered my questions thoroughly. He even jumped on a call to talk to me while he was on his vacation! It was a no-brainer.. I signed up with Admissionado as soon as I was done with my initial consultation with Phillip. You all provide great value through your services. — JP – US
I am pleased to announce that I have been accepted to Duke MBA program this morning. This success is sweeter because of the fact that I have a GMAT score of 620 after nine attempts and a GPA of 3.2…and I went to the 192th ranked university in America…and I am an ASIAN kid. This shows that with hard and an amazing team like Admissionado, anything is POSSIBLE in this world. — FA – US
I just learnt that I am admitted to HBS!!! I am absolutely thrilled. Thank you so much for your kind help and advice during the process! I could not have made it without you! This is an exciting start of the next stage of my life. You were a true mentor to me and your advice on the essays was priceless. I could not ask for a better advisor!
YG – China
No one else who was helping me had quite the same insight into the process and the POV of the adcoms. I also really appreciate that you guys were not as formulaic about your approach. I know I am a unique candidate and my essays will be quite different than the more traditional ones, so I’m glad you didn’t try to turn me into something that I am not–I think that would had weakened my application a lot. It was, of course, important, to have a more focused b-school appropriate message, which I think I was able to deliver in the end with your help. — CB – US
I just finished submitting my fourth application in Round 1, which is it for now. I just want to thank you all for helping me through this process. Richard, I dont have enough words to thank you. As I have said before, you just didnt help me write better essays, you also made me think deeper and dig deeper before I put anything on paper. — RJ – India
5 applications and 4 Admits! When I began the essay writing process last year in August, I was at sea. So much material that I wanted to include and not enough space to accommodate all of it, I wasn’t able to differentiate between the critical and the non-critical stuff. This is when I decided to utilize Admissionado’s services (after hearing some good feedback from a friend who was admitted to Stanford!). I signed up for their junior deluxe package with Fritz Charles for 2 schools (Wharton and INSEAD). Fritz helped me clear the clutter, build and fine-tune my story. I must say that the money has been well spent (it is a very significant amount where I come from!). The guidance and critical feedback that Fritz provided me has been invaluable. I have been admitted to both the programs! ☺ Without Admissionado’s guidance, this wouldn’t have been possible. The best part about their service is that they retain the originality of your essays and your writing style by pushing you to think deeper and by questioning your statements. I would strongly recommend Admisisonado’s services to anyone serious about applying to the top MBA programs – they really help you put your best foot forward! — NP – India
Just wanted to say thanks again to you and the amazing Admissionado team for rooting for me! I have really come a long way since I first came to Admissionado in September, and no matter what the final outcome is, I will always be grateful for all the support and guidance that you and your team have shown me. — AS – US
Alex my man, you’ve pushed me again and again to the very conner where I have to face the truth I chose not to see. You made me see that I wasn’t thinking hard enough, especially on connecting the dots between my points. You made me see I did not understand what a MBA is about, forcing me to dig every web page of school websites, read papers of faculties, and check facebook and blogs of students and alumni. You made me see I loved to tell my personal stories so much that I chose to ignore the essay prompts and what adcom really want to read. I was dancing because you made me see how far I am from my actually potential and I am so excited to reach for it. — LC – Taiwan
I am in! I am in! I am into Wharton!
Yes! Yes! Yes!
Why am I repeating everything thrice? Why am I repeating everything thrice? Why am I repeating everything thrice?
I guess it’ll sink in soon. I’m a bit emotional right now. Can’t thank you all enough!
RC – India
Finally i’m ALL DONE with the application this year. I’d like to say a BIG THANK YOU for all your help!! All the time and patience spent on helping with my application. It wouldn’t have been so easy for me to come this far without your help and encouragement!!! When I accidentally opened my crappy V1 of one essay, I couldn’t believe how much better my final version had become. After all, I really appreciate your help! In addition, as you mentioned before, you always provide a zone for ur friends to calm down. I actually felt it! Your positive attitude and kind words (when my essays looked awful) could always calm me down and charge me with hope. I can say Thank You for thousands of times if I don’t stop here .– LL – China
I got into Wharton with a $41K scholarship today!!!!! This is amazing!!! Thanks so much Rafael, Claudia, and Lauren. What a dream come true! I appreciate all your help and late nights enabling me to get in. Admissionado was truly invaluable throughout the process. Thanks so much Rafael! It finally hit me yesterday when I submitted my official resignation effective April 28th…a few months to finally relax and go to sleep before midnight!! You’ve been so incredibly helpful throughout the process and it goes without saying: I would not have gotten in without you or Admissionado!
