When I decided to pursue an EMBA, I applied to only one school – Columbia. That made the process very focused, but also intimidating. I’ve carried some doubt for years because of a lower undergraduate GPA, and I wasn’t sure I was truly competitive for an M7 program.

I chose MBA Protocol because their approach felt real and authentic. From the beginning, Angela and Heather saw potential in me that I hadn’t fully owned myself. I don’t naturally enjoy talking about my accomplishments, and I wasn’t convinced there was a strong “story” to tell. They helped me reflect more deeply, connect the threads in my career, and present my experiences with confidence instead of hesitation.

The biggest impact wasn’t just on my application – it was on me. I stopped minimizing my path and started embracing it.

I was admitted to Columbia Business School’s EMBA program for the Class of 2028.

I’m grateful I went through this process with MBA Protocol. They bring structure and strategy, but they also genuinely care about the people they work with. If you’re serious about putting your best and most authentic self forward – especially if you’re carrying some self-doubt – this team will support you every step of the way.

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Shaking Off “Not MBA Material” & Finding My Story

I loved working with Vijay and enjoyed the Career Protocol’s overall approach to MBA applications. The CP folks go by “MBA coaches” [not consultants] and Vijay embodied that in every sense, letting me drive the game play into directions I wanted to go in while guiding me throughout the way. A few things that stood out: a) They backed me before the score did. CP onboarded me without waiting for my GRE score and after having received it, helped me apply to schools I wanted to go to, not ones they believed were a match. This is rare in MBA consulting. Most coaches I contacted in India said, “Let’s talk after you get your score.” and when I asked them what schools I should apply to, never have I been asked the question: “Where do you want to go?”. Vijay was the first. b) The process of discovering my stories was impeccable. We began with a 40-page write-up of all the turning points in my life, personal and professional, which gave me all the fodder I needed for essays and interviews. In a two-hour long conversation, Vijay reflected back some of the moments that stood out to him, helping me commit to the themes I really wanted to explore. I tend to write whimsically and was nervous that coaching might flatten that voice—but Vijay encouraged me to keep it. And I’m so glad I did. I never felt like my work was rewritten into something generic; it always felt like mine. c) He helped me shoot my shot and get in. Vijay went above and beyond, supporting me through two additional schools when I was struggling, even though it was technically “out of scope.” I was insecure about having worked at only one company for five years—even though the progression had been strong—and from our very first call, Vijay helped quiet the noise around what I had assumed was or wasn’t “MBA material.” We did more versions of my resume than any essay, teasing out the nuance in the different roles I’d held and helping me capture the full scope of my contributions. I also walked away with heuristics I’ll use for every resume update to come. Most importantly, I now feel more confident in my story and my ability to hold my own at a place like Stanford. d) The Career Protocol community was a real value-add. Office hours exposed me to multiple coaching perspectives, and I appreciated that my essays got input from more than one coach. The collaboration across the team showed through in the final product. I’m so grateful for all the support I received over the past year, from the coaching to the community to the sheer belief in my potential. With Vijay’s help, I not only got into both Stanford GSB and London Business School, but I also feel more grounded in my story and more confident about what I bring to the table.

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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.

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Hi, everyone. So I'm here to share a bit about my deferred MBA application journey and my broader experiences working with Angela and the career protocol team. So when I decided to apply to business school, I knew that I wanted someone to help guide me through the process and specifically help me out with telling my story and writing those essays as I'm not the best writer in the world. And from my first interaction with Angela I knew she'd be a great fit and The right choice to help me tell my story. So, when I was beginning the process I was facing a few hurdles. My background is pretty untraditional, and I wasn't really sure how to frame it for top business schools. Like I said, I don't, I don't think I'm the best writer in the world. So I was struggling to connect all these different pieces of my story. And Make it into a compelling narrative. And this is where Angela really helped me a ton. The discovery part of the process was super, super insightful and I got things out of the career protocol processes that have Unexpected value in other parts of my life outside of just my MBA application. So from our very first conversation she thought my story was really compelling right off the bat, whereas some of the other people I've spoken to were unsure if my profile fit the kind that top business schools were looking for. For and we really connected and she didn't just help me with the essays and all that stuff, but really helped me distill my values as a person. And I've been able to apply this to a bunch of different parts of my life and clarify this within my own business. Specifically helped with some of my ideas about leadership and what I truly value in my career. And I think the process helped me not only become a better applicant but a better communicator and a better professional. As for my results I'm really happy to say that I was accepted to the Stanford GSB class of 2029. Looking forward to matriculating in 2027. And looking back, I'm super glad that I took this journey with Angela and the team and it has been a pleasure to stay in touch with Angela since the process. And like I said someone who's always struggled with She really made the application process feel not only manageable, but enjoyable. I had a lot of fun doing it. And it was it was, it was, it was a good time. I think she really helped me to believe in my story, and that I was a good fit for schools when maybe I was having second thoughts, and that was something that I really appreciated. And I'll I'll be grateful for Angela and the career protocol team and all their help on that. So yeah, thank you.

