1. Span The Spectrum
1.1. Worst Kind: Enablers
1.1.1. Will tell you that your planning is sound
1.1.2. Make you feel good about what you're doing
1.1.3. Probably offer overly sure advice about your odds
1.1.4. lots of easy assurance and (almost empty) boasting
1.2. Simple: Conceiving of task as Essay Editing
1.2.1. You could do worse than to have a good English stylist working on your behalf.
1.2.1.1. You have to believe MBA Moralist when he says: among the young, writing standards have declined distinctly
1.2.2. But this type of consultant is not likely to help you refine your candidacy -- even if this type of consultant is likely to make your essays read much more nicely
1.3. A Good Coach Helps You Grow
1.3.1. Helps you refine and better understand your candidacy
1.3.1.1. It's not editing
1.3.1.1.1. it's more like psychotherapy with someone who has domain expertise in the discourse of business and social intelligence/leadership
1.3.2. Helps to weed out the most egregiously self-serving of the arguments you are likely to produce in your desperate attempt to garner attention
1.4. Best kind (naturally): MBA Moralist.
1.4.1. Relentlessly forces you to examine your ideas and feelings about the MBA
1.4.1.1. Takes little pity on all the un-examined assumptions that are unearthed in the process
1.4.1.2. Forces you to separate
1.4.1.2.1. Your Hopes and Wants
1.4.1.2.2. from your planning
1.4.2. Does not feel that you are "entitled" to a top-tier MBA
1.4.2.1. Although he hopes you get into a program that meets your needs
1.4.2.1.1. In fact, will point out that schools publish more than adequate information that will help guide applicants as to the realism of their plans
1.4.3. Helps the applicant realize that there is no magic formula that ONE should say
1.4.3.1. But rather helps YOU figure out what YOU SHOULD say
1.4.4. Helps the applicant frame the anecdotes in a manner that emphasizes complexity and multi-factor analysis
1.4.4.1. life is rarely as heroic and simple as a movie
1.4.4.1.1. and yet "cheap Heroism" is what comes to dominate the unpersuasive drivel written by those who think leadership is limited to merely being "the decider"
1.4.5. Helps the applicant realize that if they can find the parallels between their grown as a professional and as a citizen.....
1.4.5.1. that they're both probably on to something
1.4.6. Prevents you from making any one of the dozens of predictable (and not unreasonable: for a newbie) mistakes
1.4.6.1. But that is 80% of the point: the Admissions Race is all about informational asymmetry
2. If your consultant doesn't push back hard
2.1. Really, you don't want him or her
2.2. No such thing as a free lunch
2.2.1. If your consultant promises you the world
2.2.1.1. it's up to you to believe him or her.
2.2.2. Think GMAT critical reasoning (and this is a perfect example of why GMAC wants you to be well versed in reasoning)
2.2.2.1. The Moralist Says: If you don't get admitted to your dream school
2.2.2.1.1. It's not because we didn't tell your story well enough