Receiving an acceptance letter from Stanford GSB is especially challenging given the hyper-competitive applicant pool.

When I decided to apply to MBA programs, I wasn't exactly sure where to start. After searching for help on my MBA applications, I was referred to Inspira Futures by a friend who was a student at HBS and former client of Inspira Futures. I am very glad that I chose to enlist Inspir's help, and I am confident that I would not have received an acceptance letter from a top 5 MBA program without his guidance.

When I began working with my consultant, I wanted to dive right into applying to as many as schools as possible. Fortunately, he helped me consider my list of prospective applications more prudently. He made certain that he and I both understood exactly what qualities I was searching for in an MBA education and helped me focus my application efforts on an optimal list of target schools. His in-depth knowledge of the admissions process at the top business schools and his years of experience advising MBA applicants allowed him to steer me towards the schools where I had the highest probability of being accepted.

Having recently completed the MBA application process, I know that a successful application is dependent on a candidate's ability to present a compelling portfolio of educational highlights, career aspirations, and personal attributes. Through several weeks of introspective self-assessment exercises and focused discussions with him, I was able to truly understand my strengths and weaknesses as an MBA applicant and fully grasp how my career history contributed to my post-MBA goals.

After we had discovered the core elements of my own story, he helped me to present myself as an exceptional MBA candidate throughout my essays and tailor my applications to each individual school. With an intimate knowledge of the MBA admissions process and a solid understanding of my potential contribution to business schools, he advised me to emphasize certain aspects of my candidacy that he knew would be appreciated by admissions committees. It was during this step of the process that his experience truly shined through. Although I may have possessed a strong academic and professional background, I know I lacked the self-awareness necessary to present an application capable of earning me a seat at a top 5 business school. With the help of his advice and perspective, I was able to confidently apply to top MBA programs.

I would highly recommend Inspira Futures to any of my friends who are about to undertake the MBA application process. They served as a valuable resource throughout several months of application preparation, and without their help, I would not have obtained a seat at GSB!

I had the pleasure of working with Inspira Futres and cannot convey how much it was worth the investment.

Throughout the entire process, my consultant developed an approach catered to my opportunities, pushing me to reflect and dig deeper into my personal experiences. Ultimately, it was this that enabled me to put together a cohesive application that differentiated me from other aspiring MBA candidates.

She helped iron out jargon from my resume/essays and helped me better illustrate the who/how/why in my professional and extracurricular experiences.

Prior to working with her, I applied to three M7 programs and went 0 for 3. However, one year later, with Inspira Futres as a thought partner, I received interview invites from five schools including HBS (admit), GSB (WL), and MIT Sloan (admit)!

Inspira Futres rocks!

Marina was a great consultant throughout the entire process. She gave me great feedback on all of my essays and always responded to my emails promptly. She helped shed light on what admissions folks are truly looking for, and she gave me a lot of piece of mind, as she made the entire process a lot less stressful. With her help, I got into all of the top schools that I applied to. One general piece of advice I'd say is to always be specific and targeted in your emails, as that could definitely save time and a lot of back-and-forth between you and your consultant. I would definitely recommend Marina and Inspira Futures!

I had a fantastic experience working with Inspira Futures over the entirety of my MBA application process, and their help and guidance was critical in allowing me to put my best application forward. My consultant worked with me to focus the many characteristics of my profile, and the overall MBA admissions process, to create a clear, compelling story that allowed me to best express my most relevant attributes to the admissions committees. She forced me to answer tough questions and sharpen the details of every aspect of my application, while adding critical guidance and support as I navigated the admissions process. I firmly believe her initial overview of my background and goals, refinement of the materials of my application, and evaluation of my interview skills all served to improve my likelihood of success. I worked with Inspira Futures for application to 5 top 10 schools during the round 1 cycle, and am pleased to report that I was admitted to my top choice - Sloan MIT (and waitlisted at 2 others)! I would highly recommend Inspira Futures to any MBA candidate of all backgrounds. Thank you for all of the help Inspira Futures!

Working with Inspira Futures has been amazing. I first did a free consult with Julie. On that same day, a Sunday, she aligned me with my consultant who, also on the same day, gave me a 4-hour assessment. I thought my consultant would simply help me improve my essays. Throughout the course of my assessment, I realized that he was going to get to really know me and was going to help me figure out what my goals were, what schools had the best fit, and what strengths I had to make sure to communicate, amongst other things. Given the time constraint (less than a month to apply to four top schools), I needed someone I could contact 24/7, and who would set the right pace. Julie said they were available 24/7, and she meant it! I was really impressed at how my consultant always made time for me, even when I had to talk to and work with him during weekends! What impressed me the most is that my consultant actually became my coach: he always brought out the best in me and helped me push through the hard times when I'd feel blocked.

