Susan Berishaj

Founder

Sia Admissions

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

United States

Net Promoter Score: 9.95

Consultant Bio

Susan’s personal passion for human behavior and psychology give her a unique ability to understand a student’s personal journey and identify the most compelling aspects of their character. The bedrock of her coaching approach is helping students to tell that story in the voice that best speaks to the values of top business schools.

Born in New York City, but raised in Montenegro, Susan made the proverbial hour-long walk to and from school. The walk was no chore, as, from an early age, Susan realized education brought empowerment. It was her own relentless pursuit of higher education and rising above any externally imposed limits that brought her back to New York.

Not only earning degrees from NYU and Yale but being embedded in university life with participation in clubs, committees, and other student activities, Susan knows how to get the very best return from an investment in education. This same passion, involvement, and dedication led to her work at a leading US Hedge Fund and later, a large European Private Equity firm. This global work experience, combined with her New York hustle, naturally draws the most ambitious financial service professionals and Wall Street hopefuls.

Company Information

As a boutique consulting firm in New York, Sia Admissions works with a select number of clients to ensure a level of service and personalized coaching difficult to find at larger firms. As the founder, Susan personally works with every client when identifying their story and the approach to be implemented with each application.

The team at Sia takes great personal pride in the academic success and ensuing career success of their clients. Sia is proud to have helped future leaders access the likes of MIT Sloan, Harvard, Wharton, Cambridge Judge, and more. Their proudest moments, however, is assisting clients to access educational opportunities that may have otherwise been lost. For example, a client reached out to Sia after being rejected on all applications in 2018. With Sia’s help for 2019, they not only got admitted to their top choice institution but were offered a significant scholarship. This kind of impact is why Susan founded Sia Admissions.

Menu of Services and Associated Costs

While we do offer hourly and essay only services, the majority of our clients enlist us for the end-to-end Partner Package. The feedback from our clients, upon completion of the application process, consistently mentions that the end to end, hands-on coaching used by Sia was instrumental in helping them transform their applications. We attempt to help deserving prospective students work within the parameters of their financial situation. As such, flexible payment options are available when necessary.

3-School Comprehensive Package – $12,000
Hourly Services – $400
Wharton Team Based Discussion Interview Preparation – $700

Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Phone: +1-646-736-1688

Email: info@siaadmissions.com

Website: https://www.siaadmissions.com/

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P&Q Consultant Reviews

  • Exceeded My Expectations & Helped Me Reach My Goals
    7 months ago
    When I was starting my MBA application process, I wanted to hire the best coach and interviewed 8 highly rated coaches. Even from my first conversation with Susan, I had a feeling that I would achieve my greatest potential by working with her, and I am now certain that she was the best MBA coach for me. There are three things that I found particularly impactful about working with Susan; first, she is personally committed to her clients’ success. She exceeded my expectations in the way that she took the time to thoroughly work with me in each step of the process, holding me to high standards and working through many essay drafts and mock interviews until we both agreed that I was putting my best ...
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    Class of 2026 Admit
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  • Strategic, Empathetic, & Detailed Coach - Could Not Recommend More
    9 months ago
    Susan served not only as an expert admissions coach helping me with crafting admissions strategy as well as hammering out every detail until she was satisfied, but also a career coach and a sounding board that has helped me create a clear and compelling career path - could not recommend working with her more! I came from a T30 undergrad, had GPA and GMAT in line with all M7 averages, but had a rather nontraditional work background (no consulting/IB/tech, no name brand on resume, switched industries multiple times). I thought I had a chance at M7s but would really have to find my why MBA/specific school and be able to highlightmy professional skillset. I spoke to all the major MBA consulting firms (MBAMission, Fortuna, Stacy ...
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    Class of 2026 Admit
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  • Found A Mentor For Life
    10 months ago
    Susan emerged as a beacon of hope as I embarked on my MBA journey. Despite being advised by multiple consultants that my verbal scores weren't strong enough to gain admission to top B-schools, Susan instilled in me the confidence that my aspirations were within reach and in my first conversation with her I decided to go with her. SIA Admission possesses a distinctive approach to comprehending students' backgrounds, delving deep into their experiences to extract their full potential. Collaborating with Susan allowed me to introspect on various aspects of my life, facilitating healing through open dialogue, confronting fears, and clarifying my motivations for pursuing an MBA. The meticulous attention to every detail of the application process, provision of necessary feedback, steering towards the right path, and ...
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    Arpita Pandey
    MBA Class of 2024 Admit
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  • Life Changing Experience
    2 years ago
    I recently used SIA counseling service to help me prepare for my admission to the MBA, and I must say that my experience was nothing short of exceptional. From the beginning, Susan was extremely professional, knowledgeable, and attentive to my needs. Susan offers one of the best services on the market and one of the most personalized approaches to help identify the right program and worked tirelessly to help put together a compelling application. Susan provided invaluable guidance on improving my application, reviewed my essays multiple times, and helped me prepare for my interviews. She motivated me to keep going in this exhausting process. Susan's expertise and attention to detail were evident throughout the process, and I genuinely believe that I would not have been accepted into ...
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    Theodore L.
    MBA Class of 2025 Admit
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  • Best Decision Ever
    2 years ago
    Working with Susan turned out to be the best decision I made during the application process. Given that I am an Indian male with a 307 GRE score and a 2.72 undergraduate GPA, I knew getting into any of the top programs would be difficult. The other issue was that, despite having an interesting professional background (I'm an ex-racing driver who worked exclusively in motorsport), I struggled to translate my value add to an MBA classroom through my essays. After a thorough review of my background and by scheduling a detailed call to understand what motivated me, Susan was able to help me intrinsically work out how I would contribute to the classroom as well as help me figure out how best I could use ...
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    Rahul Sharan
    MBA Class of 2024 Admit
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  • Susan Is More Than An MBA Consultant - A Life Coach
    2 years ago
    I could not speak more highly of Susan Berishaj and her MBA admission consulting services. Coming from a non-traditional background with a blip in my professional experience, I was worried about the prospects of getting into business school. With Susan's help, I was able to interview with Stanford GSB and was accepted to 6 of my 7 target schools (Wharton, Yale, Kellogg, Booth, Berkeley-Haas, and NYU), with a full-ride scholarship from NYU, significant scholarships from Yale, Kellogg, Booth, and Berkeley. After interviewing a dozen MBA consultants, I narrowed it down to Susan and another seasoned consultant who had worked in the industry for 10+ years. Within 2 weeks, I decided to switch to Susan because she took the time to call and understand what she could ...
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    Priya Bhaidaswala
    MBA Class of 2024 Admit
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  • I Could Not Have Been Better Prepared For The Business School Application Process
    2 years ago
    Susan provided excellent expertise and care that made my business school admissions experience extremely positive. As an international student, I was not confident I would be able to gain admission to my top choice M7 schools but ended up with admission to my top choice school. I worked with Susan on a 3 school application package from the initial application process through the interviews and eventual admissions. She was incredibly helpful in all of the obvious things, such as getting to know my story, assisting in developing my essays, preparing me for interviews, etc. But there were many strategic decisions she was very helpful with along the way as well. Overall I could not have higher praise for Susan as an admissions consultant!
    Class of 2024 Admit
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  • Highly Recommend Susan At Sia Admissions
    2 years ago
    Working with Susan was a phenomenal experience - I highly recommend working with her as an admissions consultant. Though the application process itself was intense, Susan did an amazing job to make it less stressful as she has a thorough process to help guide you each step of the way. Susan’s structured process, support, and guidance along every step of the journey were key in helping me to get into my top choice M7 business schools. Working with Susan on crafting and telling my personal story and goals was incredibly valuable. Coming into the process, I was not sure how to answer the prompts for each of the business schools. Susan not only helped me to reflect on my experiences and plans post-MBA, but her ...
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    Class of 2024 Admit
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  • Highly Recommend
    3 years ago
    I highly recommend Susan to anyone looking for help with the MBA application process. She was extremely helpful with figuring out my point of view, editing my resumes, essays, and recommendation letters, and getting everything across the finish line. I only used my package for help with two reach schools and was not interviewed at either, but Susan still helped me with interview prep for the school that I ended up getting admitted to. I cannot thank her enough!
    Class of 2024 Admit
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  • Highly Recommend Susan’s End-To-End MBA Consulting
    3 years ago
