Amalia

Amalia was phenomenal throughout every stage of my MBA admissions process, and I cannot recommend her highly enough. She was incredibly responsive, thoughtful, and detail-oriented, always turning around feedback quickly while still providing deeply strategic and personalized guidance. What I appreciated most was her ability to push me beyond surface-level answers and help me uncover the most authentic and compelling parts of my story. She played a huge role in helping me bring out my best in my essays and overall narrative. She was also a steady, encouraging presence during an otherwise stressful process, and I always felt like she was genuinely invested in my success.

Thanks in part to her guidance and support, I was fortunate to be admitted to Harvard, Stanford, and Wharton, and I’m incredibly grateful to have had her in my corner throughout the journey!!

Working with Amalia was one of the highlights of my experience with Square One Prep. She brought an incredible level of expertise, structure, and support to the process, and I truly enjoyed working with her. Amalia was thoughtful, honest, and very strategic in her feedback, constantly pushing me to think more deeply about my experiences and how to communicate them effectively. At the same time, she made sure the final work always reflected my own voice and story. Her guidance made the entire process feel much clearer and more manageable, and I’m incredibly grateful for the support she provided throughout the journey.

Square One Prep was an exceptional partner throughout my entire business school application journey. Amalia and Kathryn were deeply involved from the very beginning, helping me thoughtfully frame my experiences and interests and guiding me to define the lens through which I wanted to approach the application process. Horatiu helped me refine a career narrative that felt true to myself and resonated with schools.

They didn’t write my applications for me. Instead, they asked the right questions, pushed me to think deeply about the story I wanted to tell, and helped me iterate in a way that was both authentic and compelling, and something I could confidently speak to in interviews. Their support was truly comprehensive, spanning career positioning, essays, and interview preparation.

Amalia took the time to understand my working style and adapted seamlessly to it, while holding me to a high standard that consistently brought out my best work. With the Square One team’s support, I was admitted to every school I applied to (GSB, HBS, Wharton, and Columbia). I cannot recommend Square One highly enough.

There is absolutely no way I could have achieved the results I did without Square One Prep’s help.

I started the MBA application process feeling overwhelmed by the number of essays and variables involved. I was also anxious about my non-traditional background and winding career path. Amalia immediately put me at ease and gave me immense confidence throughout the process. She was incredibly responsive, insightful, and supportive—helping me connect the disparate dots of my career and craft a story that was genuine to me on paper and in interviews.

Thank you, Amalia!

I worked with the Square One Prep team on my round one applications and came away delighted at both the quality of service and result – admission to my top choice of HBS! The entire team felt highly invested in me and my success from the very first meeting I took with Kathryn when I was beginning to think through my process.

The first big differentiator of working with SOP was the level of personalization and genuine care I received from the team. Each consultant only takes on a few applicants per cycle, which leads to a high level of personal attention and responsiveness. I never waited more than 24 hours (more often it was sub-12) for an email response or for feedback on whatever we happened to be working on at the time. Moreover, the team pushes you to take the long and hard route (for everyone involved, including them) rather than signing off prematurely. They will truly push your application and thought process to the highest quality possible, even if it means jumping on more calls for them or starting an essay over entirely.

The second big differentiator of working with SOP was the team approach. Amalia, my primary advisor, brought an impressive level of empathy, creativity, and candor that helped draw out my unique experiences and express individuality in my application, which was a big priority for me coming from a traditional background. She was patient, highly committed, and most importantly, incredibly kind and pleasant to work with. Kathryn provided invaluable guidance at each step of the process and provided clear, direct, and thoughtful feedback that pushed every aspect of my application to a higher level. Wendy, the resident career narrative expert (a unique aspect of the SOP process) spent nearly a month helping me develop my career story and define short, medium, and long-term goals in a way that holds together with my past experiences and who I am. She was incredibly patient, and as time progresses, I continue to see the value of that workstream more and more and find the work incredibly important for anyone to do early in their career regardless of whether they’re applying to an MBA. Finally, Kelsey was fantastically organized and kept the entire process on track to submit in time for the round 1 deadline.

