Before MBA Protocol

Before applying to business school, I worked at a women-owned private credit firm, where I supported women in finance and invested in small businesses. I genuinely loved the mission-driven nature of my work, but my long-term calling had always been global health. My undergraduate studies, research, and early internships were all in global health, and I originally moved into finance because I wanted to understand how capital gets allocated and why so many important health initiatives struggle to get funded. My dream was to eventually return to global health and help bridge the gap between mission and sustainable financing.

Why MBA, why now

An MBA was always part of my long-term plan because I saw it as the best way to connect my finance background with my global health aspirations. I explored a number of adjacent opportunities, including venture debt, healthcare consulting focused on private equity, and other private credit roles, but none felt like the right bridge to my ultimate goals. At the same time, my firm was incredibly supportive of my MBA ambitions, and many of my mentors were MBA graduates themselves. Ultimately, I realized that business school would provide the network, credibility, and broader perspective needed to make a meaningful pivot.

My post-MBA vision is to return to the global health sector and help build sustainable financing models that can unlock greater impact. Throughout my time in finance, I saw firsthand how investment decisions shape entire industries, and I became increasingly interested in applying those lessons to global health challenges. The MBA helped me connect those experiences into a cohesive vision. Today, I'm excited about pursuing opportunities that sit at the intersection of finance, healthcare, and global development.

Why MBA Protocol

I first heard about MBA Protocol through a coffee chat with someone who had gone through the admissions process before me. She challenged me on my story and pointed out that while my experiences were strong, I wasn't yet communicating the deeper "why" behind them. She recommended MBA Protocol's storytelling resources, and after my introductory conversation with Heather, I felt understood in a way I hadn't with other consultants. Rather than seeing me as another finance applicant trying to pivot into impact, she immediately grasped the personal motivations behind my goals. That gave me confidence that MBA Protocol would help me tell a more authentic story.

The work we did together

The biggest shift was in how I approached storytelling. The modules helped me move away from writing essays that focused on accomplishments and toward essays that showed admissions committees who I was, what I cared about, and why my experiences mattered. Beyond the tactical aspects of the application process, the community was incredibly valuable. Having a cohort of people going through the same highs and lows made the process feel much less isolating, and it was especially rewarding to reconnect with many of them at admitted students weekends.

MBA Admission Results

I earned a 328 GRE (163 Quant, 165 Verbal) and received interview invitations from Harvard Business School, Wharton, Columbia, Yale, and Duke. I was admitted to Harvard Business School, Columbia Business School with a full-tuition scholarship, Yale School of Management with a full-tuition scholarship, and Duke Fuqua with a Forte Fellowship and $100,000 per year in scholarship support. I was also waitlisted at Wharton. Professionally, I was promoted to Senior Associate during the application process.

Advice to other pivoters

Start earlier than you think you need to, especially when it comes to testing and reflecting on your story. The strongest applications are built over time, not rushed together a few months before deadlines.

Be honest with yourself about why you want an MBA and whether it's truly necessary for your goals, because it's a significant investment of both time and money.

If you decide it's the right path, take full advantage of the opportunity and approach the process with intention.

The highlighted sentences are the ones quoted above.

My Coach: Patron Saint Of Non-Traditional Applicants

It’s been over a year since I left the advertising world for HBS, and not a day goes by that I don’t think about what my coach did for me.

You read that right: advertising –> HBS.

Most consultants I spoke with told me to aim lower, especially considering that I’m quantitatively challenged (I couldn’t break 47th percentile in the GRE quant), and pursued a pure humanities major in undergrad, albeit with a 3.9 GPA. My coach was the rare partner who looked past my stats and considered me as a whole person. In my desire to parlay the lateral thinking, creativity and people skills I’d learned in the ad world into a career as a GM in a consumer business, she didn’t see a moonshot, she saw a match. And once she’d gotten to know me, she pressed me to reach for the best programs.

You are probably reading this to the tune of a low-humming anxiety about your future that’s been bothering you since you began toying with the idea of business school. If you work with my coach, you will be surprised to find periods of relief from that feeling: the process she puts you through may actually help you discover a stronger sense of self and a more confident orientation towards your next steps that is a relief for anyone in their mid-late 20s, no matter what happens. It did for me.