Now I'm facing the tricky part of having to choose which school to attend, and even now I count my consultant to give me the best advice. My top choice was Kellogg. I got in there and at Darden. But then I got a scholarship to Fuqua. As far as dilemmas go, this is a great one, and I owe it to Inspira Futures.

I can't thank Inspira Futures enough, and highly recommend their services for anyone applying to a top MBA program.

There are many great things I can say about my experience with Inspira, but one of the highlights was definitely the time when my Graduate Coach connected me with the current Director of Admissions of Wharton. She knew her personally, which was absolutely crazy!! I got to ask her in-depth questions about how the Covid situation is impacting Wharton's initiatives. There are tons of similar incidents I can talk about, but overall omg what a great experience. I would 100% recommend Inspira, without a doubt.

I decided to work with Allan in the first place because he genuinely tried to understand my unusual/European background and experience. I soon realized that I made the right choice.

Working with Allan has been invaluable and reassuring from crafting my very first essay to pressing the submit button of my last application and sending a thank you note to my interviewers after my interviews:

- He is incredibly efficient and responsive, which is more than appreciable, especially when, after spending hours on version 7 of an essay, you start asking yourself if version 2 was not better;
- Even when I was satisfied with a draft, he kept on pushing me to go the extra mile and I feel like I eventually submitted the best applications that I could have, thanks to him;
- When I was not fully convinced about an idea, a draft etc., he never fell short of valuable ideas and advice;
- During the application process, I changed my mind a few times (sometimes last minute) and Allan has always been happy to take the time to (re)discuss an idea, understand the reasons of my doubts and make sure that we could move on;
- Finally, Allan is honest, genuinely interested in his students' success and 100% worth his hourly rate. Allan's help went way beyond preparing my applications. He had been a great career coach and happy to help me on any matter he could.

My consultant helped me work through my application documents in a systematic way so everything was ready before the deadlines. When I received an invitation to interview at Kellogg, I was nervous that I wouldn't be as articulate as my application documents had been. We ran through interview simulations until I was confident without being "over-rehearsed". It paid off! Can't wait to start at Kellogg.

Although I excel at mathematics and tend to think in stats, I knew there was more to an MBA application than the metrics I use to gauge my success. I knew I needed essay-writing support, which is why I sought out Inspira Futures. My consultant was respectful of my drafts, and we often talked about the edits she suggested before I implemented them to understand how they would improve my candidacy.

Finding an admissions consultant can be challenging, especially in Latin America. By the time I met Inspira Futures, I had already spoken with several coaches and was inclining towards those with the highest "reputation". Inspria was the last consulting firm I met. It was a surprise to see how attentive Julie was, and how eager she seemed to support me in my application journey. For the first time, I felt like the person in the other side of the screen could connect with who I was and what I aspired to do.

At that point, deciding to work with Inspira felt like a natural next step. From the beginning, my consultant supported me with discipline and order. We met regularly to deepen into my stories and my goals. He has an impressive capacity to see you for who you are, but at the same time propose ways to improve the way that you tell your stories and present yourself. I especially appreciated his constant feedbacks, always spot-on and valuable.

During the essays editing process, he is the best partner you can imagine. He will never delve into commenting specifics if he's not comfortable with the overall arch - which to me proved invaluable. Court understands the importance of building coherent, specific and powerful essays, and will go through every step necessary until the materials are outstanding. For the interviews, he assigns the same level of dedication - delving fully into the role and giving specific and actionable feedback.

Through the journey, he showed me how unique my stories are, and always made me feel like I deserved to be in these programs. Having this reassurance, as well as some friendly push to think outside the box about my goals, were also key factors for my successful applications. I can't imagine doing having gone through this process with anyone else, and would recommend anyone to meet Inspira to see for themselves the amazing professional the org is.

Coming into the application cycle, I realized my profile, while having some solid attributes, also had a couple of weaker points. Therefore, I wanted to work with a consultant who would help me tell the best story in my applications. Inspira Futures was recommended to me by a friend of mine who had been successful previously in his b-school applications. I talked to them along with four other consultants/agencies and felt more at peace with Inspira. While others focused on raw stats, the team at Inspira was more interested in my story.

