What MBA Admission Consultants Charge

ONE FIRM SAYS THE ODDS OF AN ADMIT FOR CLIENTS CAN BE MORE THAN DOUBLE A SCHOOL’S ACCEPTANCE RATES

What do you get for the money? Presumably, better odds. Aringo, for example, compares a school’s current acceptance rate with the acceptance rate of its clients at leading schools. At several highly selective MBA programs, Aringo claims to have more than doubled the acceptance rate for applicants. At Stanford, where only 7% of candidates are admitted, Aringo says its rate for clients is 15%. At MIT, the acceptance rate for clients is 29% versus an overall rate of 13%. At INSEAD, the firm claims a 68% acceptance rate for clients compared to what it estimates is a 33% rate.

What MBA Consulting Firms Charge Clients

Source: Firm websites

Notes: * Cost of a “scratch editing” service for one school and a mock interview ** Add $250 if you apply to Harvard Business School

And there are some consultants, generally solo practitioners, that charge by the hour. Adam Markus, who has been doing admissions consulting for the past 13 years, charges a base hourly rate of $300 with reduced rates for 5-, 10-, and 20-hour packages. Markus estimates that a native or near native English speaker can expect to finish the first school (essays, recs, resume, and app form) in approximately four to seven hours. A client with intermediate to advanced level English might need about five to 14 hours for that same amount of work.

ONE CONSULTANT SAYS HE THINKS IT IS UNFAIR TO CHARGE PER SCHOOL

“I always considered it extremely unfair to charge applicants on a per school basis because essentially those who need less service are subsidizing those who need considerably more,” says Markus, who is based in Japan. “Also, given that some essay sets have always taken longer than others, I have found a per school payment system to be especially odd and unfair. For example, I had a client who was admitted to HBS/Stanford/Wharton last year who used ten hours. We spent about five hours initially on Stanford and about two hours each on HBS and Wharton and did one hour of interview prep. One other reason I think hourly rates more sense is that subsequent schools typically take significantly less time and by the time an applicant is applying to four or more schools, they typically need an hour or less (sometimes just a quick 10-15 minute check) for each application.”

Blackman notes that she and most other firms also charge by the hour, if an applicant prefers that approach.  Her firm prices its hourly rates at $295 an hour with a two-hour minimum. “If clients are concerned about not getting their money’s worth, because they feel hours should go down due to changes in essay word counts, they can purchase the hourly service and pay for every hour spent,” she says. “However, the vast majority of our clients who start hourly end up rolling those hours into an ‘All In’ package because they see how much time is spent on all aspects pf the app.”