Scott Edinburgh

I would highly recommend Scott and the Personal MBA Coach to anyone interested in getting accepted into a top MBA program. Scott is patient, organized, attentive, and an excellent coach through the entire process. Together, we laid out a strategy (which included guidance on the resume, essays, interviews, and other crucial factors) that eventually led to a series of well-rounded applications that demonstrated my appeal as an MBA prospect to the adcom. But instead of trying to mold my application into a predictable form, we worked together to create an application that was authentic. Scott was an integral part of my HBS application success, and I sincerely recommend him for application consulting!

I am a new member of the Wharton class of 2021. This past fall I worked with Scott on a 5 school comprehensive package. From the start, I felt that Scott was personally invested in my MBA application journey. I only ever interacted with Scott, and I felt that Scott knew my story and my essays inside and out. He was very accessible anytime I wanted to chat via phone or email. He provided great insights into what each school was looking for in its application–the kind of detail and nuance I would have never known without his help! I am incredibly excited to be attending Wharton and would 100% recommend Scott to anyone seeking the best possible outcomes from their MBA application process.

The MBA application process can be overwhelming and all-consuming, especially for someone who has a demanding job. After chatting with several consulting companies, I felt that Scott was genuine and sincere and had my best interest at heart. He was very honest about my candidacy, evaluating and suggesting schools as he saw as good possibilities while all encouraging and supportive for “reach” schools. Scott was relentless in seeking to reveal and present the best of me. With patience, he inquired and brainstormed, until there were clear ideas for the various essays required; with professionalism, he helped edited and re-edited the essays. Scott will continue to push you until you put forth your absolute best work and deliver results. He was unflappable in a crisis and advised sound remedy based on his good judgment and experience. Scott was there with me every step of the way, from school selection and essay choice to mock interviews with alumni from my respective schools and final acceptance. With Scott’s help and guidance in navigating the entire process, I was ultimately admitted to 3 of my top schools.

I’m applying for MIT / HBS / LBS this year and due to work commitment, my original plan with him had to change and I was working under a very tight timeline with him during Christmas and new year on my applications. Despite these difficulties and holiday season, Scott prioritized my applications and we managed to put together something that’s superb and I submitted right on the deadline day. I also found him very direct, responsible, reliable and flexible to accommodate my needs. He’s always very responsive on emails and never replied more than 2 days after my emails. Further, I found the HBS interview guy (who’s working for him) extremely helpful. He put me on the spot, tried to challenging me and gave me very direct and helpful feedback. I got interviews for LBS and HBS and am still waiting on MIT. I would not get the interviews without Scott’s support!

I am a first year MBA Candidate at Columbia Business School and I have Scott Edinburgh to thank for it!

It was a long, yet incredibly transformative journey to business school and I can certainly say that I would not have been able to do it without the help of Scott. Being there every step of the way, Scott will help you craft a strategy that helps present your best self in your B-School applications. He dives deep and curates your brand, your story, your resume, your letters of recommendation requests, and your essays line by line, going through as many iterations as you need to be confident in what you are submitting to admissions.

When it comes time to interview, Scott will strengthen your interviewing skills by helping you identify and refine your behavioral stories, administering 1-on-1 mock interview sessions, and giving feedback on your video interview samples. All of this mentally trains and prepares you for when you finally come face to face with the business school interviewers.

Why did I pick Scott? I interviewed ~10 different MBA coaches before finalizing Scott and the reason was simple: Scott really cares about you and is truly vested in your success. And this became increasingly evident as Scott fielded countless questions and emails from me and VERY PATIENTLY supported me through all the stressful “freak outs” and breakdowns. The MBA application process is tough, arduous process. Scott Edinburgh is someone who can help alleviate a lot of that pressure and set you up for true success!

Scott is extremely knowledgeable about schools and test taking. He will offer you great guidance. He puts a lot of emphasis on ethics as he does not write essays for students and lets students’ unique voices shine throughout the application process. He offers superb interview tips and mock interview sessions to make sure that you go into the interview with confidence! I highly recommend him.

Scott was the quintessential pillar of support during my applications. I was really struggling to manage with intense work-life and my applications. Scott set deadlines and planned out my journey to ensure we finished the applications well in time. At the same time, when I failed to meet these deadlines, he demonstrated patience and worked to help me push past the finish line.