After narrowing down the list of schools, my counselor pushed me to reflect and come up with my "brand" narrative. His input on which points were more impactful than others was incredibly helpful. I am not a strong writer and knew that I needed the most help with the essays. He really delivered the bang for the buck here with his impressive storytelling technique while keeping "my voice". He was always super responsive and got back to me within 2-3 days. It always felt like he was your application partner and he was as excited about the application as you were. I also did a couple of mock interviews with him and received some actionable feedback. I was really excited to have received admits from LBS, Fuqua, and McCombs - all thanks to his incredible storytelling inputs, mentorship, and guidance, and a little bit of luck!

If you take anything from this review, it should be that Raquel from Inspira Futures is an incredible consultant, and in my mind, she's as good as it gets. I can not recommend her strongly enough!

Going into the MBA process I was very nervous, as it is somewhat rare for employees to leave my company for an MBA. Therefore, I knew that if I applied and asked my supervisors for recommendations, I had to get into a program in case there were negative consequences at work. On top of that, I knew that I was in a crowded category as a white male in finance, meaning it would be difficult for me to get into a top MBA program. Raquel was extremely honest and transparent with me from the beginning, outlining the significant work we would need to do on my application for me to have any chance with these schools. Fast forward a year later, and I made it into Wharton and NYU (including a $60k scholarship at NYU), and am on the waitlist at Harvard. The only school I didn't get into was CBS, but this was my fault (I stupidly didn't follow Raquel's advice on a key part of the application). I was thrilled to get into these programs, and given my demographic/career field headwinds + pretty average GMAT score, I attribute the large majority of my success to Raquel's guidance on essays, application forms, extra-curricular activities and interviews. There is no way I'd be in my current position without her help.

A few areas where I think Raquel stands out:

* Raquel has incredible depth of knowledge on each MBA program. We were able to craft every single application to the identity of the MBA program based on her unique insights about the schools culture and desired candidate.
* Raquel was meticulous and creative throughout the whole process - every conversation we had she took careful notes and asked follow up questions, constantly looking for a new angle/part of my life that we could use for my application. She was able to use my life/career experiences in ways I would have never thought of.
*Raquel is passionate. I truly felt she cared about my future and was fully vested in my success as an applicant. The time she would dedicate to me was way, way more than I anticipated.
*Raquel has a vast pool of past applicant experience to draw from. She would constantly use past successes as food for thought with my application process.
* Raquel is incredibly honest. She will not hold back. While this was a bit daunting at first, it is one of her most important qualities. She will not sugarcoat, she's going to tell you the truth, which is what you need in the MBA application process!
* Lastly, she is just a kind and caring person. The MBA process is grueling, but she always took time to make sure I was doing okay/build a relationship with me.

I do not think I would be going to business school without the help of Inspira Futures. Quite frankly, I had no idea about the amount of work that goes into the application process or how competitive the applicant pool would be.

From my first introductory call, I knew that Inspira Futures was the right choice for me.

My consultant helped me navigate every step of the application process from studying for the GMAT, to choosing my advisers, to writing my essays, to preparing for interviews. I had no idea what to write about on my applications but she spent time helping me to craft a story that was both honest and relevant to the schools to which I was applying. Her awareness and knowledge of what each school is looking for in applicants is invaluable. She consistently challenged me to raise the bar in my applications and pushed me to work harder when my writing wasn't up to par. Without her to coach and motivate me I doubt I would have received interviews let alone admission to the schools to which I applied.

Thanks to her I received interviews at 8 of the 9 schools I applied to and admission to Kellogg, Tuck, and Booth. I full heartedly and unequivocally recommend Inspira Futures to anyone who is serious about attending business school. As a side-note, I received scholarships from each school far in excess of the cost I spent on Inspira Futures.

Got acceptances at Fuqua and Kellogg! Thanks to Kyndall.

I'm an American female working in management consulting abroad, and I had a great experience working with Kyndall through the start-to-finish package for all schools to which I applied. I originally decided to work with a consultant to provide a more knowledgeable perspective on the process and help me effectively communicate my slightly unconventional career path and experience abroad. After being referred to Kyndall through a colleague that raved about her, I took advantage of free 30-minute consultations at two companies, including one with Inspira Futures. It was important to me to find a reliable partner in the process, and from the call with Julie I was immediately convinced that Inspira would be an excellent fit. I loved her enthusiasm, honesty, and excitement about getting this journey started.

Kyndall proved to be a valuable partner throughout the entire process. She helped me narrow down my target school list, brainstormed with me on my key stories, provided comments and guidance through multiple iterations of 10 essays, and prepped me for four different interviews. Now that I've received offers from multiple top schools, she is working with me to negotiate scholarships and weigh my options.