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$1.4M in Scholarships // Brian Changed My Life

I began working with Brian at a vulnerable point in my life. I was recently unemployed with no expectations of getting a new job before applying. I also didn’t have a test score yet, I had no recognizable brands on my resume (schools or employers), I knew my post-MBA goals would need a lot of fleshing out and explaining, and that I’d only attend business school if I got a large scholarship.

What I did have was a lot of free time and a unique life story that I thought could lead to good results. I spent weeks interviewing a dozen or so of the top-ranked consultants on this site. A few told me what I wanted to hear to try to get my business. Most didn’t want to work with someone who had such a messy story. One of the most prominent groups went as far as to say that I probably wouldn’t get into any T15 schools and that I had a “0% chance” at M7 schools.

When I met with Brian, he didn’t say anything about potential results. All he promised was that we’d work tirelessly to tell my story in a compelling and authentic manner. Recognizing that that’s all anyone can promise, I signed up and never looked back.

Our first task was to go through my entire life and career to date, diving deep into stories that I had never thought would be relevant for applications. It didn’t take long to realize Brian is otherworldly intelligent (780 GMAT/99th percentile GRE and LSAT). But he’s not just intelligent in a fill-in-the-bubble kind of way. He’s intelligent in a pierce-through-the-nonsense (like my initial essay drafts which were flowery garbage) kind of way.

Brian quickly connected the dots between my life events in a way that I hadn’t connected in my head, and together, we worked on a story arc that fit my school’s essay prompts.

When writing this review, I looked back at the very first essay I ever sent Brian and then at the final draft of that essay that I submitted months later. There were eleven revisions in between. And, goodness, I’m surprised it only took eleven revisions. The difference between the two essays is enormous.

About seven or eight drafts in, I really thought the essay was done, and that it couldn’t get any better. It would’ve been easy for Brian to agree with me and for him to move on with his day, but he didn’t. I’d be shocked if Brian has ever used the phrase “it’s good enough.” Brian’s high standards, while tiring at times, led not only to incredible results (more on that later) but also taught me to communicate better which has been valuable even outside of the application process.

Brian is unique in that while he’s not laid back with the work itself, he’s very laid personality-wise. I didn’t realize how important this would be when I was interviewing admissions consultants. The application process is long and stressful, and it’s super valuable to have someone in your corner who doesn’t add to that stress.

I worked with Brian on three schools, two M7s and one T10. I got full rides from all three. I also applied to eight schools on my own and got into six of them with five full scholarships and one-half scholarship. In total, I received $1.4M in scholarship offers and will be attending an M7 school on a full ride this fall. None of this would have been possible without Brian. Working with him changed the course of my life and I’ll always be grateful for that.

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Unleashed Confidence To Defy All Odds!

I had the fortunate opportunity to work with Angela during my MBA Round 2 for full-time Fall ’23. At the beginning, I had a lot of doubts about my profile and whether I could get into a top 15 school. I was worried about my undergraduate GPA (3.17/4), my relatively lower than average GMAT score (680), and my atypical background (non-diverse male in real estate construction finance). But choosing to work with Angela was, no doubt, the best decision I made. From the get-go, I was blown away by how obvious it was to her on how to counteract my weak stats by leveraging my ‘great, collaborative, and fun’ (her words) personality and my unique career experiences as my strengths within my application. She always had complete faith that these strengths are exactly what will help me successfully cross the finish line. Not only that, she gave me the tools to juggle and manage around 8 different applications, and submit each application with full confidence that it showed my best abilities and life stories.

