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Fuqua School of Business at Duke University
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Expert Coach
Fortuna Admissions
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A skilled admissions coach, marketer and career counselor, Catherine is an expert at crafting messages that are specifically tailored to an admissions committee. She brings deep MBA experience as a former Associate Director of Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. At Duke, Catherine worked in the Career Management Center, serving as the liaison with Admissions and leading the career counseling team to create, implement, and evaluate full-time and executive career programs. She has extensive experience coaching MBA students to prepare for the recruiting process and is one of Fortuna’s resume experts. Catherine holds a BA and an MEd from North Carolina State University.
Fortuna Admissions possesses unique insider knowledge of how admissions committees work, because we have been the gatekeepers in the admissions offices of top business schools. Our entire team comprises of former business school professionals from top-tier institutions including Wharton, INSEAD, Harvard Business School, Stanford GSB, London Business School, Chicago Booth, NYU Stern, Duke Fuqua, IE Business School, and UC Berkeley Haas.
We have personally reviewed tens of thousands of applications from candidates all over the world. We have also shaped admissions policy, devised the application processes, and had the final say on who got in. We know the inside track – what goes on behind the closed doors of admissions committees, how your candidacy will stand up versus the competition, and how you can best maximize your chances of gaining a coveted place in a top MBA program.
Our experience and passion for coaching gives you a level of MBA admissions insight that you won’t find anywhere else. And with our passion for coaching, we can help you bring out the best in yourself so you truly shine in your application and interviews.
Goal development. Candidacy positioning. Essay strategy. Interview coaching. Designed to guide you carefully through the entire application process, our MBA packages draw on our team’s industry expertise as former Directors and Associate Directors of Admissions at the world’s best business schools.
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Curious about your chances of getting into business school? Looking for ways to stand out from the competition? Book a free, 30-minute consultation with a Fortuna Admissions expert today!
FEATURED SERVICES
One-School Package: starting at $6,200 Two-School Package: starting at $8,200
Three-School Package: starting at $10,000 Four-School Package: starting at $11,700 Five-School Package: starting at $13,400
Location: United States
Email: info@fortunaadmissions.com
Website: https://fortunaadmissions.com/team-member/catherine-tuttle/
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I had an outstanding experience working with Catherine Tuttle as my admissions coach from Fortuna Admissions. Catherine helped me strengthen my application by providing honest and tailored advise as well as key insights about the application process. She assisted me with effectively communicating and highlighting experiences that better portrayed my qualities and suitability to pursue an MBA program. I’m extremely grateful to Catherine for motivating me and giving me the confidence to apply to an M7 program – I thought such a program was out of my reach but ended up being admitted with a generous scholarship. Overall, Catherine is an amazing coach and very approachable with extensive experience in the field – she made my application process more manageable and less overwhelming. I highly recommend working with Catherine if you are applying to a top MBA program.
Catherine was a pivotal resource in my applications to both Darden and Fuqua for their EMBA programs. She diligently worked with me on all aspects of my application, most importantly helped me to extract my core values and goals and translate that into my applications in a way that resonated. I would not have been able to do it without her and would highly recommend her to any applicant for any MBA program formats. Thank you Catherine!
I started working with Catherine pretty late. About a month or so before R1 applications were due. I came from a non-MBA background and she really helped me bring my strengths to the forefront and highlight the diversity of my pre-MBA experiences. She had a lot of great insights on what the schools wanted and even reached out to other consultants within Fortuna for help in reviewing my application and essays when she thought that was necessary. I had initially planned to apply to only 2 schools and she recommended a school that I had not even considered because I thought it was out of my reach and I got in there! I am headed there this fall. She was always accessible. I remember facing a problem while submitting my first application and she immediately came on a call to help me sort out the problem. I would highly recommend Catherine to all applicants who are looking at getting their story straight so that it can reflect their experiences in the best way possible.
I decided to work with Fortuna Admissions because of a recommendation from a close friend. I had an excellent experience from day 1. Fortuna was organized, quick to respond, and friendly.
I had an initial consultation call with Catherine that went great, and I immediately knew that she was a great fit to be my coach. Throughout the entire process, Catherine was very kind and effective in her work. She helped me highlight my strengths and guided me throughout the process of networking with programs, crafting essays, and preparing for my interview. Catherine had great insight into what my top school was looking for in an applicant.
After a few months of weekly conversations and preparation, I was admitted to my dream school! I could not have been more happy with my experience with Fortuna and with Catherine. I would highly recommend working with Catherine to my family and friends.
