Who We Are: mbaMission Reviews

I have worked with application consultants throughout my life: boarding school, college, masters’ program, law school, and business school. Out of all 5 consultants I have worked with Krista Nannery was by far the best.

More so than any other consultant I have worked with Krista took a vested interest in me and my application. She took the time to get to know me as a person and got to know my interest and passions. From that we formulated an application strategy that worked to my benefit. Her feedback and responsiveness was nothing short of amazing. I never once felt like I was anything but her most important client. What really impressed me about Krista was that if she didn’t know the answer to a question she would take the time and reach out to her colleagues to get an answer.

Furthermore, Krista never let me settle for good. Whether it was my resume, my essays, my overall application, or my mock interviews she always pushed me to go further and make each aspect of the application the best it could possibly be. Furthermore, she gave great advice on further research I should be doing and people I should be taking to in order to strengthen my candidacy – things I never considered.

I truly believe that I would not have gotten into my dream school without Krista’s help. I have recommended Krista to countless potential MBA students and will continue to do so far into the future. Simply put, Krista Nannery is the best consultant I have ever had the pleasure working with and I will be eternally grateful for her help and guidance.

B-School Admit (via GMAT Club)

I worked with Krista throughout the MBA application process and was fortunate to have received offers from 4 schools, including my number one choice – HBS. Krista was instrumental throughout the whole process, and I am certain that I would not have succeeded without all her thoughtful and considered guidance. Before I go into specific examples, I should highlight the fact that Krista made the process far, far easier than it would have been had I gone it alone. Applying to several business schools is a stressful and laborious process – Krista recognises this and was there every step of the way encouraging and being supportive throughout.

Speaking to Krista right at the start of the process, I could tell that we would work well together. I could relate to her considerable experience within the financial services sector, and given that she has been an admissions committee member at a top ranked school she was able to leverage her experiences to help me present the best version of myself. Given her enthusiasm, it was clear that she is passionate about encouraging and helping others maximise their chances of being admitted to their target schools.

During the school selection process, Krista had some great insights – she walked me through what I needed to consider in order to carefully select the right set of schools for me, and gave me a framework for my thinking. This was followed by the brainstorming process – Krista really took the time to get to know me properly on a personal level. She impressed upon me the need to make a significant effort to think through all of my experiences to date. We then spent a great deal of time going through all of this in detail; Krista was adept at drawing out the key messages within my story that would really resonate with the relevant admissions committees. For example, I felt I had a range of disparate extra-curricular activities that didn’t really relate to each other; Krista’s years of experience as an admissions consultant were clearly evident, as she was prescient in her ability to weave together various examples in a thoughtful and coherent manner.

Drafting the essays and short answers was always going to be the toughest part of the process for me, however, Krista made it much less painful than it could have been. She helped me to organise my thinking and tailor my essay plans to reflect what I really wanted to say, something that is very easy to lose sight of when one is so close to the material. She helped my story stand out, and avoid the clichés; in my view, this is hard to do without the view of a seasoned professional. When it came to revising essay drafts, given that I am someone who tends to agonise over language and style, I could tell that she really put a lot of thought into every single question and revision that we discussed. It was this attitude – going the extra mile – that really sets Krista apart. For example, early in the admissions process I had mistakenly interpreted the eligibility criteria for one of my target schools such that I thought I was no longer eligible to apply. Despite not working on this particular school with me, Krista went out of her way to triple check whether or not I could apply and made sure to let me know that the eligibility criteria had been clarified and that I was indeed able to apply. I duly put together an application, and thanks to Krista’s quick thinking I was fortunate to go through that process and end up with an offer at the school.

Throughout the writing phase, it became apparent that Krista’s communication skills are really ‘on point’. It was always clear when I needed to deliver draft versions to her for comments, and when I would get them back. Indeed, she frequently returned materials to me ahead of our planned deadlines. Her attention to detail is exceptional; for example, when it came to the short answer questions, she was able to spot the inconsistencies that I would have certainly overlooked. Interview practice is another one of Krista’s specialties. She went above and beyond in making sure that I was properly prepared, providing me with lists of key questions, walking me through what the atmosphere would be like in the interview room, and role-playing the interview experience so that I felt as confident (as is possible!) when walking into my interviews.

