How MBA Consultants Ensure Successful Applications

UPDATE: This article was originally posted on April 21, 2022. It has been updated with new information and tips below. 

Ready to apply for your dream MBA program? You have surely already taken the time to assess the materials you still need to gather, think about your choice of recommenders, and ponder topics for your MBA admissions essays.

Of course, all of this has probably only revealed more questions. How do I stand above the crowd? What should I wear if I get invited to an interview? Can I ask a former boss for a recommendation, or will that reflect badly on my application? Should I talk about different experiences in my essays for Harvard Business School than in those for INSEAD?

Applying for an MBA – especially at elite universities and top programs – is a difficult and complicated process. Considering that your MBA applications define one of the biggest phases in your professional trajectory, it is essential to answer all of these questions.

That is where MBA consultants come in: they help guide you through the MBA admissions process, including helping you decide which schools to apply to, which recommenders will support your profile best, and clarifying any spontaneous questions.

However, the best MBA consultants go above and beyond simplifying answering technical questions about your application. Instead, they can coach you through the process via individualized, one-on-one feedback to help you sculpt your MBA essays and rock your interviews to present the best possible portrait of your achievements, career goals, and fit with your dream schools. 

At Ellin Lolis Consulting, we see that no candidate is the same. Our editing and interview teams specialize in unique, personalized solutions as MBA consultants who want to make sure you stand out based on your strengths, values, and experience.

 

What standard MBA consultants can offer

MBA consultants can help you with a wide range of services in and around all aspects of your application – many of which can mean the crucial difference between being accepted into your top program and applying again next year. Check some of the different ways that your MBA consultant can offer invaluable advice below.

 

MBA consultants can help you choose the right programs

One of the most important – yet most overlooked – parts of the MBA application process is deciding which business schools you should apply to. 

Though there are countless factors you should consider, the following are, in our opinion, some of the most important. 

 

Length

Is a one-year program enough to land you that dream job post-MBA? Or is a two-year MBA more common in your industry? And more importantly, which of the options is right for you?

It depends on your profile, goals, and expectations for your MBA experience. For applicants working in the tech industry (which tends to move quickly), for example, one-year MBA programs may be more advantageous than longer programs. On the other hand, sponsored candidates may want to take advantage of their job security to enjoy the benefits of a longer program. 

 

Program specializations

Though all MBAs offer you the chance to improve your business administration skills, if you’re particularly focused on one particular area, you may find some schools are more able to meet your needs than others. 

For example, if you want to break into fintech, you might think all schools with strong finance programs would allow you to build the specialized skills you seek. However, this isn’t the case. Instead, you may want to look at the small handful of MBAs who have developed programs or tracks specifically focused on fintech, such as NYU Stern or Cornell Johnson. 

Be careful, however, as not all MBA specializations are created equal. Though many schools offer social impact programs, for example, some are highly focused on environmental sustainability, which may not be aligned with the type of social impact you want to explore during business school. 

Your MBA consultant can help you dig into various elements of each school profile to see if their focus can fit your unique MBA program needs. 

 

Competitiveness 

The most important reason we believe you should employ an MBA consultant when deciding where to apply to business school is this: MBA consultants can help you evaluate the overall strength of your profile and determine how likely you are to get into certain programs. 

Though no MBA consultant can predict the future with 100% accuracy, consultants can help you understand how likely you are to receive an offer of admission based on your unique profile. 

Determining your competitiveness includes considering multiple data points and comparing these data points to admissions trends at your target schools. By helping you develop a strategy that makes sense based on your unique profile, your consultant will help make sure you obtain your best result at the end of the application process. 

As such, having the support of an MBA consultant is essential when determining your final school list. 

 

MBA consultants can help you choose the right recommenders 

With such intense focus on your “deliverables,” it’s often easy to overlook the only element of your application that provides an image of you from an outsider’s perspective: your letters of recommendation. 

However, many of the best potential recommenders are too busy to write, difficult to work with, or simply deliver a sub-part letter that falls short of selling you. 