She will be 100% on your team – she’ll make you confront hard truths, make tough decisions, and help you embrace optimism. As a neurotic personality, I can testify to her talent for reframing things in a way that saves emotional energy.

For people applying from “non-traditional” backgrounds – go with my coach. She will help you find where you belong, and believe me there is a place for you – programs need more of you. I have heard from classmates that I think differently from anyone they’ve worked with and it brings valuable ideas to the table. And you will gain so much from your program: this summer I worked at a fintech using some of the basic statistics, data science, and finance concepts from my first year to build a new pricing model for a product portfolio. I loved every minute of it, and I’m now weighing an opportunity to go back full-time.

Thank you, coach, for betting on the potential in your students instead of the boxes they check.

The highlighted sentences are the ones quoted above.

I Got Into HBS Thanks To Angela

Let me start with the end. I got into HBS, my top school. I would totally recommend her.

A bit about myself, I am currently working in VC, and before I was a management consultant at MBB. I had already applied to Harvard twice, once for college and once for the 2+2, and got dinged twice.

This time I decided to go for the best consultant I could find online based on reviews and personal experiences of friends.

Angela has a truly unique approach for several reasons. She takes a holistic approach to getting to know you, or better “getting you to know yourself”. Once you have laid out all the aspects of your personality, your background, your dreams, and your achievements, she helps you write your story using advanced story-telling techniques.

Angela does not write your essays. This is another major difference from what you might expect from your consultant. I don’t think she wrote a single line. She helps you put your thoughts together, connecting the dots and turning them into a story, giving comments, feedback, and nudging ideas. In the end, the story is 100% yours – and you can take the merit of everything.

Looking back at the application process, I can confidently say that I enjoyed working with Angela. I did not only get into HBS, but I also got to know myself better.

The highlighted sentences are the ones quoted above.

She Makes You Into A Diamond!

Despite a 610 GMAT, a state school background, work experience in only one company, and only applying to two programs because of my fear of being rejected everywhere, I got an acceptance from HBS and waitlisted post interview in the GSB in the most competitive MBA application year!

At my desk, I didn’t consider myself material for the institutions where I thought my goals would flourish – it made me feel sad. However, Career Protocol’s process helped me take a deep introspection of my life and my future. Angela and her team are professional big sisters and brothers who are wise, funny, and knowledgeable in how to best present yourself in your MBA applications. They are good people who care.

Angela worked with me on more than +50 essay re-writes and added +200 comments throughout +3 months in my essays. Her background as a screenwriter helped me craft my story arc across the different elements of the application. She didn’t write sentences for me or gave me a template. She even prohibited me from looking at examples! She thoughtfully guided me to realize the highlights of my life and how to best express them in each part of my application. Even my passion to create the perfect Pisco Sour was included as a small line in my resume. I got questioned by both interviewers in the GSB and HBS about it. Angela knows exactly what detail to add where. She even worked with me in tiny job description boxes that perhaps other consultants don’t consider. There wasn’t a detail that Angela didn’t help me craft.

The essays that I ended up writing and my application inspire me. This is the most important. I’m also happy they inspired the Adcom! In addition, my post-MBA goals have multiplied in ambition and impact. The interview skills I’ve gained in Career Protocol’s program have already opened many doors and I’m no longer nervous. Working with Career Protocol I feel that I did not only create an MBA application but also embarked on a journey towards my dreams. I’m eternally grateful to them!

The highlighted sentences are the ones quoted above.

