Unlimited hours packs vs hourly Consulting Packs
I’m having a hard time choosing between the Unlimited Hours Packs and the Hourly Consulting Packs, can you help me choose?
- Unlimited Hours clients are often hoping for a deeper working relationship, are committed to reaching as high as they can in this large life-impacting application process, don’t want to worry about calculating cost/benefit of using more time, need more guidance on application details including mini-essays and small input parts, and/or anticipate needing a higher amount of interview training. Unlimited Hours clients also enjoy coverage for unexpected situations including waitlist strategy/documents, deferral of entry requests, post-admit scholarship essay support, and more without requiring additional fees.
- Hourly Consulting clients often hope to spread the consulting time over a larger number of schools and are hoping to get feedback and support on a more targeted number of tasks than compared with the comprehensive coverage of the Unlimited Hours Packs.
- Costs: On an hourly basis, Unlimited Hours packs can be much cheaper than the Hourly Consulting packs if the client uses the system a lot. Some previous Unlimited Hours Pack clients have used 60-70+ hours in a 3-school agreement. If you are very hungry, the Unlimited Hours will be cheaper per hour, if you are not so hungry, the Hourly Consulting Packs will be cheaper.
- Applicants often focus heavily on the main essays, but then are surprised to find many applications have small inputs and mini-essays inside the application form, which can cause problems in their calculation for time required. In addition, if the main essays appear very well written, but the smaller inputs or emails to school representatives appear sloppy, it will create a bad impression on the school.
Unlimited Hours Packs
Is it really unlimited hours?!?
- Yes, but that does not mean the same as “All of Sam’s time.” During peak and non-peak season, Sam aims to reply to emails within 24 hours and do turnarounds on documents within 48 hours, but planning ahead is always best.
- In emergency situations, Sam sometimes meets the same client 4-5 times in the same week if there will be a heavy impact to their application. This situation doesn’t happen often but is another benefit of the Unlimited Hours Plans.
- There is an important trust factor required for successful Unlimited Hours Pack working agreements. Clients do not have a limit on the number of revisions of documents, number of meetings, or meeting frequency, but clients should also refrain from requesting things outside the scope (英会話) or for things that will not have a meaningful impact on the applicant’s application.
- Some clients will use concurrent packages of Unlimited Hours for their high priority applications and then an Hourly Consulting Package for schools that might not take as much time for preparation, especially after the main content has been well established and/or partially overlaps with other schools covered in the Unlimited Hours plan.
- No, there are many tasks to work on including the core story, resume, and application strategy that will make progress in your applications before you commit to which exact schools to use in the Unlimited Plan, which will allow you to adjust your school choice based on test scores and when you learn more about different schools.
Hourly COnsulting Packs
Do questions by email count toward my timecard in Hourly Consulting Packs?
- If the email reply can be completed in less than 10 minutes, generally time will not be charged, however if there are excessive emails (3+ in one day) or essay content pasted into an email, then time charges may apply.
- No, many in-person or online sessions will finish in under one hour, so if we can efficiently achieve our targets for the session, the client can save the consulting time and will only be charged for the time used.
Interview preparation
I’m really worried about the interview stage. How can I prepare?
- Interviews vary a lot per school. Some are heavy on behavioral questions, some focus more on your post-MBA vision, some want to hear quick responses from your resume, and most want to really hear about how you are going to use that school’s specific resources to grow, so it can be inefficient to spend too much time practicing delivery before you get invited and know which type of interview you will face.
- Two stages- 1) Before Invitation: many applicants will organize stories in a document, but it’s probably not good to think of it as a script. Interviewers often complain when interviewees’ answers feel too rehearsed. Many want it to feel like you are explaining the story to a colleague over dinner, so bullet points to keep you on track instead of memorizing full sentences might be better to achieve this. Sam often provides feedback on appropriateness of the story choice and brainstorms ideas with clients as necessary during this stage. 2) After Invitation: Mock sessions with feedback. Most applicants feel comfortable and confident after about 2-3 sessions of around 90 minutes, but some will use over 10 hours preparing, it depends on the needs of the applicant and their budget.
- Sam often provides interview reports from former clients, which can be particularly helpful for schools that tend to use the same interviewers each year. A wider range of reports can also be found online at places like ClearAdmit and GMAT Club.
Refund policy
- Unlimited Hours Packs: Within two weeks of payment, a 70% refund of the payment after subtracting time used at the one hour rate (30,000 yen +tax) is available. After two weeks from payment, refunds are not available.
- Hourly Consulting Packs (10/20/30 hours): Within two weeks of payment, a 70% refund of the payment after subtracting time used at the one hour rate (30,000 yen +tax) is available. After two weeks from payment, refunds are not available.
- Short Courses (個別サービス): There are no refunds for short courses. Please purchase only what you will need.
- Postponement of applications: Sam realizes that unforeseen life events can alter the timeline of his clients' applications after making working agreements. To preserve our commitment to work together, postponing the round of application, or even postponing to the following intake season and beyond is available. Pivoting to a different degree application is also available (examples: MBA --> EMBA, MBA -->Masters in Public Policy).