Navigating these difficulties is essential since letters of recommendation are one of the most important factors that will ultimately determine whether you find a spot at an elite business school or end up dinged.

Though you have little control over the actual content of the letters of recommendation sent on your behalf, you do have the power to choose who you ask to recommend you. 

Some candidates think this is somewhat of an automatic decision, yet choosing the right people for the job will ultimately determine if your letters shine or flop. 

When choosing your recommenders, you should always select professionals you have recently worked with who can talk in detail about you as a professional. Additionally, the schools set out certain limitations you will want to be sure to follow. 

 

Asking for a recommendation from your current boss

Who knows your professional potential at this very moment better than your current boss? After all, he or she directly manages your deliverables, is responsible for supporting your promotions, and is tasked with giving you regular feedback. 

Given your current boss’ in-depth understanding of how you perform at work, it’s no surprise that all MBA programs ask you to include a letter from your current boss. 

In certain cases, your current boss is not in a position to write you a letter. This happens for many reasons, but the most common are that you are not able to disclose to your employer that you are applying for an MBA, your direct supervisor is a family member, or you are an entrepreneur. 

In this case, you should choose an alternative recommender – such as a business partner, board member, former direct supervisor, or even a client – to write your letter. Just make sure to include this information in your response to the school’s Optional Essay. 

 

Choosing your second recommender

The second letter of recommendation is slightly more complex. 

Since this letter cannot come from your current boss, you must strategically choose a second person who can contribute new, valuable insights into your profile. 

As such, it can be a good idea to think about what image you are trying to portray to the business school, then consider how your essays, CV, and letter from your current boss reinforce this brand. After mapping this, select a second recommender who can add new insights into your personal brand and complement what has already been said. 

At Ellin Lolis Consulting, we can give you tips like this to help you make the most of each letter of recommendation. 

 

MBA consultants help ensure you have access to accurate information

Though we at Ellin Lolis Consulting are dedicated to adding value at every step of the application process, one of the most important things we do is ensure our clients have access to the most accurate information during the entire application process. 

First and foremost, we love MBA forums like GMAT Club and Clear Admit. These types of forums are a great place for applicants to access information about multiple different schools and interact with other applicants from all over the world. 

On the other hand, it is not uncommon for less-than-true rumors to circulate in forums, in comments sections in general, and even in your office group chat. As such, it’s good to verify that all the information you obtain is indeed true before panicking or changing your application strategy. Since this can sometimes be difficult, having an industry expert by your side who knows your profile inside and out is essential. 

 

The best MBA consultants: specialized in you

These and many other services can all be had with any MBA consultant at your side. However, the best MBA consulting services go above and beyond standard advice and one-size-fits-all answers to your questions.

At Ellin Lolis Consulting, we use a personalized developmental methodology. This methodology not only tailors your MBA consulting experience to your background, goals, and preferences but works by your side to guide you through every step of the process. 

This includes one-on-one application strategy planning, iterative conceptualization and development of your MBA essays, tailored writing feedback, thorough interview preparation, and face-to-face interview practice.

 

Ellin Lolis Consulting: our personalized developmental methodology for MBA applications

There are many ways that Ellin, as well as our editing and interview teams, go above your average MBA consultant to help you individually prepare to apply to some of the world’s most competitive business programs.

Here are some examples of ways our personalized methodology can help:

 

We can help you determine your personal brand

First things first: you won’t get into a top program by being like everyone else – you’ll get in by standing out. But figuring out how to stand out and how to keep your “uniqueness” consistent across your application can be very difficult if you don’t have some sort of guide. 

This is why all our clients start their MBA applications by defining their personal brand. 

A personal brand is a powerful tool you will use not only throughout your application but also during your studies and later on when you re-enter the job market. Working with your MBA consultant can help you understand how to focus on and enhance different elements of your profile yet still ensure you submit a cohesive application. 

Of course, any good marketing campaign starts with understanding who your target audience is. 

This is no different when it comes to business schools. Though all schools essentially offer the same product – an MBA– the product features are as different as a Ferrari’s are from a pickup truck’s. Every school has a different “fit,” so you should plan to tailor your application to each school. 