Go With Career Protocol. If You're Looking For A Sign, This Is It

TLDR: Go With Career Protocol. Sure, read all the reviews and do all the consultant calls you want. Whatever you do, just pick Career Protocol. I am a woman in tech working 90 hours per week, stubborn AF, and only wanted to apply to 2 schools: GSB and HBS, no backups. Angela helped me make that happen. Last week I paid the deposit to become a member of the HBS class of 2023. Angela, her team, and her curriculum give you FAR more bang for your buck than imaginable. Read on. I was hesitant to hire an MBA coach. For months, I had watched every Career Protocol video Angela had posted on youtube. I attended multiple admissions info sessions each for HBS and GSB over the summer of 2020. The slogan of the admissions officers seemed to be “Don’t write what you think we want to hear.” Through months of aimless brainstorming, I had convinced myself I could do it alone and didn’t need to hire anyone for help. It felt a little like cheating. BUT after talking to other friends applying to MBA programs and realizing that I hadn’t taken the standardized test yet NOR made any progress on my applications, the self-imposed FOMO of ‘what if investing in an MBA coach is the difference between getting in and not getting in’ sent me off to the races reading reviews of consultants and setting up ‘free intro calls’ with many of the top-ranked companies on P&Q. For context, I am a high-achieving woman working at a large tech company, not a typical consultant or IB or PE applicant, working 90+ hours per week. If you’re reading this and hesitant about calling yourself a high-achieving woman, don’t sell yourself short. You are probably high achieving. But back to my story. My priorities were largely finding a coach who would make the process enjoyable, who would put up with me wanting to do things my own way, and who would give me the tough love I (often) need in moments of stubbornness. Every consulting agency intro call got straight to business. They reviewed my profile, said nice things, and talked about how many former admissions officers they had employed on their staff. They told me what they thought I wanted to hear– that I was a good fit for my choice schools and that they would help minimize any weaknesses in my candidacy. But my intro call with Angela was different. It wasn’t just business. There was laughter. We were both a little bit goofy. She talked to me like a human being and about their approach being centered around human growth. She was exactly what I was looking for—and THAT is the magic behind Angela Guido and her sorcery at Career Protocol. I was confident I wouldn’t need much help in the self-knowledge part of applying because – as I told Angela in our intro call– I tend to be very self-aware. Almost too self-aware. And yet, like every other review states about working with Angela, I was blown out of the water after Angela and I met for our first Discovery Call. As it turned out, the self-awareness I had proclaimed – among stellar career achievements that I hadn’t even realized were indeed stellar – turned out to be an indicator that I have high functioning Autism, which is commonly missed in women but was pinpointed by Angela during the discovery process. Looking back, I can confidently say that I wouldn’t have survived the application process without her. The application process was hard. Really hard. Angela was fearless in digging in, giving deep feedback, and telling me when something wasn’t working and why. I had to start over from scratch multiple times, which was confidence-blowing and embarrassing. It felt like it shouldn’t be that hard to write a few hundred words about who I was, what my principles are, and what I envision for the future. HA! It is hard. But Angela is a master of encouragement and training – and after tens of iterations, I ended up with so much more than two stellar applications. Working with Angela sharpened my ability to articulate both my essence and my experiences, built a toolkit of ACTIONABLE and SUSTAINABLE frameworks for goal-setting and network-building for before, during, and after MBA, and most importantly, taught me to be more empathetic with myself. If someone had told me I would emerge from the application process a more confident, joyful, proud person – AND an HBS admit – AND that my daily life would improve by 5X because of Career Protocol – I wouldn’t have believed it. But it’s true. All thanks to Angela. I couldn’t have done it without her. She changed my life. GWCP

The highlighted sentences are the ones quoted above.

The Best for a Reason

If you want to compete for a spot at one of the best business schools, you need to work with the best consultant. I, like most people in my position, was apprehensive to spend the money on a consultant and went back and forth on the idea for several weeks/months. Then I spoke with Angela. Within a few minutes of my free consultation, I was sold. I wasn’t interested in paying someone to compliment me… Angela holds no punches and tells it like it is so if you’re looking for someone to stroke your ego and pat you on the back, look elsewhere. I wanted real, candid feedback. Aside from being in the military, I’m no different than most candidates interested in top tier MBA programs. In fact, my GMAT score was 50 points below the average of any top school I was interested in. Rather than steering me toward lower-ranked schools because I didn’t have the “magic numbers/stats”, Angela dug in and encouraged me to apply for HBS and other schools I would have never even considered by focusing on my strengths and experiences. While I was eventually dinged from HBS, I received interview invites from almost every other school and withdrew my applications from others when I was admitted to my M7 dream school.

