28,908Leland Reviews

Roy helped me prepare for my Stanford GSB interview. Now, I am his classmate at GSB! After the round 1 admission results came out in 2020, I joined a live streaming event hosted by Roy, sharing his successful application experience. He got mutiple offers, including my dream school, Stanford. I realized that there were some strategic insights into the interview process that I could learn from Roy. Thus, I reached out to him for a mock interview. His insights greatly inspired me on how to better prepare for the interview, what kind of people GSB wants and how to highlight my strengths. Luckily, we spent two wonderful years together, the most meaningful years in my life. Thanks, Roy! I hope Roy can help more people to join the GSB community in the future.

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.

I worked with Adrian when I was trying to make an internal transition to the Business Operations team at the startup we both worked at. The team consisted of all ex-consultants, and I needed to pass a case interview in order to join. Adrian patiently coached me through practice cases, taking the time to walk me through key concepts and then personalizing the cases to ensure that we hit on the things I had struggled with the most. He gave me clear, specific feedback and always treated me with kindness and respect. I was really struck by the time and energy he dedicated - I learned so much from him and would work with him again in a heartbeat!

I really appreciated that Connor was always responsive with communication and thoughtful in the advice he shared. I had a desire to go abroad, and he helped me narrow in on the tech industry where that might be most feasible so early on in my career. He was also always forthcoming about his own experience and clear about what was replicable and what was not. Most of all, he's kind! That helped me feel relaxed and calm in strategizing my career with him.

Karla has been a really lovely and supportive person as I worked through key questions I had around when it might make sense for me to take big steps to grow my career. She helped connect me with folks at various M7 schools so that I could make an informed choice about which schools would be the best fit, and she's such a great listener! Even when I came back to her from those conversations with others, I got the right feedback, support, and validation to understand whether I was making the right choices for me.

I worked with Erfun when studying to take the GMAT a second time. I had taken it once after three months of self-study using Kaplan materials, and I received a score that was much lower than I expected and much lower than I thought I could achieve. So I decided to get personalized tutoring the second time around, and I found Erfun after searching on Yelp. Erfun was so helpful in providing a clear study plan and identifying areas for improvement. We Skyped once a week for two hours, and then I studied on my own each day using the materials he gave me. I worked with him for two months to prepare for my second test date, and I felt like we had plenty of time to go over everything and for me to take several practice tests. Ultimately, I retook the test and scored 70 points higher, reaching my target score! Erfun really helped me improve my test-taking strategies and time management, which allowed me to reach my goal. I highly recommend working with him.

Dione's attention to detail was the first thing I noticed about her. This is especially important because admissions teams notice everything in (or missing from) an application. She extracted heaps of information from me early, and then helped me organize and concisely communicate it….Each school looks for something different through their respective essay prompts. Dione helped me decipher the prompts and taught me how to make every word count to meet length restrictions without omitting any information….She has invaluable insight in everything from school selection to interview prep. Her support helped me receive the offers that I did and I am so excited to be starting at Sloan, a potentially life changing opportunity. I truly believe working with Dione was the best decision I made during the application process and fully expect to use what I have learned during and after my MBA.

I decided to hire a consultant because I knew I had strong leadership and work experience but was not confident in my ability to translate it onto paper. I only had about 6 weeks to complete my applications, so I needed someone who could quickly absorb my story and efficiently help me translate it on paper. I decided to hire Pamela because I felt that she really listened to what story I wanted to tell but was also honest about how best to tell that story. I am VERY happy I hired her because I was accepted to 5/5 schools (Michigan, Duke, Darden, Tuck, and Georgetown) with scholarship money at two schools. Working with Pamela was a seamless process. We had weekly calls where we would discuss the topic of an essay. I would then write a first draft, which seemed to always miss the mark. Pamela would send back the essay with thoughtful and detailed comments. I appreciated that she used what she knew about me to push the essay to be better. For example, she would say “ I like this idea, but I think story X is actually stronger for this question.” Pamela was efficient, knowledgeable, and personable. She was flexible and clearly put a lot of care into her work. As we were getting down to the wire around New Years, she would send me back essays in a matter of hours just to make sure that we both felt comfortable with the result. What I appreciate most about her is that the essays I submitted sounded like the best version of me. She helped me to craft my voice so that I really felt like the schools got a clear representation of me as a person as well as my professional goals. She would then take her knowledge of the school to ensure that I was highlighting different parts of my experience for the programs it where it would matter most. I would recommend Pamela to anyone applying to school!

