Paul Bodine

I worked with Paul on several applications, and he helped me craft a compelling narrative that got me admitted to Kellogg and Wharton and waitlisted at Stanford and Booth. He is an excellent wordsmith and just the guy you want in the essay writing process. Paul’s attention to detail and constant accessibility made the application process stress-free. He is super responsive to emails and remained dedicated to supporting me even throughout the interview/navigating waitlist stages of the app cycle. I am SO glad I chose Paul out of the many consultants and would recommend him to anyone. Especially having a non-traditional B-school background, he helped me find the stories and skills to highlight and stand out in a competitive pool of applicants.

The first review from Paul helped me realize what I had been missing. I had worked with 3 consultants prior to Paul, but when I worked with Paul I saw the value he brought through his decades worth of experience.
He is obviously highly recommended. My sister too is presently working with Paul and I am confident she would be helped just as I was.

Paul was tremendously helpful throughout the application process and provided keen insights into what parts of my background schools would find most interesting. No regrets–I would recommend him to anyone planning to apply to MBAs. With his help, I was accepted to HBS, waitlisted at Stanford, and received over $100K worth of scholarships at other top 10 schools I was accepted to (such as Booth and Tuck).

I would highly recommend Paul. I come from a very ‘traditional’ background and demographic profile, so I was very concerned that my story would not be strong enough. But Paul, with his exceptional attention to detail, personalized treatment, and a strong sense of strategy, helped me distill my strengths/story in such a way that my essays (which included my goals, background, ‘why X school’) truly came out to be crystal clear to any reviewer.

In addition, another of Paul’s biggest strengths (at least in my opinion), is his avoidance of any ‘set formulas’ or overengineering essays to the point of redundancy, a concern I have had with some other Admissions Consultants in the past. Since I had to apply to 6 schools, that flexibility and focus on the bigger picture really helped me in meeting my deadlines!

Once again, would highly recommend him!

Paul was extremely helpful throughout the whole process. He helped me identify my key strengths as an applicant and ensure I communicated it properly to admissions offices. Afterward, as I was invited to interview in 3 of the 5 schools I had applied to, he supported me in the interview processes as well. Ultimately, his guidance was key for my acceptance into Stanford GSB and LBS.

When I started my MBA journey, I knew I needed someone to help me who had years of consulting experience and who would be with me every step of the way. From the first phone call with him, I could tell he was very attentive to detail and wanted to help me to achieve my goals of attending a top MBA program. As someone applying with a nontraditional background, Paul was with me every step of the way. He sent encouraging emails wishing me luck on my GRE exams, meticulously combed through every aspect of my resume, helped me with my story, made sure my essays were perfect, connected me with past and current students at the schools I applied to, assisted my recommenders with their LORs, prepped me through interviews and everything in between. Paul was always quick to respond and would answer literally any question I had. All his assistance helped me land a $110k scholarship to Fuqua as someone who applied with a sub-median GRE score. I truly could not have done this process without Paul and I am forever indebted to him for making my MBA dreams become a reality. The whole process was worth every penny and would choose him again in a heartbeat!

I would highly recommend Paul to any candidate applying to business school, especially those applying from “traditional backgrounds” – as was the case for me. Paul really helped me understand my strengths and weaknesses as an applicant and put my best foot forward. Paul was incredibly responsive and instrumental in helping me craft my narrative. I was ecstatic to receive round 1 interviews with my three top schools, and I’m pumped to be attending Wharton this upcoming fall!!

When I began contacting admission consultants, they all focused on selling me a service rather than looking at my specific case and potential. Paul genuinely went through my CV and background, giving me advice since the very first moment. I decided to work with him because of his years of experience and his responsive and human style. He replied to my messages within less than 1 or 2 days. He did thought-provoking questions during the whole process that helped me to shape my essays in a very personal and accurate way. I was admitted to Stanford GSB and Booth and I very much appreciated Paul’s support. He makes a huge difference.

Working with Paul was a truly transformational experience. The level of detail and effort he goes into is unparalleled and I would not have achieved what I did without his support. From our first call I could tell he had the experience and dedication needed to get admitted at top schools and this feeling continued throughout our journey. My advice if you are considering him is don’t hesitate! Go for it and you won’t regret it 🙂

I spoke with 5 consultants – all from reputable admissions consulting firms – and Paul stood out straight away. Unlike others, he didn’t waste the introductory call trying to sell me his services and giving me a superficial read of my profile, but instead dove right into my resume and provided me with actionable, tailored application strategy advice.

Paul ensured that all aspects of the application were utilized to the max and patiently went through countless iterations of each essay until they were just right. In terms of day-to-day, he was super responsive and always came back with detailed feedback on my drafts within 24 hours.

Paul’s superb editing skills really helped make my essays top notch. I never thought it would be possible to include my key accomplishments, values, and reason for being into GSB’s “What Matters Most to you and Why” 700-word essay without sounding too braggy but Paul proved me wrong. He helped craft my story and tell it in my own words, all while ruthlessly cutting out filler content and making every word count.

I will be attending my dream school (GSB) this fall, and I really could not have done it without Paul. I cannot recommend him enough! 5+ stars!!

I grew up outside the US and never wrote an essay in my life (never had to). For me, the scariest part of the MBA application process was writing essays. This is one of the reasons that I delayed applying to MBA schools for more than 5 years.

I finally decided to put pen to paper and scribbled what came to my mind. I have no doubt that the first version of my essays would have gone straight to the trash can.

Enter Paul Bodine and the problem began to ease off. This was not because he wrote my essays – far from it. It was because he was able to extract information from me that really made the essays stand out. He helped me understand what a good essay needs (concreted examples, numbers to quantify the impact, specific vs. generic). I followed his advice and re-wrote the essays. Slowly a compelling story started to emerge!

I applied and got accepted at both schools of my choice – MIT and Booth. I have no doubt that the results would have been different without Paul’s guidance.

Another thing to point out is that Paul was very prompt and responsive to my emails. At times, I requested a review of my essay over the weekend and Paul made time to get it done.

Highly recommended!

In a bind and under deadlines, Paul came through and helped me with the entire process, from strategy to messaging, to resume writing. Could not have done it without his guidance and know-how in the MBA world.

His edits on my essays kept them focused and grounded, as well as all of his resources during the interview process and helping me demystify the admin committees. Truly worth every dollar.

Paul is an incredibly perceptive and thorough coach – with his help, I was really able to go “deep” to craft a compelling narrative that felt authentic and true to who I am. I was able to connect disparate parts of my story in to a strong set of essays. Paul never took more than 24 hours to respond to any requests, which was especially helpful, as I was quite last-minute with the application process. He made a point to check in on key milestones (like when I took my GMAT several times) and offered encouraging words when I felt stressed.

With Paul’s help, I was able to gain admission to both of my top MBA programs, Harvard and GSB!!!! I would highly recommend Paul as a consultant.

Paul has been an integral part of my MBA application journey. I started working with Paul a year and a half before I decided to apply. He will tell you exactly how your profile stacks up and where you should be aiming. He will also give you important advice on how to improve your profile before applying.

During the application process, Paul is very responsive and is always pushing to get a better story out of you. I had a lot of trouble figuring out my niche and how I was differentiated given my background, but through constant review of my essays, Paul was able to help me tease this out. This really helped strengthen my essays and give me confidence in my application.

Paul also has a very quick turnaround time. I decided to do 4 applications on a very tight timeline and Paul got back to me very quickly on each of my essays within a day. This allowed me to move fast with my essays and get my application submitted quickly.

Another large plus is the size of admitify. To prep for my interviews, Paul was able to connect with me with former graduates of the school and I was able to run a mock interview with them. This helped me prepare for the real interviews because these mocks were very close to the actual interview. Also, for Wharton, Paul was able to pull together a team to simulate a TBD which was an enormous help!

At the end of it all, I was able to get into my top three schools (Wharton, Columbia, Booth) and get placed on the waitlist at MIT. I wouldn’t have had this success without Paul and I highly recommend him to anyone thinking of applying.

I highly recommend Paul and have recommended him to everyone who I know who is planning to apply to business school. He was extremely helpful in helping me craft my story in a way that was authentic. I had a hard time with the ‘What Matters to You Most & Why’ essay and Paul was really helpful in guiding me to a place where my family story, passions, and motivations really came through. I worked with Paul for Stanford, Harvard, and Wharton but then used those essays as the starting point for my other applications and was also admitted to Kellogg, Booth, MIT Sloan.

Working with Paul was the best MBA investment decision I have made.

I was quite late to the MBA application process, started less than a month before the round 1 application deadline. After talking with several consultants, I chose another consultant also high on the Poets&Quants ranking list (Paul’s schedule was full at the time) and scrambled to submit my 1 application to an M7 school, but did not end up getting an interview.