DK – South Korea
I wanted to take a moment and thank you for all your help and guidance. The 4 months really did fly by fast! Thanks for being an awesome coach. There can be 50 different factors that can play against you when you apply to top colleges…in my case, perhaps a 100..but no matter what the final outcome of my applications will be, this journey was fantastic. You have been very very very patient with me (and yes i did not copy and paste the VERY ;)), helped me see things in a different light and have helped me regain my confidence in a lot of ways I can’t express..(honestly) and for all these – I can’t thank you enough. I am truly grateful! I learnt so much about myself in this journey. It was exceptional working with you. — KK – India
I just wanted to share with you right away that I am admitted by UC Berkeley Haas! Just got the call! I am so happy! Thank you soooo much for your help during this process!! Mandy, I cannot thank you enough for always pushing me to dig deeper! Thank you all so much for your support and encouragement all the way through! I cannot say this enough and I cannot believe this is actually happening! — DC – China
Dave, really enjoy working with you. The team, the work, the thinking, and the responsiveness somehow change my view to america. During my two years in an american corporate , I was so often frustrated by slow response, dumbness…It could go on and on. But you and Lauren show me that smart people exist in america, with extreme professionalism. — AX – China
I just wanted to thank the admissionado team for the tremendous help throughout this phase. From Lauren helping me get pumped up in the early beginning to your astute observations. You, particularly, didn’t make it easy on me, as you always pushed me to dig deeper even when I felt I didn’t have more to say … and I’m all the better for it and really proud of the end result. Yaron’s comments were always deep and plenty, making me work hard to get the essays at a good level. He was always patient in helping me solve difficult problems and was always quick to return his observations without compromising the quality. Lauren was also very helpful at the beginning, making the initial hiring process very quick and easy. Her energy was amazing and put me on the right frame of mind to work with you guys. — AD – Italy
i do sometimes have this problem of feeling im not supposed to be here and the same feeling was there when i started the apps for the b school….i felt i cant do it, i dont fit in there, im not a street smart kind….but now when i started working on the applications its like as she said u fake it until the point u see u actually do it and then u go on doing it…..and i enjoyed a lot working with you mark….some incidents in my life shattered my self confidence tho i fake it at work ….but while working with you writing the essays i actually felt im getting it back. — SM – India
Glad to inform you that I recently received the admission offer from Said Business School, Oxford. Thanks for all your guidance in helping me formulate those winning essays. Your laser sharp reviews and suggestion helped me convey my story effectively and subsequently polish that story to make it shine amongst all the other applications, especially for R3 where the competition is a bit more fierce than other rounds. Thanks also for being patient with my requests and queries and your prompt responses to them which helped me prepare a camera ready print in timely manner. I will always cherish this journey. — RS – Australia
Dropped in to say how wonderful it has been working with the Admissionado team. You are ultra quick in his responses and very supportive. You made me very comfortable from day one. But you know what, your greatest ability is to ask the right questions which is something very rare!! You have so many wonderful people around you, makes me jealous. Working with you guys has very significantly altered my way of thinking. I am learning to write. — PP – India
The application journey has ended and the real one begins. I am officially accepted to insead dude!!!! I want to thank you for the assistance along this journey man. I never told you this, but I really appreciated the times where you did not doubt me. Even when I faced desperation in the face and thought it was pointless to submit a quality application before the deadline. The gmat was the biggest concern of mine and everyone’s, and today someone with a score of 610 has made it to this awesome and prestigious school. I am going to drop by and buy you that beer like I promised! — JL – US
I really appreciate all the help, Mark. I know it’s your job, but you’re really good at it. And you definitely went above and beyond what was expected. My goals are so clear now, and I certainly would not be feeling this confident if it weren’t for your help. As I said the other day, I honestly don’t care if I get 6 rejections. I think we did all that we could for the apps, and I know I’ll be successful regardless of whether I get accepted anywhere. BUT, let’s hope that
somebody does take me in so that I can uphold my end of the deal and hand deliver ya’ll some liquid gold 😉 — KW – US