In particular, I think there are four reasons why Kyndall was such a great partner in this process:
1) Kyndall is experienced and knowledgeable, and she really knows what the admissions committees are looking for across the resume, essays, etc. I started the process unsure of which of my experiences/skills I needed to highlight, and Kyndall worked closely with me to identify the right examples to include.
2) Kyndall is a great writer, and she helped me adapt my writing style to be more effective in the admissions essays. She encouraged me to bring out the details in my stories that would create a compelling narrative, and this ultimately made my essays stronger.
3) Kyndall was extremely professional and timely in managing my essay iterations and responding to my various questions, concerns, etc. She always gave me plenty of time on the phone and never made me feel rushed, even if we went over. She was also flexible to my timing (several hours ahead of New York) and busy work schedule. When I was behind on one essay, she even made herself available on a weekend for a final review.
4) Kyndall is a very easy and fun person to work with. I always looked forward to my chats with her, and I found her enthusiasm to be a great source of motivation, especially during stressful periods in the process.

My stats: 3.5 years of experience in consulting. GMAT score in the low 700s. GPA above 3.7.

As I started to think about apps, I felt like I was a strong candidate, but didn't know how to best convey that to schools. I decided to hire Inspira Futures and work with Mary, because:
* She stressed that it was my job to do the work and tell my story. Her role was to provide feedback.
* She was candid, like she wouldn't pull punches with feedback, but also knew how to deliver feedback in a helpful manner.
* She was super knowledgeable about the schools I was targeting.
* She was just an enjoyable person to interact with.

Other consultants had bits and pieces of these qualities, but none offered the complete package.

A few of the biggest ways Mary helped me are:
* Identifying MY story. Mary persuaded me to address and own a few aspects of my background that are atypical. This made me a non-generic candidate and helped my authentic self come across. In three of my acceptance calls, I was complimented on my thoughtfulness and candor.
*Essay editing. Mary suggested ways to add depth and dimension. She tightened up the prose into something pithy and lucid. There were dozens of drafts, and she always had great feedback.
* Logistics. Mary kept the big picture of deadlines in mind and organized the work accordingly. I was pretty much ready to submit apps a week in advance of their deadlines.
* Interview prep. Mary helped me learn how to tie things back to resultsand to emphasize the challenges faced. She helped me identify my 'best' stories and understand how I came across.

I got accepted to MIT and Booth.

With only one month for Round 1 admits and after talking to numerous consultants, I finally decided to work with Inspira Futures. Though the fees seemed steep initially, choosing to work with Inspira turned out to be the best decision during my MBA application process.

My consultant was an exceptional professional and her attention to details was brilliant. Her feedbacks were always spot on and she urges you to think out of the box and come up with innovative ways to express yourself. Submitting 4 applications in 1 month was a huge task but she worked with me till the end and ensure that I brought my best out in every application.

The interview prep was, again, very helpful and thorough. She gave me a great insight on what to expect for interviews and how to bring my A-game forward.

I got into Stanford GSB and CBS and also got a $65K scholarship at GSB

I highly recommend Inspira Futures as a MBA consultant. Applying for top B-schools is a stressful experience and it's highly beneficial to have a good consultant by your side.

The best decision I made throughout this whole MBA application process was choosing to work with Maria. I was admitted (R2) to 5 schools with scholarships at all 5, including full scholarships at 4 of the 5. I will be heading to Wharton this fall, with a full scholarship, and there is absolutely no way I could have done it without Maria.

I am a female applicant with a more traditional profile, coming from a financial services background, and with a 750 GMAT and 3.4 GPA. I started studying for the GMAT pretty late in the game, in August for round 2 application deadlines, so I was juggling GMAT stress with the need to make sure my applications were moving along. I ended up completing the two at the same time (end of December), which I highly recommend that you try to NOT do -- save yourself the extra stress and get the GMAT done early! It was all thanks to Maria though that I was able to get through it successfully; she not only encouraged me throughout the GMAT journey, but also made sure that I was getting my essays drafted/revised, my recommendations in, etc. to make sure I was producing quality work throughout the rest of my application as well.

Going into the application process, my biggest concern was figuring out how to best present my story. After reading through my initial Brainstorming document, Maria was able to expertly sift through my rambling stream of consciousness to pinpoint the key things that I had mentioned that represented essential aspects of who I am, which I hadn't even realized when writing them down. That drove further self-reflection that helped me to identify my fundamental values (and where they came from) and highlighted the things that I really care about, which is what then really made my "why an MBA" story real, and gave it meaning and authenticity.