My overall experience with the team was 10/10. They followed through with everything they said they would do and helped me achieve a fantastic outcome. They pushed me harder and invested more time than I would’ve ever expected and ended up being worth every penny.

A few years ago, I had no idea about the MBA application process. I studied economics and spent five years working in government and at a multilateral development bank (MDB). I always assumed I would pursue a master’s in public policy or a PhD in economics. However, as I started working with private companies at my MDB, I realized an MBA was the better path for my goals.
Once I made that decision—after consulting mentors, colleagues, and doing some research—I felt overwhelmed by the many (almost endless!) steps in the application process. I also struggled to understand how my profile aligned with the schools I was targeting. That’s where Square One Prep came in.
From my first meeting with Kathryn, I felt more confident. She helped me see how my background could be positioned as a competitive profile for business schools. Choosing to work with SOP was one of the best decisions I made. Their structured, step-by-step approach not only guided me through the written application but also led to deep introspection, which proved highly valuable in my interviews.
One of the most impactful parts of the process was building my career narrative with Kathryn, my advisor Amalia, and Horatiu, a specialized career coach. The feedback I received during this stage continues to be valuable as I now shift my focus to recruiting.
I worked closely with Amalia, who was available whenever I had questions or needed feedback. We refined my essays and career narrative through multiple iterations until we were all confident in the final result. Without SOP’s support, I wouldn’t have achieved what I did: I was accepted to my dream school, Harvard Business School, as well as Columbia Business School.

Prior to speaking with Kathryn on my initial consultation, I constantly compared myself and my application to other phenomenal applicants and truthfully thought I would not have a chance to get into any business school. Due to my subpar academic background, I relied heavily on my military experience, but did not know how to properly express my career in my resume or in my essays. After speaking to Kathryn, I had a sense of confidence going into my MBA application journey and decided to trust in Kathryn and her team’s ability to help me achieve my dream to attend an MBA program.

Each member of my admissions team helped me throughout this journey, but I want to especially thank Amalia! Amalia, it has been absolutely wonderful working with you as my lead admissions consultant. Your flexibility to take my calls and quick, but detailed responses gave me the confidence to create products to the best of my ability. I cannot thank you enough for (quite-literally) guiding my hand through this process.

The Square One Prep process is a proven admissions consulting practice that has the resources and team to support you as the applicant. But as the applicant, you must be able to be vulnerable, give your 110% into all of your required assignments, and put your full trust in your application team. This admissions consulting journey with Square One is a two-way street and it is proven with their 90+% success rate for their applicants.

I was shocked to have received acceptance letters from three schools, and I am extremely proud to say that I will be matriculating to the Wharton School this summer. I am confident that I would not be in this same position without Square One Prep and their admissions consulting experience. Once again, thank you all so much for helping me achieve my dream!

When I decided to apply to business school, I figured I would go through the motions, but I had very little confidence that I would actually be accepted. I was older than the typical consulting applicant, and I felt like my path to date was relatively unexceptional. I asked myself, “Why would a school — especially a top school like HBS, Wharton, or GSB — choose me?”

My journey and perspective changed when I found Square One Prep. From the very first introduction call, Square One encouraged me and believed in me…much more than I even did in myself. From there, my consultant, Amalia, helped me find stories to tell that were authentically me, and she consistently encouraged me to not discount my unique experiences. In addition, the transparency Square One provides helped me ground this belief in data from past applicants’ experiences.

The business school application process is daunting, but SquareOne guided me through it step-by-step, providing honest and helpful feedback and ensuring that I met all deadlines in a timely manner. The career narrative work in particular was a helpful exercise to think about my strengths, experiences, and future goals. Most importantly, Square One instilled a belief in me that changed the trajectory of my life, for which I will always be grateful. I am thrilled to be heading to HBS this fall and will continue to recommend Square One Prep and my consultant to anyone considering b-school!

I really enjoyed working with Amalia and SOP and the result was 100% success.
Amalia was especially successful at helping me dig dip into my inner motivations and strengths, and putting together a cohesive narrative that reflects my personal and professional story.
Questions like why am I really pursuing an MBA? What do I want to accomplish in the next 10 years? And, what matters most to me? Are DIFFICULT to answer.
SOP has a solid framework to tackle them and very expert advisors who truly devote their time and effort to make sure you get to the most honest answers.

