Jackie Laine

Jackie is simply amazing. As a consultant, mentor, friend (and, very importantly, cat mom!). I felt so lucky having her in my corner throughout the MBA journey. It all started with our initial discovery call – I felt certain everything was going to work out and I was going to learn more from Jackie than I ever imagined. She demystified the process (which I really appreciated as someone with a non-traditional pre-MBA background), helped me realize that my story was a powerful source of strength to draw from, and helped me get more clarity on my career aspirations. On top of all that, I feel so grateful for the storytelling training I received while we were working together: it was truly incredible watching Jackie listen to a chaotic stream of my thoughts, memories, and observations and help me turn it into a candid and coherent story! I also learned more about myself through this journey – it was life changing to have someone who was so dedicated help me discover parts of myself I took for granted my entire life. When I first saw myself through Jackie’s eyes in the discovery presentation, I cried and did not even try to hide it. Fast forward a year, and I got admitted to five top MBA programs with 80% to full-ride scholarships, including Harvard. If you ever get a chance to work with Jackie, please do yourself a favor and take it!

Jackie is a wonderful person and over the months we worked together, she was my coach, mentor, instructor, editor, and friend. Jackie made my MBA dreams come true and helped me gain the confidence to be vulnerable and tell my story.

Just some background on me: I am the first college graduate in a blue-collar family in an Eastern European country. I had an offer to start a Master’s program after my Bachelor’s, planning to pursue a career in finance after studying. But instead of enrolling into the Master’s program, I decided to move back home to help my family through a tough time. I found a way into finance eventually, but I switched jobs several times although neither of the firms I worked at are household names.

I came across Career Protocol while researching business school application tips. The MBA program I wanted to attend was (unsurprisingly) a Moonshot as confirmed by the multiple MBAmo quizzes. I attended a few free Clubhouse meets during which the team gave practical and tailored advice in the Career Protocol signature candid, empathetic way. Those sessions helped me decide to work with Career Protocol because I wanted to approach the MBA application process in a professional way. I also wanted to work with someone who cared.

I connected with Jackie immediately and across the process, she was much more to me than a consultant. The onboarding process with Career Protocol started with a written exercise which I found cathartic. Nevertheless, when it came to drafting essays, I found it difficult to be vulnerable and share some of the distressing details. With Jackie’s guidance and support, I grew comfortable putting my story front and center. Ultimately, through this humbling process, I gained confidence that my story (like everyone else’s) holds power. There is no doubt in my mind I would have ever achieved this or I would have ever landed my top MBA choice (that’s right, I landed the Moonshot!) without Jackie and Career Protocol. The investment was high, but the payoff came soon and in many forms. And I am sure I will continue reaping benefits from the Career Protocol approach going forward in my career. If my story resonates with you or if you are applying to business school, period, do your future self a favour and work with Jackie!

I’m so grateful to have worked with Jackie during this application cycle– she was a patient guide/mentor, stellar hype-woman, and supportive friend throughout every step of the application process.

After deciding I wanted to work with a consulting firm, I spoke with four companies. Career Protocol was the one company that I felt shared my values, gave me legitimate advice and realistic perspectives during the initial call, and was committed to helping me succeed– it felt like an ideal match. Jackie in particular stood out to me for having pursued a path (Kellogg, BCG consulting, a focus on human capital work) that was strongly aligned with my aspirations. Jackie got me from the start and as a result, was able to help me properly articulate my story by extracting insights that represented my values and unique decisions. She gently challenged me when she felt like my writing wasn’t conveying what I intended or what was true to me. I knew essay iterations and support would be part of our package, but I was blown away by the care Jackie put into helping me tell my authentic story down to the last detail.

I was most surprised by how critical Jackie was in helping me revamp my resume and prepare for interviews, something I naively thought I could do on my own. I’ve never found selling myself or highlighting my accomplishments and strengths to be easy, and Jackie was quick to point out instances in which I undersold myself or missed a professional highlight. She helped me transform my resume from a series of bland responsibility-driven bullet points to engaging and quantified statements enumerating my accomplishments over the years. Jackie went above and beyond when it came to supporting me– she was always just an email away and made herself available to talk me through my near mental breakdowns, review interview thank you emails, provide feedback on my optional essay, and talk through school choices/scholarship offers. She even offered to hop on a call in preparation for school visits to identify the things I should evaluate and helpful questions to ask! Said another way, she offered support I didn’t even know I needed 🙂

With Jackie’s wisdom, I learned a lot over the past few months about trusting myself and remaining flexible in my decision making, as this process has a way of evolving and presenting unexpected choices. Jackie consistently helped me to see my worth and reminded me not to let my imposter syndrome limit my choices. Her reminders of how smart, capable, and unique I am always seemed to come when I felt overwhelmed or questioned why the heck I was applying for business school in the first place.

In the end, I was admitted to all 7 schools I applied to with a scholarship to each, including a full ride despite my mediocre test score. Ultimately, I accepted an offer to attend my dream school (an M7) with a 60% scholarship– an outcome Jackie held as possible for me when I couldn’t imagine it for myself. Thank you, Jackie! <333

I went with Career Protocol because after hearing Angela speak on the Forte webinar I really liked that their approach goes beyond just applying to schools. Career Protocol helps you through the Pre-MBA process as well with their YOMO program. Career Protocol has an emphasis on being your authentic self which is something I thought was unique in comparison to other MBA consulting practices.

I applied to MBA programs unsuccessfully last year and doing the ding review with Jackie Laine from Career Protocol was the first step in helping me think about how to do the application right. After my session, I realized that I could include a lot more about myself in my applications and be authentic versus telling a story that I think adcoms would want to hear.

What I appreciated the most from working with Jackie was having her help me connect the dots of my career story. I had a very personal story about my interests in the consumer space and tying it to my long term goals was something that I struggled with the first time around. Jackie worked with me to brainstorm stories and talk through what I was thinking in order to craft a compelling story that made sense and was authentic to my interests. Through the process, I pushed myself to write the essays and even ended up switching topics a couple of weeks before the deadline with the advice of Jackie which ultimately helped me showcase a strong work story as well as a very personal story.

For those starting the process, my biggest advice is to start early and if the GMAT is holding you back, switch to the GRE, I wish I did so earlier in the process. My other piece of advice is to work with Jackie, it was worth all of the time invested, she really goes above and beyond and will give you the feedback you need to really improve. Thanks to her I will be attending my dream school, Kellogg this fall!!

Jackie was incredible. I had applied the previous year and was not accepted to my top schools so was looking for a consultant that could help me get over the hump. A colleague recommended Career Protocol and after speaking with them and others, it was clear CP had the most personalized package with an extremely impressive track record.

The area in which I needed the most help was storytelling and through a structured discovery period and countless ad-hoc conversations, Jackie was able to draw out my passions and principles to put them into an essay. Through this, and continued guidance on my resume, application forms, and later interview prep, I was accepted to Harvard! None of this would have been possible without Jackie.

I would highly recommend anyone, particularly those that may feel like they struggle to turn their thoughts into words, to work with Jackie.