Having somewhat lost my confidence, I was very glad when I got the opportunity to work with Paul on my round 2 apps. He is clearly much better among the two consultants I worked with! Again I had a time crunch… Having spent another two months to retake the GMAT but ended up with the same score, I started to seriously working on my application in mid-December. With Paul’s help, I was able to successfully submit all of my applications on time and received offers from seven out of the eight schools I applied to: Wharton, Booth$$, Kellogg, Haas, Tuck$$, Yale SOM$$, Johnson$$ and even received 40-50K scholarship from multiple schools!

Paul really pushed me to identify my unique story and goals and be specific about them which helped me stand out from a traditional background. He also provided very helpful guidance on how I can piece my various experiences together so they all convey one coherent story. He was prompt and efficient with responses and edits which helped to make the process as smooth and as stress-free as it could be. In addition, the Admitify team was also very helpful during the interview prep process.

I still remember the anxiety I felt during December on whether I will get an offer from any of the schools I was planning on applying to, but with Paul’s help and encouragement, I was so successful with the application process I was picking between my dream schools. Looking back, I would also want to say to anyone who is reading this review, trust in your ability and don’t stress out too much, miracles do happen. 😊

Overall, I am extremely happy with my results and would highly recommend working with Paul. He is the kindest person who produces incredible results. I don’t think I could have done it without Paul and his team. THANK YOUUU!!

Paul asked thoughtful questions and provided structured feedback to make sure my voice/story shined. Clearly a very experienced consultant (I spoke with a ton of consultants before hiring Paul). Super responsive and easy to work with. Applied to Harvard and Stanford and got into both. Can’t thank him enough!

Choosing Paul as my MBA consultant was essentially the best decision for my INSEAD MBA application journey, and I got admitted! I decided to engage Paul on an hourly basis following my friend’s recommendation, who was admitted to Kellogg after she engaged Paul’s services a year earlier. I would say I derived the most value from the following:

Thorough and comprehensive – Paul was extremely thorough in helping me uncover the details of my life stories and work experiences that would be useful for my application. His comments/suggestions for my essays, as well as helping to guide my recommenders, were instrumental in helping shape a very coherent story to present to the ad com. I think this is extremely useful for my INSEAD application, which has multiple essay questions that probe deeply into personal and professional life.

Timeliness/Promptness – Throughout my engagement with Paul, Paul was very responsive to my emails, replying to me quickly within a day even when he is on the road. The quick response time helped me tremendously in managing the application timeline, as I could manage my recommenders and essays with ease.

Honest/Personable – Paul was very encouraging while also being candid/frank with his feedback. While I think I had a strong international experience profile that helped with my INSEAD application, other admission consultants that I contacted prior to engaging Paul was dismissive of the weaker parts of my profile and made me pessimistic of my chances initially. Paul was very honest in his assessment while providing constant encouragement and suggestions to bolster my overall application profile. It made me feel that Paul was a companion for my MBA application journey more than a consultant.

All in all, I felt that I have gotten 200% value from engaging Paul’s services for my INSEAD MBA application journey. I would wholeheartedly recommend Paul for those who are still looking for an MBA consultant to assist them on their journeys.

I worked with two consultants and Paul was so obviously better it wasn’t even close. Paul provided very constructive feedback and helpful editing when reviewing my essays. He tightened my story and short responses with precision, which helped present a comprehensible narrative to admissions. I was accepted to both HBS and Wharton (only two I applied). Couldn’t have done it without Paul!

Paul is a phenomenal MBA admissions consultant. He is thorough in gathering information about your profile and background up front and an expert in packaging and weaving your stories together coherently. By the end of the process, you really feel he knows you about as well as you know yourself. He helped me select schools and meet all of the tight Round 1 deadline. His style is a balance of pushing you to keep on track while not being overbearing or adding anxiety to an already difficult process. He is realistic and data-driven with his approach, but does not shy away from challenging cases. I had other consultants tell me I did not have a chance at some schools that Paul helped me with — and that I eventually did get into. The Admitify staff is also a huge help with mock interviews and advice through the different stages of the admissions process, so I would highly recommend the comprehensive package for your top schools. With Paul’s help, I was admitted to some of the most selective programs (Wharton, MIT Sloan, Chicago Booth)!

I worked with Paul from the very beginning of my MBA application process for all my schools – ultimately received admission to HBS, Wharton (with scholarship), Sloan (with scholarship). Paul was very thorough and invested the time to understand who I am, identify stories that are differentiating, and bring to life the best version of my application. He was always quick to respond via email (feedback within the day or two), available for calls, and gave you the blunt honesty at times, as well as the encouragement and confidence boost when you needed it. At one point, I questioned my entire story and Paul listened to my concerns and happily went back with me to square one to explore alternative stories despite having already worked with me to build a full draft. I also found Paul’s pricing fair, his hourly service very honest, and never did I feel like he was looking to quickly end a call or say an application was ready until it truly felt done.

Paul, thank you so much for all your support – I really enjoyed working with you!

Paul is a fantastic consultant and large reason why I was admitted to the Stanford GSB and Wharton (with a fellowship of over $100k). I spoke to several consultants and was thoroughly impressed by Paul’s knowledge, friendly demeanor, and evident passion for his work.

I used Paul’s comprehensive school package and it was worth the investment. Paul always responded in less than a day and gave invaluable insights to my application and essay. He really helped me get to the core of ‘my story’ and my career aspirations. Paul was also valuable in interview preparations and helped me calmly and clearly deal with the interview process. I wholeheartedly recommend Paul to those who want to put their best foot forward in an MBA application. He’s the best admissions consultant around!

When I decided to apply to business school this year, it was important to me to feel that I had submitted my best foot forward for each school’s application. For this reason, I was willing to invest in the service of an admissions consultant. In hindsight, the business school application process is pretty stressful as it is, so it was definitely nice to have an expert on your side to assure you on what are the “best practices”, so to speak.

After speaking with a couple consultants, I felt that Paul was the only one who genuinely understood my story and comprehended the potential angles in which I wanted to frame them in order to communicate the best version of my experiences. I bought unlimited packages for two schools and would recommend doing so as opposed to the hourly services. Very happy with our engagement. Paul is patient, very responsive, and highly knowledgeable about top business schools’ admissions process. He is also a wizard in essay editing. He is a prolific writer—no doubt his (timely, quick, and value-add) feedbacks helped elevate the quality of my applications. Paul certainly doesn’t write your essays for you, but what he does is he provides the kind of detailed feedbacks on your writing that pushes you to think about your experiences in more detail and to choose which of those experiences should be included in essays. Additionally, Paul has been in this industry for a long time and it definitely shows. He knows a lot about each school, and his insights helped me decide which schools I would like to apply to—given my profile, preferences, and post-MBA goal.

With Paul’s counsel, I really felt that I had put my best foot forward with my MBA applications. As a result, I was accepted to Booth and Kellogg with a full scholarship to one of them. Thrilled with this outcome. Working with Paul = huge ROI!

Paul is hands-down the person you want on your team when you’re applying to MBA programs – he’s super responsive, very thoughtful, and tells it like it is. I knew going into MBA applications that my quant GRE score wouldn’t be as high as I’d like, and after working with Paul was still accepted to 3 top programs (Kellogg, Tuck, Fuqua) – and even got a large fellowship offer from one of them! 10/10 would recommend.

Positives of working with Paul:
The “full service” package was truly full service – from identifying which schools made the most sense for my profile to support in developing essay ideas/editing to answering my occasionally anxiety-ridden emails, he was fantastic
He’s willing to work with candidates who don’t have the ‘perfect’ profile – when I started looking for consultants, there were at least 3 who turned me down due to a lower GRE score; Paul saw potential and was willing to work with me to highlight my other strengths
Super knowledgable – he literally wrote the book on MBA admissions and has a wealth of resources beyond basics on everything from school rankings to financial aid packages and recruiting statistics
+Interview prep was included – this was super helpful to practice answering interview questions live and understand how to tailor for each school

Things to be aware of:
Costs are fair but can add up if you don’t purchase the ‘full’ package. I was on the fence about a couple of schools when I first hired Paul and ended up buying individual hours to prep those applications; I could have planned better to avoid the additional cost but feel this was worth the investment, given the outcome.
He won’t sugarcoat the downsides to your profile – I was looking for someone directive and honest, so I appreciated our frank conversations about what was needed to balance out my poor GRE score

Overall, I couldn’t have done it without Paul and would hands-down recommend his services.

I can’t thank Paul enough for his help. i was recently accepted to INSEAD, and while my profile is strong in other ways, I also had a college GPA below a 3.0, which is obviously a huge drawback. Paul was incredible, and his help on my INSEAD essays was instrumental.

I think there’s two main ways in which Paul’s help is great: The first is his general thoughts/assistance on applications at the start of your process. He knows how to angle yourself for a specific school, what they’re looking for, and how each school will line up with what you’re looking for. If you apply to Harvard, I would definitely recommend using his full help for their application. They have a very general, open-ended essay question, and using Paul for that one will allow you to mix and match parts of that essay for your other schools. Paul was very helpful in working with me on cost, as he said “You’re welcome to pay me for a few schools and then do some on your own, and then you can re-purpose from the essays that I helped you with for the others.” The second area was with interviews. He has a ton of people in his network that can help you with just about any school – including a non-US school like INSEAD.

