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Re: An in-depth look into MBA Admission Consulting

anecdotalmba — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:24:13 -0000

Thank you for this thoughtful post. This is an important topic, as the cost of applying to business school is dominated by the decision of whether or not to use a consultant.

You ask whether admission consultants might give an unfair advantage to the rich, but I think this overlooks the fact that the rich probably stand to benefit the least from their services.

Why? Wealthy people are more likely to have access to graduates of the top business schools (through work, social networks, etc.), and therefore already have access to personalized advice on the application process. Similarly, people who work in finance and consulting are likely to be surrounded by graduates from the top programs, and stand to benefit less from a consultant than others would.

As you point out, the fundamental problem is the lack of transparency. There is no way to know whether you're getting a good consultant, but surveys like yours and the ongoing one on admissions411.com are helping to solve this problem. I'd love to see Business Week step in here and do a more comprehensive survey. I suspect we would see prices drop and quality improve if better information were available.

In my case - I used a consultant and was satisfied with the service, but I wish I had done more homework before I made a decision. I would have gone with a less expensive package.

Re: An in-depth look into MBA Admission Consulting

GeekMBA360 — Wed, 27 May 2009 00:15:40 -0000

Thanks for letting me know, Eli. I've already approved your comments, so
anyone comes to the article should see your comment.

Just curious -- how do you make sure that the reviews are written by real
applicants, not admission-consultant-turned-fake applicants? :-)

thanks,
Bill

Re: An in-depth look into MBA Admission Consulting

admissions411.com — Mon, 18 May 2009 22:40:07 -0000

I'd like to highlight http://www.admissions411.com to your readers as a resource for unbiased admission consultant rankings. admissions411 compiles business school application statistics from our 25,000+ members for over 80 US and international business schools.

We have a dedicated page for member-driven reviews of admission consultants. 100's of reviews are provided for over 50 admission consultants. These reviews are unfiltered, raw feedback from prior MBA applicants.

http://www.admissions411.com/A...

Thank you
Eli

Re: An in-depth look into MBA Admission Consulting

GMAT Club — Sat, 16 May 2009 22:12:53 -0000

Great Post! I would probably side with you about using Admission consultants for my own application but there are people who don't have time to get all the details or who would like to maximize their chances and want to use them. Looking at the number, there is definitely demand.

Would be very interested to read about the results of your Admissions Consultants Survey.

Best Regards,
BB
Founder of GMAT Club