Working with Catherine was a fantastic experience. I had an average GPA and GRE score, but Catherine helped me dive deep into my experiences and motivations to tell my story. Without Catherine, my application would have been a mess which would not have accurately conveyed my qualities and motivation to the admissions committee. She was thorough, flexible, and helped adapt my application to multiple programs depending on their unique cultures and priorities. I would absolutely recommend her to applicants seeking to set their narrative and student/alumni connections front and center in their application.
I started working with Catherine later in the admissions process than I would recommend (a few weeks before R1 deadline). I reached out to Fortuna and was then connected to Catherine after my consultation call.
I was initially attracted to Catherine’s profile because she was previously at Fuqua (my top choice) and her profile highlighted her ability to stay calm/cool/collected – which I thought I would need being that the timeline I was working with was tight.
Catherine worked with me on the majority of my application: LORs, essays, advice (i.e. – talking with students, attending events, asking questions), and resume (minor tweaking). I utilized the 2 school package and had her help with my 2 hardest schools and then did hourly for my target and backup schools. As a result of her collaboration and insight, I was admitted into 1 reach and my backup and waitlisted to 1 reach and 1 target.
Catherine was always available and we talked on the phone for 30 minutes on a weekly basis and frequently via email regarding the status of my application (LOR, essays, etc.). Without her help, I don’t think I would have been able to clearly articulate my story, ST/LT goals, etc.
Without the help of Fortuna Admissions, I would not have gotten into my top choice school, CBS. I came to Fortuna through a referral and Judith was quick to hop on a call with me to understand my background and needs. I spent 2018-2022 singing opera but realized I wanted to transition my career into business in 2020. I was interested in management consulting and she suggested I speak with a former client who had also sung opera before transitioning into management consulting with BCG. After speaking with him I felt confident that I could apply despite my nontraditional background. Judith arranged a few meet and greets with potential admissions consultants, and after a few minutes on zoom with Catherine Tuttle, I knew she was the one for me. She proceeded to guide me through the whole process. We started with networking and school webinars. I shared my life story, reflecting on my interests, strengths, and weaknesses, which later became the basis of my essays. Before I knew it we had crafted a whole set of essays and a credible story for admissions committees. She also listened to me whine constantly for the first month about the GMAT. She was also extremely empathetic while I dealt with my imposter syndrome, but encouraged me to believe I could get into a great school. She was organized, efficient, knowledgeable, a terrific writer/editor, and just plain fun to talk to. She was happy to jump on a call at any time, though we had a regular zoom time each week to pow wow and organize. After I got over my initial giggles at our mock interviews, her prep allowed me to be calm and collected in all my interviews. I was also waitlisted to my top school and 2 others, and her advice sealed the deal for my admission as I navigated the waitlist. I absolutely could not have done it without Catherine.
Catherine worked with me on all aspects of my application: resume, essays, interview prep, and everything in between.
With her extensive admissions background from working at Fuqua, her help was invaluable in helping me get into Darden. She’s everything I needed in a consultant and I would without a doubt not have gotten in without her help. I’m all honesty – you’d be hard-pressed to find a better consultant in your admissions journey. I’d give her more than five stars if I could.
When I was weighing my options on whether or not to get an MBA, I was making really really good money. However, it wasn’t what I ultimately wanted to do long term and knew that I needed to go back to school to ultimately get me into a more challenging and beneficial (long term role). For an MBA to worth my time, I knew I would have to get into a top-ranked program. However, there was one serious problem with doing so: I had a terrible undergraduate GPA – A whopping 2.5. Something I never thought I would be able to overcome. I spoke to numerous admissions consultants through the free consultations they offer who advised me that while it was certainly possible to get into a top 30 program, that I shouldn’t get my hopes up. Queue the scene from Dumb and Dumber where Lloyd Christmas says “So you’re saying there’s a chance” and that’s about how I felt at that moment.
So that’s when the work started: I took an MBA math class to provide an alternative transcript (receiving an A) and I started studying earnestly for the GMAT. Target Test Prep (and Catherine at Fortuna, but more about her later) literally changed my life. While I was nearing the end of my test prep through TTP, Scott with TTP sent out an email recommending Fortuna Admissions consulting. Because I had a very low undergrad GPA (2.5), I knew that I had to hire an admissions consultant to give me a fighting chance at a top program. I reached out to Fortuna and spoke to Catherine Tuttle who gave me a sober but simultaneously encouraging outlook on my admissions chances. I ultimately chose to work with Fortuna and namely Catherine Tuttle because of the overwhelming majority of former admissions officers that are on staff there. I mean it was a serious peace of mind knowing that the former director of admissions at Wharton was reviewing my apps before I clicked submit. I needed real insight and felt the best way to get INSIGHT was through someone who was actually on the INSIDE.