Pamela was an invaluable asset throughout my application process, resulting in my acceptance at my first choice business school (Stanford GSB). Simply put, I could not have done this without her. Below I will provide some details on Pamela’s approach, and why I recommend her so strongly to my friends and family (and to you): (1) Unique pricing and approach drove real mentorship throughout the process: I worked with Pamela on my Round 2 applications for the school year beginning in the fall of 2020. We had our first session at the end of November with apps due the first week of January, so a very tight window of time to brainstorm my story, write and perfect my application. Pamela’s pricing and philosophy around the MBA process is unique. She worked with me on only one school (due to financial constraints on my end), and rather than price by the hour, she charges a blanket fee for each school. This model reflects Pamela’s broader approach, which is truly right there with you as a partner throughout the process. For example, when, I struggled with one of my essays, rather than limit or hold back her feedback based on what might fit into an hour, a single email, etc., Pamela worked with me through countless iterations, as committed to my success as I was. She fundamentally believed in my candidacy and that made a huge difference. As a result, working with her was not transactional (as many consultant relationships are), but felt more like genuine mentorship throughout this process to arrive at the best articulation of myself. (2) Method of advising protected the elevated the authenticity of my application: Not once, ever, did Pamela try to fit my story into a box or template, which is something I was afraid of when opting to work with a consultant. Instead, as we brainstormed, Pamela called attention to accomplishments and perspectives big and small that we unique to me. After an initial brainstorming session, where I was all over the map, she called out the elements of my story where she saw my authenticity shine through. As I wrote, Pamela only provided small copy edits (typos, grammar errors) and substantive edits (e.g. “this paragraph is not working”). She never re-wrote or overrode my personal writing style. This ensured that the tone of my applications was 100% authentic. When my family and friends read my final application prior to submitting for another set of eyes and edits, those who knew me best commented that the applications ‘sounded exactly like me, and authentically summarized who I am.’ I could not have reached that level of authenticity without Pamela’s guidance and distinct approach. (3) Introduced invaluable, and incredibly sophisticated and insightful expertise as every turn: I cannot emphasize this last point enough. From determining what I wanted to say to perfect the writing, Pamela’s insights were rich and incredibly sophisticated. She took the time to really get to know me — not just through formed templates (as most consultants do), but through deep conversations about how I viewed my accomplishments and goals. She also truly put herself in the shoes of the admissions teams, and of GSB specifically, to shed light on how every part of my application came across. This was particularly evident when iterating on two aspects of my application that were not working well — the climax paragraph in my “what matters most to you and why” essay and the structure of my “why Stanford” essay — which had the right pieces but not necessarily in the right tone. Pamela gave me honest feedback that aspects of the application were not working in their current form and shared a really nuanced view on why. Her suggestions for taking another stab were incredibly productive as I rethought my approach. The areas that I ‘reworked’ were things I think other consultants would have let slip through as “good enough”, without the rich insight that Pamela provided on how those passages interacted with the rest of my application. Both of these areas of my application ended up being among the pieces that I was most proud of.

I'm Assaf, MIT Sloan and Harvard Kennedy School alum, and Jeremy helped me go through the MBB interviews. He is an outstanding coach with vast knowledge in management consulting as well as a deep understanding of the business sector. Jeremy supported me in two components of the interviews: business cases and behavioral questions. We conducted multiple prep sessions in which I learned a lot about the process and how to ace it. He guided me through the preparations and performed realistic mock interviews. At the end of each business/behavioral case, we debriefed and agreed on practical points to improve for the next mock. I can't recommend Jeremy enough. He is truly a professional with rich experience in consulting, excellent familiarity with the recruitment process, and a great attitude.