Thanks so much for sending the essays back to me so quickly, definitely feel relieved to turn in my application hours before the deadline! Whether or not I get in, the process of self reflection, of digging deeper (thanks to your questions Julie), really helped and I couldn’t have done it without your valuable help. — GM – India
It’s been quite the interesting journey, to say the least, but I definitely couldn’t have done it without all of Admissionado’s continued help and support. In particular, Kyn. I just wanted to say THANK YOU once again for sticking with me and toughing it out. I’m sure I’ve broken some sort of record as your client. Each time I presented a new challenge that I was facing, your Can Do attitude only further pushed me ahead. You never gave up on me! You can’t imagine how much that means to me, given that we’ve only corresponded via Skype and email 🙂 Thank you for believing in me!!! Despite all the ups and downs, deciding to work with you all was one of the best decisions that I made during this entire MBA application journey. I’ll definitely keep in touch, and wish you all the best in future as well! — WC – US
I really want to thank you both for this process with us. Lauren, thanks thanks thanks for writing that one e.mail about the Facebook seminar that I could not attend because it was full already. Had you not written following up, I would have never met you ladies. Julie, you are one of our heroes right now. Thanks a bunch for all the hard work you put into this process with us. Sometimes I wonder how you can handle being such an amazing person, a great consultant, and a mother all at the same time… you got to teach me lady!!! We all gave our best and even though our pockets are empty and we are broke, hehehe, we feel extremely proud of the hard work we all did! By the way, first time in LA and I loved it. Beautiful beautiful city. A whole new world.!!! — DC – Colombia
I just wanted to let you, Katherine and Lauren know that I received acceptance to HBS. Thank you so much for you and your team’s help. I can confidently say that I wouldn’t have received this acceptance without the patience, attention to detail and overall dedication to my application. I can’t thank you guys enough. — SP – China
I’ve got the admission email just a few minutes ago from McCombs! How wonderful! How beautiful! You can guess what a relief it is for me and how excited I am now! Looking back the journey you accompanied, I feel really really grateful for your constant encouragement and insightful feedback all the way. PLEASE allow me to bow to you and buy you a beer in U.S. next year or anytime if you come to China. BTW, prayer really works! — YF – China
You have been so supportive. I know you are all 10000% behind me. I feel so fortunate to have your support. Honestly, I think everyone should get help from the Admissionado team, but that would also raise the bar across the board and make it that much more difficult to get into MBA school! Thank you for all your help and support! Stefanie, you have been soooo much more than an admission consultant. You have been my personal trainer and coach throughout this whole process and I never would have been even offered an interview without your guidance and support. So thankful!!!! — LH – Canada
I wanted to send you both a sincere thank you for all your help over the past 14 months with my bschool application adventure. Every since Jon’s first reply to my post on Beat the GMAT on where to go next, your team has been extremely upbeat, energetic and most importantly optimistic. I am particularly grateful for the guidance I received from Kyn and am 100% convinced my applications would not be what they were/are without his help. I ended up getting accepted into McCombs and applied to Michigan, Duke and Haas with round two applications and even though I only worked with Kyn on my Duke app, his thoughts and comments were instrumental in all of my applications. Over the past 18 months I have worked with a number of different consulting firms out there and can definitely say Admissionado is truly a class act and I will definitely recommend you guys over anyone else to other prospective bschoolers I come in contact with in the future. — JK – US
I haven’t had the opportunity to thank you guys for the amazing work you helped us get through with our applications!!!!! I can remember of me starting to study for the GMAT almost 2 years agooo!!!! And I couldn’t imagine me deciding to attend between three top MBA programs with great offers from each of them. I want to thank you for the support, for the quick responses!!! for helping us through all of this process. I’m glad I finally got convinced by Dani to work with you!!!! Remember I wasn’t so sure about it? hehe Gosh, I was wrong!!! All your tips and advice definitely helped us give the best out of us in those applications, and now the rewards are coming out. I have just received the scholarship offer from Emory, 24K a year. They want us too!!! Thank you again Lauren and Julie for the amazing job you’re doing with all the prospective students you’re working with. I can tell now that without your support it would have been very difficult to be admitted to the three programs with such amazing scholarships. — DV – Colombia
