Prices & Services

From Scratch Editing	Sanity Check	Ding Report	Interview Prep

Great for early birds and ultra dedicated types who are devoted to getting into their first choice	I've completed my app, and I want you to review it one-time as both a sanity check and for improvements	Ouch, I was dinged by H, W, or Stanford, and I want you to tell me why, and how I can improve as a reapplicant	Hello! I've got an HBS or other interview and I want to send you my application and then have a mock interview with you to go over commonly asked questions, and my positioning, and my presentation style

FROM SCRATCH EDITING--$2400.00
(yup, per school)

Our plan for ultra-devoted types who want to maximize their chances for their Number 1 choice school. We give you a really no-bull discussion which includes your chances, what you might do to improve your application, and what schools are maybe better choices. That is actually free, and you can get that by sending us a resume and outlining age, stats, etc. Or calling us at 617.354.2242, but beginning w. an e-mail is better.

If you want to go ahead, we will outline what you have to do, essay by essay, and suggest how best to present yourself.

Then we will have you write your essays and go back and continue to bug you for improvements based on more and better details, better lessons, better mastery of the narrative, more shrewd goals and reasons for attending your dream school, etc. etc.

That is a back-and-forth process by email (especially after things have gotten started) and phone (in the beginning), which often takes about 3-6 iterations per essay (sometimes more, but that usually means trouble!!, but we stick with you). We also will review your recommendations, if you have access to them, and suggest tweaks in terms of details, etc. In some cases, applicants send us other parts of short answer questions, and in some cases, applicants ask us what their favorite hobby is, or what what gender they are (some people become very dependent on working with a consultant, not a good thing, and we try to wean you away from that, if in real doubt about your gender, put down FEMALE, if under-going a sex-change operation, apply to Stanford and write about it).

Who should sign up for From Scratch Editing ? Ultra dedicated, plan-ahead types who have absolutely dreamed of going to HBS, Wharton or Stanford their entire lives and just cannot wait to get going. Are you like this client?

I am another 100% satisfied customer of Sandy's. In at Stanford, Harvard, Wharton

Sandy is focused, blunt, and up front. I worked with him for first rounds apps. After my "I'll do anything to get into Stanford" speech . . . we worked on the many drafts of my essay. It was not a pretty sight, pages of writing I thought were outstanding were deleted, topics reworked, everything was moved around. I ended up with these essays that were amazing. And those essays got me into Stanford, Wharton, and Harvard. [ More Testimonials]

ONE-TIME SANITY CHECK--$900.00 PER SCHOOL

If you email us your entire application including the essays, data sheet, recs (if you have them), and resume:

We will go through each question, appraise its strengths and weaknesses, point out key mistakes, make suggestions for improvement [or deletion] and figure out a better spin;
We will also give you 'macro' advice about positioning, the proper balance of work versus non-work content, the proper 'voice' to use given you 'positioning' strategies.
We will also go through your resume and other materials looking for 'hidden' assets--many winner essays, especially for HBS, can be developed from neglected nuggets in your resume, or casual phone remarks ("Oh yeah, well I did supervise a Girl Scout cookie drive with 40 girls and we sold 1,000 boxes of cookies, is that leadership?")
We will put it all together, your positioning, your voice, specifics about each question, suggestions for better answers.
First, we will send you an e-mail outlining all the above, macro and micro issues, and then we will follow this up with a brainstorming phone call where we will go over each question in your draft, note the issues above, and figure out how to improve that question in your first draft, or suggest killing that response for something else.

WHY DO WE CALLTHIS THE "ONE-TIME" SANITY CHECK OPTION?

If you have completed a new application for Harvard, Stanford, Wharton and other schools, we quickly give you an up or down appraisal, plus tips for reworking answers, macro suggestions, and--if it is very close to when the application is due--some REAL HONEST advice about whether you should defer and hit a later round. IT IS CALLED THE 'ONE-TIME' SANITY CHECK BECAUSE AFTER WE GO THROUGH APPLICATION ONE -TIME AND TALK TO YOU ON THE PHONE, THE SERVICE IS OVER.

Some people call this the one-night stand option, because you don't get another date.

THE DING REPORT--$300.00

Help I was dinged at HBS/S/W and it hurts and I want to know why?
If you send us your stats, essays and recs, we will go thru the whole package with you, by e-mail and on the phone, tell you what we think your shortcomings were, make suggestions for improvement, and suggest both action and repositioning strategies for next time, plus give you a realistic and brutally honest rap on what we think your chances are, where you should apply, etc. --Amazing

WHAT DOES A DING REPORT LOOK LIKE??????

Click here - This one is for Wharton, well, just our comments, not the underlying application, but you get the idea

INTERVIEW PREP --$300.00

HELLO!!!!!

Lucky me, I have an HBS, Wharton, Stanford, Columbia etc. interview and I do not want to blow it.
Well, if you send us your application, we will go over it, probe for weaknesses, and likely qustions, and arrange a time to give you a 'mock" phone interview -- sorry no in-person interiviews, even for beauty contest winners (a surprisingly large group actually, especially for international students). This takes about one-hour and will usually both tear you down and build you back up, and give you lots to think about before your real interview, which will seem like a piece of cake by comparison.