Meredith Shields

I worked with Meredith and Vantage Point on round 1 applications, and I am not exaggerating that she is the best MBA consultant out there. Meredith and the Vantage Point team provide a holistic, personal and strategic approach to the MBA application process that helps you submit your best possible application.

Meredith’s approach is holistic because she brings to bear the diverse ‘vantage points’ of her entire team. When you finally hit submit, you are confident because your application has already been well-received by her team of former adcoms and battle-tested consultants. Her eagerness to leverage the perspectives of her team mirrors the collaborative spirit of the top MBA programs.

Meredith’s approach is personal because she takes the time upfront to really understand every aspect of your applicant profile, and then helps you to articulate your goals (dream big!), play to your strengths and mitigate your weaknesses. Because she understands her clients so well, she is extremely effective at helping you to tease our your very best leadership examples for essays and interviews.

Meredith’s approach is strategic and efficient. When it came time to write essays, Meredith suggested I first tackle the prompts that required the deepest reflection (and the most drafts). This helped me accumulate a database of compelling anecdotes that I was able to leverage on the balance of my applications and interviews.

Most importantly, as an advisor she is spectacular. Meredith is professional, responsive, honest, supportive, approachable and positive. For nearly 12 months, I always felt like I was her only client. I am really grateful for Meredith’s support and guidance, which helped me gain admission to my dream schools – Stanford GSB and Northwestern Kellogg. Thank you, Meredith and the Vantage Point team!!!

Meredith and I worked together on Round 1 applications, and she couldn’t have been more helpful! She coordinated my application process from my initial decision-making around the schools to apply to, essay writing, interview preparation, and through to acceptance at Wharton. She was dedicated, and was happy to go through many iterations of my essays, always providing thoughtful and helpful feedback. She was always reachable on email, and was very quick to provide answers to questions throughout the process. She was very understanding of my background, and was instrumental in helping me craft my application in a way to make me stand out and truly highlight my strengths. I can confidently say that I wouldn’t have been accepted without her. An industry-best.

Meredith came highly recommended from a friend of mine – and I am SO happy I found her! From our very first chat, Meredith was honest, warm and encouraging. She took the time to understand my desires for wanting to pursue an MBA, and challenged me to craft authentic and engaging essays. Coming from a somewhat non-traditional background, Meredith’s help was also invaluable in helping me hone each bullet point on my resume to cut through on my experience and accomplishments.

I genuinely believe Meredith’s guidance is what made the difference in helping me receive acceptances (and scholarships!!) from 4 of my top choice schools! Could not recommend her more highly – thank you Meredith!

I could not recommend Vantage Point enough, as I can confidently say their guidance significantly improved my odds of getting into a top 20 school.

When I began to consider an MBA, I had no idea what to expect in regards to the application process. On the surface, it seemed straightforward. However, I realized that creating a compelling story requires a well thought out strategy that is woven into the entire application.

Meredith and the Vantage Point team have a proven method for helping applicants create this strategy, as they are intimately familiar with what the admissions team is looking for at each school. They are experts at taking your work and life experiences and helping you mold your application into a unique and cohesive story that ultimately helps you stand out from the rest.

As part of this story building, they provide an excellent critique on your essays and resume, as well as, host an in-depth interview prep.

Meredith was with me every step of the way and was an excellent partner throughout the entire process. If you’re looking to get an MBA, Vantage Point is a must.

Meredith was recommended to me by a friend that is a current student at GSB, and the friend could not have praised Meredith’s services more highly. Upon initially chatting with Meredith, I completely understood why. Meredith is incredibly warm and engaging, and challenges prospective students to dictate an honest and compelling narrative for every application essay. Her turnaround time was impeccable, and I knew she was always willing to bounce ideas back and forth via email. When I was accepted to my top choice schools, I was unbelievably pleased, and I owe much of the success to my time spent working with Meredith. Thank you, Meredith, for your support and guidance. The help you provided was worth every penny!!!

I worked with Meredith and have only positive things to say. Meredith was pleasant, professional, and responsive – very easy to work with. She helped me refine my story and write my essays, as well as improve my MBA application resume. She also worked diligently with me across time zones while I was working abroad.