Thank you so much for working with me on these ten packages!! I’m glad that you were there for every step of the way, answering even the smallest questions and (of course) checking me on my essays. I agree that I’ve grown as a writer…thanks to your guidance! Your edits are invaluable, and I really appreciate all of the work you’ve put into them. I’m also grateful for those times when you helped me get unstuck during the application process! — MP – Canada
Just wanted to thank you guys for your tremendous support in my MBA applications. Spencer’s outstanding help allowed me get into Haas with decent scholarship. Given Haas’s low acceptance rate and small class size, I was very skeptic of applying there. I really liked Haas but I never thought I would get in. Without Spencer’s continous motivation and support, I don’t think I would have even applied to Haas. Spencer totally changed the way I was approaching the MBA applications and that showed up in the results 🙂 I am glad I picked Admissionado and would highly recommend it to my friends. Lauren – you are truly a great match maker 🙂 — TS – US
Uyen, I want to thank you for your support from the very first second. I actually had a free consultation with 7 different companies, before I chose you, guys. All of the consultants, having learned my profile and my target schools, in one or another way told me that I should probably reconsider my list and include some 2nd tier schools, as my profile is not strong enough for H-S-W. You were the only one, who told me that I should try whichever school I want and that I have all the chances to be admitted. Thank you so much for that! — NZ – France
I’m IN!!! I feel I can’t thank you enough for all the guidance and support you’ve given me over the past three months. Moreover, your words of encouragement were what kept me going on many days. Its been such an amazing journey this, and there was no way I could’ve accomplished this without your support. Thank you so much again, and as is customary with us Indians, I need to treat you big time! So do let me know if your in France anytime next year! — KR – India
Working with Admissionado was easily the best and smartest decision I made when preparing to apply to business school. I am a reapplicant and having gone 0 for 4 the previous year, I am ecstatic to announce that I received my first acceptance from a top-10 program just a couple of weeks back! As a former competitive athlete who understands the importance of peaking at the right time under the guidance and motivation of the right coach who can truly bring out your best, I knew right away I would be in good hands with the team at Admissionado after my consultation call. My consultant Phillip was incredibly knowledgeable about my target schools and really understood my background and career aspirations. I knew I had the ingredients to enhance my candidacy; however Admissionado helped me to connect the dots, allowing me to better position my candidacy. Sam, my editor, was simply a magician who helped motivate me to bring out the best in my writing. I had an outstanding experience and feel that everyone on the Admissionado team was right with me and rooting for me every step of the way. I only have the best of things to say about Admissionado and cannot recommend them enough. Just understand that there is no magic bullet for hard work and be prepared to be pushed, but know that there is light at the end of the tunnel and it’s quite sweet when you make it. If you’re serious about your MBA application, please do yourself a favor and schedule a consultation with Admissionado. You won’t regret it! — PN – US
I actually worked with another consulting firm for a while…what I sent you was not too far from what I had initially, even after weeks of working with them. As you must gather from the fact that I’m now one of your clients, I simply was NOT getting where I knew I wanted to be, should be, could be, and needed to be! I would come back to my essays on my own and make changes, and the response would be “”oh your introduction sounds stronger now”” etc. The thought provoking feedback, suggestions, edits, comments that you have provided in just one turn, are EXACTLY what I was looking for, and what I needed. THANK you so much for this! I wanted to simply express how grateful I am to you guys for amazing support in literally the 11th hour. And for making it a personal experience. I told Lauren this the other day, but I really wish I had worked with you guys from the beginning instead of wasting so much time (and money!!!) with the other guys. I know that my entire application would be much stronger and I would have more peace of mind, probably earlier in the game too 🙂 — AM – US
I just turned in my application for Ross. All the thanks to you, Claudia and Lauren for the help with my application materials. Also, great great thanks to you for staying with me around the clock through the deadline. I appreciate all the help and advice. — KS – China
