You have decided to apply for business school, and the next thing you know a question keeps hammering away at your mind: “Should I or should I not hire an MBA admissions consultant/”

There are many factors to consider. To begin with, MBA courses don’t exactly come cheap; and then to have to shell out even more to get someone to guide you through the admissions process – is it really worth it? Isn’t it possible to navigate the admissions process on your own? And even if, in the final analysis, you make up your mind to take on an MBA admissions consultant, how do you choose from the hundreds of their like flooding the market? How do you separate the grain from the chaff? After all, they all display brilliant track records. How do you figure out which are true and which false? And as for the quality of their services and their charges, how much can you go by the assumption that the more expensive a consultant is, the greater the likelihood that he or she is worth the investment?

These are, one and all, perfectly legitimate questions, and it is precisely these questions that this article sets out to address. The question and answer format I have employed is expressly designed to make individual points stand out more effectively. All you need to do is to put yourself in the questioner’s shoes. Naturally, the respondent is yours truly.

Q1. Is an MBA admissions consultant absolutely necessary, or can it sometimes even turn out to be avoidable self-indulgence?

A1. Let’s say you were a brilliant student. Let’s take it one step further and say that you were not only a brilliant student but also that you’ve had a crack at entrepreneurship and done rather well at it. Your confidence is sky high. You feel strong enough to take up any challenge. You feel that any MBA B school admissions committee is bound to be impressed by your credentials. What on earth would you need an MBA admissions consultant for?

In his heyday, Roger Federer was the best tennis player of his time. In fact, He is hailed as one of the all-time greats of the game. So is Sachin Tendulkar of cricket. Yet both of them lent a willing ear to their coaches, even when they were at their prime. Why?

The reason is that coaches brought an added dimension to their performance which they would not have been able to provide by themselves. There were matters of analysis and research and strategy and planning that were best handled by specialists who were specifically trained to look into these matters. And these specialists were none other than the coaches. When player and coach hit it off fine, the results spoke for themselves.

So is the equation between you, a business school aspirant, and your MBA admissions consultant. Of course, I’m assuming that it’s the internationally top-ranked B schools you’re applying to, not those that are ranked, for instance, between 90 and 100 in the FT business school rankings. Where less ambitious applicants are concerned, it may be understandable if they shrug off the thought of hiring an MBA admissions consultant, but otherwise it will be a case of fools stepping in where angels fear to tread. Indeed, over the last 20 years, 99 percent of the applicants I have professionally catered to have gunned for the likes of a Harvard or a Booth or a Wharton. There it’s a different ball game altogether.

You may be hugely talented, but do you have the insight to judge which B schools best fit your profile, what kind of resumes evoke the most positive responses, which points may be profitably incorporated and which ones are better left unsaid in your essays, what style of writing would be most appropriate for a given topic, and how interviews can be aced even if you aren’t the world’s most fluent speaker? There are great subtleties involved which often escape the untrained eye, and which you can only ignore at your own peril. Experience counts here as nothing else, as well as factors such as inside information of what the latest developments are in the world of MBA admissions. This is where an MBA admissions consultant worth his salt can make his presence felt.

Remember you’re up against some of the keenest young minds in the world, and the competition to get into the most prestigious B schools – some 25 of them – is as hot as it gets. There’s no room for the slightest complacency – once you’re in the race you’ve got to go full steam ahead till you touch the tape. If your MBA admissions consultant is the right kind, he’ll be there at the sidelines, cheering you to victory.

Consider the following data:

The admission ratio for the top 25 MBA programs is a meagre 15 %. For Indian and Chinese applicants, it’s not even 5 %. In other words, almost 85 % of applicants perish each year. Thanks to the growth of economies that globalization has brought in its wake, there has been a phenomenal rise in the need for managers across the world. Because MBA programs cater to this pressing demand, MBA admissions consultancy has, over the last two decades, catapulted into a thriving business.

That said, such a phenomenon is fraught with its inevitable dangers. While it’s true that money attracts talent, it equally attracts deceit and unscrupulousness. You better watch where you’re going.

Q2. How do you distinguish between good and bad MBA admissions consultants?

A2. Let’s consider the different kinds of MBA admissions consultants out there.