Before I go any further, let me make it clear that Angela will not write your essays for your nor will she do your work for you—she doesn’t need to because she knows how to make you realize what makes you unique which leads to an even better story (and a better candidate when it comes time for interviews, etc). On my fifth revision of one particular essay, I very vividly remember thinking, “why won’t she just do this for me? I’m paying a lot of money for her services.” I was a bit frustrated and I think she was beginning to sense my frustration so we organized a call. During that call, Angela made me realize why I was missing the mark and how I could effectively convey my story to the adcom. I can’t remember exactly what she said but from that point onward, everything began to click. I felt completely in control of my story and began to knock each essay out of the park with small tweaks here and there. By the time interviews rolled around, I already felt confident that I had developed the storytelling techniques required to excel. The process has been nothing short of transformative and I will rely on what I learned from Angela as I move forward in my career.

By choosing Career Protocol and Angela, you’re giving yourself the best possible chance of gaining acceptance into your dream school. In life, you get what you pay for and the Career Protocol product is top shelf. The fact that there are no limits on essay revisions or the number of times you can call or email shouldn’t be overlooked. At one point Angela and I had agreed that after a few revisions, one of my essays was ready for submission. A couple of hours later, Angela emailed me back and told me to hold that thought- she wanted to start over and that’s exactly what we did. She could have easily told me to submit and I wouldn’t have thought twice about it. The new essay was even stronger and provided a more clear vision of my career goals. That’s the type of service you’re getting if you decide to hire Angela.

If you’re not sold by this point, ask yourself how much you’d be willing to pay to guarantee yourself a spot at your dream school. While it’s understood that nothing is ever a guarantee, working with Angela is as close as you can get and if you’re like me, you’d regret it later in life if you didn’t give yourself the best possible shot at achieving your goals.

The highlighted sentences are the ones quoted above.

Guido is the one!!!

To work with Angela Guido is to have an MRI performed on your soul.

After a 30-minute consultation with Angela, I was stunned by the accuracy with which she summarized my motivations, character, and potential. Other consultants took one look at my stats (3.1 GPA, mid-ranked public university, ~600 practice GMAT score) and either steered me towards 2nd & 3rd tier schools or ignored me altogether. Not so with the MRI of Souls.

During our consultation, she saw right through my unimpressive stats and assured me that I was a strong and differentiated applicant for a top program, then provided evidence for this assertion by highlighting the strengths of my candidacy. Where other consultants were hesitant to provide too many details for free, Angela was generous: She gave me a specific GMAT goal, a short list of top schools with which she thought I was a fit, and guidance on when to apply, all during the FREE call. She was professional, affable, and direct. I knew that I had to work with her when, in one sentence, she summed up my post-MBA aspirations more precisely and succinctly than I had ever stated them myself – to her or anyone else, for that matter.

I was sold and signed up for a 3 school complete package. Given my budget, she assured me that after we worked together, I would understand the process and be able to complete additional applications on my own. We decided to work on Harvard Business School (HBS), Wharton, and a Master’s in Public Policy application at the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) together. I applied on my own to MIT Sloan and Yale SOM.

It became clear how lucky I was to work with Angela during our first brainstorming call. She had me complete a lengthy questionnaire in advance – I was sure she would need me to clarify a few things, but I was wrong; She already had me completely figured out. She has this uncanny ability to channel the essence of who I am. She thought the way I thought. She understood my voice. She could articulate things about me that I hadn’t fully realized myself.

This was particularly useful in my case because I have an unusual amount of varied experiences in my background and needed help choosing the most persuasive stories to tell. She noticed this (of course) and identified several experiences in my life that were formative, interesting, or revealing. She then suggested a few different narrative arcs that I could use to tie those experiences together into an essay, and left me to my own devices to pump out a draft.