I heard back last week and was accepted into Anderson’s full-time program starting this Fall! Can’t thank you and the team enough for outlining my strategy, crank out my essay edits every 3-4 days (I know I procrastinated a bit!), and continually following up with me throughout the whole process. I signed up for a free consultation 2.5 years ago and am so glad that I came back to Admissionado when I was ready for primetime. At first, you told me I wasn’t ready for the schools I wanted to get into…you were right. Having that extra work experience under my belt as well as having a more concrete story that aligned perfectly with my past experience and future goals is what definitely got me the interview at Anderson. I felt like I started out in admissions infancy and you helped me graduate from admissions college (a top 10 school at that!). I’m now helping my friends with their GMAT’s and admissions processes (of course recommending Admissionado). The entire process is very open-ended and there is no right way to apply, so all potential candidates should know that their strategy NEEDS to be tailored towards them. This is where I feel like Shawn knew exactly how to pitch me. I don’t have a super strong background of investment banking nor consulting and am one of those candidates that needed to stand out and play to my unique strengths. We worked on actually trying NOT to compare myself to stronger candidates, but rather contrast my experience to separate me from the pack. Can’t give enough gratitude to you and the team for knowing (better than I) how to help me achieve this milestone. As you can tell, I’m really freakin’ excited still and probably won’t come down from this high for a while (about 2.5 years most likely). — LF – US
How did you manage to get me an interview at Wharton with my low stats?:) Are you guys wizards? If so, let me know as I want something more then MBA:) — AM – Russia
We got Harvard!!!!!! I’m kinda freaking out with joy. You and your team are amazing. I don’t think I could have done it without you. Seriously this is one of the best days of my life! Seriously, you guys are amazing! Also, we actually swept all schools today, not that the others matter at this point (booth, Kellogg, Haas) — SC – US
I wanted to get back to you earlier, but unfortunately, I was really caught up. I cannot express how grateful I am to ADMISSIONADO for all the help offered with my Applications. The Team was available at every moment and the turn around time was faster than what I expected, or, frankly, even keep up with. I would like to begin with thanking Spencer Gilbert who made me change my career goals even before we started the entire process. His insight was very useful and something quite I have to give a special mention to Alex who really taught me the nuances of essay writing and, more importantly, reading between the lines as far as the essay topics were concerned. He helped me develop anecdotes to accentuate every essay we worked on. — RM – India
My self-control returned back to me and I’m ready to write you a calm version of my yesterday e-mail. I received a call from Wharton and actually didn’t understand half of what the calling lady told me (I don’t even remember her name), but what I’ve heard absolutely clearly was: “”Congratulations! You’re admitted to Wharton Business School”” And it was enough for me 🙂 After being waitlisted by Booth and my impression of the team based interview in Dubai, I didn’t expect an admission from Wharton. Seriously. However, here I am, sending you my admission letter and thanking your team for helping me to get into one of the most competitive, prestigious and desirable schools out there. — ZN – Kyrgyzstan
The first thing I really, really want to say is “”thank you.”” I cannot say this enough. Thank you for all the essays you edited, all the mock interviews, all the support. I appreciate it so much. I’m really graceful that I could work with you; I’m 1000% sure that you’ll be the best counselor I will ever have I think my writing skills had improved a lot, and I’ve become a better essay writer because of you. — TW – China
As a 30 years old applicant, with only two years work expirence , I never dreamed go to a fine MBA program,but now I have two offers from top-notched B-schools! Without help from Admissionado, I just couldn’t make it. I owe many thanks to Admissionado team, especially my tutor Mark. Mark is extraordinary insightful and knowledgeable about MBA programes, and he is super patient. I still remember those talks with him, some of them even last for hours, but Mark never lost his patience during our conversations even with my poor English. Thanks to those talks, I became more and more clear about my career goal, and why I need a MBA, and more confident about myself. Mark was just doing miracle, he undercoverd my shining points, and reshaped my thinking ways. He knows exactly what kinds of applicants those AOs are looking for, and he just made you to become those kinds of person. Mark is always reliable, if you got a question, just email him, he will always be there. I am so happy to work with him, and it is very precious experience not only for applying MBA but also for my entire career life. If you lack confidence about going into top MBA program, or you are not clear about you career, or you only want to work with a great guy, choose Mark! and choose Admissionado! They will help your dream come true! — XT – China