Maren Savage

Working with Maren was one of the most impactful decisions I made during my MBA application journey. As a younger candidate with fewer years of professional experience than most, I was very aware of how competitive schools like Stanford GSB and Harvard Business School are. I had even spoken to another admissions consultant who told me bluntly that my chances were low. But then I met Maren—and everything changed.

From the start, she believed in me. Over the course of our sessions, Maren helped me uncover the depth in my story and guided me on how to articulate it in a way that was authentic, strategic, and compelling.

What made Maren exceptional wasn’t just her expertise in MBA admissions (though she clearly has that in spades); it was her ability to be both a coach and a calm, steady presence. She helped me manage the emotional weight of the process, especially as I balanced multiple applications and intense pressure. In many ways, she was part interview prep coach, part therapist—helping me stay grounded, confident, and true to myself. Maren and I also had a lot of fun during our session, cracking jokes and getting to know each other!

Thanks to Maren’s guidance, I completed my applications and walked into both the HBS and GSB interviews feeling prepared and empowered. And most incredibly—I got into both.

I’m so grateful for her support and genuinely can’t recommend her enough to anyone looking to take on this process with someone who will believe in you, challenge you, and bring out your very best.

Maren is an incredible MBA coach. She is:
– Extremely detail-oriented: Maren and I went through every single piece of my application (word by word) to make sure everything fit in one cohesive, strong story
– A true subject-matter expert: Maren has unparalleled knowledge of what goes on in the MBA admissions office having been an application reader herself. Those insights were game-changing for my application
– Great at giving critical feedback: Maren ensures all her feedback (good and critical) is specific and goal-focused, so I was never left questioning why we should change something
– Easy to work with: she is super fast at responding to questions and always makes herself available
– An exceptional storyteller: so much of the MBA application is tying all the small decisions into one genuine storyline that appeals to the admissions office. This is definitely one of Maren’s strengths

Overall, I could not recommend working with Maren enough (putting my admissions results aside). She is an awesome person and makes the MBA process far less stressful than it can be and more fruitful than I expected.