HBS Guru

His name is Sandy Kreisberg, and he goes by HBS Guru. He provides admissions consulting for HBS, stanford, wharton, columbia, chicago, kellogg, and MIT. Has anyone here used his services? Several people have said that he's the best b-school consultant out there.

16 Comments
 

The overwhelming majority of people who get into HSW do not use admissions consultants. Based on his blog, Sandy seems to be a bit of a crackpot.

 
SojournerThe overwhelming majority of people who get into HSW do not use admissions consultants. Based on his blog, Sandy seems to be a bit of a crackpot.

HSW? Do you mean the Handicapped Sales Workshop, Inc.?

http://www.hsw.net/

Chance favors only the prepared mind.
 

Go read his stuff. His position is that HBS takes the same old kids every year (with some recently introduced variance due to the new politically correct leadership) and it is very clear on what its "mould" is. If you're not the HBS type, he can't get you in; he says that if you ARE the HBS type, he can make sure you don't shoot yourself in the foot because he knows what HBS wants from candidates who, on paper, meet their criteria. Hence there being an interview service that he offers to people who don't use him for essays. Disclaimer: not an HBS type - they don't want me and I don't want HBS - and not a client, just someone who has scoured around the public domain for free advice.

The truth is you're the weak. And I'm the tyranny of evil men. But I'm tryin', Ringo. I'm tryin' real hard to be the shepherd.
 

Yeah... My thought is this guy might be able to help smart foreign kids who don't understand the system properly, but that for a high level u.s. Candidate he's probably not got that much to offer. I find it hard to believe he could add that much value for someone like myself.

 

I have seen a lot of his stuff online. He is the worst salesman of all time – he basically tells everyone that he adds little value. He seems to know his stiff, though.

 
Best Response

While applying for bschool I did some research on admissions consultants and ultimately decided not to use one. I bought some books on Amazon, read them cover to cover, then spent a ton of time writing my essays. My gut feeling with HBS Guru is that he probably has some successful applicants but it is because of the caliber of their background, not because of his help. He also seems very non-professional, arrogant, and defensive, from what I have seen in his posts at BW and GMAT Club forums.

 

Just to keep things in perspective. For a person who does get into Harvard MBA, the expected lifetime earnings increases by $3 million. The cost of an MBA admission consultant is usually between $1,500 to $2,600 (Sandy). If you are targetting schools below Top 5, you probably do not need an admissions consultant. But for the Top 5 schools, the adcom has to select your application over 8 identical applications. Then you have to take into consideration the fact that the adcoms are particularly fond of ex-military people, medical doctor MDs, and female applicants. Then another 35% - 40% of the seats are reserved for international applicants. Then Harvard has reserved another 120 seats for the 2+2 people. So the competition for the remaining seats is pretty intense and you generally need top undergrad school, 3.8 GPA, 730+ GMAT, and 3 years in a top tier firm which the adcom recognizes. Then the leadership issue and the social conciousness issue and the whole damn thing just gets pretty crazy.

 

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Chance favors only the prepared mind.

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