Testimonials Holder

A Note From Walter Hutchinson What is Velociti ^TM? Why is it fundamental to our process and to your goals? Velociti ^TM is our standard for working with applicants around the world. It targets a combination of characteristics which have attracted admissions committees to my clients every year. Not coincidentally, acceleration and momentum are hallmarks of our advising process, because both increase odds of admissions success - making the name of the standard mission-appropriate. Whenever I personally vet someone who wants to become an MBA Velociti ^TM Advisor at ApplicationAdvantage, having a degree from a Top-10 school, admissions experience or exposure to a particular industry are minimal requirements. The example I set directly through this standard at ApplicationAdvantage is higher and more discerning, because most of my firm's clients are preparing for global careers that stretch them, requiring exceptional versatility, multicultural insight, creativity, courage of conviction, and leadership savvy. That's what our clients expect. That's what we deliver.
The Meaning of Velociti ^TM to You V - Values Our principle, your challenge: Influence by multicultural experience, diversity both globally and locally, an unusual background, generally exposure outside of one's comfort zone, and how the challenges you faced contributed to who you have become. Admission relevance: Every top MBA and Graduate professional program is interested in what values shape you and how you will apply them. Your MBA Velociti ^TM Advisor will guide you on how to effectively communicate your values to admissions committees. E - Engagement Our principle, your challenge: In a word: *gravitas. Personal and professional charisma in your country, culture of industry. The degree to which you impact other people. Do you attract through what you do as well as who you are? Admissions relevance:* Will classmates want to know you? Will they see your participation in the school program as an enhancement of the overall quality of their experience? You can be 100% certain that admissions committees will examine your application for answers! Your MBA Velociti ^TM Advisor will guide you on how to effectively communicate your engagement to admissions committees. L - Leadership Our principle, your challenge: Aspirational. Global. Sectoral. The qualities you possess for getting people to either share or follow your vision. Proof of success or compelling evidence of potential. Admissions relevance: Perhaps the Number One criterion admissions committees seek in candidates. No application to a top school can succeed without being absolutely convincing on this point. Leadership is one of the key qualities which your MBA Velociti ^TM Advisor will assist you in communicating to admissions committees. O - Originality Our principle, your challenge: What makes you YOU. Lingering influences of your current locale or place of origin. The things you cannot go without. Habits. Instinctual behavior. Patterns of thought. How those elements converge to forge your passions, delights, flaws and anything else that distinguishes you as an individual. Admissions relevance: Committees want original personalities that contribute to the diverse mosaic of a class' composition. If 15 strong applicants are in the same profession with similar leadership track records, their best hope for differentiation and admittance, is to express originality. Demonstrating your originality to admissions committees becomes much easier with help from your MBA Velociti ^TMAdvisor. C - Credibility Our principle, your challenge: Aspirations anchored by a clear path to achievement whether aimed at goals in your home country or on a larger scale. Vision with context. Dreams tethered to a roadmap that can be traced back to where you are professionally and personally at this moment. Admissions relevance: Can you actually go where you think you want to go? is it believable? Before committees begin to get excited about the prospect of admitting you, they will want reassurance that you are credible. Your MBA Velociti ^TM Advisor will guide you on how to effectively project credibility - a cornerstone of strategies for winning over admissions committees. I - Innovativeness Our principle, your challenge: Moving past the "thinking out of the box"-type of corporate clichés and their equivalent. Applied imagination, relative to the resources and opportunities both within and outside your reach. Admissions relevance: Committees care more about how you applied your imagination or filled a creative gap than about how you followed through on some task that seemed to be a predictable next step or obvious remedy. SPECIAL STRATEGIC SUGGESTION: If you have a short leadership track record but out-sized career goals, you will need to demonstrate innovativeness in order to prevent your application from suffering a credibility gap. Your MBA Velociti ^TMAdvisor provides invaluable feedback on the extent to which your innovativeness will distinguish you with admissions committees. T - Trust Our principle, your challenge: Prove that you are who you say you are. Demonstrate your claims through the way your thought process works. Establish how a pattern of behavior which benchmarks your character and convinces that you are authentic. But achieve those goals without appearing to disingenuously "put on a show" - which would instantly backfire. Admissions relevance: Committees will not admit you if they do not trust you - a candid, unspoken truth which underlies their encouragement for you to show civic, professional, ethical and personal leadership in your application. On this point, your essays truly become key players in the fate of your candidacy. Evoking trust in admissions committees begins with the advisory relationship you establish with your MBA Velociti ^TM Advisor. I - International Outlook Our principle, your challenge: If you have none, argue how you will acquire it. If you have it, argue where you will take it. Outlook is relative to your profession and goals, so you must strike the right balance while being sure to underscore how you will continue to enhance your own. Admissions relevance: No 21st Century career can go very far without international outlook. Committees are interested in people who aspire to influence as much as having the capacity to adapt. Will you thrive in a class represented by more than 50 nationalities? Are you prepared to leverage that international diversity in your career and make it a positive aspect of your personal ethos? Your MBA Velociti ^TM Advisor is better-positioned personally and professionally than most people, to guide you on how to effectively project your international outlook to admissions committees. On a cumulative level, you will need to convey globally-oriented Values, Engagement, Leadership, Originality, Credibility, Innovativeness, Trust and International Outlook in order to strengthen your odds of being admitted to a top program. More than any other factor during your admissions season, your MBA Velociti ^TM Advisor will be an indispensable resource as you pursue the goal of persuading admissions committees that the sum of your profile far exceeds its parts.