Maria helped me transform my essays into narratives better than anything I could have hoped for going into the writing process. It was certainly up to me write all the content and make it meaningful and genuine, but Maria helped me to make sure I was picking the right topics, addressing the points that mattered, and tell the story in a way that was interesting and would catch the reader's attention. She really challenged me to think and re-think about the things that I was writing, and revise, revise, revise. By the end product, I can confidently say that those essays are the best things I've ever written.

Maria also helped me make my resume really shine. When it came time for me to request my letters of recommendations, she made herself available to my recommenders to answer questions and provide thoughts and feedback, which my recommenders found to be extremely valuable. When interview invites came, I was invited to interview with all of the schools that I had applied to. Almost all of the interviews needed to be completed in the month of February, so I thought it was a hectic month for me, but it must have been a chaotic time for Maria. Never once throughout the whole process did she make me feel like I was competing with other clients for her time; she made me feel like her top priority whenever I needed her. Maria coached me through all of the interviews and pushed me to deliver my stories confidently and effectively. The toughest challenge for me, in the whole application process, was the Wharton TBD interview. About a week before the interview, I was at a point where I was feeling really discouraged and intimidated by the caliber of other applicants that I was up against. When I shared my doubts with her, Maria got on the phone with me right away, and she not only provided the support and encouragement that I needed, but also came armed with a slew of concrete suggestions, tips for responses, thoughts on topics, etc. Through that she really gave me the boost of confidence that I needed to go in and crush it. I could not have been more ecstatic with how the interview turned out, and in the end things turned out as best as they could have with not only an offer of admission, but a full scholarship as well.

As a consultant from an over-represented background, without a perfect GPA, and a decent GMAT score, I knew that to get into the top MBA programs I had to have a razor-sharp story. In working with a consultant, I was looking for help with time/project management, guidance on the details and differentiation between programs (i.e. what each school cared about), and help putting a creative twist to my application. Inspira Futures nailed all three.

During our work together, my counselor took the time to delve deep and understand me as a person, which allowed both of us to speak a common vernacular and pull from a common set of experiences to highlight in my essays and my interviews. As a proofreader, he challenged me to be provocative, precise, and answer the question(s) in my personal voice. He was available when I needed him, and made each step of the process as clear as possible. Ultimately, I think he is different because he genuinely cares about his clients, and based on the other testimonials I read, this translates to strong results. I will be recommending Inspira Futures to my friends and colleagues.

I want to start by saying that Margarita was amazing to work with and I couldn't recommend her more! I worked with Margarita on Round 1 applications for HBS, Kellogg & Stanford GSB and I'm excited to be attending HBS this fall.

Background: Male, engineering at top-20 undergrad, MBB consulting / PE, 730 GMAT
Admitted: HBS, Kellogg
Rejected: Stanford GSB

Margarita was recommended to me by multiple colleagues and everyone I spoke with had an extremely positive experience working with her. Nonetheless, I still evaluated multiple admission consultants; however, none compared to Margarita. From our fist conversation it was noticeable how much Margarita cared about making my candidacy a success. I also remember how she took the time to really understand my goals for the process.

While many others have noted many of Margarita's amazing characteristics, I'll highlight three that I found most beneficial.

(1) Margarita takes the time to get to know you as a person. Business school applications can be very personal, so while this may feel insignificant I think the time Margarita took to get to know my personal story paid many dividends through the process.

(2) Margarita is deeply knowledgeable about the admissions process. Because Margarita has so much experience coaching candidates, she understands where you should be in the process at all times and is very familiar with what admissions teams are looking for in candidates. And even though Margarita does have a lot of experience to draw from, Margarita still did a great job ensuring the process was specifically tailored to what I was looking to get out of it.

(3) Margarita gives great feedback and while she will push you to tell a story admissions teams will find compelling, she also ensures your story remains authentically you. I have a more traditional background on paper, but there were specific points about my personal background I felt were important to highlight. With Margarita's guidance I was able to tell a story that combined the softer components about my background & ambitions that made me unique with firmer accomplishments that highlighted my capabilities.

After interviewing multiple consultants and a nightmare experience with one consultant, I luckily found Inspira Futures. He has truly been a critical and phenomenal resource for me throughout the MBA application process. During our first kickoff call, he immediately identified my application strengths and weaknesses and provided thorough feedback on how I could improve. He is comprehensive and timely in his draft reviews, and has a unique ability to help craft your story into something unique and spectacular. He helped me prep and excel in my interviews and I always felt like a top priority for him. He played an integral role in helping me get into multiple top schools with scholarships/fellowships. His services were the best investment I could've made and I would enthusiastically recommended him for all those going through the application process!