It was almost a year ago when I first stumbled upon Essay Snark after what felt like my hundredth Google search for any and all things MBA related. There were two elements which caught my attention about the site. First, was the blunt, honest, tell-it-like-is nature of the material they were posting and second was the offer of a pro-bono comprehensive profile review offered to current and former military.
After a couple of email exchanges and registration, I was off to the races in filling out the requisite questionnaire, which was to give Snark a basic idea of who I was, what I had done/was doing and where I was heading. Admittedly, I was a bit frustrated at first because I couldn’t complete the form in 30 minutes. I couldn’t even complete it in one day. It took me the better part of three or four days to finish and be satisfied with my inputs. That was Monday, April 13th. On Saturday, April 18th I had message in my inbox stating that my feedback was complete. It was 16 pages long, delivered to me (a non-paying customer) on a Saturday, less than a week after submitting.
I will spare a majority of the details contained in my personalized feedback, but I wanted to include a brief example to illustrate the level of effort put into these reviews. I took the GMAT three times (frustrated and beaten down after each attempt) and scored above average on my final attempt, improving significantly along the way. Snark analyzed this by saying “we’re betting that you feel you squeezed the most out of it that you could with that most recent attempt.” I couldn’t have said it better myself. They went on to say, “we think you should hold with this score.” That’s exactly what I did. I point this out because the easy thing for this or any admissions consultant to do would have been to say “your GMAT has room for improvement. We think you need to get a higher GMAT score.” Easier said than done, as most GMAT takers can attest to. I was impressed by their willingness and ability to look at the context as opposed to just the number.
The process of input into the review questionnaire and the detailed, personalized feedback I received was instrumental on my path to getting accepted to the top school on my list. Once again, I’d like to extend my sincere gratitude to Essay Snark and their generous efforts to the military community.