I had known for quite some time that an MBA was the ideal path for me due to my interest in making an industry pivot. I spent significant time researching the various options, many of which you couldn’t go wrong with. But between Paul’s candid tone and the fact that he essentially wrote the book on best practices, it was an obvious choice. Further, one thing that also stuck out was the personal touch Admitify offers with a seemingly smaller team and pool of candidates. I thought that was important because the other leading services seem like they all have an army of younger consultants so I was afraid I’d be losing out on the special sauce offered. Though there are benefits to that, I was afraid I’d be thrown into a more standardized approach relative to what Admitify offers. From day one, he was an absolute professional and really teased the best possible story/thesis out of me throughout my essays. With Paul’s approach, it really was empowering from the get-go to know that he was deeply invested in understanding my life story. Not only did he tease the optimal thesis/story out of me, but it also helped me understand what it really was I wanted to get out of my MBA. In some ways, he was more than just an admissions consultant and more of a career therapist. Overall, I am confident that without his help, there’s no chance I’d have been admitted into my dream school in Columbia. Thanks, Paul and I couldn’t be more excited about what’s to come.

If you want to go through the application process with the peace of mind that comes with knowing that you are truly maximizing your chances of admission at the top programs, then Paul Bodine is simply the only choice.

Paul is personable and encouraging, yet honest with his feedback and assessments. He has a wealth of experience and knowledge of what these programs are truly looking for in an MBA candidate. He is everything that you want in an admissions coach.

From someone who was recently accepted at his dream program, I cannot recommend Paul highly enough.

I worked with Paul for my MBA program applications. We applied to 6 top schools, out of which I got admitted to 3 schools (UCLA, NYU & Cornell). Initially, Paul was very useful in helping me come up with a list of schools to apply to, based on what I was looking for and my profile. He knew schools inside out, especially in terms of what they are looking for in their candidates. Paul helped me assess my chances with each of my preferred schools and helped expand my list with others, just as great, schools.

After deciding on the school list he helped review my essays, prepped me for admission interviews and just, in general, helped me feel more confident and prepared throughout the process.

Paul was a real pleasure to work with. I was really impressed with his work ethics, his knowledge, and his calm personality. In this nerve-racking process, Paul made me feel at ease and confident about my applications. Working with him was the best decision I took during my MBA application process.

Even though my GMAT score was in low 500, which is probably why I didn’t get accepted to HBS, I got accepted to UT and Rice with significant scholarship given by both schools. And, I thank Paul for this, he is amazing!! Working with him was a great pleasure. He was very meticulous with my essay and resume. And, made sure that the essay was reflective of who I am. His response time is incredibly fast and he genuinely cared about me. Paul went above and beyond to answer every question and tailored the application to reflect the best of me. I would definitely recommend him to anyone that is looking to pursue the MBA path.

Did my applications without a consultant. However, after being accepted to my three favorite schools (MIT Sloan, Wharton, Booth), I leveraged Paul’s experience & knowledge to help me with the decision process. He was very helpful and I ended up going with MIT Sloan. Graduating in two weeks. Thanks, Paul!

Paul was integral to my MBA application process. I couldn’t have done it without him. From refining my story (I have a very complicated background) and making it concise to providing critical insights and advice, all the way to interview prep, Paul was extremely knowledgeable, candid and effective. He helped me get into Wharton and made me reflect on my story and strengths on the way there. I highly recommend his services.

I worked with Paul after reading his book and he was amazing – he helped me evaluate which schools to apply to and how to best tell my story. He was always extremely responsive and I could turn to him with any question I had. I was accepted to a top school and Paul helped me tremendously. I can highly recommend him.

Paul provided great service during my school application. He is very smart, sharp and patient in helping me, from picking up schools to render my personal story. He spends many times interview my story and put a great essay for my application with a lot of encouragement and trust. He truly believes in his clients potential. I was eventually able to get into my dream school under his help. I will highly recommend him to my friends or others who need help in applying.

I interviewed several consultants before deciding to go with Paul. I noticed that we were a good match from our initial discussions, Paul is a great communicator, fast to respond and most important he knows about Grad school application. He gave me invaluable insights and advice on my MBA application!! I got accepted to Wharton!! I couldn’t have done it without Paul’s support!!

I was inspired to contact Paul after reading his book, Great Applications to Business School. From the moment I spoke with him, I was struck by his genuineness, his friendliness, and his knack for quickly understanding my background and identifying the most salient details of my “story”.

Over the next few months, I worked with Paul on my applications for 5 business schools. I purchased his hourly service, and most of our communication was done over e-mail. As someone who lacked friends/relatives/co-workers who could provide the right perspective, I am so grateful that I had Paul to coach me: strategizing, providing a second set of eyes over my materials, and pushing me when he knew I was capable of better work. I was motivated by his investment in my success, and also impressed by how efficiently he could review my writing and give feedback (each hour went a long way!). As a result of his help, my final resume, essays, and (very likely) my recommendations were miles better than anything I could’ve done on my own. By the time I finally submitted my applications, I felt confident that I was truly channeling the best version of myself.

And it paid off. I received interviews at all 5 schools (4 M7 + Haas), and was ultimately admitted to Haas, Kellogg, and MIT Sloan — each with scholarships ranging from 80k-120k. These amazing offers proved to me the incredible return on investment in working with Paul. I can’t recommend him enough.

Paul is an incredible asset to help you get into the school of your dreams. He is not kidding when he says he will give you the ultimate effort in getting to know you and to help you craft a memorable essay. He is a master at slowly helping draw out the critical points of your essay and polishing it down into a gem any school would say yes to. I was working in a tight timeline and he was always able to help deliver incisive reviews in usually less than 24 hours. Having him on the team was extremely helpful for unearthing important points you might not consider writing about and help you highlight the stories that make you unique. The proof is in the pudding on this one, all top schools gave his product a thumbs up.

Prior to working with Paul, I spoke with a handful of consultants to get a feel for the market. Paul was the only one to immediately begin thinking through an application strategy that was tailored to my unique strengths and weaknesses within minutes of me giving him background on myself. Paul was ultra responsive, thoughtful, and concise in his feedback. The entire process was highly efficient and transparent. Every piece of feedback he provides is derived from years and years of expertise and is sprinkled with his intimate understanding of each school. Additionally, he is as a very calming presence which was very important to me through the stressful business school application process. Really appreciated all of Paul’s guidance and wisdom. He’s the best in the business and I have the results to prove it as a Chicago Booth admit!

I am very pleased with my experience working with Paul for my business school application. Over the last year or so I have applied to several business schools, using several admissions consultants. Paul is definitely my preferred pick and I only wish that I had known about him from the beginning. Throughout our exchanges by mail and phone, I was really able to gain a better idea of what exactly business schools are looking for and how to emphasize certain areas of my application to highlight my unique strengths. I had a feeling that he genuinely cared about my application – going above and beyond what I have seen with other consultants and even adding words of encouragement before my interview. In conclusion, I don’t have any reserves in recommending Paul – he is one of the best top B-school consultants out there and is simply an expert in the field. And he gets results – I was accepted into Columbia!

I worked with Paul from the moment I decided to apply to business school. Paul was a calm and insightful voice throughout the ups and downs of the process. My essay couldn’t have turned out better as a result of his input.

Separately, I was referred to Paul by my best friend who also had a successful application to both Harvard and Stanford.

I spoke to 8 consultants before choosing Paul and I knew from the beginning I had made the right choice – he responded swiftly, had already given me some insights on my profile and was direct about his assessment of my chances to applying for various schools. This was consistent throughout my interaction with him – never fails to have a quick turnaround (usually in a day or two), very precise in his advice and even manages the paid hours by the minute. Paul was invaluable in giving me insights on areas I needed to play up or fix, and this was really helpful as a Singaporean candidate with less familiarity with US schools. I got a R1 admit from my dream school (Kellogg) despite my red-flag GPA (3.8/5.0) and I absolutely would not have been able to do this without Paul. 100% recommend to any MBA applicant who needs some guidance.

Accepted to Kellogg, Booth, and Columbia, including a very significant scholarship at one!!! I truly cannot speak highly enough of Paul. We worked through each of my essays diligently, but always with a very personal touch from Paul so that he ensured my own voice stayed strong throughout. Not only did he consistently return his edits within 24 hours (I can’t emphasize enough the criticality of this quick turnaround time in the application process), but each round of suggestions from Paul helped me transform my essays from strong to stellar. Even after essays were finished, Paul was invaluable throughout the interview process, facilitating 1-on-1 prep time with one of his team members (a former admissions director at a top 10 school) as well as other interview simulations. I went into each of my interviews feeling confident about how best to articulate my story and how to make clear my strong interest in each of these schools, all in a differentiated manner.
In what is an extremely stressful 4-6 month process, Paul constantly provided much needed “de-stress” as I worked toward hitting deadlines and kept my confidence high throughout the process. If you are still reading this review, it probably means you are torn between various Consultant options. I can promise you – you will NOT find anyone better than Paul Bodine. 5 Stars and a HUGE thank you to Paul!

