Forbes reviewed industry surveys and spoke to an M.B.A. expert to find out if the value of an M.B.A. outweighs its price. “Employers know that top M.B.A. programs are highly selective,” says David White, founding partner of Menlo Coaching. “For this reason, they often target top M.B.A. programs when recruiting for some of the most attractive and highly compensated jobs.”
During his five years in MBA admissions at Stanford Graduate School of Business, Luke Anthony Peña worked under a boss who took a public stand against MBA admissions consulting. Now, Peña has crossed over to the other side, joining Menlo Coaching, a well-known admissions consulting firm, as a principal. “There is irony that my trajectory has taken me in this direction,” says Peña. “But the older I get, the more I appreciate the value of coaching in all parts of life.”
If you think a long-term admissions consulting arrangement may be the right fit, we highly recommend you look into Menlo Coaching, led by Alice van Harten, Ph.D. Through ongoing guidance and consistent check-ins, Alice and her team of dedicated mentors help students identify and seize opportunities for growth, navigate academic challenges, and strategically shape their extracurricular involvements to align with their interests and future aspirations.
“Once upon a time, MBA programs strongly preferred the GMAT,” says Luke Anthony Peña, principal of consulting and business development at Menlo Coaching, an MBA admissions consulting firm. “In this moment in time, MBA programs strongly encourage applicants to choose the exam where they can score the highest and best demonstrate their readiness and preparation for the rigor of a graduate MBA program.”
Few people are better qualified to give MBA application tips than Luke Anthony Peña. As former director of admissions at Stanford Graduate School of Business and Tuck School of Business, he’s now principal, consulting and business development at Menlo Coaching. We spoke to Luke to find out whether now is a good time to apply to B-school in the US, and what MBA hopefuls can do to increase their likelihood of success if they go ahead and apply.
Unsure whether to submit your MBA application in Round 1, 2 or 3? David White of Menlo Coaching explains what admissions directors are looking for in each application round. By being strategic about which round you apply in, you can play to your strengths, have a solid plan going into your application year, and maximize your chances of acceptance.
College Consensus ranks Menlo Coaching among the best college admissions consultants for 2025. Menlo Coaching is well-known for providing students with the assistance they need to prove their scholastic ability as well as their commitment to succeed. Students are counseled by the best admissions consultants in the business and given the advice they need to become stronger, more well-rounded individuals both in and out of the classroom
The College Consensus team ranks Menlo Coaching among the best admissions consulting firms in 2024: “This experienced and knowledgeable MBA admissions consulting team helps candidates push for more, find their voice, and tell their stories in the most compelling way possible. Menlo will help its clients gain access to high-quality MBA programs.”
Poets&Quants includes Menlo Coaching in its ranking of the top medium-sized MBA admissions consulting firms for 2025. Menlo Coaching received the highest overall client satisfaction score of any large or medium-sized firm, a near-perfect 9.98.
Menlo Coaching’s Rebecca Heath Anderson and Pascal Michels make Poets&Quants’ Top MBA Admissions Consultants list for 2025. They’re among only 14 consultants to achieve a perfect 10.0 client satisfaction score based on reviews on the site.
Pursuing an MBA from a top business school in the United States is a dream for many. However, the process of securing a spot in these prestigious programs is highly competitive. In this article, Menlo Coaching team member Daniel Sweet looks at the acceptance rates of top business schools, discusses how to interpret these numbers, and offers guidance on how to use this information to build a smart application strategy based on your profile.
For our 2025 ranking of the best MBA programs, Fortune discussed the MBA ecosystem with two experts who know the space well. They’ve both worked directly with business schools, admissions counselors, and prospective students for a number of years: David White, founding partner, Menlo Coaching, and Lily Bi, president and CEO, AACSB International.
Menlo Coaching’s Pascal Michels makes Poets&Quants’ list of the top MBA admissions consultants of 2024, with a client satisfaction score of 9.93. The analysis is based on verified client reviews at Poets&Quants from September 1, 2022 to August 31, 2023.
Poets&Quants lists Menlo Coaching in its top 5 most favorably reviewed large MBA admissions consulting firms for 2024. Menlo Coaching received the highest average client satisfaction score on the site, a near-perfect 9.96.