For example, London Business School really values internationally-minded candidates, so your personal brand for LBS should focus more on your international strengths and vision. 

 

We can help you identify your strengths and weaknesses

What sets a successful applicant apart from a dinged applicant? 

Though many factors determine an application’s success, in our experience, applicants who clearly understand the strengths and weaknesses of their profile have a clear advantage. 

Not only can we help you identify your strengths and weaknesses – we can also help you leverage them to your advantage through personalized essay editing. By helping you highlight what you learned from a failed startup, a rough year at school, or adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, you can collaborate with your editor to show the admissions committee how you have grown through these experiences and how you plan to overcome the challenges that await you in their program and throughout your professional trajectory.

As MBA consultants, we can help you discover your weaknesses and, more importantly, how they can help you become an all-star MBA candidate.

 

We can help you decide which stories to tell 

Writing your MBA admissions essay may feel like an intimidating task. With precious little space, what should you tell the adcom? How much detail should you include? As one of the most complex and time-consuming aspects of your application, it is important to get advice from an MBA consultant who knows how to help you rock your essays.

Our MBA consultants and editors have years of experience helping candidates choose their best MBA content, which means we know which strategies work best depending on the school, your personal background, and your goals. 

Our number one tip? Storytelling.

Stories in MBA admissions essays function to show the reader who you are by telling them about your past. They often tell of a single event that helped you grow as a person or a professional. Stories are also a way to structure a past experience for the reader that is intriguing, compelling, and interesting to read.

For example, you could tell a story about bringing your community together by creating a holiday donation drive in high school, joining an NGO to focus on social mobility, or taking a leap of faith to take up the mantle of the family business. Almost any past experience can serve as a story in your MBA admissions essay. 

Stories will help the committee understand not just what you did, but why you did it. By telling stories, they can gain deeper insight into the motivations underlying the choices on your CV, your values, and what really makes you tick.

In theory, you can use practically any story from your past in your MBA application – however, not every story is well-suited to every essay. That all depends on your overall message and the personal brand you intend to use throughout your application.

As you can see, there are plenty of options when it comes to stories. All the more reason why they must be chosen with care, a task that a skilled MBA consultant can help you with. 

At Ellin Lolis Consulting, our editors work with you to choose the best stories for each essay via one-on-one strategy chats and iterative brainstorming. That way, you can be sure that you are on the right track to an effective narrative that shows the adcom who you are.

 

We can help you tell your story better

However, choosing the right stories for your essay is just the first step. You also need to know how to make them shine. Here too, our MBA consultants are prepared to help!

For example, one of the most common mistakes we see in MBA essays is that candidates fail to tell compelling stories. This is important because if your stories are not compelling, they will not be persuasive.

You must be persuasive for your essay to be effective. Remember, you are ultimately arguing to the adcom to accept you into their school. 

Many candidates also attempt to tell stories that do not have the right amount of detail.

They might not clearly highlight what their role in their story was, fail to demonstrate a problem that needed solving, or not give the reader enough information to understand the context of the story in the first place. A compelling story must have all of these elements to keep a reader’s interest piqued until the very end. 

In other words, the key to a compelling argument is structure. 

This is why our iterative developmental feedback at Ellin Lolis Consulting goes far beyond just choosing your stories – indeed, we can help you mold the message until it reflects exactly what you want to say, make sure you have provided all the necessary detail, and whittle down any superfluous context to ensure you make the most of every line.

Not only can you take advantage of our iterative feedback process through multiple edits – you can also benefit from it after a single draft! If your budget is tight, our editors will be happy to help polish your text as much as possible and leave “bonus comments” so you can keep working on it on your own!

Our editors have tons of experience helping clients determine which stories and themes work best for their profile, their target school, and convey that you are perfect for their program. No matter how long we have worked with you, we will always offer suggestions to help you make your essays even better.

 

We can help you practice for your interview

Of course, at Ellin Lolis Consulting, we are also here to help with another notoriously tricky aspect of your MBA application: your interviews.

