Status: First-time applicant
Pre-MBA industry: Financial Services
Years of experience at time of matriculation: 8
GMAT/GRE score: 720 (V: 41 Q: 47) / EA: 160 (Q:14 V:13 IR:13)
Undergraduate GPA: 3.34/4.00
Admitted to: Anderson, Booth, Stern
Scholarship(s): $60,000
Service Type: Premium
I could already feel the attentiveness and guidance that would characterize my entire experience working with Square One from my first phone call with Kathryn. When I decided to engage a consultant, I spent almost 2 hours on the phone with Kathryn, who drilled down beyond the usual surface-level chat in a preliminary call, and spent a lot of time to hear out my goals, ambitions, and desires while being honest and realistic.
I loved the Square One approach of having a full team as a multi-layer review on every piece of work that we developed. The structure, that initially may seem daunting, is all deliberate and sets you up for success. I was certainly challenged by some of the deliverables, such as the career narrative, but it paid dividends as I got into application work, and in interviews.
I worked with Allison, who I cannot say enough amazing things about. After giving my life story, of both ups and downs, we developed a framework of my unique perspectives and traits that could serve as potential essay topics. This framework, along with the career narrative all fed into the essay work, which ended up becoming much easier than I had thought possible. Allison and Kathryn gave me wonderful feedback that resulted in introspective essays I am extremely proud of. I simply would not have been able to get to this point by myself. Allison was incredibly attentive, and always had thoughtful feedback on my work in a very timely manner. She also helped me prepare for interviews with rigorous mocks that helped me figure out how to effectively convey my message. And generally, whenever I had questions, Allison was easily reachable and responsive to address any and all of my (many) questions.
The Square One team also truly has your best interests at heart. They suggested specific schools to be done comprehensively or hourly depending on the overlap and cost-effectiveness of each application.
Beyond the applications themselves, Square One taught me how to bring the best of myself and how to think about how to represent yourself and highlight your most meaningful qualities. I was kept accountable, received support, feedback, and wisdom. I am so happy that I worked with Allison, Kathryn, Cristina, Wendy, and the full Square One team on my applications. I had the support of so many wonderful experts that are invested in my success.
I’m delighted to say that the process paid off with the added bonus of meaningful scholarship, which was never in my wildest dreams!
But my story doesn’t end there. After applying to all my selected schools, I found myself waitlisted at two schools. Allison and Kathryn heard me out on my desire to convert these waitlists to admits and came up with a plan. Just because I had already received admits did not mean that Square One rested on their laurels and moved on to the next client. We developed how to effectively provide meaningful updates to the programs and Allison and Kathryn helped me convert an M7 admit! Just writing this brings such a huge smile to my face!
I’m so delighted to start the next chapter of my life and look forward to matriculating in the fall!
I was so convinced that Square One is the ideal consultancy to work with, I referred friends while still going through the application process. Like me, they have been very successful in their own processes, securing admits AND scholarships too!! I have and will continue to recommend Square One without a doubt to anyone who is committed to applying to business school. Like the Square One website says, “take a deep breath and relax,” you’re in great hands!