    I cannot recommend Susan enough as an admissions consultant. With Susan’s help, I got into all five MBA programs that I applied to (Wharton, Booth, Kellogg, Haas, and LBS) with several scholarships including my top choice school. Susan led me through a thorough and structured process from start to finish, including personal story and goal development, school selection, application development, recommender strategizing, interview practice, and even acceptance decisions and early recruitment planning. Susan was truly talented in her ability to identify a rich and thoughtful application story that was true to myself and my passions – a task that seemed daunting at first. Her feedback is succinct and effective, and she was willing to dedicate whatever time necessary to ensure my best application. I chose to ...
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    Tom Smith
    MBA Class of 2022 Admit
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  • I Couldn't Have Done It Without Her!
    3 years ago
    Susan is simply amazing. Her support is end-to-end and you get more mock interviews than necessary to absolutely knock the MBA interviews out of the park! Susan was my guiding light in preparing my essays, narrative, and interviews. She is extremely knowledgeable in the MBA space. She has a finance background from Yale which was extremely comforting. I am from a state school background with no remarkable employers, so there was a lot of impostor syndrome going in - Susan helped me feel more confident about the schools I chose. Before Susan, I was thinking I would barely make my way into a top 50 school due to my background and very average GMAT/below-average GPA. After Susan's guidance, I confidently applied to LBS, Oxford, Cambridge, Duke, ...
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    Class of 2023 Admit
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  • Exceeded My Expectations
    3 years ago
    Susan is the best consultant I've worked with. I initially looked to her for help on applying to MS, but a few days later I noticed she could also help me practice for job interviews. Susan really helped me know myself as a professional and person because she was interested in knowing me before helping me with my resume and cover letter. When I applied for MBA programs, I had help from two other consultants. They were great, but Susan was amazing. I not only got offers from the schools I applied to (Emory, Vanderbilt) but I also got job offers. I was very stressed about the whole process of interviewing. As an international student, I knew my accent and English grammar could be a ...
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    Nathalia Shimizu
    Career Coaching
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  • I Got Accepted On My Top Choice!
    3 years ago
    I had a great experience working with Susan. Not only was I accepted in my first choice, but I enjoyed the entire application process. In February 2020, I decided to apply to 3 of the top MPP programs (Oxford, LSE, and Cambridge). I was overwhelmed by the number of requirements for each school and confused about the entire process, so I started looking for help. I interviewed over 10 consultants and when I spoke with Susan, I knew I wanted to work with her. She is passionate about helping people achieve their goals, listens to them, and understands them. This was very important as she was able to help me reflect on my goals throughout my application. Even though I knew what I wanted, I didn’t ...
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    Class of 2021 Admit
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  • Reaching My 100% Fullest Potential
    4 years ago
    #1 Investment I have made in my 30 years, resulting in #1 choice achieved for Graduate School with successful admission to Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Optimization: Susan helped me uncover and project my application narrative to reach my absolute potential. This was CRUCIAL for the numerous essays required for each school. Peace of Mind: Working with Susan, I had minimal stress during the application thanks to the incredible results she enabled me to achieve day by day, week by week. From the beginning, her thorough process and dedication, coupled with my own hard work gave me the peace of mind to know that I was going to achieve success in graduate school admissions. This peace of mind is priceless. Personal Approach: Susan ...
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    Harrison Morgan
    Career Coaching
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  • Very Worth It
    4 years ago
    Having Susan by my side proved valuable throughout my application process. She helped me overcome an absolutely terrible GPA (<2.7) to gain admittance at my dream M7 school. When I initially reached out to several MBA consultants, Susan was one of the very few who was willing to work with me despite my glaring academic weakness. During our first conversation, she took the time to closely evaluate my profile and was honest about both my strengths and weaknesses. From the start, I already had a feeling I would be comfortable working with Susan. She gave me very thoughtful advice even before I officially signed up for her service. Once I signed up, Susan made me go through a very comprehensive self-reflection process. I learned so much about ...
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    Class of 2023 Admit
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  • Would Recommend!
    4 years ago
    Coming from a non-business background, I was looking for a consultant to help me with all aspects of my MBA applications. I spoke with four companies before choosing Sia Admissions. Susan’s personalized approach sold me. On our first call, Susan promised to be there every step of the way, and she meant it! From the initial stages of getting to know me and crafting my school list in the early summer to celebrating my acceptance in December, she was always on my side. As a consultant, Susan is very meticulous. She goes through several drafts of all of your documents until they are perfect. She will constantly push you to do your best work and make sure you are telling your unique story. For example, we did ...
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    Class of 2023 Admit
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  • Makes Your Story Speak Out
    4 years ago
    I've contacted Susan very last minute to help me prepare for my admission MBA interview at Imperial College London. Susan is very flexible, approachable, authentic, professional and dedicated. We started off very quickly and she headlined key points and made my story speak out. I would highly recommend Susan.
    Class of 2021 Admit
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  • A Great Investment!
    4 years ago
    My experience with Susan has been very positive. I was amazed by her insight into my personality and motivations because she connected experiences in my past that I didn't fully appreciate. This shows her investment with the candidates and the depth with which she understands them, which is quite commendable. Her detail-oriented approach helped me bring out my personality in my writing and convey it right to the school. MBA application is a lot about figuring out our best story and for that, it's very important to build a strong relationship with the consultant with whom we work. Since Susan is extremely easy to talk to, I was able to build that relationship easily. If you’re looking for a person who is invested in you and ...
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    jayati chandra
    MBA Class of 2025 Applicant
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  • Could Not Imagine Going Through This Process Without Susan's Help
    5 years ago
    I highly recommend Susan from Sia Admissions. She helped me overcome mediocre academic stats to get into my #1 school. It has been a fantastic experience. As a result: I have received offers of admission to Wharton, Stern, Darden, McCombs. I could not imagine going through this process without Susan's help. I decided to work with her because I knew I was taking a significant risk in changing careers. I wanted to maximize my opportunity and limit my risk of failure. I interviewed a couple of other larger MBA consulting companies and found that they were competent, but they had more on an assembly line approach. I would go from station to station (each with a different person) depending ...
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    Jack Russell
    MBA Class of 2022 Admit
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