Working with Square One Prep and specifically with Amalia was the best decision I made while applying for my MBA. My husband and I both used Square One to apply to our dream school of Stanford GSB and were both admitted to the Class of 2026. We genuinely believe working with Square One gave us the strongest chance of admission, and we are thrilled with the result.

From my very first conversation with Kathryn, I felt fully supported by Square One. After agreeing to work together, I had a few conversations with different SOP consultants and decided to work with Amalia because I believed our styles would work well together. I am 100% confident working with Amalia was the right choice for me. She is interesting and kind while simultaneously pushing her clients to create their best work. She is decisive in her resume and essay edits and helped me cut out extraneous details and better frame my stories. Working with Amalia took the stress out of the application process and made it genuinely fun. I knew she wouldn’t let me miss my timeline or submit sub-par work.

Something extremely useful and unique about the SOP process was the career narrative. Through nearly therapy-like sessions, Amalia and I talked through my life trajectory and future goals, eventually culminating in my presentation of my “career narrative” to Kathryn, Amalia, and Wendy. By writing out and presenting my career goals in granular detail, I gained clarity that helped immensely in my essays and interviews.

I can’t recommend Square One Prep and Amalia enough! They have been fantastic partners and ultimately helped my husband and I realize our dream of attending Stanford GSB together.

It was an absolute pleasure working with SquareOne for my MBA application. The advisors have all the expertise, experience and dedication to help with anything you need for the application process. The support and advisory also came beyond the application itself – besides getting your essays right on point for the admissions process, please also expect strong emotional support and a career narrative process that impacts beyond your application!

Working with SOP has been very gratifying and useful in my MBA applications journey. From reviewing who to select as my mentor, selecting which programs were the best fit for me has been tremendous. It was an all around approach into building my applications, from crafting and formulating my story and motives to pursue an MBA. Amalia my mentor was great with supporting me with all my essays and doubts regarding my applications. Thankfully I got several acceptances and I truly believe it has been because of the mentorship I received from the SOP team.

I don’t often write reviews, but today I am delighted to share my positive experience with Square One Prep as a successful Kellogg and INSEAD admit, crowned with a cherry-on-top scholarship award. My journey with SOP began a year before embarking my MBA applications. In fact, it all started with a recommendation from a close friend who had also secured admission to Kellogg with Kathryn’s guidance.

In our first meeting, I shared with Kathryn my aspirations and the early stage of my MBA application process, set for the following year. Despite the early stage, I sought candid feedback on my profile for the upcoming applications. Our intro discussion covered school choices, work experience, and my GMAT score. Immediately, I sensed that Kathryn was genuinely interested in my project rather than merely pushing me to sign up for her consulting services. Kathryn not only encouraged me to retake the GMAT to improve my chances but also provided follow-up support, even recommending a GMAT tutor – impressive considering I wasn’t yet an official client.

My decision to work with SOP was solidified, and a year later I signed up for the Premium-Need Based package, partnering with Amalia. Amalia’s availability, essay edits, and transparent communication stood out. Even when additional time was required, she informed me promptly, and throughout her edits I noticed a commitment to providing thoughtful and well-crafted feedback. I also worked with Horatiu to craft a robust career plan that would serve as the cornerstone of my applications. Horatiu was flexible in scheduling meetings at my convenience and shared thought-provoking ideas to build a career narrative that was aligned with my life goals. During my presentation of the career plan draft to Kathryn, her candid feedback was clear—she wasn’t convinced. While this feedback was initially challenging to absorb, it prompted a collaborative effort with Horatiu to refine and develop a more compelling career plan. Looking back, I recognize that Kathryn’s honesty was in my best interest, even though it meant hearing something I wasn’t eager to accept at the moment.

As admission interviews approached, Amalia went above and beyond, organizing practice interviews and offering suggestions on creating engaging conversations with the admissions committee. As a persistent client, I requested multiple interview preps, and Amalia navigated the fine line between preparation and sounding rehearsed. Her inclusion of curveball questions proved invaluable, making the actual interviews feel like a breeze.