I really am happy with the outcome – the opportunity to attend business school has been a huge long-term goal of mine, and I know I wouldn’t have got there without Krista. I would give the highest recommendation about Krista to anyone thinking of working with her. Thank you so much, Krista!

HBS Admit (via GMAT Club)

Krista Nannery was assigned to me as my consultant for the “Start-to-Finish” package for 6 schools whose applications I worked on from June – November 2016 for Round 1 of the 2016-2017 admissions cycle. Wow, was I lucky to have Krista, I could not have asked for anything more in the experience. She helped me beyond what I even thought was possible for an admissions consultant.

The most important way she helped me is probably one that goes overlooked when judging the value of a consultant. I am a white male with a pretty bland job, and in general I thought there just wasn’t anything that interesting about me. Krista completely changed the way I view myself, and for that I cannot thank her enough. She took the time to really get to know me and learn about all of my accomplishments and desires. She disagreed with my assessment, and over time convinced me that there were interesting and unique aspects of my profile that we could use. When it came to the essays, she had ways of tying together experiences and stories that best conveyed my message. When we would discuss topics for a given essay, she would bring up things that I had completely forgotten about. She would point out patterns in my history and personality that I didn’t even know existed. At times, it seemed that she knew me better than I knew myself. This was a priceless component of our collaboration that I am sure made the difference in my applications.

Aside from her magical ability to make a bland applicant shine, Krista was brilliant in all the technical aspects you might expect from a consultant. She is a marvelous essay reviewer and would help me transform my wordy and rambling prose into crisp, clear B-School essays. She also knows the process inside and out. She always had a plan and was one step ahead of me. As I was finishing one phase of the process, she had already mapped out what to do next, and so was constantly pushing me to get the most out of the process. If I ever asked something particularly new, she always had a colleague or contact she could ask for a second opinion, which she would get back to me extremely quickly. And that is the other thing, Krista is FAST and EFFICIENT. I sometimes felt like her only client- she would turn things around much faster than the MBA mission contractual 2-day turnaround policy. At first I was slightly worried when Krista mentioned that she was based on London (I was in NYC), but this actually turned out to be an advantage. While I was sleeping, she was working, so that when I woke up in the morning I had a beautifully edited draft of my latest essay waiting in my inbox. Krista will work really hard for you and get the job done, period.

Aside from all this, what really sets Krista apart is her personality and dedication. She has what I would best characterize as a bedside manner. The process can be stressful, but Krista will always make you feel better and get your head back in the game. For me this happened when we did our first mock interview, which I did extremely poorly. Krista handled it very well, and had some great suggestions for me. She made sure we scheduled another round before my first interview. Her advice made all the difference; I came back a different candidate, one totally prepared for my interview. Because of all this, Krista is not just my consultant, but now my friend; I feel very lucky to have met her. It is because of her that I was accepted to Booth and Wharton. I enthusiastically recommend Krista to future MBA applicants.

Wharton Admit (via GMAT Club)

I applied to five top programs, and Krista helped me throughout various stages of the process for each of the five schools on an hourly basis (brainstorming during the essay process, proofreading and providing suggestions for essays, mock interviews), and without Krista, I would not be where I am today—enrolling in Sloan in the fall with a scholarship for my first year!

1. Krista is incredibly personable and thoughtful—she truly got to know me – my interests, my aspirations, my work / academic experience, my background. She helped me tailor my application to reflect who I am and what I wanted to say, highlighting my strengths. For example, I had an “optional essay” for one of the programs I applied to that could be in any medium of my choice. Krista was familiar with my professional background (I work in hotel / property development). She suggested a website (something I would not have thought of) to showcase my work (lots of renderings/design drawings), which ended up turning out really well—a creative solution that was representation of who I am and something I was truly proud of. And this was because she put thought into what I should create that would best showcase and reflect ME as a person.
2. Krista was always timely at providing feedback and setting up phone calls—she was always available to chat whenever I needed to.
3. She is detailed-oriented and constructive in her feedback on essays and short answers--and puts a lot of effort into tweaking language, style, and content based on characteristics of each school--something I would have overlooked without her.
4. She alleviated a lot of stress and a lot of my concerns about the process. I was initially really anxious about applying to business schools, but Krista was a constant source of support, guidance, and knowledge about the process—and I really would have been a lot less efficient and effective during the entire process without her help.

