Services
All services are elite, exclusive, 1-to-1 profiling, interview, chat, essay review etc., sessions with MBA admissions advisor and coach, Avi Gordon. There are no junior consultants here — no second-best “associates,” nobody being trained on your dime. Note also there are no automatic payment links next to the services, because we don’t take funds without being sure we can help you, and only do so after advising you how to use the services on offer to your best advantage. If you do decide to sign up you have a no-quibble guarantee of refund on all unused services. This is an honest, credentialed, accredited operation.
Prices are quoted next to the service description below. For a quick overview, go HERE. The signup/payment links are HERE.
Free: Try with no obligation
FREE ESSAY REVIEW
Any 500-word essay, for any top-25 school, reviewed with full comments. See Free Review tab.
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FREE SPOT ASSESSMENT: A review your resume, file data, and background info, to give you a fast-turnaround straight-talking assessment of where you are strong, what still needs work, and how to move forward. Send to contact(at)mbastudio.net (Note: this is not an assessment of your ‘chances’ at any particular school, because your prospects depend less on how ‘good’ your profile is and more on how well you apply.)
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Guide to services below:
1. COMPETITIVE APPRAISAL: aligning yourself with the admissions process
2. PROFILING, POSITIONING: developing a competitive profile & value points
3. ESSAY REVIEW & EDITING: all essay-based services
4. INTERVIEWS, RECOS, etc: everything else
5. INTEGRATED PACKAGES: integrated per-school packages
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SECTION 1: COMPETITIVE ADMISSIONS APPRAISAL
Typical Applicant Situation: “I need to talk to someone who can give me the bottom-line, no-BS deal on how competitive MBA admissions works; what schools really look for and why, and how I rate against this, given my background, capabilities, and experiences, so I can put my time and effort in the right place, and get into a better school.”
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ASK THE EXPERT: MBA ADMISSIONS INSIGHTS, APPROACHES & TACTICS, Q&A
By phone or Skype: we discuss the range of admissions topics pertinent to you — anything you want to talk about or ask about concerning your application — usually including items such as:
* the tactical concerns in managing your application
* what the admissions committee seeks and why
* what each element of the MBA application ask of you
* GMAT requirements and how your score affects you
* School selection issues
* choice and priming of recommenders
* application timing issues and R1 vs R2 questions
* pitfalls and red flags relevant to your application
* advice on tackling any specific essay
* And so on, all your questions — applying hard-won insights from a decade of admissions experience and thousands of previous applicants to your particular situation.
Once you have signed on for this service you may come back any number of times, with any questions, until the end of the applications season
Ask the expert: $395
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DING ANALYSIS & REAPPLICANT RECOMMENDATIONS
By phone/Skype, or written report (your choice): You get an analysis of a previous unsuccessful application to identify what went wrong and why. You get a no-BS, no-sweet-talk view of where your weaknesses were. This will guide you to avoid making the same mistakes again, and help you improve your applicant profile and develop a new positioning. A ding analysis will consider all the material (essays, short questions, etc.) that you sent to Adcom. As an optional extra you can have essay-by-essay feedback on a previous essay set.
Ding analysis: $295
Ding analysis (+ full critique of a previous essay set): $495
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SECTION 2: CANDIDATE PROFILING & POSITIONING
Typical Applicant Situation: “I’m starting my essays. I need to find the strengths in my profile, and my value points, and build these into an clear application message that positions me competitively in the essays and interviews. I need to get all the parts of my background working together, and working for me.”
PERSONAL & PROFESSIONAL PROFILING; VALUE POINTS ASSESSMENT; PROFILE BUILDING; THEME & MESSAGE DEVELOPMENT; APPLICANT POSITIONING
This is the core of a successful application. We show you how to make the most of who you are and what you’ve done in the past, and what you could credibly do in the future.
This includes understanding which background components and achievements are relevant, interesting, and valuable to Adcom, and finding them in your past record.
We extract key themes and a core message from your profile and develop this into a “positioning” that best promotes you. We explore, consolidate, refine, and package your claim for selection. This becomes the basis of your statement of purpose and other essays.
When you understand your profile strengths and profile message, your application becomes clearer and more forceful. Your essays become simpler, more concrete, and easier to write (and read).
Includes:
Profiling Worksheet: You get a structured question set that shows you how to determine your personal and professional profile strengths, weaknesses, and relative position, following an intuitive tabular format.
Value Points Worksheet: You get a worksheet that isolates the features and attributes Adcoms seek, so you can rate yourself against them and determine where you need to focus your application, and what areas you should strengthen.
1-to-1 Profiling Session by Phone: We work with you individually to bring together all the elements of your story into a coherent, structured profile, identify your application themes, position and differentiate you vs competitor applicants, and ready you for the essays and interview.
Content Preview, Essay Mapping & Outlining: We help you create an outline for each essay, to organize, structure, and signpost it. We structure your argument and integrate your key themes into the answer. We help you decide what to say in which essay, to develop a consistent, reinforcing message across the entire essay set.