The most important lessons from my experience with SOP lies in the authenticity, transparency, and occasional vulnerability required in crafting compelling MBA applications. This process demands introspection and dedication from both the applicant and the consultant. It is a process that is time consuming, not straightforward, and your consultant must be genuinely interested in you. I feel that SOP has that advantage, and Kathryn’s passion about this is notable from miles away. If I had to repeat MBA applications a million times, I would do it with SOP with my eyes closed.

Since the day of signing up with Squareone Prep, I received tremendous support and guidance from Kathryn, Amalia, Cristina, and Wendy. The team ensured that I reached all milestones in the application process even though I started working with them very late in R2. Kathryn has set an amazingly streamlined process in place for all applicants to follow since Day-1. She and Amalia were extremely organized, and they were very dedicated in understanding my background prior to kicking off the work on the applications.

SOP team ensured that I built a very thorough long-term and short-term plan post-MBA via its Career Narrative lead by Wendy. I went to them with a very bleak/blurry vision, but after multiple discussions, the team guided me in building a very strong post-MBA plan. I really do not think I could have the vision without undergoing this process with the SOP team. Incredible execution by the SOP team, special thanks to Wendy – she is the expert!

Post career-narrative sessions, Amalia helped me pick the right stories to be incorporated into the essays. Amalia is super friendly, and she was always willing to hop on a call and listen without worrying about time. This is where SOP’s dedication in understanding my journey was super helpful. She was extremely emphatic while listening to some of the delicate aspects of my past and helped me to carefully draft my narratives. Amalia was also great at utilizing the time difference between our locations to our advantage and we managed to build the essays for both GSB and HBS within 3 weeks. While Amalia’s expertise added in simplify the back and forth in polishing the essays, the quality of feedback provided by Kathryn on the final version of the essays was just priceless. She was very open and honest about how she felt about certain aspects of my essays. She ensured that the best of me is reflected even when we were all working together tirelessly during the last couple of days prior to the deadlines. I absolutely loved her insights and her turnaround time!

Cristina was super supportive in ensuring that I adhere to the timelines set and she worked closely with Amalia and me to ensure all deliverables are ready on time. To add further, the dynamic schedule on SOP portal was absolutely useful even before I signed up with SOP. Prior to signing up with SOP, Kathryn demonstrated how to use this schedule and it helped me to always track my progress for the various schools I planned to apply. In fact, it also helped me to pick schools wisely in interest of time available then.

The team was always available to answer all my questions throughout the process. As a bonus later on, Amalia helped me navigate through my interviews smoothly too. She performed multiple mock-interviews for both GSB and HBS and did not stop until I was 100% ready. After each mock- interview, Amalia drafted detailed feedback and ensured that I improved after each mock. Even in times when I was feely low about my interview prep, she boosted me and went out of her way to bring back my confidence levels. She genuinely cared for my success, and I owe my performance in interviews totally to her.

I feel absolutely great and lucky to have had SOP’s back during this vital process. I would definitely recommend SOP especially for applications to the top B-schools such as HSW. Super grateful for all the guidance from SOP team! Thank you, once again.

I am a re-applicant, and this year I decided to work with an admission consultant.

After speaking with more than 10 other consulting firms, I chose SOP right away because I felt an instant connection with Kathryn the first time we spoke on the phone. She did not try to fit me into any typical candidate box, nor did she try to convince me to lower my school expectations in order to increase their success rate, as some other firms do. She recognizes me for who I am, believes in me, and wants to help me get into the school I am truly passionate about. She gave me some great advice to compensate for my low test result. She also reviewed my applications from last year, for free, before our first free consult, so she could give me better advice.

I really enjoyed SOP’s team approach, where you have a professional team and eco-system to help you along the road. I worked with an amazing team, including Amalia as my personal coach, Cristina as the partnership manager, and Wendy as the career expert. Amalia was always approachable and cheerful, and I really enjoyed our conversations. She took the time to get to know me and help me brainstorm ideas. She is always there when I need her. And I learned a lot from all the calls and written communications with her. Cristina was always on top of the schedule to ensure that everything is well-paced. Wendy pushed me hard to figure out what I really wanted to do with my career, and it has been extremely beneficial.

