Melissa Merchant

A friend who had been accepted to H/S in previous years had recommended working with Melissa Merchant and I’m so glad that I did!

Through the MBA application process, the personal essay portion was most daunting to me and I’m glad I worked with Melissa Merchant on it. Melissa did an amazing job helping me shape a story that was compelling and authentic to me. With each round, she provided candid and actionable feedback in a timely manner. In addition to the personal essay, I received support on short form questions, resume, and review of recommenders extremely helpful as well in shaping an overall strong submission. Through the interview process, mock interviews with Melissa were extremely useful and allowed me to feel more confident and prepared for the actual interview.

The two schools I worked with Melissa on are Harvard and Stanford and I was accepted to both! Melissa is also such a lovely person to work with, she made the overall application process fun and not stressful. Thank you Melissa for helping me be accepted into my dream schools!

TLDR: With Melissa, I got into GSB, Kellogg MMM (competitive cohort of 65 people per class within larger MBA class) with the most prestigious full merit scholarship awarded to 20 people per class, and Berekely Haas with $130k in scholarships. I independently got into Wharton as well by using much of the wording from the essays Melissa and I worked on together for other programs.

—

Working with Melissa was an absolute pleasure and was worth every penny spent and then some!! I got the three-school package for GSB, Kellogg MMM (full ride merit scholarship), and Berkeley Haas (80% of tuition merit scholarship). Melissa helped me to strategically select which schools to use the consulting package on to get the most diverse spread of essay types. I absolutely believe I wouldn’t have gotten nearly my level of successes without her help. Melissa gets it and keeps it real. This journey is tough — brutal at times — and can be incredibly lonely and filled with self-doubt. Having an expert, and an empathetic one at that, was critical on every level. Melissa was a soundboard for extremely tough decisions, listening actively, and asking insightful questions to help coach you to draw your own conclusions and direction. You can tell she earnestly cares about you and your story. And not to mention, Melissa is incredibly good at editing. I’m a verbose writer and she was able to give critical feedback on things to cut when I got too attached to certain sections, slashing to get me to word count. You will work hard — getting in is on you, but having a partner like Melissa was grounding and helped maintained my sanity at several points over the last 1.5 years. Believe me when I say, you WILL want an empathetic, skillful, responsive expert to work with and Melissa is a rare blend of all three. I highly recommend MBA applicants consider Melissa as their consultant. I truly do not think I would have gotten the large merit scholarships without her expert help, so the ROI on this investment really paid itself off enormously.

I wasn’t an easy candidate. I’m too old and I have a bad GPA from a non-feeder school. Melissa still helped me get into a top 10 school as well as an interview at one H/S/W? school and another M7 school. I definitely outperformed the fundamentals here. She was very good in helping shape my essays conceptually. My early drafts were off base and were not effective from the standpoint of an admissions officer. She helped me develop better conceptual approaches to essays so I could write in a way that would be effective.

I had a great experience working with Melissa!

I spent most of my time with her working on essays, where she was a huge help with selecting which topics to cover and how to frame them. She also provided some great guidance on selecting recommenders and how to prep them. Lastly, she was also very responsive to all of my miscellaneous ad-hoc questions.

I had a very positive experience working with Melissa and I’m convinced she played a huge part in me getting into Wharton (with scholarship).

I had an excellent experience working with Melissa. From the very beginning, I felt much more comfortable working with Melissa than other consulting firms. I told myself I’d contact two of the major consulting firms for the free half-hour phone call, and Melissa came across as someone who really understood my story and believed that I could be successful, whereas the other firm felt very sales-y and lacked warmness.

I had some uniqueness in my profile, and Melissa was great in helping me to shape my story and really focus my essays. One of the most important and helpful things that she did was help me to shape the optional essay. Her insight took the original draft from about a 6 to a 10. I couldn’t be more pleased with how that turned out and am positive that without her help on the essays I would not have been accepted to the school I’ll be attending (Booth).

