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Graduate: 6 Years
Firm
Northwestern University
The University of Texas
Academia
English
Senior Coach
MBA Protocol
Texas
United States
Net Promoter Score: 10.00
Hi, I’m Sarah. As a coach at MBA Protocol, my highest priority is to help clients express themselves in the clearest, most authentic, and most powerful way possible. I’ve studied the craft of writing in educational and professional settings for more than a decade. I’m an educator at heart, and the subject I find most inspiring is the art of self-expression. It’s vital to communication, and communication is what makes our world go ‘round. There’s no calculating the potential impact of a kind word, a strong word, or just the right word. It’s my mission to help others get in touch with their writerly identities, channel their own unique voices, and emerge as confident and influential communicators.
Before earning my Ph.D. in English at Northwestern University, I earned my B.A. at the University of Texas at Austin. As a writing consultant for Collin College, an academic advisor at the University of Texas at Austin, and an instructor and researcher at Northwestern University, I’ve honed my own skills and helped countless others perfect theirs. If staring in abject fear at the blank page of a soon-to-be essay, email, or personal statement is a familiar (or a looming) experience, I would love to guide you to a place far beyond that fear–to show you that every chance to express yourself is an opportunity to propel yourself one step closer to all those things you want in life. Everything you need to be a rockstar communicator is already inside you.
Let’s do this!
At MBA Protocol, we believe that creating a life of meaning, impact, and fulfillment is the only outcome that justifies the significant investment of time & money required to earn your MBA. We also know that to be truly sustainable, your MBA must align with your post-MBA career goals and that many of you are wondering about the return on your investment.
When you’re thinking about ROI, we urge you to think about total return. Think pay plus purpose.
Your individual path to purpose will be unique; no two will be alike. But the most successful MBA journeys require these three things: deep personal reflection, values definition, and communication skill-building. And, yes, that begins in the application process.
All our programs at MBA Protocol are designed to help you gain breakthrough MBA admissions results and prepare in advance for MBA recruiting. Only by beginning with the end in mind can you truly maximize the ROI in both increased earnings and joy and fulfillment throughout your post-MBA career.
We guide you with five key principles:
• 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗩𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲: Uncover and share your unique story to connect authentically with admissions committees.
• 𝗛𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘁, 𝗞𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸: Get candid, compassionate insights that respect your individuality and help you excel.
• 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵-𝗙𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱: Develop lifelong skills in self-awareness, communication, and relationships for lasting success.
• 𝗝𝗼𝘆𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗝𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘆: We make the application process fun, rewarding, and confidence-enriching.
• 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗣𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿: You’re never alone. Our supportive community is here to help you grow, celebrate wins, and tackle challenges together.
MBA Protocol has tailored programs to fit every learning style and budget. Our core values of radical service and joy underpin them all, so you can confidently choose the approach that works best for you:
𝗚𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗤𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗢𝗻𝗲-𝗼𝗻-𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴: High-touch, full application support, tailored to your needs (coaches take at most 10 clients per round.)
𝗠𝗕𝗔 𝗖𝗮𝘁𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝘁 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗽 𝗖𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴: Expert guidance from our coaches paired with the power of our whole community of peers, ambassadors, and the MBA Protocol team.
𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽: The Power of community plus personalized coaching for essays and interviews.
We don’t like to brag but we’re kinda data geeks. We track our clients’ successes with precision, and 99.1% of them who followed the MBA Success Protocol got into at least one top MBA program and with an average scholarship award of $90,675 each.
We’re the only MBA Admissions Coaches who offer a 7-Day unconditional money back guarantee and an MBA Success Guarantee on all our MBA programs.
From test prep to school selection to scholarship negotiations and beyond, we’re with you every step of the way.
Ready to begin? Visit the site and request a call with us! We’re at your service.
Location: Texas, United States
Email: hello@mbaprotocol.com
Website: https://mbaprotocol.com/
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When I fully committed to starting my MBA journey, I was completely lost and didn’t know where to begin. Coming from a creative role at a small company where having a MBA was a foreign concept, and having a blue-collar family unfamiliar with the graduate application process, I quickly realized I needed a lot more support to get into a top program.
Thankfully, I found my way to Career Protocol and joined the Catalyst Program where I started working with Sarah. From the beginning, Sarah was amazing. She could tell I was anxious about the long to-do list needed to submit for Round 1. She helped slow me down and gave me timelines of how we were going to accomplish everything, easing my fear of not finishing my applications in time. The fog that clouded the MBA application process was quickly lifted as Sarah expertly explained how we were going to get me across the finish line.
Sarah was also incredibly friendly and answered all my questions, no matter how small. Her responsiveness was impressive too. She always got back to me quickly, which was crucial given the tight deadlines and the looming possibility of getting stuck on a particular section of the application for too long. She was gentle yet clear and direct about the reality of the application process, helping me understand both my strengths and areas that needed improvement.
