Seth Gilmore

Seth and I worked together on multiple applications and I highly recommend him. Throughout the process, Seth was collaborative, insightful, and unafraid to tell hard truths. More importantly, he genuinely cared about my outcomes. Ultimately this is what made the partnership so successful. Seth expertly moved me from generic cliches to genuine insights about my candidacy. This resulted in applications that were perfectly positioned for my background and the programs I was applying to. Seth excellently prepared me for interviews, teaching me how to identify the deeper meanings of commonly asked questions and how to best convey my story to the interviewer. He also conferred me on deep knowledge of the application process, which was particularly helpful when I launched a successful waitlist campaign. Seth frequently went above and beyond, most notably in a late-night working session to finish essays ahead of a round 1 deadline. You will not find a better guide for your MBA journey than Seth.

Seth was instrumental in helping me through the admissions process. From Day 1, he was providing valuable information on effective networking and successful interaction with the programs to which I was applying. Coming from a non-traditional background in engineering, I had no idea what MBA programs valued or expected when it came to resumes or essays. In working through the development of my resume and stories, he provided constant feedback and helped pull out what was important for me to say. When work priorities impacted my ability to focus on my applications, Seth went above and beyond to help me succeed in a reduced timeframe. Without his help, I couldn’t imagine getting into a top school, let alone with a generous scholarship. I can’t recommend him enough.

Seth from MBA Exchange was a vital part of my being accepted into my target school, Tuck. I come from a somewhat non-traditional background, sales, and work in a division of my company where attending an elite business school is not a goal for most. This left me so confused with the basics of how to go about networking with the right people, telling my story in a way that speaks to the values of business schools, and how “speak the language” of MBA’s.

Seth gave as much time as I asked for (a lot) and patiently talked me through navigating the milieu of top schools. Of course, he helped with goals, essays, and apps very effectively as well, but the real value was in his taking the time to meticulously construct the picture of what we wanted the schools to see while still letting me remain my authentic self.

In addition, the resources at Seth’s disposal through MBA Exchange fit seamlessly into our discussions. Everything felt well organized with dates set for each step and an explanation as to why we took the actions we did.

Seth has clearly made careful study of the B-school world and is willing to be generous with his time to make sure you have the knowledge you need to land at your target school. I highly recommend his services!

Seth is very diligent and detail-oriented. Needless to say he is extremely skilled and informative. He played a very crucial role in my application process and I ended up with successful top apps. With everything that went on at work, I was preoccupied with tasks/deliverables and if not for Seth, I wouldn’t have done justice to the application process. He challenged me at every step as much as he was critical. His feedback wasn’t always rosy but it propelled me to constantly improve and make the content better. He was timely in responding (very responsive) and went above and beyond his role, assumed extra responsibilities to just get the apps out on time. I can’t thank him enough and I definitely attribute a huge part of my successful app process to him and his work.

I had the pleasure of working with Seth when I was applying to schools for the Class of 2017, and I can say without a shred of doubt that Seth was instrumental in achieving admission to my dream school. He’s honest, at times brutally so (he’ll definitely let you know when your essay drafts are sub-par!) but never mean or unfair. More critically, he is clear with his feedback and works to make sure your voice and your story comes through, rather than putting words in your mouth. No doubt this often makes for more back and forth which only means more work for Seth, but he patiently powers through because he knows the end result is a more powerful and honest essay from the candidate. Beyond essay help, Seth was also amazing with interview prep. I still vividly remember running through mock interviews with Seth the nights before each of my interviews, and Seth offering advice that I then took with me to the interview. Critically, Seth tailors your prep slightly for each school, making sure you can highlight the qualities the individual schools like to hear. I write this as my time in school is winding down. As I reflected on my experience, I realized how grateful I was to Seth for giving me this opportunity. He’s someone who is clearly passionate about helping candidates achieve success in the application process, and someone whom I would not hesitate to recommend to anyone.

