Eileen Chao

Eileen was the best consultant I could have worked with and I’m so happy to be heading to the perfect school for my career next steps. I recommend her 100%.

Context: As a non-traditional applicant (for reference – history undergrad, self-employed out of college, now marketing at a small nonprofit), working with Eileen was extremely helpful. Very few people in my network were familiar with business school or had an MBA, not to mention how competitive the process is these days. Eileen allowed me to focus on what matters most rather than sifting through a lot of (not always trustworthy) information online. She also worked super hard to accommodate my short timeline applying for R2; I hired Eileen in early October, hadn’t taken the GMAT, and she helped me reach the deadline to submit apps for 3 schools by early January (and I took a 2.5-week international trip in Dec!). I hustled, and she hustled just as much.

Process and experience: Eileen is really on top of her game; she was prompt, willing to help, insightful, and thoughtful in her work. I’d say if you know what you need and ask for it, Eileen will pretty much never say no. There were several instances where she went above and beyond, leveraging Vantage Point to help me find answers to my toughest questions. Eileen is also both honest and positive, so every time I talked with her I felt motivated and excited about my prospects— which is what you need in order to keep going in the midst of this grind. Sometimes I wish she were my life consultant. 🙂 As far as my application materials, Eileen was an excellent editor. She added value in making sure I described my experiences in a way that a typical adcom member would understand and feel compelled to read more. The result was my feeling 100% confident that I submitted the best representation of my experience, myself, and my vision for the future to each school— and that’s really all you can hope for.

Final note on non-traditional backgrounds: If you’re looking to hire a consultant because of a nontraditional background, I’d say look no further. Eileen helped me own the value of my work experience and my intentional decision-making, and provided incredible support as I articulated my reasons for attending b-school. Top schools are looking for certain qualities in applicants and she helped me make sure those came through in my application while staying very true to who I am and my story. Sometimes it’s challenging to know how to speak to your strengths with both precision and humility, and Eileen was excellent with this type of language. I could not have done this without her and I am so incredibly grateful for her expertise and hard work.

Thanks to Eileen, I’m going to Yale and it is the perfect school for my story and my goals.

I had a lot of anxiety about applying for MBAs. I come from a nontraditional professional background, I’m older than most candidates, and I was not fully clear about my post-MBA goals. I took meetings with 5 other consultants and found them all to be shockingly pushy, quick to talk over me, and eager to focus on my weaknesses.

I had basically decided to go it alone when I took a final meeting with Eileen, and my whole outlook shifted. Eileen is an unparalleled listener, truly intersted in helping her clients develop their own voice and story rather than simply imposing a MBA archetype on them. She met me where I was and was extremely sensitive to my financial restrictions, hustling to make use of every minute of our time together and working overtime to get my edits back to me as quickly as possible. She is a gifted writer and editor able to turn my sometimes rambling thoughts into powerful prose. I always looked forward to our sessions, even when I knew she might deliver some tough love, and deeply appreciated that she approached my application with an open mind about how to make my story uniquely shine. Additionally, Eileen is an true interview master and I’m so happy I coached with her before meeting with schools.

Thanks to Eileen, I was accepted to my top choice program, Kellogg’s MMM dual-degree. I could not have done it without Eileen’s wisdom, organizational mastery, and constant encouragement.

I purchased the four school comprehensive package from Vantage Point and worked with Eileen Chao over a period 6 months to complete my applications. I talked to various MBA consultants prior to choosing Vantage Point and what stood out to me the most about Vantage Point, was their genuine desire to see applicants succeed and personable touch. Eileen Chao was instrumental in helping me navigate the business school application process from beginning to end. From the start, Eileen went the extra mile to get to know me as an applicant and help me craft a unique story in my application. We started by framing my story and went through several revisions of essays to make sure they were perfect by submission. When I received my interview invites, Eileen conducted several mock interviews to make sure I was prepped and ready. Throughout this process, Eileen was extremely supportive and really helped me stay calm during this rather stressful period. After months of preparation and guidance from Eileen, I was admitted to NYU Stern (my #1 choice!) and I know I would not have been able to accomplish this goal with her by my side. I highly recommend working with Vantage Point and Eileen Chao!

Eileen was crucial to my application process. She really pushed me when I started to doubt myself and always provided valuable feedback. We took a lot of time upfront to hone my story based on my unique experiences and my future goals. So, when it came to the essays and interviewers I had a strong sense of my story and goals. Eileen’s experience with non-traditional students and her understanding of what reviewers were looking for helped me feel confident going into the application and interview process. In addition, Eileen is extremely flexible when it comes to scheduling review times. I had an unexpected family emergency while preparing for Round 1 applications, and she was incredibly understanding and scheduled review times that were reasonable for my situation and to meet my application deadlines. Eileen, also helped me focus in on the kind of school I wanted to attend. She helped me see which characteristics and elements were important to me and my goals and helped me find the right fit. I am happy to say that I was accepted to my first choice! I am grateful to have worked with Eileen and to have learned from her expertise. Her enthusiastic energy is contagious and refreshing. Her positive attitude and ability to calm me down during this entire process was just as vital as the actual content of my applications. I highly recommend Eileen to anyone looking for a true partner during their application process. Thank you Eileen – you’re a rock star!

After using another consulting company, I felt that I still didn’t have a sense of how to make my application stand out for ME. Eileen took the time to talk through my experiences and goals to understand what would make me a unique candidate and to highlight that in the application. I purchased a package of 5 hours to work together which was sufficient to prepare essays for about 4 applications. She was able to help me decide between potential ideas to get essays started and then to help whittle them down to the appropriate word counts. Working with her not only improved my submitted application but also helped me to understand what I might want to focus on once interviews came around. Even if you have bright friends or family who are great at editing, it is extremely helpful to have someone with an eye for what an Admissions Committee is looking to see in an application. Eileen was very flexible and helpful to keep in touch with through the process. I ended up getting admitted to Berkeley Haas (a top choice of mine) and to UCLA with significant scholarship!

Eileen was instrumental in helping with business school applications. Before working together, Eileen takes the time to get to know you and understand your goals. She is incredibly personable, encouraging throughout an otherwise stressful process, and intelligent. She provided extremely insightful feedback that truly strengthened my essays. She also provided very constructive feedback and helpful interview tips after conducting interview prep; I had very successful interviews at both schools after following her recommendations from our feedback session. Eileen caters to whatever schedule you are on and is very timely in her feedback. She made this process less stressful and less intimidating. I was admitted to both schools I applied to with scholarships. I would undoubtedly recommend Eileen for any step in the business school application process!