When I began applying to business school, I was unenthusiastic about the idea of working with a consultant but felt that I needed to explore the option based on advice from peers and mentors. My interactions with larger consultancies left me feeling more like a number in a bucket than a human being, but my opinion changed after my initial consultation with Adam.
Adam is the consummate coach. When I thought I had created my best work, he pushed me to the edge of my creativity to be better. He knew when to be my friend, but was also not afraid to be bluntly honest to level-set my perceptions with reality. He convinced me to do work and consider options I otherwise hadn’t–not for the sake of trying things to see what fit, but because he has such a deep understanding of the admissions process and what it takes to communicate an effective story to the admissions committees. He brought me resources that I had no idea even existed in order to encourage me to think outside of the box! In sum, Adam gave me the resources and mentoring to transform my disjointed story into a cohesive and compelling narrative.
Beyond quality of his content, what meant the most to me during my engagement with Adam was his professional integrity. Throughout our engagement, Adam was highly dedicated to my success. An initial fear of mine for working with a consultant was that I would be kept to a strict time allotment and that I would be filling a consultant’s quota regardless of the outcome of my admissions decisions. My experience with Adam could not have been more different. On several occasions, Adam took additional time to make sure I understood what we had discussed, would respond quickly to emails and requests for short check-ins, and was otherwise wholly honest in the provision of his service. The focus of the sessions was on me and how to incrementally drive my applications from “ongoing” to “complete”. When I was invited for interviews, Adam was quick to provide resources and advice to help me prepare. Adam truly made me feel like I had his attention inside of and outside of our sessions and that meant the world to me.
Although I do not know what would have happened had I not worked with Adam, I truly believe our engagement meant the difference between submitting a moderate-to-strong version of my story and submitting a version of my story I was confident had a chance to succeed. What I do know is that if I were to go through the process again, I cannot imagine working with anyone other than Adam to ensure my success in the admissions process.
