How much should you trust admission counselors ?

Interesting question.

There are a few things you can do:

1. Compare your stats to the class profiles of the schools you are applying to. If you are below on GPA, test score, and work experience and don't have significant diversity elements or achievements, your counselor may be telling you what you want to hear. (While going to individual school web sites will give you more context and depth, you can do a quick check at Accepted's MBA Selectivity Index.
2. Get a recommendation from someone who worked with the consultant.
3. Speak to more than one consultant. if competing consultancies all say you have a competitive profile for your target schools, you probably do.
4. I'd get suspicious if a consultant "guarantees" your acceptance at a specific school, or if the consultant suggests you apply exclusively to programs where you don't think you are competitive.

For more suggestions on choosing schools and assessing competitiveness, please see: Best MBA programs: A Guide to Selecting the Right One. .

And if you trust me to give you honest feedback, please feel free to contact me.

Linda Abraham