The Top 20 MBA Admission Consultants Of 2022

After being admitted to Harvard Business School with the help of admissions counselor Candy Lee La Balle, the MBA candidate who will be in the Class of 2024 was giddy with enthusiasm for the valuable advice received. “The investment in a person like Candy is 100% worth it!” the applicant wrote. “She helped me to tell my story in the best possible way and maximized my options for admission!”

That candidate wasn’t the only one using exclamation points for La Balle. “Without a scintilla of doubt,” said a candidate recently accepted to the MBA program at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, “it was the best decision I made during my application. Candy puts your interest first and at the center of the service she provides. She will help you reflect deeply on your background, your trajectory and aspirations and interconnect those to build the best story for your application. I would not have made it without Candy.”

Simeon Ratner, who got into NYU Stern’s Class of 2024, put it this way: “She treats you like a loving mother would treat her son or daughter during this process. She is beyond patient, beyond nice and the best investment I have ever made.”

The Top 20 MBA Admission Coaches Of 2022

Consultant	Firm	Client Satisfaction Score	Positive Reviews	Hourly Rate
1. Candy Lee La Balle	La Balle Admissions	10.0	21	$265
2. Sam Weeks	Sam Weeks Consulting	10.0	15	$340
3. Susan Cera	Stratus Admissions Consulting	10.0	12	$12,300 (3-school package)
4. Shaifali Aggarwal	Ivy Groupe	10.0	10	$550
4. Tyler Cormney	MBA Prep School	10.0	10	$425
6. Karen Hamou	Fortuna Admissions	9.96	23	$385
7. Betsy Massar	Master Admissions	9.94	16	$395
8. Liza Weale	Gatehouse Admissions	9.93	15	$12,500 (3-school package)
9. Alice van Harten	Menlo Coaching	9.93	14	$16,000 (3-school package)
10. Scott Edinburgh	Personal MBA Coach	9.92	25	$480
10. Katharine Lewis	mbaMission	9.92	12	$11,000 (3-school package)
10. Krista Nannery	mbaMission	9.92	12	$11,000 (3-school package)
13. Devi Vallabhaneni	mbaMission	9.90	20	$11,000 (3-school package)
14. Charli Taylor	Career Protocol	9.90	10	$11,000 (3-school package)
15. Jessica Shklar	mbaMission	9.90	10	$11,000 (3-school package)
16. Michel Belden	Fortuna Admissions	9.90	10	$385
17. Rajdeep Chimni	Admissions Gateway	9.86	36	$7,400 (3-school package)
18. Eli David	Ivy MBA Consulting	9.84	19	$390
19. Jenifer Raver	Fortuna Admissions	9.83	12	$385
20. Angela Guido	Career Protocol	9.82	11	$16,000 (3-school package)

The Five Highest Rated MBA Counselors Scored A Perfect 10.0 In Satisfaction

These highly personal and independently verified testimonies on La Balle’s behalf make her the most favorably reviewed MBA admissions consultant in the world. What’s more, this year La Balle is one of only five counselors (with ten or more positive reviews) who received a perfect 10.0 customer satisfaction score from their clients. The others are newcomer to the list Sam Weeks, last year’s No. 1 consultant Susan Cera of Stratus Admissions Consulting, Shaifali Aggarwal of Ivy Groupe, and Tyler Cormney of MBA Prep School.

In fact, 16 other consultants this year could also boast perfect scores but had fewer than 10 positive reviews from clients during the year-long period measured. More often than not, some of these counselors work part-time so they naturally have fewer reviews. With more than five reviews each, they include ApplicantLab’s Maria Wich-Villa, Stacy Blackman’s Caryn Altman, and Fortuna’s Emma Bond (see table on the following page).

If we calculated our ranking by merely the number of positive reviews received by a consultant, Rajdeep Chimni, would have won top honors for the fourth consecutive year. Over the 12-month period measured, Chimni had more positive reviews than any other MBA coach in the world: 36 in all, scoring an impressive 9.86 in client satisfaction. What’s more, no other consultant in our directory has accumulated as many positive reviews over the years as Chimni: 226 (see table below on the top ten in total reviews since our directory launched).

MBA Admission Consulting Fees Range From $295 An Hour To $16,000 For A 3-School Package

Employing a consultant to help guide a candidate through the grueling journey to a top business school doesn’t come cheap. At the top end, a three-school consulting package from the likes of Alice van Harten at Menlo Coaching or Angela Guido at Career Protocol will set a candidate back by $16,000. The standard hourly rate at mbaMission is between $385 and $500, but 80% to 90% of the firm’s business is selling three-school packages that range between $9,200 and $12,500. La Balle, by the way, is a relative bargain at $295 an hour or $5,000 for help applying to three schools from start to finish.

La Balle, an American from New Orleans who works from her home office in Madrid, Spain, sits atop our sixth annual ranking of the most favorably reviewed MBA admission consultants in the world. We’ve singled out the best of the best on the basis of positive reviews they have received over a year-long timeframe. The consultants are ranked based on their client satisfaction scores and the number of positive reviews each has received. Every MBA admissions coach in the Top 20 had to have a minimum of 10 assessments to qualify for the list. But each person’s place on the ranking is determined by their overall rating given by the clients who reviewed them on Poets&Quants.

The list is derived from the largest database of MBA admissions consulting in the world, with more than 5,000 client reviews on some 561 consultants in the Poets&Quants directory. All of the reviews are independently verified by Poets&Quants staff. The winners on this year’s honor roll were chosen on the basis of 1,086 reviews for 202 different consultants from Aug. 15, 2020, to Aug. 31, 2021.

The Top 10 MBA Consultants With The Most Positive Client Reviews Over Time

Consultant	Firm	Positive Reviews
1. Rajdeep Chimni	Admissions Gateway	226
2. Scott Edinburgh	Personal MBA Coach	188
3. Alex Leventhal	Prep MBA	139
4. Eli David	Ivy MBA Consulting	133
5. Paul Bodine	Admitify.com	125
6. Katharine Lewis	mbaMission	107
7. Jessica Shklar	mbaMission	99
8. Angela Guido	Career Protocol	97
9. Liza Weale	Gatehouse Admissions	92
10. Alice van Harten	Menlo Coaching	90