I am a re-applicant this year. I got no school with another consultant last year. This year, I worked with Paul and Sachin for re-application and I got 4 offers, including Booth, my dream school! Paul and Sachin are awesome! I am glad that I found them. They help me to distinguish myself from other applicants, provide insightful suggestions on my essays and are willing to answer any questions I have during the application process with a quick turnaround. I want to thank them for all the help they provided! I would not make it to Booth without their help!!

Paul is an expert admissions consultant, and I’m so glad I worked with him! After 10+ chats with different admissions consulting companies (including many on P&Q’s list of Top Admissions Consultants), I chose Paul because of his innate ability to understand my story, goals, and passions.

I began the process very early, and Paul was more than happy to accommodate my schedule. In the introductory call, I spoke in detail about my life stories: childhood, upbringing, high school, college, work, passions, etc. Afterwards, Paul would sometimes bring up small details I told him on the introductory call and recommend that I use those details in an essay or for a specific type of interview question.

When working through essays, Paul was a true master. His honest comments allowed me to think deeply about my passions and who I am as a person, ESPECIALLY for the difficult Stanford essay. If some parts of the essays were still ‘not working’, he’d offer to discuss on the phone to draw out some potential stories/examples. I certainly had to exert lots of effort in writing and editing essays, but Paul’s ability to identify the stories/examples to use was critical to the final essay outcomes.

Throughout the process, Paul was always able to answer my one-off questions quickly and efficiently. I truly believe that one such response (to my one-off questions) helped immensely in my final business school acceptances. In the end, I received acceptances to Stanford, Wharton, and several other Top 5 & Top 10 schools!

Paul Bodine is simply the best there is in the MBA admissions consulting market. I researched and held calls everywhere, and felt Paul was the only one to really understand my profile, identify the key aspects of my story, and communicate the best path forward regardless of my decision to work with him. I purchased by the hour and Paul immediately jumped in to help with application strategy, CV structure, school selection, and brief essay revision. He will not write your application for you, but rather will help you reflect and extract the most compelling presentation of your profile possible. This helped not only develop unique, honest essays, but also provided the necessary self-reflection for strong performance in interviews. Paul also went above and beyond the time I booked to answer the various questions and concerns that inevitably surfaced as a byproduct of this process.

Thanks to Paul, I was accepted at Booth with a $100k merit scholarship and Kellogg with a $70k merit scholarship.

A great supplement to Paul’s help is also his book, “Great Applications for Business School.” Really helped get the creative juices flowing and develop insights into what makes a Bschool app stand out.

There are many admission consultants and many MBA candidates. As a candidate, I wanted to stand out from the crowd. I applied the same criteria in choosing the right consultant who successfully helped others, could be instrumental unfolding the best story, would be straightforward about positive and negative feedback and most importantly would suit my specific need.
During the free consultation, he came up with actionable insights. I worked with him for a few weeks. The result? A savvy application story. I went to Haas.
I’m glad that I found Paul. Thank you and looking forward to see you bringing the best and the brightest in the upcoming years.

Paul is quite simply an incredibly smart and concise consultant who provides very timely and well thought out advice. Without ever having a regret, I have religiously trusted his views, insights and recommendations. You would be wise to hire him! Work with Paul and you will have a very positive outcome.

Paul was fantastic to work with and was instrumental in my admission to multiple programs including the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. His extensive experience in the space helped me sail through the MBA application process with far less anxiety than had I gone it alone. Where Paul really excelled was in helping me reflect on my life journey and suss out the stories that really impacted me. I learned a lot about myself in the process. Work with Paul!

I got into Wharton!!!! I want to thank you for all the help you provided. I am extremely grateful for your efforts. Not only do I owe a lot to you for my admit at Wharton, but also for the sponsorship pitch you helped me with. Because of your inputs I was able to secure full sponsorship from my employer. Working with you was a pleasure. You made me realize so many subtle things about myself along the journey. I think you are the most professional person I have ever come across. All my questions were answered to the point without any ambiguity and with utmost honesty. I would not have made it to Wharton without your help. At the time I had self-doubt and asked you if I should apply to another school, your answer impressed me “I think you can stick with Wharton and if it does not work then we will think about another school”. This shows how well versed and experienced you are, any other person would have said “Sure, go ahead”.

Paul provided me with excellent guidance and support for my INSEAD application and later on with a marketing brochure for an independent advisory firm. His input was invaluable – Paul possesses a unique ability to distill and help narrate absolute essentials from one’s background and help one think through how to differentiate yourself from the crowd. He is attentive, focused, quick, professional, creative, and committed to maintaining full integrity with his advice and work outputs. Not much else one can ask for! I would recommend Paul to anyone.

Paul’s contribution was vital in helping me get admitted into Columbia. His guidance and coaching allows the candidate to highlight his or her strongest personal and professional experiences in a compelling story. Our interaction was very professional and his responses were always prompt given the tight admission deadlines. I have already recommended Paul to many of my friends that have also succeeded through his advice and I will be happy to continue referring him to others.

I really enjoyed working with Paul in the winter of 2011 and our work culminated with an admission to Columbia’s full time program. Paul provided very thoughtful advice with straightforward questions and commentary, which helped hone my essays into a compelling narrative. Just as importantly, our conversations and interactions were efficient and effective. I would recommend Paul without hesitation if you need anything from a full consultation or a final, expert review.

Paul was a tremendous writing coach and thought partner, helping me gain admission to Tuck – as a finance candidate in an especially competitive admissions year (2008-2009). Paul helped me craft a compelling story to differentiate myself and articulate my career goals. Tuck was a transformative experience and I’m grateful to Paul for helping me get there!

Paul was instrumental in getting me accepted to Kellogg’s 2-year full time MBA program, as well as securing interviews at Wharton and CBS. At the start of the process my admissions “story” was not defined very well at all. Paul worked with me over the course of several months to fine tune the story for each programs I applied to. Unlike other consultants, Paul is willing to dive into the weeds with you and work on essay editing, redlining, etc. He is also enjoyable to work with and I would highly recommend his services.

I worked with Paul back in 2012 for my Master’s application to Stanford Law School. I first got to know him through the books he published and contacted him via e-mail. The application to Stanford Law School was extremely competitive. The class I applied only enrolls 11 persons each year all around the world. Thanks for Paul’s hard work and abundant experiences, I became one of the lucky eleven. As English is not my first language, Paul not only helped me with the essay structure but also corrected my language usage which I benefited even until now. I was on a rather rushed timeline. Although he had several projects on hand at the same time, he was very efficient and always on-time to return me his comments and mark-ups the next working day. He recorded his time sheet accurately and kept me fully informed how he spent his time on my work. I highly recommend Paul, a very professional, efficient and excellent consultant. He will help you to realize your dream.

After extensive reading of MBA consultant online forums, I shortlisted a few and did initial chats/emails to try them out. Paul was by far the best. Some tried to scare me into using their services by pointing out all my weaknesses. Others complimented me while missing my specific questions. Paul gave me concise, authentic feedback – with no obligations.

Paul helped me brilliantly with school selection. He convinced me to consider Oxford (one of my initial choices that I wanted to drop), given my focus on Asia. I ended up getting accepted to Michigan Ross, UCLA Anderson and Oxford Said – and chose Oxford. No regrets now having almost completed the MBA. Without his input, I would have had a completely different experience.

Paul was also efficient, gave superb and realistic feedback, focused on my strengths and exhibited integrity. Very prompt replies, time sheet for recording consulting hours, an extensive questionnaire to really get to know my background and aspirations.

He connected me with desired school alumni to hear real, authentic feedback on the schools. Also provided insightful advice during mock interviews.

Overall, a highly personalized, reliable, competent and authentic experience. My two cents worth – avoid large consulting practices that serve clients by the masses. Go for an experienced professional who helps you end to end in a personalized way, and is authentic, someone you find you can trust.

All the best!

I considered an MBA for a few of years before deciding it was the right time in my career to pursue one. I had originally talked to Paul about different programs and ultimately decided on Michigan Ross that fit my needs and requirements. He helped me craft my application and essays to a concise and pointed story about my experience, accomplishments and objectives. After receiving an invitation to interview, we scheduled a couple Skype calls to go over potential questions and practice my responses.

Could I have gotten accepted without using a consultant? Probably. But with Paul’s help I felt secure in knowing I put my best foot forward.

Paul is a consummate professional, his timely help got me a admit to the Duke EMBA program. I was very late into the application process and clueless when I reached out to Paul. He promptly helped me with the edits and polished the essays since I was having trouble to meet the word limits so that I could meet the final round deadline.