Overall, Krista made the whole process a lot more efficient and a lot more enjoyable than I had anticipated, and I am really happy with the final outcome—having the opportunity to attend one of my top choices in the fall! Thanks again, Krista!

MIT Sloan Admit (via GMAT Club)

The GMAT was my biggest obstacle. After finally getting the score that I wanted by the end of October, I felt leagues behind my peers in terms of timing. Here I was, with R1 deadlines long past and 5 daunting applications to complete in less than 2 months. I was in a panic. I was against the idea of using a consultant at first, but my best friend recommended mbaMission. She stressed that mbaMission doesn’t do the work for you, but creates a roadmap to guide you through the stress of applications.

After talking to Krista on the phone, I was sold. She was sharp, resourceful, eloquent, and most of all - versatile. When I told her my unique passions and career aspirations, she didn’t try to mold me into the perfect candidate; instead, she worked with me to enhance what makes me different. Throughout the process, Krista gave me complete freedom in terms choosing topics I wanted to write about. She encouraged me to come up with ideas that reflected personal aspects of my life and provided constructive criticism and insightful feedback. Because of Krista, I was able to dig several layers deeper and be true to myself, rather than putting together an application to “impress”.

Having Krista was imperative to getting everything done on time. Although we had a tight deadline, she never made me feel stressed. On the contrary, we were a fantastic, symbiotic team. She would turnaround comments within a day and get on the phone whenever needed.

I can confidently say that the outcome is better than I ever expected. I got into all the schools I applied to R2 and am now going to my dream school in the fall!

At the end if it all, I consider Krista not only a fantastic consultant, but a mentor and a great friend. I highly recommend her and mbaMission to anyone going through the stresses of the application process.

B-School Admit (via GMAT Club)

Going in to the admissions process, I was a nervous wreck--unconfident about both my undergrad GPA and my work experience. Just a 30 minute informational call with Krista was enough for me to see how she could dispel my insecurities, highlight my strengths, and re-package my perceived negatives into positives.

Krista was highly professional and efficient during our meetings. Especially during mock interviews, if I ever lost focus, she was quick to bring me back on track. Krista’s advice during mock interviews was especially invaluable, and she pointed out flaws that I’ve been prone to for almost 5-6 years. Not only was her feedback useful for admissions interviews, they will be helpful for future job interviews, as well.

Because Krista helped out in the admissions office at Booth, she brings a tremendous wealth of knowledge and experience. Whenever I hit a roadblock, she can think of another incident or student and draw insights from that. Krista’s turnaround for essay review was fast, and she addressed weaknesses that I wouldn’t otherwise have noticed, because I haven’t seen the sheer volume of essays she has.

Aside from her solid feedback, Krista was also a shrink to me. She was always patient in offering me emotional support and reassurance during a highly stressful time, when I was trying to balance applications and a full-time job.

You could say Krista was more than a consultant to me--she was a friend and mentor. She always tried to be available, and I looked forward to all my calls with her, where I could raise burning questions and count on her for emotional support. When I was accepted to my top choice school, her genuine excitement was palpable. I would recommend Krista to anyone in the market for an excellent admissions consultant.

B-School Admit (via GMAT Club)

This letter serves to recommend Krista Nannery as an MBA admissions consultant.

Shopping for a good admissions consultant was overwhelming. I not only had to search for a consulting company with good reviews, but I also had to pick a good consultant. Unfortunately I was late in the game with almost 1 month left to submit my application to several schools.

I chose mbaMission for its rating. It had very good rating and seemed to have a very good customer base. It also had various documents that could help me research the schools I was interested in. However, most of the leading consultants were occupied by “the early birds”. I was referred to Krista to be my consultant.

I did agree to interview Krista to see if I was comfortable with her being my consultant. To say that Krista exceeded my expectation is not giving credit enough. Krista worked hard and she was very efficient. Krista was very timely with her responses, sometimes even taking just 1 day to review a new draft, adding some comments and replying to my email. In 1 month I had to craft 3 solid applications and 6 different essays, each different than the next. With the help of Krista, I was able to meet the deadlines with remarkable essays.

