How to find the best MBA admissions consultant

If you have ever floated around any MBA admissions online forum, it is as certain as the sun rising that at some point a discussion will erupt about the usefulness and uselessness of MBA admissions consultants. It will be heated. Success stories will be mixed with horror stories. The same firms and MBA application consultants will likely be featured in both. 

So how do you make sense of all the MBA admission noise out there? How do you know if you really need an MBA admissions consulting service? How do you decide on the right one for you? 

Let’s get clear about one thing first. Using an MBA admissions consultant is not a must if you want to get accepted to a top school. Many candidates get accepted into the most selective schools in the world without using one. What is a must though is having the right support along the way. To clarify your goals, define your value, shine in your essays, and show up strong in your MBA admissions interview you will need external inputs. They can come from friends, mentors, bosses, colleagues, professional organizations. But sometimes that is simply not enough.  

Like other professional services – investment banking and management consulting for example, two careers frequently coveted by MBA aspirants – the best MBA admissions consultants offer expert advice whose value exceeds the fees you pay. 

My advice for you is to do these 7 things to identify the best MBA admissions consultants. I also suggest you do them even if you know you don’t need to work with a consultant. You will still benefit from getting an expert perspective into your candidacy and competitive profile and learning some tricks about how consultants help develop strong MBA applicants. And you will have someone to turn to in case you do end up needing some help when you are really stuck.

1. Understand what working with a consultant means. It should be quite simple. It’s NEVER a guarantee that you will get into any particular school. It’s about receiving expert guidance in order to make critical decisions along the way and develop an application that fully maximize your chances of success. 

2.     Do multiple free consultations. Don’t be shy. I have heard candidates worry that doing a free consultation if you don’t intend to hire that service feels wrong. I disagree. To me, running an MBA admissions consulting service is first and foremost about helping. Good consultants who are dedicated to the graduate management education cause share their knowledge generously. 

3.     Get a feel for larger vs. smaller MBA consulting firms. There are major distinctions in culture and approach from one service to another. One of the things to watch for is whether the initial consultation is primarily a sales pitch or if you get any real and valuable insights. 

4.     Ask the consultant how they develop a candidacy, what is their admissions philosophy, and how they stay current. Dig into their credentials and experience and how they will be valuable to your specific case. Ask them if they do this full-time or on the side. Ask them why they chose to work with MBA candidates. Dig deep into how they stay ahead of the developments in MBA admissions - if they are relying on their knowledge from even a few years ago, that might not be enough. MBA admissions is an evolving and if your consultant is not up to speed on recent developments, they might be advising you using a playbook from another era. Finally, ask them how many candidates at a time they work with during the most critical times – Round 1 and 2 especially. 

5.     Clarify the rules of engagement. Are there any limits – to how many hours, how many phone calls/emails? What is the turnaround time? Do they work on evenings and weekends? Find out if they are willing to put a custom package together for you. For example, I have worked with candidates who have been quite capable of utilizing 6-10 hours of support time and do the rest of the work on their own. I am always happy to work out the type of engagement that works best for a specific case and budget. Most importantly, find out who will be doing the work - if you are being sold on someone who worked in admissions at your target school, will this person be the one personally working with you on all your materials and available to you for any questions and support you need or will some of the work be funneled to junior staff.

6.     Email the consultant you are considering a few times with small questions and watch for their response time and the substance of their answers. It will tell you a lot about what working with them will be like when the rubber hits the road. 

7.     Get a smaller bite first. I often encourage anyone who is considering a full-service package with me to start with my Tune Up service first. Then if they really need and want comprehensive MBA application support, I will subtract what they already paid from the full-service package and convert them to unlimited support. 

How do you bring it all together? Trust the proverbial “gut feeling”. Don’t succumb to fear tactics and pressure. Look for chemistry in addition to expertise. Chemistry – the ability of a consultant to work with you in a way that inspires you, stretches your limits, and empowers you – is what makes the investment worth it. 

Onwards and upwards,

Petia


P.S. Did you know that in MBA APPLICATION BOOST CAMP, you can work with me in a group setting at a fraction of the cost? Come join the driven community I am building to confidently walk the road to submitting your application.

Onwards and upwards,

Petia