I had a challenging application profile to say the least with a GPA under 2.5 from a state university. My work experience and GMAT were average for the schools on my list (top-20 full time MBA programs), but I knew I had to knock it out of the park with my essays. Some admissions consultants even went so far as to tell me I had no shot at Stanford. Paul was incredibly helpful in helping me develop and refine my overall essay and application strategy. I appreciated his honesty and insight into how to best piece together the best parts of my story into a coherent (and ultimately successful) application. I applied to 7 top-20 schools in the first round. I was admitted to 3 (including Stanford GSB) and waitlisted at another.

I had the pleasure of meeting Paul and using his services when I was applying to several top MBA programs. With Paul’s coaching, I was able to provide in depth details and insights from my experiences to fully capture the best picture of me as candidate. I’m pleased to say that I was accepted and graduated from Chicago Booth. I highly recommend Paul’s services.

I’m the non-native English speaker with the average GMAT score. Paul helped me to refine the tone of my essays by countless hours.

He put in his thoughts and experience / knowledge of the school’s style and helped me to get in the top MBA program in USA.

Paul was the first person to tell me that I should aim for the top 3 schools in the US. As a very non-traditional candidate, I didn’t even think my profile might even slightly be interesting for the admissions team at Harvard, Wharton or Stanford. I got into Wharton, and the rest is history.

Get his book, read it, do everything as he advises there – that’s the best and clearest formula for putting together a successful MBA application package.

Paul’s was instrumental in helping me to gain admission to Columbia Business School. I was able to present my unique candidacy in the best possible light by leveraging his deep understanding of the program and it’s admission nuances. Moreover, Paul was a true pleasure to work with, he managed to expertly walk a fine line of encouragement while also managing my expectations. Finally, Paul is both a literary wizard and gifted story-teller. For instance, after providing him a jumbled and confusing 1500 word essay, he returned a 450 word document one day later which perfectly conveyed my thoughts and consisted entirely in my own words. I would highly recommend Paul to anyone looking to put their best foot forward in applying to any of the M7.

I spoke to Paul right before the application season in the summers, and Paul provided me with a game plan and motivation from the very start. We started off with the overall application strategy and stories for the essays. He reviewed my essays, application material and provided suggestions on polishing the material. He turned my dry first drafts essays into pieces of art that read extremely well.

Once I had interview invites from Yale, INSEAD, and Wharton, we practiced on Skype for the interviews. Paul’s experience came in real handy and his honest reviews and feedback throughout the process really helped me secure admits to all. I also applied to public administration courses with Paul’s help and I secured admits from Columbia SIPA and Johns Hopkins SAIS.

His turnaround time for the work was always within 24 hours and I do owe my admissions to the top programmes to him. All the best Paul! And thanks once again!

I initiated conversation with Paul 1 year before round 1 deadline, in which he gave me advice on how to improve my admission chances. We reconnected 6 months later, and I started the application process with a stronger profile. With his help, I got into Wharton! It was a pleasant experience working with Paul, and I’ve recommended him to all my friends who are applying for BSchool.

Got into Stanford and Kellogg, and Paul was instrumental. Couldn’t recommend him more highly. At every stage of the process, Paul was helpful, accessible, and a pleasure to work with. Paul is indispensible when it comes to essay review. I always retained my own voice, and he had a keen eye for how I could tell my story with maximum impact. His guidance was specific and insightful (never generic), his response times were remarkably short, and the entire dynamic was underpinned by a consistent sense that he genuinely cared. Paul’s interview prep was precise and targeted and enabled me to put my best foot forward on interview day. Working with Paul was well worth the investment. I can’t imagine a standard higher than the one Paul sets.

Paul provided guidance and encouragement from start to finish. He reviewed my application and provided actionable feedback to improve the strength of my application profile across several key areas.

He arranged two mock practice interview sessions, where one of the sessions was conducted with an ex-admissions officer from a P&E top 15 ranked MBA school.

Paul’s experience as a published writer shows in his honest reviews and feedback throughout the process. He always returned emails and phone calls promptly with a typical turnaround time of hours for emails/phone calls, and up to 36hrs for larger review items.

I was admitted to Columbia Business School, and I don’t believe I could have shown the admissions committee everything I had to offer to the program without Paul’s advice.

Thanks Paul!

Paul played an integral role in my acceptance into LBS and for that, I’m deeply thankful. Paul was referred to me by a close friend whom Paul had helped get into HBS. Right from our first call, Paul was attentive and honest about my chances at my top choice schools. It was during this call that he impressed me with his knowledge of the MBA application process. He helped succinctly pick out certain aspects of my profile that we needed to focus more on in my LBS application in order to improve my chances. His essay editing is uncomplicated and concise, yet improves the overall readability of the essays drastically. Once I received an invitation to interview, Paul helped not only take a mock interview himself but also got one of his colleagues to interview me. I’m usually nervous about such things and I feel like this was an absolutely necessary step for me to help calm my nerves and perform to my potential. Overall, I highly recommend Paul to anyone looking to ace their MBA application.

I worked with Paul on my bschool applications and he was great! Very responsive, understands what makes a great app and provides very customized feedback to help set you apart. Without Paul’s help, I don’t think I would have been as successful with the application process. Because of Paul’s help, however, I attended a top 10 MBA program!

I worked with Paul to edit essays for four full-time MBA program applications. I purchased a 10-hour package to review the essays by e-mail and phone and to discuss overall admissions strategy. With Paul’s help, I gained admission and ultimately attended HBS. Paul takes a different approach from other consultants whom I considered – his is the ideal admissions partner for essay review, drawing from his own writing expertise. Paul takes the time to get to know his clients to better help draw out personality in their writing. He is realistic about admissions expectations without discouraging the applicant. And above all, Paul is timely and thorough in his responses to any applicant requests, big or small.

With Paul’s help I aced the admissions process and was accepted by all four schools where I applied: Wharton, CBS, LBS, and INSEAD.

It goes without saying that Paul is an expert in his field. Most importantly, he is a pleasant person to work with.

I am grateful to Paul and highly recommend him!

Paul was an amazing resource – his help with my application landed me at Kellogg. He provided candid, astute advise with my application and helped articulate my story and experience with clarity and relevance. I benefited immensely by engaging Paul’s assistance and would highly recommend him to any candidate seeking assistance to navigate the MBA admission process.

Gives good advice and very patient.

This guy is a genius. (Literally – he went to University of Chicago and Johns Hopkins University)

The story:
Last year (2013)I applied to a few business schools and got denied from all – not even an interview was granted. I knew I was going to reapply (this year – 2014 ) and wanted some professional help. Soon afterward I started looking into all of the top consulting companies – mbaMission, Amerasia, Stratus Prep, MBAPrepSchool, Veritas Prep, HBSGuru and Admissionado. I had phone conversations with consultants from the companies and met in person with two.

I was looking for someone who was honest and who would get right to the point but was not a bulldog like Sandy Kreisberg from HBSguru. I wanted someone who would listen to my story and help me pick which pieces paint the best picture of myself. I also wanted someone who has been in the industry for a while and who takes his clients seriously. Some consultants out there do consulting as a side job – I have had a few side jobs in my life and no matter how dedicated I plan to be I can never find enough time in the day to give these jobs the attention they deserve.

I initially came across Paul’s name on gmatclub. He has the top rated business school book on one of the lists. I thought “hmmm this guy wrote the book about admissions maybe I should check him out.” I then found out that he writes frequently on the Businessweek forums and read a few of his posts. He seemed to really help direct people.

I contacted Paul and answered a few questions for him about myself via email and then set up an initial phone call. During the call I was shocked at home much he knew about me. He brought up things on the questionnaire that I totally forgot that I answered – it was almost creepy how much he knew! On a serious note, my point is that he obviously paid deep attention to me and I wasn’t even a paying client yet. He had me convinced to work with him.

After I enlisted his services–he was everything I was looking for. He also has many connections in the industry since he has been working in it so long (since 1997).
We decided to map a plan of attack. He took a deep dive into my background – I think the call lasted 2 or 3 hours. Then came up with a few things I could/should do over the next few months to polish my application. He even told me exactly which GMAT score he thought I should get to make up for my low gpa. This was the type of detailed feedback I needed. On these forums many people say things like — “ohh 710 gmat is good, over 700 and your fine.” But this may GENERALLY be true but it doesn’t take into account your demographic, or what type of industry you work in, or whether you had quant classes in college…Paul was able to take into account all the aspects of my application and based off of the many idiosyncrasies of my application suggest certain things. I trusted his decisions also since he as an extensive history of helping many applicants over the years.

Another thing which made Paul awesome was he connected me with someone from a school I was targeting. He helped many people get into top programs and he would call them up and ask if they’d speak with me. This gave me deep insight into these programs. One person gave me little tidbits of what I should say in my essay that would show how much I knew about the program! Additionally, he knew a few people on some of the schools admissions committees and would share how he thought I should approach them based on their personality.