Testimonials Highlights

"When I began looking at business schools, I figured I would get into maybe 1 or 2. I was so nervous about my chances, that I applied to 12 programs in all. On the recommendation of a friend of mine, I asked Walter for comprehensive help and followed his advice for nearly 10 months while I developed my applications. When I received my first Acceptance Letter from NYU Stern, I was happy enough, because at least I was in at one good school....BUT THEN the other decision letters started coming from INSEAD, Columbia, London Business School, Goizueta, Oxford, Stanford, Kellogg, IESE and finally...my Number 1 Choice....HARVARD!

ACCEPTED AT 10 SCHOOLS!! I had no idea this was even possible. I am still in shock."

Admitted to Harvard, Asian Applicant

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"I did some work on Wall Street and with a couple clients from Silicon Valley for several years, but figured my application did not have much of a chance, because I was a minority and not an exceptionally accomplished one. Boy did Walter help me turn that around! Not only did I get in, but also I received enough scholarship money to cover between 90% and 100% of all my business school costs."

Admitted to 2 Ivy League business schools, North American Applicant

"I pushed Walter for a firm estimate of my chances when we started working together and constantly questioned his advice. I am not used to being so trusting of anyone, especially with something as important as my education. Almost no one from my country has an easy time getting into top business schools, so when he told me I had a great shot, I was naturally skeptical. Now I am a believer."

Admitted to Harvard, Indian Applicant

“If you are thinking about graduate school, Walter is an extremely valuable resource. Walter is a friend that knows the inner working of the admission process, who is committed to helping people getting admitted to a school that will help them achieve their professional objectives. What makes Walter special is that he is committed to your success. He asks a lot of questions to get to know your background and interests. If going to graduate school is the right choice for you, he will evaluate your profile comprehensively and give you constructive ideas on how you can better position yourself as an ideal candidate for the school of your choice. With Walter 's help, I turned in application that was well-prepared and had a 95% chance of getting admitted. I ultimately got accepted into the school of my choice with a fellowship. I highly recommend talking to Walter if you are serious about graduate school.”