We first started with a brainstorming session that really helped get the ideas flowing. She cared enough to memorize and really think about my life experiences and what they meant. More often than not, Krista would recall points from the brainstorming session that I would forget. She would meticulously work with me to craft the essay to marry my life experiences with the points I wanted to portray.

The conversation would go:

Me: I need to tell the AdCom that I have xxx. I’m thinking of using this story, what do you think?

Krista: That is a good story to tell but how about you give them this story instead. You could also angle it this way to solidify your claim.

Me: I see what you did there. Brilliant!

Krista completed her MBA at Booth. She also worked in the admissions office, so she knows exactly what the AdCom wants to hear. She also has a great skill at story telling at a professional level, which I believe helped tremendously.

The fact that Krista lived in the UK at the time I was applying, did not bother the process at all. She was very responsive to my questions, and she was very flexible with her time. We were always able to schedule appointments when I needed to talk to her, sometimes we would even schedule appointments the next day! Krista made the whole process as easy as it could be. She has lived and worked all around the world and is a very international personal, which I think helps international candidates.

I hired her for 3 schools. The first I got dinged to, it was a long shot. The second I got in to with a good scholarship, that Krista helped me make a case for and write about. The third school — my dream school — I am happy to report I’ll be attending come August.

I have no hesitation in recommending Krista as an MBA admissions consultant. I truly believe she was my secret weapon to being accepted into the school of my choice!

B-School Admit (via GMAT Club)

I had a wonderful experience working with Krista Nannery on my applications. The business school application process is a stressful and sometimes lonely experience. Knowing that Krista was in my corner was the only part of this process that actually made things easier and less stressful.

Krista was able to understand my story in-depth and guide me to craft a cohesive narrative. For example, with essays, she helped me assess which stories both addressed the prompt and best illustrated my skill set and experience - and then she’d help me elevate that story in my own voice. Her objective perspective on my career and story was helpful in ensuring my application resonated to an unfamiliar audience (adcom) succinctly.

Beyond her coaching (and therapist-like counseling), she also ensured I stayed on track from a project-management perspective. She’d push me along when I was spinning for too long on an essay draft. There are so many pieces involved in crafting a compelling application and Krista helped me juggle it all.

Working with Krista was a terrific investment. I was accepted to 3 of the 4 schools I applied to, with a 50% scholarship to one of them. I advise my b-school interested friends that I wouldn’t have done the application process any other way.

Kellogg Admit (via GMAT Club)

Getting into my top-choice program was like a dream come true for me, and I know that I wouldn’t have achieved it without Krista’s help and guidance. I worked with Krista on a two-school start-to-finish package.

She is an absolutely incredible consultant who helped me create my MBA applications in a relatively short time and get accepted at a top business school. Taking into account my non-traditional background and work experience, and despite my solid test scores and academic profile, I didn’t consider my chances high in the very competitive pool of applicants. I became much more confident after my first conversation with Krista. During the brainstorming sessions, she highlighted the aspects of my candidacy that helped my story stand out. Interestingly, one of my hobbies, which I hadn’t considered to include in my application, formed the basis of my optional essay. Throughout the whole admission process (brainstorming, essays, interview prep, etc) I received invaluable help from Krista. I always relied on her honest feedback and recommendations. Krista has all the qualities I was looking for in a consultant. She is very professional, punctual, helpful, creative, encouraging, and the list goes on… In addition to her high professionalism and competence, she has an amazing personality, and it was a pleasure to work with her.

If I had to go through the admissions process again, I would definitely do it with Krista. A thousand words can’t explain how grateful I am to Krista, and I would recommend her to anyone.

Thank you for playing a vital role in making my biggest dream come true.

B-School Admit (via GMAT Club)

For starters, a bit about myself - I was a re-applicant this year. Last year, I worked on my MBA applications for two weeks (yes, I was clearly not very serious) and only applied to two schools - Yale and Ross - eventually getting interviews from both but not getting through at either school. This year, I was more prepared and I worked on Round 1 applications with Krista Nannery for two schools (CBS, Wharton) and was admitted to CBS. I wanted to share some thoughts on my experience with Krista.