Poets&Quants interviews Chris Kane, Menlo Coaching’s Head of Test Prep and VP. In his 20 years of coaching people on the GMAT, Chris has more than met Malcolm Gladwell’s popular dictum that it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at something. Having guided and coached nearly 5,000 GMAT test takers, he boasts the accumulated knowledge and experience of a seasoned doctor treating health problems. “Think of me as the GMAT Doctor who can figure out what a person is doing wrong on this test.”
A Master of Business Administration degree from a top business school is almost a necessity, experts say. David White, founding partner at Menlo Coaching, advises aspiring investment bankers to add MBA courses targeting the leadership, management and communications skills they’ll need later in their careers. For MBA students aiming to work at a firm focused on a single sector, White recommends tailoring coursework to those particular areas of banking.
Business school may look like a male-dominated specialization, but more women are entering and thriving in MBA programs. “Women who gain admission to the top business schools are typically high achievers, and this can put a lot of pressure on them when they enroll in an MBA program,” says Alice van Harten, a founding partner of admission consulting firm Menlo Coaching, where she advises MBA candidates.
One thing that you’ll want to remember when considering extracurriculars is that quality matters much more than quantity. We reached out to college admissions expert, Alice Van Harten: “In order to tell a story or make an impact as a college applicant, you have to do more than study: you have to take action to influence the world around you. That’s why pursuing the right extracurricular activities is essential to proving that you are a compelling candidate for top universities.”
Hailey Cusimano is the Director of Tutoring at Menlo Coaching, where she coaches business school applicants to GMAT success. In her view, the changes made to the GMAT for the new Focus Edition will particularly benefit those students who find preparing and taking exams difficult. “Almost every student I work with is already balancing their GMAT preparation against a very aggressive full-time job,” Hailey explains. “So, looking at something that’s one, a little more short and sweet, and two, gives more opportunity for flexibility bodes very well for test takers.”
Are you interested in GMAT Focus, but haven’t spoken to a professional tutor about whether it’s the right test for you? This episode has got you covered — our guest, Hailey Cusimano, Director of Tutoring at Menlo Coaching, shares her insights on the test and helps you decide if it’s ultimately right for you. As an added bonus, our host, Eric Chambers, a former admissions consultant, weighs in on the value the exam brings to both schools and candidates.
A traditional emphasis on business school credentials wanes as costs rise and private-equity firms seek more diverse recruits. But in presentations to potential investors and investment targets, an M.B.A. can enhance a less-experienced financier’s credibility, said David White, a founding partner of Menlo Coaching. And people feel safer taking risks in a school environment compared with on the job, where performance generally affects decisions on compensation and promotion.
If you’re thinking about applying for business school but are worried about your undergraduate GPA, there’s a few things you should keep in mind. In this article, Danae Anderson of Menlo Coaching discusses some methods of mitigating a low GPA in your business school application, including concrete steps you can take to improve your candidacy.
Poets&Quants ranks Menlo Coaching on its list of the most favorably reviewed medium-sized MBA admissions consulting firms for 2023. Menlo Coaching received a perfect 10.0 for average client satisfaction—a score that truly can’t be beaten.
Now entering her 12th year after serving nearly 300 clients, Alice van Harten of Menlo Coaching is one of the most in-demand MBA admission coaches in the world, so much so that she is raising her consulting fees to a record $20,000 for a three-school package. That sum would likely make her the world’s most pricey MBA admissions coach.
Menlo Coaching founding partner and admissions consultant Alice van Harten features on Poets&Quants’ ranking of the top MBA admissions consultants of 2023. She earned an average client satisfaction score of 9.83.
Even if a candidate doesn’t quite match the typical stats, such as GPA and GMAT scores, of a school’s average student, experts say reach schools are still worth applying to. “It might happen with great execution and a bit of luck,” says Danae Anderson, senior admissions consultant at Menlo Coaching. “For even the best applicants, HBS and GSB are reach programs.”
Because GMAT Data Sufficiency questions are more unusual to students, Problem Solving questions feel more like good old-fashioned high school level math problems, but a closer look shows they too involve much more. If you don’t learn to focus on this more devious type of difficulty in your preparation, you will miss countless GMAT quant questions for which you understand the math principles, but still get the question wrong because it is assessing other attributes.