Admitted to Columbia, SAIS, American Applicant

“Even though I initially turned to Walter for some executive branding advice, I now think of him as a good friend. Walter came highly recommended and his wide-ranging experience quickly earned my trust. But more than that, his commitment and caring turned this trust into friendship. Walter’s thought-provoking advice, candid feedback and inspirational conversations have been invaluable as I considered the next steps to take in my career. He is a great listener and always seems ready to offer a fresh, timely perspective on issues of concern to me. When in need of exceptional and personalized branding advice, Walter is the first person I recommend to my network. For obvious reasons, he also remains among my close circle of friends and confidantes.”span>

Admitted to Chicago Booth, European Applicant

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Client Admission Profile and Industry

Highlighted by Industry

Case Studies

CASE STUDY ABSTRACT The Client’s Challenge: Convey uniqueness The client was concerned about his chances for being invited to interviews. To that end, he wanted to know how he could use his essays to differentiate himself from other applicants, and whether it was possible to accomplish that task by highlighting one particular experience, on the assumption that it would make him unique among the field of competitors. Our Strategic Solution: Click on the document for details Result and Impact: Click on the document for details	Click to Enlarge

CASE STUDY ABSTRACT The Client’s Challenge: How to make the right first impression Although the client had technically written a resume draft with all her work history and responsibilities, she wanted to know how to get evaluators more interested in her. The first thing we noticed about her draft was that the information she provided, while accurate, was presented in very general terms. In other words, in a battle for the attention of busy resume readers who are looking to quickly identify people with career potential, she was going to be at disadvantage. Our Strategic Solution: Click on the document for details Result and Impact: Click on the document for details	Click to Enlarge

CASE STUDY ABSTRACT The Client’s Challenge: Overcome the language barrier With the interview selection period approaching, the client knew that the weakest link in his profile was his ability to hold a conversation in English. Even the few sentences he formed were haltingly delivered with long pauses between phrases. As strong as other parts of his applications were, this aspect, his inability to fluently interact with an interviewer, was emerging as a serious obstacle. Our Strategic Solution: Click on the document for details Result and Impact: Click on the document for details	Click to Enlarge

CASE STUDY ABSTRACT The Client’s Challenge: Reapplying immediately to a top-ranked program After having been rejected, the applicant wanted to try again just 5 months later. However, schools usually want to see evidence that something has substantively changed in a candidate’s profile, some area of improvement that would warrant a reversal of the denial decision. Furthermore, while the client had moved laterally out of his job, his new position was less-related to the target MBA program’s focus. In short, his profile, by default, was either unchanged or had weakened slightly. Our Strategic Solution: Click on the document for details Result and Impact: Click on the document for details	Click to Enlarge

CASE STUDY ABSTRACT The Client’s Challenge: Applying late with average scores to multiple schools The client felt his chances for admission to business school were low. He had not done any advance prep work or research on MBA programs. His GMAT score and GPA were average. He was not sure what he wanted to write in his essays or how to use his professional and personal background to his advantage. To make matters more complicated, he entered the MBA admission process late in the second round, with just 4 weeks remaining before the first deadline for schools on his list. Lastly, he wanted to apply to 9 schools before the end of the second round. Our Strategic Solution: Click on the document for details Result and Impact: Click on the document for details	Click to Enlarge

CASE STUDY ABSTRACT The Client’s Challenge: How to turn strong content into superior content The client turned to us because he was concerned about the quality of content across essays, resumes, interviews and short answers. Though his essays seemed satisfactory at first glance, we quickly discovered two potential obstacles to his bid for admission. Firstly, he wrote as if trying to anticipate what the selection committee wanted to hear. Following that path, the client limited his ability to convey in his writing why he would be a unique addition to the next incoming class. Our Strategic Solution: Click on the document for details Result and Impact: Click on the document for details	Click to Enlarge

CASE STUDY ABSTRACT The Client’s Challenge: Winning unconditional acceptance The client was neither rejected nor accepted. He was not placed on the waitlist either. The admission committee instead expressed a wish to grant acceptance, but requested he first address a concern about quantitative skills raised by one or more committee members. He still had a chance at being admitted, but the outcome depended on how well he responded. Our Strategic Solution: Click on the document for details Result and Impact: Click on the document for details	Click to Enlarge