When considering talking to a representative of your dream school face-to-face, a whole new string of questions pops up. While over-anxious pacing and sleepless nights should indeed be avoided, you do need to prepare yourself. Indeed, practice is incredibly important. Especially when it comes to public speaking and highly-competitive selection processes. 

Though you might not be practicing, your competitors are. After all, the only difference between Usain Bolt winning gold in the 100m men’s sprint at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Richard Thompson’s silver medal performance was two milliseconds. 

When you’re competing at such an elite level (and top MBA programs are about as elite as it gets), practice is the only way to get the edge you need.

For most elite MBAs, only around 50% of candidates called to interview are actually admitted. This means that having a natural gift for public speaking or an outstanding profile simply isn’t enough. You must be prepared to master your interview from start to finish, avoiding errors, pivoting gracefully, and acing every moment. 

Working one-on-one with our team of interview experts can help you get that vital advantage. 

 

We can help you position your answers effectively in interviews

However, our expertise goes beyond helping you practice and familiarizing you with what to expect. Like our editing services, our interview prep is tailored to help you make the most of every answer.

For example, when answering uncomfortable questions, there’s a technique you can use to overcome objections or concerns: positioning, your way to truthfully portray a situation.

Imagine two answers when a candidate is asked about why they’re re-applying to Harvard:

“Last year, I was rejected by Harvard because they thought I didn’t have leadership experience and they had concerns about my GMAT because it was pretty low. So, I’m re-applying this year and hoping to get in!”

Or, try this approach:

“Last year, I had the opportunity to apply to HBS, however, the committee gave me valuable feedback, preferring more leadership experience and a higher GMAT score. Taking this to heart, I enrolled in two GMAT courses, studying during nights and weekends. At Goldman Sachs, I founded a diversity club that I now lead and, after speaking with my director about my leadership path, I’ve mentored two interns who were hired as analysts last week. I am grateful because Harvard’s feedback allowed me to reapply this year with more leadership experience and a 750 GMAT score.”

Not only is the first answer somewhat dismissive of Harvard’s evaluation, it’s also quite negative. It doesn’t show any effort put forth in addressing Harvard’s concerns from last year.

The second answer is positive and embraces feedback as a vehicle for growth. The candidate uses their answer as a platform to show just how much they’ve accomplished since last year.

Importantly, the candidate was 100% truthful and honest in their answer.

No matter the question you’re answering, consider how it sounds from the perspective of the interviewer. Does it paint you as a proactive, positive professional who has accomplished much – and is on their way to accomplishing even more – while remaining authentic?

Ask yourself: what does the interviewer’s question reveal about their motivation or curiosity?

This can sometimes be difficult to figure out on your own, however. For that reason, bringing in a top-notch MBA consultant to assist you in determining how to position your answers can be a key step in translating the information from your personal brand and application form to winning interview answers.

This is the approach we have used to help applicants from countless industries on 6 continents position their unique stories to achieve an offer from their top-choice programs. Let us put our extensive know-how and personalized approach to work for the success of your MBA application. 

 

Leverage the Ellin Lolis Advantage today!

There is no time to waste when it comes to refining your MBA application, and there is no better way to navigate your approach than with an MBA consultant by your side. 

The best MBA consultants, however, go far beyond just providing generic answers or standard interview questions – they care about making sure you feel secure in every aspect of your application. At Ellin Lolis Consulting, we can guarantee you can take advantage of your best shot at your top MBA programs through tailored advice, personal feedback, and detailed one-on-one editing and interview prep.

We are especially proud to offer this service, as we find it helps our clients take greater advantage of their MBAs.

For us, though, it’s more than just helping you build the strategy that will get you into your target schools – it’s about providing the support you need along the way. 

In the words of our client Rafaela, “Thank you so much for supporting me throughout this journey. You are more than a mentor, you are a person who never lets someone give up on dreams. You believed in me more than I believed in myself, and I will never forget that.” 

If you’re interested in working with us, apply here, and a member of our team will reach out to discuss the next steps with you!