We discussed my GMAT test scores (710, good but not anything remarkable), work experience, etc and she encouraged me to actually aim higher than I had previously thought was possible (based on previous conversations with admissions consultants). Catherine helped me pick the perfect amount of reach, target, and safety schools (ranging from 10th to 25th rankings). She was particularly valuable in helping me navigate the relative strengths of the individual programs for which I was applying and also recommending programs that I had not previously considered. In fact, I will actually be matriculating at a program to which she recommended to me, one that I had not previously considered. Catherine was absolutely instrumental in helping me craft my “story” as well as the navigating minutia of MBA admissions such as networking with students, reviewing essays, picking recommenders, etc. Because of Catherine’s help, I will be matriculating at a top 20 program this fall, something I never thought was possible 12 months ago.
So if your profile doesn’t fit the box for the program you are shooting for, I highly highly highly recommend Fortuna. Yes, admissions consultants can be expensive, but you get what you pay for. However, in the scheme of things, that cost is nothing compared to the opportunity cost of missing work for 2 years and the cost of tuition. You might as well have peace of mind knowing that you are going to the best school possible. Ultimately, I was admitted to a top 20 program and multiple top 25’s (with scholarship). My story is an admissions miracle that I know for a fact that would have not happened without Catherine Tuttle’s help.
Catherine came in as a blessing during a phase of high uncertainty during my college applications and careers transitions. Given that I come from an overly represented and therefore, a very competitive pool of Indian applicants, I was confused between whether to go for an Admissions Consultant based out of India or whether to take the services of someone closer to the ground based in the US. At the time I was exploring, I came across Fortuna Admissions and the kind of confidence Matt showed in my profile made the decision fairly easy for me. But it was only when I started working with Catherine that I finally started believing in the power of her insight and the value of working with a Consultant who is so close to the Admissions process as she is. From school selection, Resume building, writing clear and articulate career goals and writing & editing essays, interview preparation to the process of school finalization- to say that Catherine’s calm and rather astute understanding of each school’s application process is very comforting would be a huge understatement. Not only does she understand your application in and out, she is always ready to brainstorm and reach the most optimal messaging to put in the application, as per each school’s needs. Catherine, through this entire process, has literally just been a phone call/ message away. She has been a huge calming factor and my backbone in this entire process of MBA admissions. I have calls from Kellogg, Ross, Fuqua and Tuck with scholarship offers as well and it’s all thanks to her. For anyone looking for a guide, mentor and friend during the MBA application process, I would highly recommend Catherine. Working with her is like a breath of fresh air! Thank you, Catherine! I will forever be grateful 😊
After having unsuccessful admission in Round 2 in 2018, I reached out to Fortuna Admissions for help to apply in R1 to top 15 US B Schools. They connected me with Catherine as they thought that we would be a good fit and she can be a great guide considering my profile. Today I can say that they couldn’t be surer.
She was very systematic in her approach and knew what the applicants’ strengths were and how to leverage them. She was always ready to talk to on any aspect of the application and that is what I was looking for. I wanted to work with a consultant who believed in more personal interaction/attention and did not want communication just over mail. And Catherine was exactly like that.
We started working on Resume and she made sure that every bullet point highlighted my key strengths and impact I had at work and in community involvement. After we worked on my resume we started working on essays. What I really liked about her was that she ensured that every word in an essay was making sense and answered the question that was asked in the essay. Further, she was very punctual and quick in giving feedback. She always submitted the feedback on each aspect within 36-48 hrs at max. This allowed me to make as many changes as possible and do more and more research on my goals possible. This was game-changer as from my experience of two admission rounds I feel that having good research on ST/LT goals, Why MBA and Why particular B school allowed me to weave “watertight” stories and finally helped me to secure admission to a top B school.
Further, she helped me in structuring my essays and we were able to highlight the right aspects of my background and tell a meaningful and authentic story. After going through one unsuccessful and one successful application process I can say that it is because of her meticulous and committed efforts I could get admit from Duke Fuqua and Ross – my top choices and Interview Invite from CBS. While working with her I felt that I was working with a professional consultant but more than that it felt more like a friend and guide who really wanted me to secure admit to top schools. I would encourage prospective applicant who is looking for not just an MBA consultant but a guide, mentor and most importantly friend to work with Catherine. I am glad to have her on my side.