I had such a wonderful experience working with Melissa and mbaMission. When we started the process, I thought I knew what I wanted to write in my essays. Melissa asked questions that totally transformed my essay into a compelling narrative. When I had questions, Melissa answered them candidly and quickly. She always provided me with direct and helpful feedback on my essay, resume, and even testing strategy. Ultimately, I applied to the school as the absolute best version of myself, which resulted in my acceptance into 5 top programs. If you’re still searching for a consultant, snag Melissa now before she reaches capacity for the cycle!

When I set out to apply to Columbia Business School, everyone told me it was going to be a reach – and they were right. I knew that I had an interesting, unique story but I am not a great test taker and have had a non-traditional career path.

A friend of mine urged me to contact mbaMission and I am so glad I did. None of my family members or close friends have gone to business school and I had no idea where to start. I decided to apply at the end of September and wanted to submit my applications around Thanksgiving. Despite this accelerated timeline, Melissa Merchant kept me on track, giving me strict deadlines and goals to achieve along the way. She helped me to stay organized and on top of my recommendations, numerous essays, and even my GRE study plans.

Melissa was most helpful, however, in helping me to dig deep and strive for perfection in my essays. When I set out to write, she told me that we’d probably need around ten drafts and I laughed, thinking I’d only need two or three drafts. But I am so glad Melissa encouraged me to keep challenging myself and poking holes in my story.

Our initial exploration call was one of the most cathartic experiences of my life. Melissa listened intently to my story and my reasons for believing I was a strong applicant. She never doubted me but she also never gave me false hope.

Applying to business school is a stressful and nerve-wracking period and even in the hardest hours, Melissa helped me keep my eye on the prize and stay focused and engaged.

I truly could not have gotten into CBS without her guidance and expertise. I miss talking to her on a weekly basis!

I have nothing but positive things to say about my experience with Melissa. After less success in my Round 1 application cycle, I decided to work with a consultant and apply again in Round 2. I worked on a 2-school package with Melissa and was accepted to both schools with scholarship awards. Those results speak for themselves!

Melissa’s exceptional attention to detail and incredible knowledge of what each school values in its candidates made a huge difference. While I had already done some of the leg work after applying in Round 1, Melissa’s probing questions helped me dig deeper into my story and weave together my various professional and personal experiences to show where I had been, where I wanted to go, and why an MBA would help get me there. I was so impressed by how well Melissa got to know my story and was able to help me tailor it to each aspect of the application process.

Melissa also challenged me to be more detailed about why a certain school was the right fit for me. Not only did this help strengthen my application and interviews, but it also helped me truly understand what type of MBA program I was looking for, and ultimately enabled me to pick a school that I truly believe is uniquely positioned to help me achieve my personal and professional goals.

I highly recommend working with Melissa! She has the right combination of expertise, professionalism, energy, and compassion that not only makes her a great consultant, but also a wonderful cheerleader and mentor throughout the application process.

Melissa is a thoughtful, caring, and diligent consultant who will put you in the best position possible to get accepted to your dream MBA program. Melissa was able to extract insights about me and my story throughout the process that I would never have been able to surface on my own. She is an extremely talented essay editor and knows what admissions committees are looking for when they read your personal statements. Without her, my essays would have been much weaker, and I’m not sure I would have gotten the results I did.

More importantly, Melissa provides deeply caring and personalized mentorship. She was always extremely accessible and knew my story inside and out, despite working with many other clients at the same time. She is a straight-shooter and gives actionable feedback, which also means that when she tells you how awesome something is, she means it! She is very honest and pushes her clients in all the right ways. I can’t say enough good things about Melissa.