One of the most significant ways Sarah supported me was by helping define my story and giving me confidence in it. She made me realize that I was enough, my experience was enough, and the key was to consolidate both in a compelling way. Initially, I got trapped in a loop of rewriting my story over and over again, trying to cater to what the schools might be looking for. She helped me course-correct and explained that my story should be about me and come from my voice, not a voice molded for the sake of a specific school. She reassured me that my story was worth telling and I ended up writing essays I was extremely proud of.
Throughout the process Sarah’s guidance felt natural and genuine. It was obvious that she cared about my success and believed in my potential. She became my biggest cheerleader, constantly reminding me that I could accomplish more than I thought I could. Originally, my goal was to get into a T15 school, but I feared I wouldn’t even accomplish that. With Sarah’s support, I ended up getting into an M7 school, which was beyond my wildest dreams. I couldn’t have done it without her.
Sarah’s support was invaluable, and I am immensely grateful for her guidance and belief in me. She truly was my rock through the MBA application process, and I wholeheartedly recommend her to anyone embarking on this journey. Working with her potentially changed the course of my life.
I found Sarah in a pretty dark time where I was working with another full package consultant who was not delivering on the agreed terms, I was tanking the GRE, battling major discriminatory legal issues at work, and feeling overall depleted with less than 2 months to apply for R2.
Immediately upon meeting Sarah, her warm energy made me feel seen and offered a sense of emotional safety I did not even realize I needed. The space she held enabled me to re-tap into a renewed sense of reinvigorated inspiration on why I was applying to an MBA, and through her uncanny command of the English language, she began to tease out the best aspects of my background.
I work in an esoteric field in which it can be challenging to find the linguistics to make it ubiquitously relevant to a wide range of individuals. Yet Sarah was always able to translate a garbled 1-minute ramble, into a cogent, specific, and uplifting resume bullet or sentence. Even the mere act of working with her on crafting language allowed me to rebuild a bit of the confidence I had lost and better appreciate all I had to offer.
It can be easy to fall into the trap that working with a consultant who got an MBA or worked on admissions is the best way to go. However, after working with Sarah, I realized to bring your best application forward, you need someone that knows how to translate and tease out the best aspects of your profile to a wide audience. Not many possess that conglomerated skillset as it takes someone who is patient in hearing your story, open minded in receiving your story (without an agenda), and creative in helping you tell and tailor the story (rather than artificially force your story into a template).
Sarah can do all of that so naturally.
The results after working with Sarah for only a month at the tail end of my application process was, I got interview invites to 5 of the 6 programs I applied for (all T15 or above), and admission offers at 4 programs – including two M7s, and 150K in scholarship offers.
I genuinely believe if I had worked with Sarah much earlier in my MBA process, those metrics may have been even higher. Regardless, working with Sarah is an opportunity to re-write your own story and I could not recommend her enough!
I chose Career Protocol’s Catalyst Program because as a non-traditional MBA candidate and first-gen college graduate, my network related to MBA programs was almost non-existent. The program gave me clear steps to follow from school selection to story crafting in essays and my resume. The introspective structure increased my confidence as an applicant and certainty that pursuing an MBA is my desired path. In particular, Sarah answered my many questions throughout and left encouraging and clear feedback. During our coaching call, she read through my essay and asked clarifying questions to ensure the essay reflected the exact story I wanted to share. She celebrated my wins (invited to interview at 4/4 programs, accepted and scholarship offers to 3/4). I can’t recommend working with Career Protocol and Sarah enough; through their support I submitted an application I knew reflected who I was and what I wanted.
I am immensely grateful to the entire Career Protocol team, and especially to Sarah Mason and Angela Guido, for their invaluable guidance throughout my MBA application journey. Sarah’s profound understanding of MBA application essays and exceptional knowledge of resumes were truly instrumental. I firmly believe that the guidance and insights provided by CP significantly enhanced my chances of admission to HEC Paris.
I can only say good things about Sarah. I wholeheartedly recommend her, and I sincerely hope she continues making a positive impact on helping people achieve their dreams.
After working with Career Protocol for my MBA application, I only have amazing things to say about their process and my coach Sarah Mason.
The process started with a kick-off call during which we spoke on a high-level about my background, target schools, and goals. Career Protocol’s process for the MBA application is very holistic and my coach – Sarah – spent a tremendous amount of time getting to know me, learning about my life story, passions, and motivations. Once I was set up in the system, I had access to modules created by Angela Guido and other great resources that served as a guide for everything I needed to do at every step in my application – from reaching out to current students, alums and recommenders to establishing a compelling case for the MBA and preparing for interviews.