Work Product:
Paul’s editing is absolutely top notch (Master’s degree from Johns Hopkins – can’t beat that). He can edit a 3 page essay down to 250 words and somehow capture exactly what you wanted to say and not drop a bit of detail. It was magical. One day I was in a rush and I asked him to do a quick edit just so I could have a clear essay to work on again (my version was too convoluted) he managed to whip it out in minutes…literally like 30 minutes.

He also asked all the right questions. When I wrote an essay he would not only edit the essay but say something like “why don’t you mention that thing you told me about that happened 2 months ago….” or ” I think this story does not work as well as the story you told me about a few weeks ago…” This is the type of direction I really loved. This constant back and forth really helped me understand myself, my story and I am certain it helped me kill the interviews.

He also did mock interviews with me. He would ask different questions based off of which school I was interviewing with. He knew which schools ask which questions. Many of the questions he asked I actually received in the interview.

Timeliness:
As I mentioned above, he is very quick. He would always respond within a day and generally within hours. But the best part was, he would often email me saying “..I have a dinner this Friday so I may not be reachable until Saturday morning..” or ‘I am out of town Wednesday so don’t expect emails until Wednesday night” This was soo important to me because it allowed me to plan my work schedule.

He was also always open to a quick phone call or skype. I remember a few occasions where I would be freaking out about some little worry in my head and I would email him “Got a minute for a call?” and he and I would be on the phone minutes later discussing my worry.

Attitude:
You can already get an idea of his personality from everything I wrote above but I also want to point out that he is super nice. He is always very friendly and open and willing to talk to you about anything. He will talk to you about the same thing numerous times and give his advice on what he thinks you need to do.

Bottom Line:
Paul is the complete package. I purchased a 3 school comprehensive package from him and I was accepted to all those schools. I also then purchased some extra hours for 4 other schools and was accepted to those as well. Do I think I could have gotten in without his help – no. I struck out last year and this year he helped me win the World Series. It is the right train of thought that he gave me that helped me have many little wins along the way which lead to the ultimate acceptance.

You’ve got to check this guy out – google his name.

I was referred to Paul by a friend and later found out that a colleague used Paul’s services as well. Both were graduates of top programs, which gave me confidence in his track record. I chose the three school package because I was totally unfamiliar with the admissions process and needed guidance beyond just the essays. Not only was Paul knowledgeable about the process, but he excelled at understanding my story and helping me bring it to life in my applications. I could also count on him to give me frank and honest feedback. I have not doubt in my mind that I would not have had such success were it not for Paul’s guidance. His services were worth every penny, and I cannot recommend him enough.

Paul is awesome! He was a great help on my MBA application journey. I got four offers out of five (one in waiting list) from top 15 schools in U.S. because of his guidance. He will challenge unreasonable thoughts and push you to think deeper about what you learned, who you were and who you become from your past experience. Working with him is not just an application process to me but also a introspective process to make me know myself better. I highly recommend new applicants to work with him.

Paul worked with me on my application for multiple schools on an hourly fashion. He was recommended to me by my brother who had worked with him on his successful Insead application. Paul had great insights and was always willing to provide candid feedback. I don’t think I could have made it to Ross School of Business without his support. The thing that amazed me the most was that he was unlike the other consultants – trying to sell me more, overcharging hours etc. I knew exactly what I was getting and what I needed.

I highly recommend folks to work with him.

I had a fantastic experience working with Paul and am grateful to him for reviewing my application in the 2011 admission season. Thanks to his help, I am now a proud alumnus of Chicago Booth (FT class of 2013).

I felt that Paul was honest and presented me with a realistic picture of my likelihood of gaining admission at my target schools. I also changed some school selections based on his input. Paul was also helpful in presenting my best self in the essays. With his edits, he still preserved my voice except his wording made the impact stronger, and the story tight-knit.

The difference was clear and the impact – an admission to Chicago Booth – forever changed the trajectory of my life. Thank you, Paul!!

Paul is the reason I’m at MIT Sloan today. I worked with two different admissions consultants (both from larger, “brand name” firms) and was rejected once from Sloan and Kellogg before finding Paul, reapplying, and being accepted to both. Paul understood exactly how I needed to frame my application and what I needed to say to get myself into Sloan and Kellogg. Two things set Paul apart: his understanding of admissions strategy (“playing the game”) and his editing skills. Strategically, he has the knowledge and years of experience to tell you exactly what you need to do, and when it comes to editing your application, he brings the precision and ability of a professional copy editor. My application was noticeably stronger, sharper, and more succinct after each round of Paul’s edits. Lastly, he was considerate and efficient in his use of time. He understood that this was a huge expense for me and delivered value for every hour.

If you want someone who is ultra responsive, candid, genuinely invested in your success, and gives you personalized attention, Paul is your guy. If you want a big-box consultant who’s in it to collect a fee and not truly interested in the outcome or if you put your best foot forward, then Paul’s not your guy.

I met Paul after getting waitlisted & ultimately dinged from Top 5 schools. Paul did my ding assessment – giving me critical, objective feedback on both my essays and overall candidacy. The sad part was in 60 minutes with Paul I’d received better, more actionable feedback than I had received having spent an entire year with a well-known “boutique” consultant service. I went with him because it was clear from my first call that he cared and that he wasn’t willing to pull punches. Countless essays later, I couldn’t be more thankful. Paul was a fantastic partner.
He replied immediately to questions, got on the phone to calm me down when things were not looking bright, never sent canned messages like “getting back to me within x days,” and actively game planned with me every step of the way. My essays were materially better the second time around and my candidacy stronger. The results (picking between MIT Sloan and 2 other top-tier schools) spoke for themselves. Can’t recommend him enough.

Paul has helped me get admitted to both LBS and Insead.

Coming from engineering and construction background, I first suffered while writing my motives for an MBA as well as link my past experience to the post MBA career.

This is when I requested the help of Paul. He helped me filter exactly what the top schools are looking for in the most efficient and innovative way.

His feedback comments were very swift and I was able to apply to 3 schools within a week.

He also mock interviewed me and helped me be very prepared for the interviews.

In brief, Paul had a big impact on me being an LBS student at the moment.

In a MBA applications consulting marketplace filled with dissimilar clones that offer the same generic advice, Paul Bodine is a refreshing find for 2 reasons. First, he completely strips away any extraneous/generic advice that most applicants already know. Instead, he focuses on the fundamentals and brings out the perfect experiences that relevant to the MBA context. Second, he sets the bar very high for quality. He is attentive, responsive and is acutely sensitive to the complexities of the application process. Paul will be a great asset to any applicant in the process and I highly recommend Paul to future MBA candidates!

Paul was tremendously helpful with my essays and overall application. He walked through significant personal and professional experiences and milestones with me to help translate them into compelling stories. Paul is patient, effective, and very knowledgeable. I would recommend his guidance on the journey to a top 10 business school!

Paul is a great coach — You may want to consider working with him if you’d like your application to stand out. At the beginning of my application, I expected challenges in communicating how my experiences and motivations were different than the several thousand applications HBS receives. Over a series of conversations, Paul helped me see my experiences and stories in a new light. He helped me distill my experiences into a compelling application that was concise and authentic. I’d recommend Paul to anyone who’d like to learn how to tell their life story in an engaging manner.

Paul was able to address my needs in exactly the right way. His approach was tailored, professional, customer-centric, and extremely efficient. I have recommended him multiple times before, and will again.

Thanks to Paul, I am heading to MIT Sloan!! This was my first choice for a top MBA program and he guided me well through the entire application process. Paul has an impressive ability to help you with valuable introspective analysis; much needed especially as you prepare your essays and overall game plan. Always attentive and responsive, Paul has in depth knowledge about each MBA program and uses this knowledge to help you build a sharply focused strategy for applying to your school(s) of choice. I highly recommend Paul’s services to anyone who’s serious about applying to a top ranked university. Thank you Paul!

Paul is an excellent partner and resource for B-school applicants. Brutally honest in giving his feedback and ethically sound. I had a non-traditional profile and Paul helped me focus on key areas of strength. He’s a great sounding board, with a vast experience from which he draws to help bring out the best in you. I highly recommend Paul to future MBA candidates.

I worked with Paul during my MBA application process. He has been instrumental in helping me to shape my story and preparing for the interviews. What I liked most about Paul was his candid feedback and the relentless questions that pushed me to crystalise my experience into a compelling narrative. I recommend Paul with full confidence that his an asset in process.

I was an international applicant, with no experience writing essays the US way. After reading Paul’s book, I decided to work with him to get his feedback on my essays. No regrets, since I got admitted to all the schools I had applied to (Anderson, Haas, GSB).

As we all know, gaining admission to a top-tier business school is a massive undertaking. Overwhelmed, I read 4 MBA admissions books back-to-back. Then I discovered Paul’s book, “Great Applications to Business School”. It was in a league of its own. His admissions insights were profound and his client’s essays jumped off the page. I immediately scheduled a consultation and was fortunate to work with Paul on all of my MBA applications. Working with Paul was like attending a master class on professional introspection, storytelling, essay development, and interviewing skills. Additionally, Paul is very responsive, courteous, and thorough with his feedback. Working with an admissions consultant can be expensive. However, working with Paul was *well* worth the cost and boosted me to gain admission to my dream school – Kellogg School of Management.