CASE STUDY ABSTRACT The Client’s Challenge: Finding the right referees The client could not ask his company bosses for a recommendation because the only way he could apply to business school without sanction from his firm, was to do so privately and keep that information confidential. He had alternates in mind, but they were not at all sure what to write on his behalf. Our Strategic Solution: Click on the document for details Result and Impact: Click on the document for details	Click to Enlarge

School Admission and Career Testimonials

MBA and Graduate Admissions Testimonials

“Even though I initially turned to Walter for some executive branding advice, I now think of him as a good friend. Walter came highly recommended and his wide-ranging experience quickly earned my trust. But more than that, his commitment and caring turned this trust into friendship. Walter’s thought-provoking advice, candid feedback and inspirational conversations have been invaluable as I considered the next steps to take in my career. He is a great listener and always seems ready to offer a fresh, timely perspective on issues of concern to me. When in need of exceptional and personalized branding advice, Walter is the first person I recommend to my network. For obvious reasons, he also remains among my close circle of friends and confidantes.”

Admitted to Chicago Booth, European Applicant

Career Advising Testimonials

"I first worked with Walter Hutchinson through his university admissions website ApplicationAdvantage.com when he got me admitted into Harvard. I came back to him for professional help through his Executive Branders site, because he is the first person I could think of when I needed help to market myself while I was still at Harvard. I send friends and colleagues to him partly for selfish reasons because I want Walter to continue building the advisory so that his advice will be available to me in the future when I need him again."

N.N., Associate (and former MBA Client), Fund Management and Venture Capital Firm

"Walter Hutchinson is a professional in the truest sense of the word. He cares about the work he does. He goes the extra mile for you. I can count a number of instances when he could have billed me for extra service. Instead, he gave me extra value. I would not have asked him for more help in the months that followed, had he not been so impressive the first time I worked with him. Walter's is one of the few names I mention to colleagues or contacts, when they ask me about advising services."

Senior Manager, Mining Conglomerate

"I rarely use words such as "amazing" or "incredible" to describe work after evaluting it, but this occasion warrants an exception. From the moment I began working with Walter, it became immediately clear that the high level of project execution and support they provide is far different from the norm. And that generous comment comes from someone who is accustomed to holding people accountable to the highest standards in terms of what they do as well as the things they don't do.

I worked with Walter, who came highly recommended, and as I discovered, with good reason. The quality of input, attention to detail and all-around professionalism took me a little by surprise. Daily updates and detailed expalanations kept me informed about progress - gratifying, because time was of the essence. I also appreciated the fact that he seemed genuinely interested in ensuring that I attained the goal for which I needed the new resume.

I was very impressed with the outcome of this project and was even more glad that I decided to follow through on my contact's recommendation. Considering the extent to which this company outdid my expectations, I am not surprised that high-level people from various industries both domestic and international turn to Walter. "

J.L., Director of Operations, Billion Dollar Mortgage Finance Company

"This firm was recommended to me by one of my colleagues who had used the services of Walter Hutchinson. As CEO of a large company, I have very little time to waste. Working with Walter was worth every minute, because I was able to hand off to him issues that I barely pay attention to. His intensity surprised me, but not nearly as much as the surprise I received when I saw the final product. Since I started my own company a little more than a decade ago, I have never had to prepare a resume of any kind. I was also short on time and did not have the flexibility to take weeks pondering all of my accomplishments and career milestones. Walter adapted to my schedule and style of working, in order to guide me through a process which he designed just for me. He is not the least-expensive advisor out there, but he was well-worth the investment."

D.D., CEO and Entrepreneur, Nationwide, Billion Dollar Finance Group

"I did not believe I could get into a top school. Thanks to Walter believing in my candidacy and taking such great pains to help me build my professional profile, he helped me to get into an Ivy League business school. In this tough job market, I am so glad that he pushed me to apply for higher-ranked schools because I need every advantage that I can get. One of those advantages is to work with Executive Branders, relying on Walter for ongoing advice as I weigh my post-business school options. Meeting Walter and working with him is a major reason why my life has changed and why my fortunes have shifted so quickly and so positively, even in this economy."

S.R., Manager (and former MBA Client), Multinational Consumer Goods Corporation