Accepted To Darden & Stern

I first contacted David in March of 2018 after reading some of his reviews on various sites and forums. At the time, I was still studying for the GMAT and beginning this process with no idea of what to expect. Fortunately, I was able to set up a call with him in which I discussed my career aspirations and gave him a bit of my background. David immediately shortlisted a few schools that matched my goals and that he thought were attainable based on my profile and potential GMAT score. I decided after that call that I was going to go with David and Menlo Coaching. He was honest and didn’t tell me what I wanted to hear. He was realistic about what was achievable for me, and I greatly appreciated his candor. Based on where I was in the process, we decided that Round 2 made the most sense for me since I still needed time to do schools visits and lock in a GMAT score. David was supportive during my GMAT journey and periodically checked in on me as I was studying and taking practices tests, offering advice and connections to GMAT tutors along the way. David also set up weekly Skype sessions with other Menlo applicants so we could keep each other honest during the application process and could openly ask questions to other people going through the same process. In late July, I finally took the GMAT and got a score that would make me competitive at the schools that David and I had discussed. As soon as I finished the GMAT, the applications began. I started setting up schools visits to all of the schools that I was applying to so that I would have a good feel for what the school culture was like and so that I could have more material to write about in my applications. This was a part of the process that I had not previously considered and I’m glad David pushed me to make these visits, it really was an eye-opening experience. The essays and applications themselves were a difficult, but manageable process thanks to David and the Menlo team. We started the writing process with a “kick-off” call to come up with material and stories from my personal and professional experience so that I could present my best self to all of the programs that I was applying to. During this call, David realized that I hadn’t lived up to my potential in my undergrad or during my recruitment from undergrad, and decided that it would be best to lean into that, rather than present my academic and career achievements thus far as the best I could’ve possibly done. I think this was singlehandedly the most impactful advice that David had on my entire application cycle. I then began meticulously writing one to two hours a day after work, coming up with essays that were based on the material that we came up with on the call. I would then usually email my drafts to David right before I went to bed. With David being based in Amsterdam and me in the US, I would usually wake up to David’s edits to my essays, which was really nice. The responses were always within 24 hours, but it felt instantaneous because I would send the drafts before going to bed and wake up with responses in my inbox. After submitting my applications, I was lucky enough to interview at all 5 schools that I applied to. David and Rebecca (another consultant at Menlo) both helped prepare me for my interviews. In fact, David helped me go over school-specific content before every school that I interviewed at; we must’ve had 6 – 7 mock interviews. The Results. I had a bit of a bland profile (white-male-finance) and average scores for my cohort, but with David’s help, I was able to receive offers from Darden and Stern and was waitlisted at Tuck and Ross. I’m very happy with my results and wholeheartedly recommend David (and Menlo Coaching) to anyone that is looking to begin their MBA journey.