I worked with Paul during my MBA applications and I was accepted at Harvard Business School. Paul not only focused on the specifics of the school’s requirements, but how my background, professional experience and studies together created a unique profile that would allow me to contribute to the school and my classmates’ experience. We spoke a lot on the phone as he learned about my professional accomplishments and challenges as well as how I planned to use the school’s tools to develop professionally. Our conversation was not only on how to get into a business school, but a reflection on my professional path. He posed the right questions as I thought about my essays. And I think it was the latter that helped me get into HBS. I definitely recommend working with Paul.

Working with Paul was a fantastic experience overall! He spent a lot of time really getting to know me and gave me a number of insightful suggestions throughout the process. He was also really great at challenging me to let go of bad ideas I was holding on to! Paul was very encouraging throughout, giving me the confidence to apply to the top schools. I ended up getting into Wharton with a $50,000 scholarship!

I had an excellent experience working with Paul and definitely recommend him for those focussing on the top US MBA schools.

I found him very credible – this I believe is his biggest strength!

He intently focussed on understanding my life journey well, then made me feel we were working as a team on a common goal, and then provided me with expert and timely inputs throughout to help me bring out my story powerfully.

I also always found his advice absolutely spot on (he knew what he was talking, he was realistic yet encouraging), be it during the application or during the interview stage.

Paul – Thank you for helping me achieve my dream of studying at a top 3 US MBA school.

Getting in touch with Paul was the best decision I ever made. He critically analyzed all elements of my application providing detailed advice and helped me create a strong action plan. Paul was available very quickly and always answered all my questions. These efforts have paid off as I’ve been accepted at my top choice university – Booth!

After 5 years of management consulting, I wanted to get my MBA. I had a good, not great, shot of getting into top MBA programs, but felt that I could not effectively tell my story to demonstrate how I was differentiated. Through working with Paul, we strategized on my story, discussed each essay, application, interview, and recommendation letter, highlighting my skills and accomplishments in the best possible light. I was admitted to Wharton, Booth, Kellogg, Duke (with scholarship), and Darden!

I contacted Paul right at the beginning of my application process and his advice was absolutely instrumental in getting me setup for success. Specifically, his insights were critical in A) sensibly discussing relative strengths/weaknesses of my background; B) problem-solving a clear golden thread/structure for my story; C) giving me confidence to pursue my dream school. When I received the call from Stanford and heard the AdCom mention specifics points of my essay that stood out to them, I immediately thought of Paul and his invaluable advice. Thank you, Paul, for helping me believe and execute on this dream!

I worked with Paul on the recommendation of a friend who worked with him a year before me and can’t thank him enough for the results 🙂 What I valued most about working with him was his pointed and clear feedback, very fast turnaround (every hour is crucial when you are racing to submit multiple applications within a specific round) and great professionalism. I worked with him on an hourly basis and he also guided me for which schools/essays I will need more of his time vs. less. Overall highly recommend working with him!

I worked with Paul on an hourly basis, focusing primarily on essay brainstorming/editing and interview preparation. Paul was extremely knowledgable, helpful and really pushed me to put my foot forward in my applications and interviews. The results were outstanding, with acceptances to Booth, Haas, Columbia and Kellogg, which I ended up attending with a $100K scholarship.

I got dinged by Wharton Harvard Booth in the first round of applications. I was disheartened and was unable to identify the gap in my profile. I approached Paul for second round of applications (applied to Kellogg). Starting with a perfect ding analysis to gradually understanding my story and my ambitions, helping me weave together all the elements in my application, and moreover encouraging me to apply to Kellogg when there wasn’t a positive response from other consultants, Paul has been very supportive throughout the process! He provides very to-the-point feedback and gives great insights on how one can present ones true self in the essays. I am glad I reached out to Paul and got an admit from one of my favorite schools – Kellogg! Cant thank you enough Paul! 🙂

Came across Paul from PoetsandQuants and decided to give it a go. I must say, Paul is very helpful and took the extra mile to help me with my application. Paul is very encouraging, and provide very valuable support. He is very responsive to email and always reachable. I truly thank him not only for the application, but also for helping me to know myself better. Thanks Paul, you have been a great mentor and friend.

Paul was absolutely instrumental in securing my admission to Columbia and Kellogg. He really helped me refine my personal story, and walked me through each step of the process. Looking at my first ever draft essays relative to the final products, its incredibly clear how much value add Paul provided. I always felt like I was a strong writer, but after working with Paul on my essays, it still amazes me how much more compelling they ended up being due to his input. Paul was very helpful throughout the application strategy process, and I was always impressed with how timely he responds to communications and how invested he was in my success. I highly recommend Paul for anyone trying to get into a top program.

Thanks again Paul!!

I’ve served on active duty for eight years. I was so nervous giving up a very successful military career as an officer/commander to walk away and apply to business school. I had a terrible undergrad GPA compared to the average of a top school, but a great GMAT (wouldn’t you all like to know?). Paul was so supportive during the process, and helped me drill down to “who I am” in essays and the resume. For military guys and gals out there: hire a consultant like Paul! It’s worth the investment!

Before starting with my application process I was wondering whether my profile was worthy of a Top 10 program. After a couple free consultations with other consultants, feedback was discouraging. This was not the case with Paul. He was supportive and enthusiastic from the very beginning and sure that we could dig into my experiences to make me stand out. I used Paul’s hourly services to work on my profile and core stories, and polish essays and mock interviews. I honestly believe that his always candid and on-point feedback brought my material to the next level. I always felt that working with Paul was a joint effort in which he was as concerned about the outcome as I was. At first, the GSB was beyond my dreams. I had no hope of being accepted so the school was not even in my list. Paul convinced me that my story would resonate at any school and recommended I apply. I cannot thank him enough for believing in me even when I didn’t.

Paul rocks! I found Paul through the consultant directory on Poets & Quants, though later realized I had his book on MBA essays. The most important thing I looked for in an admissions consultant was someone who could help me craft a cohesive and compelling story while staying true to myself. The essays are where the schools will really learn who you are beyond the resume and stats, so though the extra services the bigger consultancies offer are nice, I felt it wasn’t as core to the application as the essay itself. I talked to several other consultants, because ultimately chose Paul because this is his strength – he does a great job grabbing powerful anecdotes from your life to make your essay pop. In the competitive landscape of MBA admissions, Paul’s storytelling ability is a real difference maker. He’s very responsive and works quickly. I also appreciated how he put me in contact with current students at my target schools, which helped me gain a more nuanced perspective as I wrote each schools’ essay. I’m glad I had Paul by my side through this stressful process. Now, I have the happy predicament of choosing between Wharton, Kellogg and Haas!

Thanks to Paul my wife and I got admitted to our dream school – Tuck School of Business – with scholarships. While some consultants refuse to work with couples, because of the daunting odds they face at top 10 schools, Paul enthusiastically agreed to help us. Right from the free introductory call, we felt comfortable working with Paul: he is very insightful, professional and his feedback was always on point. Paul answered every question we had and provided valuable support throughout the application process. Most importantly, he helped each one of us mine our lives for interesting stories and pivotal events, helped us create a successful application strategy and guided us through its execution. If you want to stand out among thousands of incredibly talented applicants from all over the world and increase your chances of getting into a top business school, you should reach out to Paul right away! We also benefited a lot from reading Paul’s book “Great Applications for Business School”. This book contains detailed guidance to every step of the application process and is a must-read for any MBA applicant.

I am an Asian male in technology. Paul helped me to stand out from the crowd. Initially, I was taken aback by the amount of work that needed to be done, Paul helped me to gain momentum and keep my pace. His essay edits are always on point and on time. I got into my dream school, Darden with a 50% scholarship.

I could hardly believe it when I received the admit phone call from Stanford GSB. So excited!!! I contacted Paul in November because I had read and really liked his book. I used both his “all-in” and hourly service for my round 2 MBA applications. I was admitted to Stanford GSB and Chicago Booth (with $40k scholarship), and got waitlisted at HBS. Paul provided tremendous help in almost all aspects of my application – from school selection, essay editing to the data section review and the mock interview. His deep expertise and insights was crucial to the success.

Paul Bodine was absolutely instrumental in helping me get accepted to the school(s) of my dreams. I used Paul’s hourly services and teamed with him for 3+ months. He was most helpful in essay editing (he can be as detailed or as high-level as you would like, and is very adept at both). This is where we spent most of our time. After receiving interviews, I used Paul for interview prep as well. He is very familiar with all of the top schools’ admissions standards/trends – knowledge that can’t be understated in this grueling process. Paul also guided me through my overall application strategy and execution (and a ‘final application review’ right before hitting submit), which was invaluable. Paul is one of the nicest people I’ve met in the admissions consulting business, but he’s also brutally honest. I think most of all, he always made me feel comfortable and offered reassurance whenever I would doubt myself in the process. I couldn’t imagine going through the admissions gauntlet without Paul by my side at every turn. As for results… I got into every school I applied to (Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, and Booth – the latter two with significant scholarships)! I am pretty certain that this would not have been the case had I not enlisted Paul for admissions guidance. Simply put – if you are currently searching for help to get into the top schools, you can stop looking. Paul Bodine is your answer.

