Status: First-time applicant
Pre-MBA industry: Healthcare Research/Marketing
Years of experience at time of matriculation: 10
GMAT/GRE score: 720
Undergraduate GPA: 74%
Graduate GPA: N/A
Admitted to: Stanford
Scholarship(s): $160,000
Kathryn was highly recommended to me by my brother and his network. I did a free consultation call with Kathryn and there itself I had made up my mind that I would work with her to prepare my applications as she showed an amazing ability to understand me, my background and my motivation in that short call. She showed high confidence in my candidacy and that was very important to me, given the track record of Square One Prep’s clients’ acceptance rate.
Through the applications process, Kathryn was prompt, extremely thoughtful and helped me put my best foot forward. I broadly knew what I wanted to put in my applications and what were my motivations to apply to B-Schools, but Kathryn helped me getting the essence out so beautifully, coherently and honestly that there were moments in the otherwise anxiety-inducing process of applications that I ended up cherishing. Later, having mock-interview with her helped me in boosting my confidence for the real interviews.
Additionally, Kathryn had asked me to give GMAT and get it out of my way as soon as possible. I heard her, but due to various reasons and some faults of my own, I did not give my GMAT for a very long time. In hindsight, I realize that that was the most valuable piece of advice, and she had given it to me for no cost during my free consultation call. Had I had worked on the advice, it would have saved me a lot of energy and would have prevented me from putting myself in tight timelines while also hopping through jobs during the gruelling process of applications. Kathryn was patient and put up with my short timelines cordially. To be respectful of her time and providing her a good window period to help you out, I would suggest candidates try their best to work ahead of the deadlines.
I had started working with Kathryn on a very low budget and had asked her for focused help to be able to afford her support. Eventually, I applied to more schools than I had thought of (purely my decision, with no coaxing/pressure from Kathryn), and ended up asking for more of Kathryn’s time. It did inflate my budget, but since I could see the value she was bringing in, I believed in my instincts and went ahead. In retrospect, that was the best decision ever as it helped me fetch a HUGE scholarship, in addition to getting into my dream school. There was no way this could have been a possibility without Kathryn’s support, cheering and confidence in my candidacy.