SERVICES OFFERED
Comprehensive Admissions Consulting Service: my primary service and the one that most of my clients use.
Other services: 2nd Opinion & Waitlist Service, Reapplication Counseling, Interview-Only Preparation & Organizational Consulting Services
COMPREHENSIVE ADMISSIONS CONSULTING SERVICE:
- Skype/Telephone
and face-to-face for initial consulting, application content
brainstorming, school selection, feedback on essays (when a
conversation will be more effective in addition to or in lieu of
written comments), and interview preparation.
- Email-based consulting for comments on essays, resumes, and other documents.
FLEXIBILITY!
I offer a high level of flexibility in terms of pricing and logistics to meet the diverse needs of my clients.
My service is based on a few core principles:
- Clients should only pay for what they need. You will pay for my time based on exactly as much time as something takes. I provide my clients with an MS Excel worksheet so that they know exactly how much time was spent. My clients do not pay for routine emails regarding logistics. Email and Skype/telephone sessions can billed out for as little as 1/10 of an hour. The minimum length of face-to-face sessions is one hour. My clients have found that they get not only the best service, but one that focuses on value for money (see my discounts below).
- Clients should be able to have an easy time scheduling appointments and choosing among email, Skype/telephone, and face-to-face sessions (Tokyo only). My face-to-face sessions are held at selected cafes and client’s offices. Busy professionals need flexibility and a system that fully provides for that.
- The admissions process is hard enough for applicants, so I have very simple and customer-friendly rules. There are no cancellation penalties for missed sessions except if we arrange to meet somewhere for a face-to-face session and you don’t come at all. Sessions can be scheduled and rescheduled as needed.
- Keeping my costs low and my stress even lower. One reason that I offer a high level of flexibility is because I keep my costs low. I am interested in maintaining the quality of the service I provide and don't try to work with as many clients as I could. As an experienced manager of admissions consultants, I am aware of the potential negaitive impact of working too much, so I don't! I try to schedule at least a thirty-minute gap between client face-to-face and Skype/telephone sessions to allow for extra session time and so that I can take a brief break between clients. In addition, since I don’t have to pay office rent and don’t commute, I am generally very relaxed and thus I am able to completely focus on my clients.
My counseling process is designed to maximize your results through providing you with a holistic
approach to the admissions process. As you can see below,
I have indicated how many hours of my time are likely to be
required. As this
varies greatly, it is something that I can be much more specific about
after an initial consultation. I conceptualize the process this way:
Stage 1: Initial consultation to determine whether we should work together, free! Contact me at adammarkus@gmail.com to arrange an initial consultation.
Stage 2: Resume, 1-3 hours. I can do everything from simply review and comment on to substantially revise your resume. Taking care of your resume first allows me to begin to learn about your past experience.
Stage 3: School selection and initial strategy, 0-3 hours. The amount of time we spend on this will vary greatly. For some clients, I will be actively involved in school selection advising, but not for all. Similarly, my involvement in initial admissions strategy development varies. For many clients, school selection and initial strategy will be combined with other parts of the process. See methods and my blog for more details.
Stage 4: Essays, first school, 3-10 hours. This will vary greatly depending on the number and complexity of essays you have to write and your own abilities. Three hours would be typical for a simple 3-4 page statement of purpose for a masters program. Typically 5 to 10 hours would be required if you were an MBA applicant writing essays for a top US or European program. See methods and my blog for more details.
Stage 5: Recommendations, variable number of sessions depending on the level of depth of my involvement. Assume 1-4 hours for 2-3 recommendations. See methods for more details.
Stage 6: Essays, subsequent schools, .25-8 hours. Revisions to a statement of purpose for the next school might be minor, but given the wide variation in what schools require, there is a huge range of variation. As your portfolio of essays increase, the time required to do each subsequent school should decrease significantly.
Stage 7: Interview practice, variable depending on client need, 2-10 hours in total would be typical for MBAs. See methods and my blog for more details.
Stage 8: Assistance with miscellaneous administrative issues (application forms, waitlist letters, scholarship essays), 0-3 hours.
Pricing
As
mentioned above, I charge by the hour (a real hour, not a fifty minute
one!). I have differential rates in yen and US dollars. You can pay in
either currency, but please don’t ask me to advise you about this as it
concerns your transaction costs and the exchange rate.
Hourly Rate: 20,000 yen or $220
Prepaid Package Rates:
5 hours, 95,000 yen or $1000, (Hours 6-19, 19,000 yen or $200 per hour)
20 hours, 360,000 yen or $3,800 (Hours 21-39, 18,000 yen or $190 per hour)
40 hours, 680,000 yen or $7200 (hours 40-49, 17,000 yen or $180 per hour)
50 hours, 800,000 yen or $8500 (hours 51 and above, 16,000 yen or $170 per hour)
Yen
payment is via bank transfer and dollar payment is via Paypal. I
can also accept yen payment via Paypal at an additional 5%
surcharge. All prices include tax. There are no initial
signing and/or hidden fees.
NOTE: Once I commit to working with you, I do so for the entire admissions season. So if you need to buy additional hours beyond the initial package, I guarantee my availability.
Refunds:
Consistent
with Japanese Law regulating educational providers like myself, I will
refund 85% of your unused balance if requested within in one year from
the date of purchase. Contact me for further details.
Logistics
Telephone/Skype sessions: I encourage all my clients to use Skype as it is free, but if you want to talk with me on the phone, please call me. For Skype, I am video enabled. There are no penalties for last-minute change of schedule.
Email sessions: We don't have to schedule anything. You just send me files and I review and comment on them. I usually reply within 24 hours, but can adjust based on your needs.
Face-to-face sessions will be conducted at selected locations in the Tokyo area. Plans for face-to-face sessions are flexible and will be determined on an individual client basis. Please contact me for details. I usually meet clients at cafes or at their offices. Unlike telephone/Skype or email sessions, I have a one hour minimum for all face-to-face sessions. Same day changes to schedule are no problem and are without penalty. I would ask that you notify me prior to the start of the session if you are unable to attend. If I am waiting somewhere for you, I will charge for my time.
Please note: I am not available on the following dates: 8/8-8/12, 9/19/08, 11/4/08, 12/7/08, and 1/1/09. Please contact me for details.