The deep dive into my life story started with me filling out the youDiscovery form for my coach. I was most impressed by the accuracy of my key character themes, anecdotes, personality traits, and other very rich details Sarah deducted from the simple life narrative I shared. These details were critical to not only the individual stories told in my essay but also the entire structure of it. And many times, we referred back to the document to come up with a unique but compelling essay to make a strong case for my MBA.
Even though I paid for only one application of the five I had planned to submit – Harvard, Wharton, MIT, Booth and Ross, Sarah was still very generous with her time to provide high-level feedback on my application packet for the other 4 applications. Sarah often worked weekends just to cut short the turnaround time on my application material. I couldn’t be more grateful.
Career Protocol’s process is very rigorous and each of my application documents (essays, resume etc) was reviewed numerous times (in some cases more than 15 times) by Sarah before approving for submission. Initially, I felt like I was being punished but by the end of the process (after concluding interviews) I had not only greatly improved my writing skills but also felt better prepared for the highly competitive MBA program.
Without Sarah’s guidance and Career Protocol’s resources, I would have been overwhelmed by the grueling MBA application process and probably have submitted weak applications. With Sarah’s help, I secured an interview with 4 of the 5 programs I applied to and got admitted to Wharton and MIT with funding.
I am very pleased with the services I was provided and the outcome of my applications. I highly recommend Career Protocol for candidates who want to significantly strengthen their MBA application.
If you’re like me and haven’t written an essay since college, you ABSOLUTELY NEED Sarah on your team! Given her untraditional background (she doesn’t have an MBA), I was at first a bit skeptical. After my first conversation with Sarah, I was convinced I had hit the jackpot. Sarah is an English PhD candidate at one of the nation’s top universities and can effectively communicate- verbally and on paper- better than most CEOs. She is literally a MASTER of the English language and is able to take your thoughts, analyze them, and convey them better than anyone I have every worked with to date.
With a GMAT score of 680 and a pretty generic profile, I knew I needed all the help I could get if I was going to have a shot at landing even one single interview at a top MBA program. I’m thrilled to say that because of Sarah’s vision, guidance, and patience, I secured an interview at almost every M7 school and was accepted to Columbia- my dream school! (Closed out all my other apps in compliance with ED requirement)
To provide some insight on the type of person Sarah is, let me explain: I live on the West Coast, travel quite a bit for work, and have some crazy working hours. Sarah, who lives in Chicago, was up for the challenge and took my schedule in stride. She agreed to take phone calls with me before 6AM, after 9PM, and pretty much everything in between. When it came to essay turnarounds, there wasn’t one single time that Sarah wasn’t almost an entire day early, constantly pushing me to stay on track. Don’t underestimate the importance of keeping to a strict schedule when it comes to MBA applications! If not for Sarah’s constant motivation, there is no way I would have ever been able to produce six full applications that I was proud of for R1 deadlines. If you’re even considering Career Protocol, you probably already know that they aren’t going to write your essays for you BUT the critiques and advice Sarah provided has forced me to actually think and write in a different way—something I’ll be taking with me to business school and beyond! I actually used to read her critiques in awe, thinking to myself, “how the heck does she know that is what I’m really trying to say?”
Sarah is an intent listener and has the ability to recall small details you might have forgotten you ever even said and turn that in to the missing piece of your story. Throughout the process, I began to look at her as more of a friend and coach than a “consultant”… she was actually one of the first people I told when I received my offer. I think she was as excited as my own mom! To have someone so personally invested in your success is unheard of after talking to some friends who decided to go with other consulting firms.
While Sarah is fairly new to the Career Protocol Team, she is supported by the best in the business and it shows! If there was something Sarah hadn’t seen before, she fired off an email and gave me a response within minutes, keeping my anxiety as low as possible (which is pretty hard) during the stressful application process!
The MBA application process is tough enough- you don’t want to do it alone. Knowing I had Sarah in my corner to answer even the most ridiculous questions when I’d think of them at 2AM the night before an interview, made the process as smooth as it could possibly be. If you have the opportunity to work with Sarah, you should jump on it! I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything and really do feel more prepared to start business school next year because of her!
I have worked with Sarah on numerous occasions and all have had wonderful outcomes. Sarah helped me secure a place at one of the most prestigious colleges, for my program, in the world. We worked together on my application essay starting from a rough draft I had developed, and through several sessions of revisions, she helped me really perfect my entry. Through this process, she helped me to amplify my voice with a more sophisticated tone. I have also consulted Sarah on other pieces, just to ask basic questions about constructing a piece and how to approach the writing process. Specifically, building a cover letter template for summer internship positions at various firms. She is always happy to answer any questions and eager to share her expertise! Sarah is a great enhancer, who can help you order and refine your thoughts to best communicate your message. She has done a lot for me throughout my educational journey. Thank you, Sarah!
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