27,999Leland Reviews

Looking back on my experience with Dione, I can say that it was tremendously helpful in guiding me through the preparation and application process. I came from an uncommon background for MBA recruiting and was quite unsure of how to best present myself as a candidate to top tier business schools. Dione and I spent a large percentage of our time discussing what aspects of my background to focus on and how to present my uncommon background in a way that would lead admission committees to be excited about my candidacy rather than skeptical about it. Without Dione's help, I would have attempted to compete head to head with more traditional applicants in a way that would have been detrimental. The perspective and guidance of Dione allowed me to craft an application that highlighted the unique things that I brought to an incoming class and why I was prepared to add value to the top business schools I was ultimately admitted to. Dione was also valuable in helping me craft my candidacy well in advance of starting an application. Her Plan Ahead program provided a frank and honest assessment of my strengths and weaknesses as an applicant. This gave me time to attempt to shore up some of those gaps through targeted work experience and extra-organizational volunteering. The other large advantage of the Plan Ahead program is that it allows you to transition seamlessly into more intensive consulting come application time. I am confident that I would not have been able to craft nearly as strong of an application for the business schools I was interested in without Dione's guidance. The cost for personal consulting is significant, it pales in comparison to the doors that I believe it helped unlock for my future.

From initial self-reflection to final application submittal to interview prep to evaluating different offers, Dione was extremely helpful in the MBA application process. I worked with her to apply to several top programs, including HBS, and was admitted to all of them with sizable merit scholarships from several. Dione’s feedback for my essays and resume was invaluable. It’s clear that Dione’s background in journalism makes her a thorough and insightful admissions consultant. There were times when I chose to write about certain aspects from my background, sent the essays to her for review, and she offered feedback to write about a different, more unique or impactful story instead. After rewriting the essays with Dione’s feedback in mind, I was always thankful that I had followed her advice, rather than going with my initial drafts. I went through several drafts (30+) of essays with Dione. She was always prompt to respond and insightful in her feedback. In the end, I thought my essays and resume were incredibly strong and Dione’s support was essential to achieving a final product I was extremely proud of. In addition to her insightful essay/resume feedback, Dione was also extremely helpful in the interview prep. In fact, Dione was willing to meet with me in person for a mock interview. Her feedback and advice from the mock interview definitely helped me realize I needed to tone down certain mannerisms and phrase my responses in different ways. Additionally, we worked together to generate different ideas for the Wharton team based discussion (the idea we came up with ended up getting chosen in the real interview). In the end, I felt extremely prepared for all of my interviews and I have Dione to thank for that. The MBA application process is incredibly reflective, stressful, and daunting. Dione is truly invested in getting to know your story and helping you put together the best application possible. I am thrilled with my results and wholeheartedly recommend working with Dione.

Dione was extremely generous with her time, with speedy turnaround for all emails and essay edits/ I appreciate that Dione spent substantial time getting to know my life story, which helped considerably in ensuring my essays portray my best self. Dione sets very high expectations, which worked very well for me since I demanded the highest quality applications.

It was a pleasure working with Dione - I appreciate the prompt responses and the helpful insight for the essays. In addition, I appreciated her help in considering which PhD program to accept as I received multiple offers.

Dione was an absolute pleasure to work with. When I started doing research on various consultancies, I imagined working with someone who would simply take a few looks at my essays and give me brief feedback via email. Dione went above and beyond. She took a clear interest in me and my narrative and worked closely with me to make sure that my story was not only coherent (tying together my disparate professional and personal experiences), but also that it would ring true to my aspirations and simultaneously align with what each school was looking for. Additionally, Dione was refreshingly critical and gave me a 'real' outlook on how my application would be viewed given my career to date and my background as a South Asian American male. She was also incredibly responsive - I honestly don't know how she could provide so much depth in her feedback on such quick turnarounds. I’m so lucky to have been paired up with Dione and could not have imagined a better experience. If you have a chance to work with her, there really shouldn't be any hesitation. Totally worth it. Thank you Dione for all of your guidance and for helping me get into Wharton (and interviews at HBS and GSB)!

Dione's coaching and support was invaluable during the application process. She consistently added value to my application – from our first call where she helped accelerate my introspection to developing my essays/stories where she helped me reframe my inelegant language to be more admissions appropriate to interviews where she helped me practice beforehand and reflect/refine afterward to the waitlist process where she pushed me to craft genuine and original updates. Would wholeheartedly recommend her to anyone who is looking for an admissions consultant!

I had an absolutely fantastic experience working with Dione, it was worth every penny and I truly believe without a doubt I would not have gotten the scholarships/acceptances that I did without her help....If you have the opportunity to work with Dione, take it and don't look back! In just a few short months she helped me take my hundreds of different ideas and edit and package them into polished applications to present to 7 top business schools. Applying to MBA programs is stressful and working with a consultant is expensive, but each step of the way, Dione gave me peace of mind as she guided me towards success. She was always quick to respond with essay edits (even during holidays), gave honest feedback, and was an expert literary editor. She also has the professional business and MBA background to give you short and long term career ideas that make sense for your personal goal statements. If you have hopes of getting into a top b school, but don't know how to present yourself to admissions committees, work with Dione. She will work hard day by day to get you there…. I got into one of my target schools with a full tuition scholarship (valued at over $135K). I am sure I would not have gotten here without Dione's constant guidance, editing, and advice.

A big reason for the reason I received as many interviews and acceptances as I did from the top 20 MBA schools was because of Dione. Her ability to highlight and exemplify key skills from work experience and undergraduate experience is what makes her unique. She asks the right questions to ensure you are able to express yourself in the best way possible to the admissions team. Another thing that makes Dione unique is that she doesn't want to change who you are in your essays, but helps you develop a great story and application. She is quick to respond, and never hesitates to answer more questions. She has gone above and beyond for my application, and I was lucky to have her.

Working with Dione was extremely helpful. I found her to be very focused and always pulling me back to the root cause or 'why' of why I was applying to business school. It sounds simple, but this allowed me to not only hone my story but also reflect personally on my motivations for applying so that when interviews came around, I was able to present my best possible self and story. Dione was very flexible, working with me mostly through pushing my thinking on essay edits, and providing helpful interview prep and tips. She was never pushy and great at explaining her logic and how the adcomm might view a certain element in my application.

I approached Dione with one target program in mind at my dream school in the USA – however as an international applying to a US advanced degree program, I knew it would be a tough and competitive process at an already highly selective school. I was also applying in one of the last rounds so I knew it was not going to be easy. First off, Dione is very knowledgeable when it comes to the application process and the evaluation of candidates thanks to her background. She gave me candid feedback throughout the entire process and was my sounding board in drafting and articulating my story. She also asks very thoughtful questions to guide you in the right direction; for example, her feedback on my essays contained some of the most comprehensive comments I’ve ever received, down to even the smallest detail about my past work experience – however, this is exactly what you need to produce a high caliber application. She would also send me notes after our sessions so I knew what to focus on immediately after our calls. Most importantly and what I think was the real key to my successful application is that Dione tells you the honest truth. I understand that the truth is not always what people want to hear but this is exactly why you need an admissions consultant like Dione as this was essential to avoid potential pitfalls in the application process. As you can imagine, each session was extremely efficient, productive, and filled with value-adding advice. Dione provides very quick feedback and worked really hard to help me put my best application forward. She is extremely committed and I felt like she went over and above her remit. I am happy to say my application was successful and I am beyond grateful to Dione for all her help as it would not have been possible without her. I would absolutely recommend Dione to anyone and especially international applicants who really do need someone with her level of knowledge and expertise when it comes to US business schools and admissions.