Paul was instrumental in helping me get accepted into INSEAD\’s GEMBA program. Starting with the free consultation and throughout the remainder of the process his approach was incredibly professional, valuable and efficient. Paul was also well aware of my tight deadline and remained very flexible and responsive during the process to ensure I submitted my application timely. Money well spent and I would recommend Paul to anyone looking for a constructive and best-in-class consulting experience. Thanks Paul!

I worked with Paul around 4 years ago when applying to B-school. Working with Paul created a tectonic shift in my career and as a result, my life. Not only do I attribute Paul’s help to getting into the MBA program of my choice (IESE Business School), but it has served me ever since. When applying to B-school, Paul helped me understand my unique attributes that made me shine in the application process and how to convey them in a short and pithy way. Paul is part coach, part strategist, part writing teacher, and part therapist. The lessons Paul taught me helped with business school applications, classes during B-school, my application to MIT for a second masters, and various Jobs and internship applications. Although I haven’t spoke to Paul in years, his teachings ring in my head and literally impact me every day. Thank you for an amazing gift that has truly changed my life!

I first came to know Paul through reading his book, “Great Applications for Business School”. Towards the near end of the book, Paul mentioned that he does free consultations. Upon seeing that, I immediately picked up the phone and called him for a free consultation. Two years later, I am going to an M7 school and couldn’t be more excited for a dream come through! During my application process, Paul helped me demystify the MBA process. Although I didn’t apply the year I met him due to change of jobs and my readiness status, Paul occasionally checked up on me to discuss my plans for MBA. He was very responsive to my emails, and always followed up on my application progress. He also provided constructive feedback, which was very helpful and allowed my to represent my best self in the application. I would recommend Paul to anyone who is applying to business school.

I was admitted to Harvard & Wharton and I’m confident I couldn’t have done it without Paul. I’ve talked to numerous consultants (Stacey Blackman, MBA Exchange, etc.) and Paul is by far the best choice if you’re aiming for a top 3 school. Paul has been in the business for almost 20 years and knows the admission process like no other. He’s very professional but also very flexible: his response time is amazing (from a few minutes to a few hours, almost never more than that) and he treats you like an adult (and a client!). Most importantly, Paul is literally an essay God. I learned about him after buying his books on MBA essays from Amazon. You have to understand that schools will learn about you almost exclusively through your essays. If you team up with Paul, you’ll have the best essay, period. He’ll help you organize your ideas, build a great story (he’s a great story teller), and he’ll advise you on the quality of your writing (his writing skills are truly astounding, it’s probably his biggest strength). He turned all of my stories from “meh” to “wow”, just by suggesting I add more details or examples here and there, suggest different rhythms, put the emphasis on particular points, etc. In the end, your essay is a story, so you should only hire someone who is a good story-teller like Paul. Just check out his book, it speaks for itself. I was myself quite familiar with the admission process, so Paul expertise in essay-writing was particularly well tailored for my needs (other candidates might have other expectations/requirements). In summary, this is what I really appreciated about Paul: – Essay god (story-telling, writing skills) – Verifiable track-record (you can check out his book about essays online) – Always available even if you’re very perfectionist (we had more than 10 iterations on my HBS essay, most other consultants will stop after 5) – Great response time – In the business for 20 years (knows all about admissions)

I have a silver profile, not gold, but with Paul’s help, I was admitted to my dream school, a M7. Choosing Paul is definitely very important in my application success! 1. Paul really knows the whole process well and gives great advice. I consulted him on whether to retake GMAT, choice of recommenders and the many drafts of essays as well as interviews. I bought Paul’s book first, “Great Applications for Business School”, and liked what I read. And during the whole process, I kept on reading specific parts of the book, especially the real essay examples, really helpful. 2.Paul is very responsive, replies usually in one business day. This is what I value greatly, because when the deadline is approaching, you really want to hear back from your consultant! I know other admission companies have a 2-business-day turnaround time, which could be very nerve-racking. Just imagine you send a draft on Thursday and you have to wait till Monday to hear it back! 3. He is very invested in my success and I feel that I am his only client. He remembers my every interview date and always check on me via email to cheer me up. The application process is hard enough, so it is wonderful to have someone who really cares. When my interview is very close, Paul even agreed to prep me on weekends. 4. More importantly, Paul adjusts his approach to match his client’s individual style. He is very nice, of course, but I wanted to push myself harder and after I told Paul that, he indeed pushed me, offering ways to make my essay prettier, tighter. I would never thought of it without Paul pointing it out. I would definitely recommend Paul to anyone who is serious about getting into a great b-school. I think both his book and his consultations work great together. When I was in the middle of polishing my essays, I carried his book with me everyday. Hope my feedback helps. Good luck to all!

I cannot overstate my recommendation for Paul Bodine. Paul’s advice undoubtedly helped me gain admission to my dream business school, which is a top 2 program. I chose Paul as I did my homework – I saw his brilliant reviews and bought and read the books he wrote on b-school admissions. I can easily say my expectations were surpassed. Paul was incredibly insightful, helping me to shape my story and make it the best that it could be. Above all, he was an absolute pleasure to work with and I really felt he was personally invested in my application. Looking back, I must have sent him a gazzilion e-mails fraught with anxiety. Paul went above and beyond to be helpful – always responsive, always constructive – and I am truly grateful I happened to find him. I 100% recommend you use his services before you apply to school!

Coming from a scientific background, I needed to make sure that my story is told in a way that would leave a good impression on the reader. For this reason, after a friend of mine recommended me to Paul, I exchanged few emails with him and was impressed by his insight and his initial advise. I subsequently decided to work with him and didn’t look any further for other consultants. Working with him was both a learning and a fun experience. I liked the way he was able to comprehend even the smallest details of my personal and professional life and how his advise resulted in me emphasising key aspects of my life and career that are worth mentioning and recognizing areas where I was not so strong at. The whole experience was very insightful. I had only targeted two top-tier universities and got admitted to one of those (in Europe). It wouldn’t have been possible without Paul’s valuable suggestions and advise. For all those MBA aspirants with a scientific background, if you are on the lookout for a consultant who would be able to comprehend your story and put you on the path to success, I strongly recommend you contact Paul Bodine. All the best.

I just successfully finished my application to business school with acceptances to top 10 and a top 5 programs with scholarship (almost full tuition). A big part of my success is due to the insights I got from working with Paul Bodine. I had bought his book on application essays and found it very helpful. So when I started considering admission consultants, I decided to include him in the list of consultants I had free consultation calls with. I was immediately impressed by Paul because he understood my background and had good insights on the different disadvantages I would have to overcome. Ultimately I chose to work with Paul on an hourly basis since I had targeted areas I wanted help. A few areas where his service played a major part in my success- 1. Outstanding service: After our kick-off call, Paul reached out to past successful clients and connected me with students/alumni that were willing to chat with me. This was something I didn’t expect at all and was a pleasant surprise which helped me build my connection with the programs. Throughout our time working together, he continued with this level of service. As we got closer to the deadline, I noticed his turnaround time improve as I was struggling to get everything done. I had 3 of my interviews in a 2 week period and had to fly out to each of the campuses. Paul was flexible in working with me to find a good time to do mock interviews before each of my interview. The flexibility to help me before each interview was very helpful in getting me warmed up and mentally prepared for the real thing. 2. Insight: Paul’s experience and insight was invaluable to my overall apps. We had a long call where he gained a solid understanding of my background. He helped me prepare a packet for my recommenders that discussed my strengths, my weaknesses, my overall strategy, and what the schools are looking for. Providing my recommenders with these concise guides definitely made the process easier for them and helped me complete my overall strategy. In addition, I had trouble deciding who to pick for my second recommender. Paul strongly encouraged me to pick someone that I initially was skeptical of. However, this choice proved crucial since it helped me show a well-rounded picture of my candidacy, which helped me secure my scholarship. 3. Honesty/candidness: During early essay edits, I discussed initial essay ideas and sent Paul a few drafts. His edits provided me with clear and actionable points on how I can make my essay more impactful. Most importantly, he was honest in telling me when my essay wasn’t working. This interaction early on gave me confidence that I could trust Paul to be a truthful advisor throughout the process and not just rush to get things done. Overall, I would wholeheartedly recommend Paul to any applicant hoping to get into a top program. His insight throughout the process made all the difference in my acceptances and securing the scholarship.

Paul is the dynamic force who is responsible for turning my dream of going to Ross school of business a reality! He really invested his time, efforts and energy as much as I did and working with him is the best decision I made! Thank you Paul for your guidance and valuable advise!