Full profiling: $795
Essay Question Primer: Once you are clearly and competitively positioned, you need to get this across in the essays. We extract the simple and compound question archetypes present in the question set you face. We describe what is being sought in each essay, and how to approach it..
Question primer, per school set: $245
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SECTION 3: ESSAY MAKEOVER [DEVELOPMENT, REVIEW & EDITING]
Typical Applicant Situation: “I know my profile and my value points. I’m clearly and competitively positioned. I’ve written a first draft of my essays. Now I need to know whether the essays work or not, or where they need reworking and strengthening.”
Note that the MBA Studio does NOT write applicants’ essays.
Essay makeover includes the following:
Essay Content Review and Development: We review and rework the content of your draft. We help you refocus and change emphasis where necessary, so that the essay captures and communicates your value and positioning more clearly. We make sure you avoid known pitfalls. We cut low-content “air bubbles” without compromising meaning, giving you more space to make statements of value. We help you find and develop imagery and stories. We point out where copy can be rewritten to improve direction and flow.
Structure and Writing Enhancement: We organize and rebuild your essay structure, if necessary, including paragraph placement, to clarify and develop the flow of argument and ensure the content message is delivered clearly
Style, Grammar, and Expression Polish: We fine-tune your essays to the highest standards of style, expression, and linguistic and grammatical correctness. We clarify and enhance sentence construction, word choice, fix ambiguities, even out word register and the essay’s overall tone in a final ‘polish.’
Note: It normally takes two-to-three reviews to get an essay right. Round one reviews and builds content, structure, and profile strategy. Then you rework your essay. The second review focuses on expression, style, grammar, and final polish. Depending on how you work, and what your essay is like to start with, a third review may be necessary. You may also get the same service on a per-school basis, see per-school Option A below.
Per 100 words of incoming copy:
First review $25; second review $15
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SECTION 4: INTERVIEW, RECOMMENDATIONS & MORE
Typical Applicant Situation: “Okay, my essays are great. Now how do I leverage this across the rest of my application. How do I get everything as good as these essays, and working together with them?”
INTERVIEW PREPARATION - MOST LIKELY QUESTIONS
We do a one-hour session during which we talk about, prepare, and practice your answers to the most common questions you are likely to face in your interview, followed by feedback and development to ensure you are communicating your value message. We assess most likely questions based on school vs alumni interviewer; the school itself; and your particular profile and background. Many of the most common questions are similar from school to school, and you should be well-prepared for these. Your profile may also suggest particular questions which you should know how best to handle.
Interview Preparation: $245
‘LIVE’ INTERVIEW REHEARSAL
We do a practice interview (by phone or Skype,) a real-time test interview of 30-40 minutes, followed by about 20 minutes feedback, analysis, tactics, and polishing delivery. You get experience in question (and underlying question) recognition, and practice fielding tricky questions while making your points connect to your larger goal, and staying “on message”. You get practice articulating yourself under pressure, to get your profile message and application themes across to the interviewer no matter what questions you receive -including managing the interviewer and taking control of the question process.
[How is Preparation different from Rehearsal? If you think about it in GMAT-prep terms: the preparation session ('the build') is a step-by-step consideration of the types of questions you are likely to face, and how you should manage them, given your particular story. We go over your key profile elements and most likely questions, taking them one by one, considering your best answers and stories, including explaining your problem areas. You can do this a number of times. Once you're on top of this, you may choose to do one or several mock tests, in real time, under test conditions, with feedback. That's the rehearsal session.]
‘Live Interview’ (rehearsal, analysis, and coaching): $245
Interview 3-pack (1x Preparation; 2x Rehearsal): $695
RECOMMENDER: TACTICAL SELECTION & PREP
We help you tactically evaluate, select, and brief your recommenders, to get your recos to dovetail with your application, reinforcing highlights and plugging holes. This includes evaluation of advantages and disadvantages of different recommenders. Note: MBA Studio does not write recommendations.
Selection & prep, per recommender: $145
RESUME REVIEW
We look at your resume from an admissions viewpoint, and reposition it as necessary, and edit to target it appropriately and competitively for b-school admission. Unlimited reviews.
Resume: one page $295; two-page $395
SHORT QUESTIONS
We review & edit your short question (file data & paragraph essays) answers to extract the maximum benefit from them, and to position them consistently with your essays and references. Unlimited reviews.
Short questions, per school: $295
SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION
We work with you on essays and whatever else is required to make a compelling scholarship application. Unlimited reviews.
Scholarship: $295
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SECTION 5: INTEGRATED PACKAGES PER SCHOOL
Discounted packages apply when three or more schools are purchased together at one time. See cost matrix below. Discounted 5+ school packages are also available on request.
Typical Applicant Situation: “I need various of the services, pulled together around the application for one or more schools.”
Note: Option A is Essay Makeover, Review & Editing, applied (and discounted) on a per-school basis. It is intensive text-based essay support. Options B adds profiling (done by phone/Skype) and profile-message development applied to the essays. Options C and D do this too, and integrate (and discount) various add-ons: resume review, interview prep, etc., and include ‘anytime’ phone/Skype Q&A.