I absolutely loved working with Melissa on a 2 school package. I did a lot of research on consultants, and Melissa stood out as a great fit based on mbaMission’s reputation, and Melissa’s professional experience and similar school selection. The biggest area she helped with was creating my story. mbaMission sends over a huge document to fill out your personal and career path, and Melissa spent 2 hours going through the document, asking probing questions, and by the end we had a consistent story that I was able to use at each school. I had an idea in mind of how I wanted my story to look, and she was able to point out the parts which might be problematic when applying, as well as the key areas to highlight when applying. We also had a school-selection discussion before this, where I was able to list what I was looking for in a school, and Melissa went through the pros/cons of each school which would be a fit. Melissa was incredibly knowledgeable and was able to provide school-specific insights that I don’t think I would’ve been able to find myself. She was able to provide best practices in all areas of the application too, including how best to prime your recommenders, how/when to show interest in each school, and a clear timeline. One area I would like to see a bit more focus is on some of the “formatting” best practices, such as making all essays into PDF. Some of these are probably pretty self-explanatory, but I would want them to be more explicit. I was ultimately admitted to two schools and waitlisted at the third (I only applied to three schools). Consultants are obviously very expensive, but I would 100% recommend Melissa to anyone who is looking.

My time working with Melissa Merchant and the mbaMission team on my applications was incredibly productive and rewarding. The guidance, insight, and feedback provided the foundation for me to effectively create and submit my applications on time and with minimal stress.

Melissa did a great job of being proactive. She provided me with resources and guidelines very early on in each step of the process. This helped reduce the anxiety that comes with meeting first round deadlines for multiple schools. Also, her ability to structure a narrative about me, my career aspirations and my experience was robust and concise.

I would highly recommend working with Melissa on your application journey. She is patient, helpful, and will challenge you to put your best foot forward with your applications and interviews.

Several friends recommended that I hire an admissions consultant for my apps, so I decided to give the free 30-minute consultation a try. My plan was to shop around different companies and consultants before committing, and my very first consultation was with Melissa. After the first few minutes with her, I was sold and knew that I didn’t need to look any further. After our consultation, the actual thought in my head was, “There’s literally nothing I would change about her and our dynamic, so I might as well end my search here!”

For me, the toughest part of the app process was essay writing. There were stories that I knew I wanted to share, but I couldn’t get the messaging down myself, and especially not within the word limits. Melissa helped guide my thinking to dig deeper, and at the end, my final essays were still very much “me” — MY stories, and in MY words – just told in a MUCH more effective way. Her guidance for my resume and interview preparation was also tremendously helpful and insightful.

Melissa is everything you’d possibly want in a consultant – she’s reliable, personable, and knows what the admissions committee is looking for. I couldn’t be happier with my experience, and she’s one of the first people I called when I got into my dream school! I truly think that I wouldn’t have been able to get into all the schools I did without Melissa on my team.

Anyone in the market for an admissions consultant — save your time and end your search here! I recommend Melissa 100%.

When I decided to apply to B-School, I debated whether or not to use an admissions consultant. A friend of mine recommended I give mbaMission a try for at least the free 30 minute consultation. After speaking with Melissa in that initial conversation and getting a very positive impression, I decided that I would purchase a couple of hours for a second, and professional opinion on some of my essays. This turned out to be the best decision I made during the application process. My coach/coachee relationship with Melissa snowballed from there and I continued working with her throughout the entire application process because I kept getting so much value out of her feedback.

More than anything, Melissa helped me understand my story on a deeper level and in a way that would resonate on my applications. Furthermore, she helped me discover my potential by forcing me to dig deeper on every essay, resume bullet point, interview prep call, etc. Because I could tell she cared about my dreams and aspirations for business school and beyond, I was able to trust her throughout the entire application process. The value of having a coach and loyal friend (who I knew had my best interest at heart) in my corner while navigating the challenging process of applying to business school was immeasurable.

In addition to the soft skills and intangibles she provided, Melissa is incredibly smart and energetic. Her insight, expertise, and passion provided a much needed boost to my applications. I totally (and have already) recommend working with Melissa to anyone considering applying to business school. She helped me get into my dream school and I couldn’t be more excited about what she helped me accomplish. I look forward to sharing future successes with her for many years to come!