In short, Krista was absolutely amazing but I would be remiss if I didn’t tell you what really made her stand out for me:

1. Krista was extremely structured and clearly knew what she was doing:
   • Resume structure: Being an Indian male consultant at a Big 4, I felt my resume was strong but also very generic. That was before it received Krista’s Midas touch. Krista had a very structured format that separated my client work from my internal projects and helped each of them shine in their own light. It was brilliant to see how easily she understood exactly what I was trying to communicate through my bullets, and enhanced them to significantly heighten their impact. I’ve genuinely never felt better about my resume than I did after working with Krista through it. We did three drafts of it in 5 days and it was the first “deliverable” we knocked out.
   • Essay Structure: After reading my introductory document, Krista knew exactly which stories we should convey in the essays and came prepared to our brainstorming call. She not only had a clear view of the overall essay flow but she had even planned out the first and last sentence of each paragraph! She was always very clear in her instructions and laid out exactly what she needed from me well in advance so we never had to rush to meet our timelines. Krista really helped me bring out my personality and character in my essays, especially in two essays I found very challenging and could’ve easily gone south (CBS #2, 3). Her best practices for brainstorming and moving on to the actual essay writing made it clear to me that she knew what she was doing and made me not only feel, but also realize that I’m in very good hands.
2. Krista always maintained a very prompt turnaround time:
   • Even though her mandatory turnaround time for anything I sent was two business days, more often than not, Krista returned the essays to me in less than 24 hours. It almost became a game at one point for me to see who could turn the essays around faster (while maintaining high quality of course). It was great to see how efficiently she was able to pinpoint areas I needed to work on and provide constructive and actionable feedback so that I could implement those changes. Having Krista based in London was a huge blessing for me (living on the East Coast in the US) as anything I sent to her at night was reviewed by her and ready for my edits again in the morning.
   • I also want to add that Krista made herself available for a phone chat on each and every occasion that I requested. There were times when I wanted to speak about some resume/essay edits over the phone rather than over e-mail and Krista made sure we were able to grab 30 minutes to an hour each time. Even though she was swamped with other clients, she never made me feel like I was not her only client.
3. Most Importantly - Krista was genuinely interested in my success:
   • Scholarship Essay: Being an international student with a management consulting background, I never thought I would be given need-based financial aid. Hence, I never kept up with the timelines. However, just a week before the deadline, I received an email from the school and I finally opened the application 3 days before the deadline to see what was required. Despite my extreme tardiness and irresponsible behavior, Krista showed up for me when I desperately needed her. She was about to leave for her vacation and was running to catch her flight when I finally managed to get a first draft of my essay to her. Even though she didn’t have a chance to prop open her laptop and type up a long email to me, she read my essay on her phone, took down hand written notes, and sent me a photo of what she had written down. As always, her feedback was constructive and actionable - I knew exactly what to change and how to change it too. Once she landed at her vacation spot, she scoped out a wi-fi spot and immediately responded to my second draft, while being on vacation! Her turnaround was so quick that despite all my tardiness, I was able to submit my application more than 24 hours before the deadline. This “above and beyond” attitude of Krista’s just reinforced how genuinely interested in my success she was. To top it off, I recently found out I received a $24,000 annual scholarship from CBS! I cannot describe how grateful I am to her for all her help.
   • Interview Tips: Krista was so invested in my success that as I was preparing for my interview, she made every effort to help me cross the finish line with flying colors - even going to the extent of jumping on the phone with me a second time to do another mock interview. Our first mock interview went well but I was still nervous and knew I could answer a few questions better. Krista gave me some crisp and concise feedback on how to tackle those questions and when I expressed that I wanted to jump on the phone a second time with her, she did not hesitate even once before scheduling the call. Her fine tuning here was absolutely phenomenal. After our second chat, Krista helped me feel so confident that despite a crazy interview (probably the most difficult interview of my life), I got into CBS within 5 business days of my interview being completed.

Overall, I'm so thankful that I was paired with Krista for this process. Working with her was an absolute pleasure - she was always very professional and had great tips to share. Everyone I speak to in the future about the application process will hear about mbaMission and Krista from me in the best possible light. Thank you for all your help, Krista!