GMAT Critical Reasoning questions are designed to evaluate a specific set of attributes relating to logic, and most students preparing for the test have never been exposed to this type of argument analysis. To succeed in Critical Reasoning, you must develop a structured set of best practices that help you quickly maneuver through the different tricks and traps you will encounter on these questions.
There’s no doubt that skipping the GMAT, and other admissions tests, sounds like a tempting option: studying for the GMAT exam is hard work, and without a standardized exam, you’ll have one less thing to worry about as you prepare your MBA application. Unfortunately, there are some nuances to both test-optional and test-free admissions policies that you should be aware of, and further, there are some good reasons why you should not skip the GMAT exam.
Getting an MBA for free will require that your MBA candidacy profile stands out to schools for a scholarship or that you secure funding from your current or future employer or that you apply for a fellowship through a non-profit. “A year or two ago, we saw anyone who had vaccine-related experience was in really high demand as a student. People like these might receive generous scholarships directly from the school,” says David White, founding partner and admissions consultant at Menlo Coaching.
Poets&Quants lists Menlo Coaching among its most favorably reviewed MBA admissions consulting firms, as the most favorably reviewed medium-sized firm. Along with the ranking is a profile of Menlo Coaching, where we answered some questions: “Menlo Coaching is well-known for its honesty, transparency, and candor. In that spirit, we do not shy away from the fact that we are also well-known for our prices, which are higher than average.”
Alice van Harten, Menlo Coaching founding partner and admissions consultant, lands a place on Poets&Quants’ list of the top 20 MBA admissions consultants of 2022. She earned a client satisfaction score of 9.93.
When students come to me for help on the Quant section of the GMAT™ exam, they often possess exceptional math skills, sometimes way more advanced than my own. Their inability to reach a high score on the GMAT Quant section usually relates to one simple mistake: they are treating the GMAT like a math test, when it is really a “Quantitative Reasoning” test.
GMAT Sentence Correction questions are poorly understood by most test takers, and you can quickly improve your GMAT score by learning the proper approach to this important GMAT Verbal question type. Success in Sentence Correction begins with understanding what the authors of the GMAT are really trying to test.
Menlo Coaching founding partner Alice van Harten comes in at no. 4 on Poets&Quants’ 2021 list of the best admissions consultants, with Rebecca Heath Anderson at no. 5. Alice also enters the “Hall of Fame” for ranking on the P&Q list every year since its inception.
Looking for that prime consulting job after graduating from your MBA? A study published this week by admissions consultant Menlo Coaching found that INSEAD is the global leader of providing placements at the industry’s leading firms, McKinsey, Bain and BCG.
Chris Kane of Menlo Coaching is one of the most experienced GMAT tutors in the industry and takes great pride in his approach to test preparation. In this article, he shares tips on how to study for the GMAT, particularly when to study (and how to build a schedule) as well as how to organize your study time in three steps.
Menlo Coaching’s founding partners Alice van Harten and David White rank in Poets&Quants’ top 20 most favorably reviewed MBA admissions consultants of 2020. They received overall client satisfaction scores of 9.91 and 9.90 respectively.
For the third consecutive year, Menlo Coaching’s founding partners make Poets&Quants’ 2019 ranking of the most favorably reviewed MBA admissions consultants. “I decided to partner with an admissions consultant, and am so glad that I partnered with David. From the get-go, he was honest with me about my chances at top schools and pinpointed areas of weakness for me to address.”
David White and Alice van Harten, founding partners of Menlo Coaching, rank 1st and 3rd in Poets&Quants’ top 10 most favorably reviewed MBA admissions consultants of 2018. “David was genuinely interested in my success and that showed by the level by the level of interest he took and the candid discussions we had.”
Watch this discussion between John A. Byrne and Poets&Quants’ most reviewed admissions consultants, Jessica Burlingame of The MBA Exchange, David White & Alice Van Harten of Menlo Coaching, and Betsy Massar of Master Admissions to get an idea of what you should be looking for (and looking out for) when selecting an admissions consultant.
Menlo Coaching’s founding partners David White and Alice van Harten appear on Poets&Quants’ ranking of the top 10 most favorably reviewed MBA admissions consultants in 2017. “What’s most important, Alice is empathetic and genuine, which helps me to open up in the application process and to write about my true feelings in the essays.”