While MBA consulting services are certainly an investment, it is one I would make again 10 times out of 10. I really believe working with Meredith helped me submit a vastly better application than I would have otherwise. The guidance was especially helpful for me in writing essays and crafting a coherent story across my applications. The experience and advice she provided was instrumental to me getting into both Wharton and Columbia. Overall, I would highly recommend.

I was accepted to 3 out of 4 of the schools I applied to, including HBS, and received substantial merit-based scholarships. I owe this success to Meredith and her team! As an international applicant who was completely new to the daunting MBA school application process, I reached out to Vantage Point based on their stellar reviews. From my very first call with Meredith, I knew I was in great hands. She was very open and honest with me, and incredibly encouraging. I have a very “unconventional” background and a mediocre GMAT score, and she still encouraged me to apply to my dream schools. We corresponded at least once a week, and her feedback was always on point. Most importantly, she worked with me in a way that kept everything authentically in my voice, which is incredibly important to keep the process ethical and in compliance with school policies. In addition to her hands-on guidance, all of the Vantage Point resources (essay examples, interview questions, etc.) we much more helpful than anything else I found online. I walked into my interviews with confidence knowing that I was well prepared, and this made all the difference.

Meredith’s guidance did not stop once the applications were submitted. She stayed involved with my progress as I received acceptances and helped me evaluate which school was the right fit. She was truly my partner for this process, and I cannot recommend her and her team more highly!

I can’t say enough good things about working with Meredith on my MBA applications. My top choice school was a reach given a low GPA and average GMAT score, but Meredith helped me identify strengths and craft my own story. She was dedicated and attentive when going through rounds of reviews on my resume and essays, and she responded quickly to any email. Meredith also went through mock interviews and many other conversations that really helped me hone in on my strengths and unique story. Coming from consulting, I worried that I would sound like a lot like other applicants. Meredith coached me on how to highlight my contributions and strengths. I really enjoyed attending sessions that Meredith organized with current MBA students and prior clients who shared their thoughts on the unique culture of the schools they now attend. Meredith’s emphasis on writing an application that was tailored to the specific school’s academic program and culture was so important and really helped me stand out in my interview. Through all of Meredith’s advice and wisdom, I was accepted to my top choice program with a significant scholarship. I so enjoyed working with Meredith and highly recommend her to any student looking to strengthen their application!

I was referred by a friend who got into HBS after working with Meredith. Going into the application with unimpressive stats, I knew I needed to deliver a stellar story. The help and guidance I received from Meredith and Vantage Point did not disappoint. Meredith’s incredible work ethic was only matched by her positive attitude. We must have gone through well over 20 revisions of my essays (for GSB alone!) to get it right. The process that Meredith sets ups ensures that you are telling YOUR story so that you can stand out among the crowd of applicants. Throughout the whole process, Meredith did a great job providing candid feedback that was not condescending or made me feel stupid. As a quant, writing was not (and still isn’t) my forte so I found this extremely valuable as Meredith helped me improve my storytelling abilities. As long as you keep an open mind during the process, Meredith will help you create an application that you will be proud of. Furthermore, Meredith’s encouragement helped me get through some of the more stressful parts of the application process. I remember when other professionals told me that getting into a top school was a long shot while I was applying. Thank you for believing in me Meredith and keeping me on course. GSB has always been my dream school and I’m forever grateful!

I worked with Meredith on a batch of ‘competitive’ and ‘reach’ schools. Initially, I thought I would be lucky to end up at one of the ‘competitive’ schools since I had lower-than-average GMAT and GPA for almost all the schools. Instead, I was accepted to Kellogg’s MMM program (my top choice)! I even got some money from Kellogg! In retrospect, investing my time and money with Vantage Point (and Meredith) was a no-brainer. Meredith spent a ton of time helping to craft my story in a way that played to my strengths. We must have worked through at least 8 edits for each essay. It was a ton of work, but I enjoyed that she wouldn’t tell me exactly how to write my story and always asked me to dig a bit deeper into each edit. So, each time I would work on an edit, it seemed like I learned a bit more about myself and absolutely helped me reflect on my career path in a way I wouldn’t have otherwise. Looking back, I can tell that my writing and story-telling skills improved a whole bunch after working on my applications with Meredith! I highly recommend working with Vantage Point- you won’t regret it!