CBS Admit (via GMAT Club)

Working with Krista was an absolute joy and almost made applying to business school an enjoyable task, which is not easy to do! I started the process late due to poor planning on my part and worked on 3 applications with her. We completed each application early within a 6 week time frame. Her energy and passion kept me motivated from the beginning and she clearly explained what needed to be done step-by-step to ensure that we would stay on track and expectations would be met. Ultimately, I was accepted to all 3 schools and I am happily attending CBS in the fall. The one school I did not even get an interview at was the one application that I did not work on with Krista - I can’t imagine that is a coincidence!

I think there are three main points I would like to highlight about Krista:

1. She listened to me & enhanced my writing: Krista really understood me and allowed my voice to come through in each essay we worked on. She challenged me to be concise but helped me in structuring my thoughts more clearly. There was one essay that wasn’t coming well together for me. I e-mailed her on a Friday afternoon and she responded within minutes and offered to get on the phone. We spoke for an hour hammering out what was holding me back in the essay and created a much more cohesive outline. This was above and beyond! Her comments were clear & constructive and I never left a conversation confused.
2. Her response time was always quick. There were a few times I admittedly pushed the envelope on getting my work back in time for a deadline. She never complained but would e-mail me with bits of encouragement and get me closer to where I needed to be. With CBS, applying earlier is important. Krista knew it was my top choice, so she pushed me to get my application done well but also early. I can’t thank her enough for that.
3. She communicated clearly. I had a close friend working with a consultant from another firm. Our experiences were night and day. While my friend probably had over a dozen drafts per essay, Krista and I did 3-5 drafts per essay - though she would have done more if necessary! I attribute this to our calls where we diligently outlined the best way to tell my story. Krista also set expectations. She realistically spoke to me about my chances as a candidate and explained my strengths and weaknesses. Because of this, I think I did a better job communicating my story well to school. She even helped me figure out a plan for Round 3 applications (which was above and beyond!) if my 3 applications did not end in an acceptance. I feel like above being a consultant, she was intimately familiar with the admissions process and openly shared any data points she could to help me understand where my chances were better or worse. This advice proved invaluable and was something my friend did not experience at the other firm he worked with.

I do not have enough space to type out all the wonderful things I have to say about Krista. I cannot imagine going through this process without her and simply cannot thank her enough for all her hard work.

B-School Admit (via GMAT Club)

Krista Nannery is a great admissions consultant and truly provided me the support to get into my dream school! I don’t think I could have put together such a high quality application or would have handled it the way I did without her. I can’t recommend her enough.

First, Krista is extremely competent. She’s thorough in her comments on my material, and always gives me such high quality feedback; I’m also so amazed how she always manages to do it within mbamission’s two day turnover timeline (sometimes earlier). She also writes extremely well – she has an amazing way of cutting down your words without letting go of any substantive content (and in fact making your material tighter and cleaer), and has this way of bringing out your personality in your writing. Importantly, Krista is creative – I love how she can magically transform my boring essay outlines into such colourful stories to capture the AdCom’s attention.

Second, Krista is experienced with the MBA Admissions process, and could provide me with such great, wise advice (not to mention emotional support) to handle situations I encountered in the admissions process. She gave me great feedback for my interviews (e.g. how to structure my answers, the tone to maintain in my interviews, the length of my answers etc.) – I definitely wouldn’t have performed as well on my interviews without her feedback. I also encountered distressing situations during the process, including when my interviewer didn’t respond to me and took a while to submit his feedback, but Krista provided me wise advice on how to coolly handle this situation, and even emotional support.

Third, Krista is just such a wonderful person to work with, and truly made this painful MBA admissions process more pleasant for me. She’s funny, personable and passionate about her job, and I felt that she genuinely cared about her clients. I found it easy to talk to her on a whole range of issues I was concerned about over the phone, and she would always patiently address them. She was also enjoyable to speak to because of her bubbly personality, and would have interesting stories to share about her own MBA experience and previous jobs.

If you’re thinking of engaging an admissions consultant, I would confidently endorse and recommend Krista. I genuinely think she has all the skills and qualities that make a great admissions consultant, plus also great experience to help you navigate the admissions process.

CBS Admit (via GMAT Club)