I also thank the entire team of Fortuna Admission for their back end support.
I really enjoyed my time working with Catherine. She coached me through three round two applications and I was admitted to two schools – UNC and Emory which included a scholarship for half of my tuition. I’m from an over represented applicant pool with a 700 GMAT and less than a 3.0 GPA from an unknown undergrad. I truly believe Catherine made a huge impact, and I highly recommend her to any potential MBA applicant.
The first thing I did was complete a very thorough worksheet that spelled out my background, my career accomplishments, career path, extra-curriculars, recommenders and my general strengths and weaknesses. Then we had a long phone-call so I could explain anything she still had questions about. I really thought this was a tremendous way for us to get to know each other.
In addition to helping me pick my mix of target schools, Catherine gave me tips and tricks to help me network better with students and alumni. I immediately reached out to student’s at all three schools and scheduled visits. Without her direction, I would’ve skipped this crucial step.
Catherine’s help with my essays was by far the most helpful aspect of this whole process. I had struggled round one, unsure which themes to focus on or what aspects of my background I should highlight. Catherine helped me not only select which topics/essays I should write, but also helped me condense them down into the tight word limits. I can’t stress enough how helpful this was. I was losing sleep over the essays I’d done on my own and probably re-wrote them 10-12 times. That totally changed working with Catherine.
She also kept me on target for my deadlines. Everything was reviewed closely by her and Judith in advance of the deadline. None of my applications were fire drills. This made the process considerably less stressful.
Finally, when I signed up with Fortuna, I had already received an interview invitation from Georgetown. Judith was kind enough to offer a complimentary interview prep session even though we hadn’t worked on the school together which gave me a ton of confidence going into the interview.
I can’t recommend Catherine and Judith enough. They really made the MBA application process easy and enjoyable process. My only regret is that I didn’t start sooner!
The whole process was as smooth as it possibly could. Catherine took all the time I needed to make sure that every single part of my application was perfect. I had a low GMAT score, well below my dream schools’ average, however, we were able to highlight the right aspects of my background and tell a very good story. I got admitted to all the schools I was targeting, even the one that I thought was way out of reach for me. Catherine’s and Judith’s input was invaluable for me since I hadn’t studied in the US and hadn’t even had a chance to visit the campuses! I can’t thank Catherine enough for going above and beyond along the whole journey.
The guidance of Fortuna Advisers and my coach Catherine Tuttle was invaluable as I navigated the overwhelming and stressful process of applying to business school. From the outset, Judith and Catherine worked with me set expectations, select target schools and develop a timeline with key application milestones to keep me on track. Catherine’s feedback helped me craft my resume and develop my personal narrative that would standout among the other applicants. In moments of stress, Catherine’s calm and confident approach allowed me to stay focused and productive. I’m very grateful for the resources and guidance Fortuna provided and am thrilled to have been admitted to my top choice!
Having gone through the application process unsuccessfully the previous year I am able to especially appreciate the constant support and guidance that I have received from Catherine throughout my application journey this year. We worked together on three schools and I received admission offers from two of them while being wait-listed for the third. I daresay I actually enjoyed the application process this time around as Catherine not only helped me identify the right schools but also helped me present my best case as to why I should be a part of their class. Her suggestions and interventions made all the difference in my applications and interviews and her constant availability and support helped make this a stress-free experience. Looking back I do not think I could have asked for a better guide. Going to Business School is a significant investment of time and money and is probably one of the most important decisions I have made. I am glad to have had Catherine’s advice, encouragement and support during this journey and could not recommend her and Fortuna highly enough.
There is only so much preparation that an applicant can do alone when it comes to preparing for the application process at a top-ranked B-School. As an older applicant (read longer work experience) I had both pros and cons in my profile which needed to be dealt with appropriately. I dabbled with the application process to some schools on my own, enlisted the help of friends and read a lot (really a lot!) of admission blogs. But it was only after I spoke to the Fortuna team and enlisted their help that I got clarity on how to highlight my strengths and make up for any weaknesses. Clarity is what my work with Fortuna brought to the whole process. Once I had the clarity, my confidence and my drive only strengthened further. My Coach, Catherine, was particularly hands-on with every aspect of the process and very balanced in her feedback – candid yet gentle, which was very helpful in boosting my morale. Thanks to the Fortuna team for all of their help throughout the admissions process. Ultimately I was admitted to Kellogg and am thrilled with the result!
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