First, there’s the US-based MBA admissions consultant. He has a few things going for him. One: the fact that he is US-based. The word ‘US’ has a halo of its own, which draws attention to itself.

Two: A majority of the top-tier B schools are located right there, in the USA.

You’d think these factors would give the US-based MBA admissions consultant an unparalleled advantage, but wait – let’s look at the flip side:

A US-based admissions consultant charges between $4,500 and $6,900 for one school package. That’s clearly beyond the reach of a whole lot of people, whether Asian or American or European.

Take the case of an Indian IT engineer with 5 years of work experience. Typically, he earns $8,500 a year. Were he to hire a US-based MBA admissions consultant, he’d be handing over a whopping 70 % of his income to his consultant. For Indian applicants with non-IT backgrounds, the situation would be even grimmer.

Even for an average American earning an annual income of $60,000, the price of hiring a US-based MBA admissions consultant would be uncomfortably dear.

Because India is less wealthy than the USA and the cost of living there is approximately one-fourth that of the latter, an India-based MBA admissions consultant is significantly more affordable than his US-based counterpart. Additionally, if he’s a graduate of a top-ranked US B school and has some years of consultancy experience to back him up, then you need not search any further: he is just the person you’re looking for.

In passing, it must be added that, of late, a new kind of MBA admissions consultant has appeared on the scene. The chances are that he’ll be an MBA alumnus of a well-known B school who’s now working in a big company as an executive or in a similar capacity; or he may be an ex-MBA admissions committee member who is now employed in a multinational. Either way, he is well off, but the lure of money being what it is, he has an insatiable craving for more. His weekends are free, and he is averse to letting them go waste, so what does he do? He sets himself up as a part-time MBA admissions consultant. What with his elite B school background, he finds easy entry into one of the many consultancies dotting the MBA admissions scene like pockmarks on affected skin.

The firm he joins is strong in marketing, but wanting somewhat ethically. He is portrayed as an MBA admissions consultant guru who can take you places you never dreamed of. You may find yourself thinking, “Here’s my chance of a life-time – if I hire this gem of an MBA admissions consultant, my future is made. So what if his charges are high? The day will come when I’ll be raking in the moolah, so what’s stopping me now from taking a loan if I have to?”

How aptly it’s been said, “Look before you leap.” Ask yourself why this person is a part-time MBA admissions consultant in the first place. Is he motivated by a sense of mission of by greed? What is uppermost in his mind – your ambition to make it into a good B school, or the profit he’ll be making through you?

You know the answer. I don’t have to spell it out.

All this is not to say that the full-time MBA admissions consultant is driven entirely by selfless goodwill toward his prospective clients; but his is at least a symbiotic relationship – if he takes with one hand, he equally gives with the other. Should you really expect anything more than that?

Q3. Okay, so you’ve identified the kind of MBA admissions consultant one should look for. But, within this kind, how do you zero in on the exact person you should hire? I mean, let’s say there’s X and Y and Z, all of whom meet the initial criteria you have mentioned. Why should you, say, hire Y and not X or Z?

A3. That’s a good question. Imagine that you’re the hiring manager in the HR department of an organization. How would you go about recruiting a new member for your team?

There’s a tried and tested method of going about it which essentially comprises the following process:

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Examine his past experience.

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Check out his references. In the context of an MBA admissions consultant, this would mean looking into the consultant’s client testimonials (in particular, video and LinkedIn testimonials). It is important to follow this up with the requisite search to verify the authenticity of the persons in question and their testimonials.

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If possible, get in touch with those he worked with previously to get further insight into the candidate’s overall attitude and quality of work. (In the case of an MBA admissions consultant, this would again refer to his past clients.)

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If the candidate gets through these initial tests, set up an interview with him to evaluate his bent of mind and subject knowledge. In the course of the interview, there are many things you’ll need to observe: Does he readily catch on to what you’re trying to tell him? Is he a good listener? Is his general outlook commercial, or is he genuinely interested in your cause? Does he come across as self-centered or empathetic? Does he ever, by hint or overtly, suggest that you apply to low-ranked schools? (his motivation being that, if you do get admitted, it would boost his success ratio and hence give him bragging rights).