Angela is a MASTER at helping people embrace their own stories and express them effectively. She understands how important it is to stand out among thousands of other applicants, focusing on what made me unique rather than just telling the AdCom what they wanted to hear. Surprisingly, I ended up using many life stories in my applications that I initially thought were irrelevant, but they turned out to be pivotal moments that perfectly showcased who I am and what I’m all about.

She’s brutally honest and it’s BEAUTIFUL. It is exactly what I needed during the process. She knows when to say no and offers alternative perspectives and solutions. It was confusing at times and even overwhelming to go against some information that I would find in online forums, Reddit, and speaking with other applicants, but putting full trust in her quirky and exciting process is what led to my success.

When I initially applied to 5 schools and found out that I was waitlisted at 4 of my top choices. Angela sensed the urgency and immediately helped me prioritize a game plan to stand out and get off the waitlist. Right away, she told me the hard truth of being on the waitlist and also told me something that I didn’t want to hear, which was to take the GRE instead of the GMAT. Looking back, this was the best advice and just one example of how strategic she is in her approach. She also pushed me to get creative with a video response that a school requested while I was on the waitlist, rather than taking the boring path. Thanks to all her efforts, dedication, and vast knowledge, I got accepted into 3 schools (still counting) and ultimately my top choice, Booth.

Overall, Angela is an amazing ROCKSTAR and a genius, enthusiastic person who brought out the best of my stories and I’ve learned a lifelong skill of creative self-advocacy. If you want to succeed in your MBA aspirations, I highly recommend working with Angela and her team at Career Protocol!

Yash Baheti

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BEST... COACH... EVER...

When I first started seeking an admissions consultant, my sole objective was to find a person who could teach me all the tips and tricks to sneak my way into one of the most prestigious programs in the world. I felt that my background was weak (white male, undergrad at a non-target state school, average GMAT score, and an impressive, but non-traditional professional background), and many consultants had me convinced that they held a secret formula to help me disguise these flaws. Then comes my coach…

By the end of our free intro call, my perspective on the application process had been flipped on its head. While many other consultants spoke of how they’d leverage their expertise and talent, my coach spoke of how he’d leverage mine. In the duration of a 30-minute call, he had thoroughly dissected my ambitions and desires to a degree that I had never thought to explore. But more importantly, he was genuinely excited for what I dreamed to accomplish. Our conversation made me feel empowered and proud of my accomplishment, not ashamed of my shortcomings. All the self-doubt and insecurity that I’d felt thus far was gone, and I knew that I’d found not only an admissions consultant, but a friend, mentor, and cheerleader with a sincere interest in seeing me succeed.

After hiring my coach, we started a several-week process of introspection; school applications were not discussed until later. He wanted to extract the personal and professional stories that shaped me, understand what was driving me to pursue an MBA, and ultimately what I hoped to accomplish in my life and career both short- and long-term. This self-discovery process not only helped him as we crafted my essays, but also helped me provide a far more genuine and compelling story as I networked and interviewed with current students, alumni, and ad-coms. As we moved into the essay and interview prep phases, this introspection paid dividends. I knew who I was and what I wanted to accomplish in a concise, genuine, and believable story, and I had already reflected on the stories to prove it. While I had zero doubt that I’d made the right choice with my coach, it was confirmed when I received Stanford GSB and Wharton interviews and over $80k in scholarships from Duke Fuqua and Yale SOM (which he masterfully helped me negotiate).

To summarize, gaining my coach as a mentor and friend has become one of the greatest blessings of my life. He changed the course of my life not only by helping me gain admission to my dream schools, but also by equipping me with the skills, confidence, and self-awareness to achieve my goals during and after my MBA. If you want to simply gain admission, go with the other guy. If you want to gain admission and prepare yourself for the rest of your life and career at the same time, go with my coach.

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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!

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