Option A: Essay Review, Applicant Positioning, Content Development, Essay Editing
Includes:
1. ESSAY EDITING 1: content review and development, incl. message review, strategic assessment, red flag alerts, tactical fixes, suggesting new or additional content, changes of emphasis, etc.
2. ESSAY EDITING 2: attention to structure, paragraph placement, and development and flow of argument
3. ESSAY EDITING 3: style, grammar, word choice and expression fixes, and overall polishing
4. Two reviews per essay set, per school
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Option B: Profiling; Profile Development; Message Development & Applicant Positioning; Essay Review, Content Development, & Essay Editing/ Makeover
Includes:
1. PROFILING WORKSHEET: theme and message development
2. VALUE POINTS WORKSHEET: value development
3. CANDIDATE PROFILING: 1-to-1 profiling session/s as necessary (unlimited); profile building
4. ESSAY QUESTION PRIMER and content preview
5. ESSAY MAPPING AND OUTLINING: applicant positioning
6. ESSAY EDITING 1: content review and development, incl. message review, strategic assessment, red flag alerts, tactical fixes, suggesting new or additional content, changes of emphasis, etc.
7. ESSAY EDITING 2: attention to structure, paragraph placement, and development and flow of argument
8. ESSAY EDITING 3: style, grammar, word choice and expression fixes, and overall polishing
9. UNLIMITED essay reviews
10. SKYPE ACCESS: By appointment Skype access to Avi Gordon for your application questions or essay help as you proceed with your application.
Option C:
Profiling; Profile Development; Message Development & Applicant Positioning; Essay Review, Content Development, & Essay Editing / Makeover, and further services
Includes:
1. PROFILING WORKSHEET: theme and message development
2. VALUE POINTS WORKSHEET: value development
3. CANDIDATE PROFILING: 1-to-1 profiling session/s as necessary (unlimited); profile building
4. ESSAY QUESTION PRIMER and content preview
5. ESSAY MAPPING AND OUTLINING: applicant positioning
6. ESSAY EDITING 1: content review and development, incl. message review, strategic assessment, red flag alerts, tactical fixes, suggesting new or additional content, changes of emphasis, etc.
7. ESSAY EDITING 2: attention to structure, paragraph placement, and development and flow of argument
8. ESSAY EDITING 3: style, grammar, word choice and expression fixes, and overall polishing
9. UNLIMITED essay reviews
10. SKYPE ACCESS: Anytime ‘informal’ Skype access to Avi Gordon for your application questions or essay help as you proceed with your application.
Plus any two of the following five:
11. RECOMMENDATIONS: recommender selection, prep, and review
12. SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION: positioning, essay prep, and review
13. SHORT QUESTIONS: file data and paragraph essays. Unlimited reviews
14. RESUME REVIEW: one or two-page resume. Two reviews
15. INTERVIEW PREPARATION OR REHEARSAL: One per school. (Three max.)
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Option D: Everything, Unlimited, Comprehensive
Includes:
1. COMPETITIVE ADMISSIONS APPRAISAL / DING ANALYSIS
2. PROFILING WORKSHEET: theme and message development
3. VALUE POINTS WORKSHEET: value development
4. CANDIDATE PROFILING: 1-to-1 profiling session/s as necessary (unlimited); profile building
5. ESSAY QUESTION PRIMER and content preview
6. ESSAY MAPPING AND OUTLINING: applicant positioning
7. ESSAY EDITING 1: content review and development, incl. message review, strategic assessment, red flag alerts, tactical fixes, suggesting new or additional content, changes of emphasis, etc.
8. ESSAY EDITING 2: attention to structure, paragraph placement, and development and flow of argument
9. ESSAY EDITING 3: style, grammar, word choice and expression fixes, and overall polishing
10. RECOMMENDATIONS: recommender selection, preview, & review
11. SHORT QUESTIONS: file data and paragraph essays.
12. RESUME REVIEW: one or two-page resume.
13. INTERVIEW PREPARATION AND REHEARSAL: Two per school. (Four max.)
14. SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION: positioning, essay prep, and review
15. UNLIMITED essay, recommendation, resume, and short question reviews
16. SKYPE ACCESS: Anytime ‘informal’ Skype access to Avi Gordon for your application questions or essay help as you proceed with your application.
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PER-SCHOOL PACKAGE DISCOUNT PRICES ($US):
The signup/payment links are HERE.
MBA Studio works all around the world: prices here in $US for convenience. Package discounts apply to items purchased at one time. Service price adjustments may be made without notice and will apply to new purchases. Rush, weekend, or high-season charges may be applied, and prices may also be adjusted in cases requiring extensive English-language assistance. Turnaround is less than 48 hours in most cases, but this is not a condition of service. Informal Skype access is anytime Avi Gordon is reasonably available and online, but is not 24/7. Services are valid for the current application year only (expire one year after signup.) Free reviews are provided as trial-of-service and offer may be withdrawn if the prospective client has no apparent need for further services. As client work takes priority, free essay reviews or free spot assessments are seldom done on a 48-hour turn basis. Client confidentiality and data is strictly guarded. Provision of services is not a guarantee of admission.
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