Working with Angela is wonderful, in part because she teaches you the process as you go through it. There is always an overarching strategy, and she will explain the tactics as she guides you through the process. She will not write anything for you, and because she knows what your best effort is, she will reject sloppy substitutions for your best work. The process is demanding, but it is a lot of fun. She roots for you. She’s in your corner. She pushes you in a direction that she knows will be authentic for you. She will give you a pep talk whenever you need one, and in the end you really want to make her proud.

I eventually got my GMAT score up to 720 and submitted all my applications in Round 1.

And what were the results?

I was admitted to Harvard Business School – My dream program! I was also admitted to MIT Sloan with a Dean’s fellowship (1 ½ yrs tuition: ~ $107,000). I was dinged without an interview at Wharton, Yale, and HKS.

HBS & Wharton were no surprise to Angela – She’d told me all along that I was a strong HBS fit but wasn’t the Wharton “type”. Yale made sense to me – I didn’t have a clear rationale to go there. HKS was a surprise, but it wasn’t our fault: The essay that she pushed me to write was a masterpiece. I could not have made a stronger case and never would have gone in that direction on my own. So if that application didn’t get me admitted, nothing could. I’m fine with that.

I’m sure that a number of consultants could have helped me get into HBS, but Angela Guido’s services stand out because in addition to helping me submit the strongest possible applications, she’s also given me a bonus gift: A deeper understanding of myself than I’ve ever had before. This self-awareness leads to incredible confidence and is a tremendous competitive advantage.

So for anyone out there who isn’t sure about Angela Guido, you should be. A 30-minute call with her two years ago changed my life forever. It just might change yours, too.

The highlighted sentences are the ones quoted above.

Decision to Hire Angela

When I first decided to apply to MBA programs, I had no idea how competitive I was, where I had a shot of getting in, or how high I should reach. While I had good stats (3.9 GPA from a top 20 liberal arts school, 760 GMAT), I worked in accounting for 3 years and I didn’t know how to differentiate myself from the other good applicants who were applying. I didn’t feel like I had a particularly interesting story. I was intrigued by the idea of hiring a consultant but, frankly, couldn’t fathom spending that much money only one year before I would be taking out upwards of 150K in student loans.

When I got an email from Angela inviting me to have a free 30-minute consult live in my city, I figured I had nothing to lose. I went in thinking that if a consultant would simply save me time – tell me things I could find online, save me calls to admissions offices, etc – edit my essays, and set a schedule for me, I would skip it. But if hiring one would actually increase my chances of getting in in ways that I could never do myself, then I would consider it.

Free Consult

In my 30-minute consult, Angela assessed my competitiveness at all the schools I was considering, helped me with my resume, told me I didn’t need to take the GMAT again (despite getting 70% Quant and 67% IR scores) and helped me with my “story” – my reason for going to business school and my post-MBA goals. I remember leaving that 30 minutes consult feeling already like she’d added incredible value to the process. I no longer had to stress about whether or not I should retake the GMAT or figuring out what schools I should apply to.

I realized that if I thought an MBA was worth the cost of tuition and opportunity cost of not working, it was definitely worth another $3.75K to have a consultant help me with one school. After all, applying to one school would mean perfecting my resume, my “story,” and, if I picked the right school, I’d probably be able to use the essays for other schools. So I decided to use Angela for one school.

My next dilemma was which schools to choose. I had decided to apply to Harvard, Stanford, and Wharton as reaches, Booth and Kellogg as fit schools, and Fuqua as a safety. And I couldn’t figure out which one hire Angela for. If I chose Harvard to increase my chances of getting in, I figured I could still end up rejected everywhere. If I chose a fit school, then I thought my chances at HBS/Stanford went out the window. If I was only going to get into my safety, then I thought it was worth using a consultant to see if I could get scholarship money. In the end, I decided if it was worth using her for one school, it was worth using her for all of the schools. And that $8K when compared to the cost of an MBA was a drop in the bucket, especially if I could get a scholarship that would make the consultant more than pay for itself.

Hiring Angela was the best investment I’ve ever made. I ended up with full tuition scholarships to Booth and Fuqua, a partial scholarship to Wharton, and admission into HBS. I’m not at all saying that I don’t deserve admission or scholarships at these schools, but I can say without a doubt that I would not have been this successful in my applications if I had not hired her.