The MBA Exchange was instrumental in allowing me to put forth the best possible application and find effective ways to sell my non-traditional, qualitatively-oriented educational and career background. My uphill battle was compounded by two layoffs within the past five years and subsequent difficulty in maintaining a track record of increasing stature and responsibility in my work positions. More than anything, what the MBA Exchange brought to the process was perspective. I My consultant, Seth Gilmore, challenged me to bring everything about; placing my story, crafting my niche, and selling that to the audience. This applied to every aspect of the application, above and beyond the essays. Seth brought the essential reviewer/reader’s perspective and his input enabled me to refine and emphasize certain points to make the essays more focused on highlighting the qualities that admissions committees want in their incoming classes. Anyone who is applying to a top business school is somewhat versed in that, but given my situation and the degree of compeition it was wise to seek a set of experienced eyes. Additionally, with my qualitative, writing-heavy background I found my tendency to be verbose as a hindrance to writing essays that cover a lot of ground within the confines of 300 words. Seth and the team at the MBA Exchange are craftsmen of the English language and will give you great ideas to shorten your essays without reducing the effectiveness or substance of the story, therefore allowing you to write another sentence or two that could reveal another personal quality to the reader. Finally, Seth always made himself available. Despite being COO of a startup, he responded to every e-mail, text and phone call within 24 hours in addition to giving ample notice of times that he would not be available. This contributed to a more organized and therefore enjoyable experience. I will be starting at Cornell Johnson in August, and I thank Seth and The MBA Exchange for helping me get there.

I would like to recommend Seth Gilmore of MBA Exchange. I am sure that without his assistance I wouldn’t have made it to one of the top 10 business schools (poetsandquants ranking). Seth coached me through entire process; working with him was an absolutely transformative experience. The list of items was pretty much the same the most MBA consulting companies offer but the personal approach really made the difference. Seth helped me to re-evaluate my achievements and shape my personal brand without adding anything that wasn’t part of me. He helped me to completely revamp the resume, articulate my short- and long-term goals and prepare the essays for each school in a clear and compelling way. Seth was very diligent and professional. He was replying to my emails and sending me his notes almost always within 24 hours despite the amount of work. This was very important for me for I am an international student based outside the US, we had 12 hours difference and the application timing was very tight. Thorough the entire process I always had his constant support and assistance. My GMAT is 700, my GPA is also well below average for all of the top10 schools. Judging by pure numbers I was not in the top10 ballpark, still due to the well-formulated goals, compelling story and self-awareness, that Seth helped me to put together, I got interviews with 3 out of 4 top10 schools I applied (I didn’t apply to safety schools). In the end I got accepted to one, rejected by two and waitlisted by another one (I guess I would have done better with the last one if only I took more time preparing for the interview). Everyone decides for him/herself to go for a consulting firm or to look for other sources of expertise. In my case I knew from the beginning that none of my friends, teachers or family members was able to provide the coaching I needed. However, it is only after I started working with Seth I got the idea of the true extent and importance of this expertise. Bottom-line: I would recommend Seth Gilmore to anyone without hesitation. He is extremely smart, genuine and professional person. He was always there when I needed his help. His guidance helped me to avoid most of the pitfalls, which I was not even aware of, despite all the books I’ve read on the subject.

I had the pleasure of working with Seth in helping me draft applications to 5 top tier schools. Seth went out of his way to work with my schedule and help me work through the full MBA Exchange process to get a firm grasp on my goals and my story. These were things that I knew internally, but working with Seth to put a clear definition on my long term goals, my goals for business school, and identifying my unique qualities and value-adds to an MBA community will serve me for years to come. Seth was remarkably great with his speed of response and provided detailed feedback so that I was able to communicate my goals in my essays and create an arc for my application. At the end of our work together, everything I created and submitted was truly my own work of which I was very proud. Seth provided the feedback and guidance that gave me structure and helped to look at my experiences in a light that highlighted my accomplishments and the true why importance of the narrative I was weaving. Seth was not only great to work with but also is ab overall great and engaging person. I give him my highest regards and recommendation!