MBA application is a tough journey, but taking it with the SOP team makes it memorable, enjoyable, and successful.
I am a re-applicant, and this year I decided to work with an admission consultant.

After speaking with more than 10 other consulting firms, I chose SOP right away because I felt an instant connection with Kathryn the first time we spoke on the phone. She did not try to fit me into any typical candidate box, nor did she try to convince me to lower my school expectations in order to increase their success rate, as some other firms do. She recognizes me for who I am, believes in me, and wants to help me get into the school I am truly passionate about. She gave me some great advice to compensate for my low test result. She also reviewed my applications from last year, for free, before our first free consult, so she could give me better advice.

I really enjoyed SOP’s team approach, where you have a professional team and eco-system to help you along the road. I worked with an amazing team, including Amalia as my personal coach, Cristina as the partnership manager, and Wendy as the career expert. Amalia was always approachable and cheerful, and I really enjoyed our conversations. She took the time to get to know me and help me brainstorm ideas. She is always there when I need her. And I learned a lot from all the calls and written communications with her. Cristina was always on top of the schedule to ensure that everything is well-paced. Wendy pushed me hard to figure out what I really wanted to do with my career, and it has been extremely beneficial.

MBA application is a tough journey, but taking it with the SOP team makes it memorable, enjoyable, and successful.

It will be an understatement to say that Square One Prep was extremely pivotal in my application journey.

I made up my mind to apply to a select number of schools and was looking for the right partner to help me through this arduous and nerve-wracking process. I spoke with 20+ consultants across the world, but my first conversation with Kathryn was good enough to convince me that SOP would be the ideal organization to help me see through this period – Kathryn spoke with me for an hour when the original slot was for 30 minutes, giving me golden advice on how to navigate the application process even though I had not signed up with SOP. I signed up within a day, and in hindsight, that was one of the best decisions I made regarding my overall application strategy.

I must tell you that working on your B-school applications is a hard process (especially when you have to balance taking your GMAT/GRE, doing your full time jobs, and managing other life commitments). SOP was super comprehensive throughout the process – choosing the right schools (in my case, it was helpful to cross-check if my choices were suitable/apt), crafting a career vision, creating a robust resume, writing endless essays, and finally preparing for the interview stage! The orderliness with which SOP manages these distinct parts of your application helps you feel at ease – they truly acted as equal partners in the process and were fully invested in my success. And in the whole process, Kathryn was very actively involved in making sure that we collectively put the best applications forward, responding to even the silliest of queries I had in my mind.

I had the privilege of working with Amalia as my SOP advisor, and I couldn’t have asked for a better guide. Amalia spent COUNTLESS hours with me on all of my application material – hearing my story, building a resume that would reflect my journey effectively, brainstorming essay ideas, helping me craft and express my story in the most impactful manner, and preparing me for my interviews (in a manner where I could show my best self and be fully authentic) and so much more. Not only is Amalia one of the most intelligent guides I’ve ever met, but she also acts as your true cheerleader in the WHOLE process. She was available 24*7 over the many months we worked together, answered my endless list of questions with utmost detail and patience, and matched my ambition/aspirations with her unbounded wisdom! Amalia is a rockstar – You will be lucky if you get a chance to work with her.

SOP even understood my ambition to apply to different programs (including dual degrees). Not even once did I feel that my spirit/aspirations were inhibited by the process. Kathryn and Amalia showed extreme patience and generosity throughout the whole process. In fact, they balanced my optimism and fears with top grade pragmatism and professionalism. I felt safe and confident following their advice (after all, B-school experiences can be life-altering experiences). One part of the process that people don’t speak about is rejection – when I did not get an interview invite from one of the schools I applied to, Kathryn and Amalia gave me the courage to march on in that phase and work with full force on the other schools on my list. For some of the schools we worked together on, I changed the format of our engagement from comprehensive to hourly – but it did not change the seriousness or depth with which both of them helped me prepare the best applications possible!

Out of the schools I applied to, I got interview invites from Wharton Lauder and INSEAD, and got an admit from INSEAD (where I’m headed off to in the coming months). These invites and my INSEAD admit would not have happened without SOP! Thank you, Amalia and Kathryn, for helping me realize my b-school dream 🙂