One of the biggest values that Angela brought to the admissions process was making me realize how strong of a candidate I was. When I first spoke with her, I thought I was a weak candidate and that Booth/Kellogg would be a reach. I wasn’t even thinking of applying to HBS/Stanford. But Angela recognized aspects of my candidacy that made me exceptional and pushed me to be as successful as I could.

Essays

She knew what I needed to highlight in my applications. At the beginning of our work together, Angela and I had a long brainstorm session in which she got to know ALL of my stories, personal, professional, and from undergrad. Because of this, whenever we started working on a new essay, Angela was able to pull from my life stories to know how I should best answer the question. Throughout the process, I was amazed at the extent to which Angela was able to tie together stories from my life that I would not have pieced together. She was able to find themes that portrayed parts of me I hadn’t identified. For someone who believes she has lived a very normal life, I didn’t think I could put together an inspiring essay. But Angela got to know me well enough to find the things about me that would make me shine in the eyes of the adcoms.

As I wrote the essays, Angela pushed me to do what she knew I was capable of. We went through 12 versions of some essays. In the first versions, she would often tell me to scratch it and start over. While I’m a perfectionist and a hard worker, Angela pushed me farther than I could have pushed myself. She often asked for more insight into what I was thinking, what my motivation was, and what I learned in a way that helped me discover things about myself that I never would have learned without her. Also important to note is that my essays (and the rest of my application) were entirely my work. She asked questions and pushed me to success, but didn’t make direct edits or in any way embellish the truth. Still, looking at the end product, I couldn’t have written the essays on my own.

Interviews

When it came to interviews, Angela delivered a workshop for all her clients with a really novel and refreshing approach to interviews. Then for each individual school interview, she helped me feel thoroughly prepared. She not only helped me come up with answers to specific questions during mock interviews but more importantly, taught me a methodology for how to answer questions, so I would never be stumped. She built up my confidence, which is perhaps the most important part of an interview. She even sent me a youtube video of an interview with a movie star so I could learn by example how to show in an interview that I’m human without apologizing. She taught me how to highlight my strengths without sounding full of myself. These are lessons I will take with me and apply to future job interviews, and I have even begun coaching my colleagues based on what I have learned from Angela.

Overall

One of the most incredible things about working with Angela is that I always felt like I was her only client. One of my hesitations in hiring a consultant was the fear that they would give the same advice to everyone. Angela’s advice was completely tailored to me. She also responded to my emails sometimes instantly. Even when on her holiday vacation, she responded within a couple hours to any and every question I had. She could not have been more devoted or available.

Coming from an industry where we track the time spent on each client, I was also nervous that if I got a package, the consultant would cut corners and try to spend as little time with me as possible. But on the contrary, Angela went above and beyond to give her time and energy. She pushed me to write more drafts of essays. After I was accepted to schools, she initiated a call with me to discuss my thoughts and offer advice on where I should accept. After I visited schools for their accepted students events, she reached out to me to hear how they went. I truly feel like Angela cared about my success and in finding the best fit for me almost as much as I did. She was there every step of the way.

For me, as a type A perfectionist, working with Angela also considerably reduced the amount of stress and anxiety I felt during this whole process, largely because instead of worrying over details, I trusted Angela. While I had been freaking out over whether to retake the GMAT, Angela said no, so I didn’t give it another thought. There are countless questions that you will have during the application process, any of which could cause considerable doubt and anxiety. Working with Angela took all of that away. If she said to use story A instead of story B I said okay and moved on instead of second guessing myself. Angela’s fees were worth it if only because working with her during this year-long period made my life a lot easier.

I can’t express enough how valuable Angela was in this process. My friends can attest to this as I can’t count the number of times I said to them “I don’t know what I’d do without Angela.” I’ve raved so much about her to everyone I know that my friends have already referred their friends and colleagues to her.

So if I had to give those of you applying to business school one piece of advice, I would say hire a consultant, and hire Angela. The value you will get far outweighs the cost.

The highlighted sentences are the ones quoted above.