Above all, don’t fall into the trap of giving credence to tall claims. A five-star review in GMAT Club, Beatthegmat, or other online forums may not mean a thing. The internet is not only replete with faulty advice to prospective MBA applicants, but also full of cock-and-bull testimonials and so-called statistical evidence that bears out the classic definition of the different kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.

Here, for instance, is a remarkable claim made by an MBA admissions consultancy on the Beat the GMT website:

“We transparently release the statistical evidence of our admissions success. For example, our lifetime success rate at Columbia is 75%+, and our Round 1 Success Rate at HBS is 90%+.”

Now, the admissions acceptance rates at Columbia and HBS hover around 22 % and 9 % respectively, which gives the lie to the above claim and reminds me of the famous Abraham Lincoln quote, “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.”

When it comes to testimonials, the picture isn’t any different. There are testimonials aplenty which drip generous amounts of honey, but there’s no way to verify their authenticity – which is why I indicated earlier that it’s only the verifiable testimonials that carry any weight; the rest might as well evaporate into thin air.

Q4. I suppose different MBA admissions consultants have different ways of approaching their work. Could you give an example of your functional style?

A4. Gladly. Let’s take the case study of my past client Nasir Khan (You’re invited to watch his video as well .) He was an Asian applicant to several top EMBA programs in Europe and the United States. In a sense, he was in a pole position to be considered for a top-tier B school: he had over 20 years experience in various entrepreneurial ventures across Asia and Africa; he had an MBA friend he could fall back on for advice; and his wife was a highly supportive journalist who had studied in Columbia University.

Given his background, Nasir decided to have a shot at admission into B school all by himself – that it to say, without availing of the services of any MBA admissions consultant. Accordingly, he picked out 5 B schools of his choice, meticulously composed the required essays, created his CV, selected a list of recommenders, and his heart brimming with hope, duly sent off his applications one by one. To his utter dismay, all his 5 applications were rejected.

He was shocked. He mulled over the matter and eventually made up his mind to have another go at it, but this time with the help of an MBA admissions consultant. He pored over the credentials of a host of professionals. Finally, impressed by the video testimonials of my past clients, he reached out to me.

On going through the applications he had sent out earlier, I soon figured out where his problem lay. Having been advised to lay emphasis on differentiating himself from other applicants, who would all be invariably highlighting their professional achievements, he had put his primary focus on his extracurricular leadership skills. I could not help feeling that his approach had been erratic.

It so happened that Nasir had been subjected to childhood trauma that had left a deep scar on his psyche. Consequently, he had determined to turn himself into a socially responsible citizen and, in keeping with his resolve, had contributed substantially to NGO efforts directed toward the welfare of women and children. In recounting his social service experiences in his essays, Nasir had imagined that the fact that he was presenting the human side of himself would go down well with the various admissions committees, but alas, that was not to be.

I initiated prolonged brainstorming sessions with Nasir, wherein I heard out his life story and made a mental note of his strengths and weaknesses, of his accomplishments and failures, and of the forces that had molded him. It took some persuasion, but I was eventually able to convince him that what he needed most of all was a change of strategy – much as B schools appreciated people with a sense of social responsibility, they would prefer candidates who possessed unquestionable business acumen and promise. His essays, therefore, would have to be re-written in that light.

Under my guidance, he re-drafted his essays, bringing his entrepreneurial skills to the forefront and, while not totally ignoring his extracurriculars, relegating them to the background.

I am happy to say that our plan of action worked wonderfully: Nasir was accepted not by one but by two prominent B schools – LBS and Chicago Booth.

Q5. How do you tackle applicants with an average or below-average track record?

A5. It’s true that a large number of applicants suffer from low GPA and GMAT scores, gaps in work experience, unsatisfactory extracurricular credentials, undeveloped communication skills, a lack of confidence, and allied negative issues. They present a real challenge to their MBA admissions consultants. However, while no MBA admissions consultant can turn lead into gold, the more dexterous among them can certainly transform a poor candidate into an average one, and an average one into a strong one.

One last word: when choosing your MBA admissions consultant, make sure you go in for someone you can strike a rapport with. That makes for smooth sailing, simplifies hard work, and ensures success.

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