The other great attribute of Scott that I really appreciate is his ability to give candid feedback. He has a clear line of thinking and communicates his ideas quite clearly. He was surely the much-needed sounding board for my applications! He has a great sense of what works and what doesn’t – which is extremely helpful to international applicants like myself who are not familiar with the application process.

When I first applied to business school in 2016, I was rejected by six of the M7 schools. With Scott’s guidance in 2018, I was able to secure acceptances from Kellogg, Booth and Sloan and was offered a combined $170K in scholarship money from Kellogg and Booth.

I started the process with Scott after meeting him in late July 2018 after the MBA Tour and listening to his talk about the 10 things that one must do to prepare for applications. He seemed very knowledgeable and mentioned his connections with admissions offices, all while offering insights that I would never find online. I immediately signed up with him and am so glad that I did.

Scott took the time to thoroughly understand my background before laying out our plan of attack. Scott’s guidance made me feel very assured and confident in myself throughout the process. He steered me in the right direction on how to prioritize apps and plan out my essays for each school, recommending that I focus on particular topics that would resonate with admissions based on my background and what he knew they would look for. We developed such great chemistry that we would be emailing each other practically every other day for the next two months. We scheduled phone calls to strategize our attack for each school’s application. He’s also been available at a moment’s notice for me to call him with more pressing matters, such as how I should rationalize the factors that went into my decision of deciding the business school this fall. This encapsulates what I have truly enjoyed most about working with Scott — he is candid in his feedback, available at at a moment’s notice, and provides great perspective on the admissions process given his history working with other clients.

If you are considering the investment, I would highly encourage you to sign up with Scott. Working with the founder of a top consulting firm is a huge plus, and I think it would give you the confidence that you’d need to secure placements at top MBA programs.

Starting off, I knew I wanted to work with a consultant because I wanted someone to help keep me on track while I balanced a busy job (I do consulting) and my extracurricular commitments. My initial search process started off with the free 30-min consultations with the larger brand names. I realized that I wanted more personalized attention and that the quality of the experience varied based on which consultant you worked with when signing on with a larger group. Eventually, I found Scott and we connected because of our backgrounds (Scott is a former consultant) and the fact that I would get his personalized attention throughout the process.

We worked together on 3 applications. He was extremely helpful when it came to outlining an essay response, getting my main points across, and finding ways for me to stand out among the sea of other male consultants in the MBA application pool. I felt that Scott took the time to read through my drafts, which he sent back usually within 1-2 business days. We finished the 3 applications with 2-3 weeks to go before the deadline. I then used material from those 3 schools to do 2 other schools on my own, mostly to save money. I would recommend the same to others if money is an issue, but you still want to make the most out of a consultant.

Beyond essays, the package does include interview prep. Overall, I felt like that was less useful than the essay help was. I say that because the nature of interviews can get pretty subjective. Scott does have personalized interview guides for each school (2-3 pages), but most of the information can be found online or from current students. Regardless, it was nice to practice interviews with people who had either interviewed at the school themselves or gone to the program. I also supplemented my interview practice with current students/alumni who I had known through undergrad or work.

Finally, I just want to say that Scott cares about each of his clients! He called to congratulate me when he heard I got into my dream programs and was there to comfort me when a got dinged at a few others. Looking back, there is nobody else I would have rather worked with to help me through this process!

After calling several consulting firms for their free consultation, I found that Scott was the most straightforward and provided the most honest feedback. He did not try to up-sell me his services when I indicated that I only wanted to apply to two schools. He indicated that my odds were not the greatest upfront and did not pressure me to use his services, unlike some of the big firms that referred me to their outside/lesser known partners. I ultimately accepted early decision at one school and declined my interview at the other.

Throughout the application process, Scott kept his promise on providing comments or feedback within 48 hours. I was able to get quicker responses/live phone calls within 24 hours, when necessary. Given that Scott appears to have many touch points with various adcoms throughout the year, he was able to provide very insightful essay comments and help craft stories that work best/better for specific schools. In addition, interview prep was extremely helpful because he was able to connect me with a prior ambassador.

I highly recommend Personal MBA Coach for your MBA application process, especially for applicants who value honest feedback.