Below you will find information regarding payment and billing for your investment in my MBA-admissions consulting services.
Hourly rate: $360/hour for 1 to 5 hours. $330/hour for 5+ up to 15 hours. $295/hour for 15+ up to 30 hours. $280/hour for 30 or more hours. For rush jobs, I charge a 25% premium per hour. A rush job is defined as something you need to have turned around in fewer than 24 hours. I often turn things around in 24 hours anyway, in which case, I do not charge the rush rate, but if I need to radically alter my schedule to get you something last minute, I will charge the rush rate.
I do not offer fixed-rate packages based on the number of schools to which an applicant applies. This is, in part, because what is required from school to school can vary in terms of the amount of work. For example, one school may require only one 500-word essay while another may ask the applicant to complete several essays totaling 1800 words. I also find that while most clients take a predictable amount of time, there are those who take significantly more time or somewhat less time. I provide estimates for the specific schools to which you plan to apply. For example, most clients applying to Stanford and HBS will need about 24 to 30 hours of my time to get their resumes and essays ready to submit. The amount of my time needed for recommendations, online forms, and interview preparation varies significantly as some clients do not use my services at all for these items, some use them a bit, and some use them heavily. As such, I do not include such amounts in my estimates. With this payment model, you pay for exactly what you get.
Deposit: Before beginning work on applications, I ask for a partial deposit equivalent to ten hours of work for the first application and three hours’ worth for each subsequent application. Should you decide to no longer apply to a particular MBA program, I will refund your deposit for that program if you inform me by August 1 for September/October deadlines, November 15 for January deadlines, and February 15 for March/April deadlines. If you decide to drop an application for that round after those dates, I will keep your deposit because it can be hard to sell space that late in the game. This holds even if you apply to that school in a subsequent round.
Billing: I bill for all MBA-application-related activities, which typically include a two-to-three-hour intake interview and strategy session; essay-outline preparation; any subsequent brainstorming; MBA-essay editing; resume refinement; and phone or Skype calls, emails, or instant-messaging (IM) sessions. (I do not charge for the super-quick email, call, or IM question.) Some clients also choose to engage me to strengthen their recommendations and online application forms, prepare them for interviews, and get off waitlists. I charge by the minute and keep track of every activity I perform, the date, and the amount of time spent. When we finish our work together on a given application, I send you an invoice detailing all this.
Payment due date: The balance for each application for which I have finished providing my MBA-admissions consulting services is due within 15 days of date of invoice.
Forms of payment: I accept PayPal, the CashApp, Zelle, Venmo, wire payments, and checks.