Gabriel is based in New York and is originally from Honduras. He works in business development and operations at NYU Langone Health, where he designs and implements initiatives to build better patient experiences and improving payment operations across the health system.
Previously, he has worked as a management consultant at Oliver Wyman, where he focused in retail and consumer-facing industries on topics ranging from finance and operations to brand strategy and customer experience innovation. Gabriel has also worked in business intelligence at Moët Hennessy USA, in finance and strategy at Donna Karan International, and as an investment banking analyst at Goldman Sachs.
Gabriel got his MBA from Harvard Business School and BA in Economics and International Relations from Brown University. He loves to play volleyball and cook in his free time.
Grace Dhanraj is an MBA student at Harvard Business School. She graduated from Harvard University with a Bachelor of Arts in Applied Mathematics in Economics and a Citation in French Language. She was accepted into the 2+2 program for Harvard Business School. After graduation, she worked at JPMorgan Asset Management in New York as a Junior Portfolio Manager for the Multi-Asset Solutions Group. Now, Grace focuses on Venture Capital and Growth Equity investing.
While at JPMorgan, Grace was also an avid recruiter for top diversity talent from undergraduate universities, particularly focusing on increasing representation for women at the firm. At HBS, she is the Director of Education for the Women in Investing club, bringing graduate women together to learn key skills for any type of investment role. She hopes to continue this community of learning and mentorship, and encourage self-reflection and development throughout the entire application process.
Grace also loves to kickbox, bake, find new restaurants, and read. She loves to travel and learn about different cultures as much as possible.
Kate is based in San Francisco and is currently a product manager at Airbnb (after a couple rotations in BD/partnerships and strategy & operations). She graduated from Stanford GSB in 2018.
Before business school, Kate was a consultant at the Parthenon Group, with an industry focus on private equity, consumer goods, and education. She graduated from Dartmouth in 2013 and majored in government.
Kate has 5+ years of experience helping undergrad + MBA applicants tell their story, craft resumes, write essays, prep for interviews, and ask for recommendations. When she is not working, you can find Kate doing freelance photography, studying for the Introductory Sommelier exam, or perfecting her cookie dough making game.
Through her many professional roles, at both the undergraduate level and the graduate level, Mary has served for almost forty years as an important resource to students, faculty and corporate partners.
With her outgoing personality, Mary plays an integral role in the lives of almost everyone with whom she works, and she often builds relationships that last far longer than the typical advising experience. After teaching for more than 16 years as an educator, her graduate studies brought her to Columbia University where she began a career in student services that would include senior positions in admissions, financial aid, athletics, academic advising and career services, and corporate outreach.
Early in her career, Mary served at Columbia as the Associate Director of Athletics and then as the Director of Financial Aid. Her vast experience in both undergraduate and graduate school admissions includes positions as the Director of Admissions for the School of Education, Nursing and the Arts at New York University; the Director of Admissions, Columbia School of Nursing and the Associate Director of Admissions for MBA Programs at the Columbia School of Business.
Mary spent many years at the Columbia School of Business, where she also served as Assistant Dean of Student Affairs for MBA Academic Advising and as the Corporate Director for Executive Education Programs. In 2000, Mary moved back to one of her alma maters, the University of Colorado at Boulder, where she spent twelve years as Director of Career Services for both undergraduate and graduate students at the Leeds School of Business, and an additional six years as Manager for Corporate Outreach and Student Engagement for Burridge Center for Finance.
Finally, in 2014, while still working part-time at CU Boulder, Mary accepted a 3-year assignment as Director of Colorado Mountain College in Buena Vista, CO.
Phil graduated from Harvard Business School in 2019 and is currently Director of Corporate Development at Salesforce, driving and executing M&A and strategic investments for the company.
Prior to business school, Phil worked for Morgan Stanley in their M&A investment banking group, The Walt Disney Company in global business strategy for Parks & Resorts, and Grand Rounds (Series D startup) as their sole Finance Manager reporting to the CFO. Phil was originally pre-med as an undergrad at Princeton, where he graduated with a degree in economics in 2012.
Phil is currently based in San Francisco, but grew up in Los Angeles. He has held several leadership positions at nonprofits for tutoring and mentoring disadvantaged children over the years, and he enjoys discussing the stock market and his favorite stock picks.
Susan Hughes has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Political Science from Yale University, and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. Her career has included extensive experience in both the for- and non-profit sectors, throughout which she has been passionate about mentoring young people on both their educational and early career journeys. She has also served on the admissions committees at Yale and Harvard.
Susan spent the early days of her career working in investment banking with Morgan Stanley in New York and LA and in private equity on several turnaround efforts. After business school, she worked in strategy consulting with the Boston Consulting Group and as an independent advisor to a wide variety of organizations facing unique challenges – from businesses in start-up, high growth or change management situations to non-profits expanding their reach, impact, and efficacy. She spent the last few years leading private communities of C-suite executives from across the globe as a director at World 50, an organization that builds private, intimate peer forums for the leaders of the world’s largest companies with the sole purpose of helping them to share ideas and experiences that advance their efforts and organizations. In that capacity, she had the privilege of leading collaboration, conversation, and curated counsel on some of the topics most crucial to global leaders. It greatly informed her sense of what current students need to continue their journey toward impactful global citizenship. Most recently, Susan turned her experience back to the non-profit sector where she is now the National Director of Employer Partnerships for the Hire Opportunity Coalition, a role in which she supports major U.S. companies in the development of their capacity to hire and retain opportunity youth (young people ages 16-24 who are disconnected from school or work).
Fostering growth, success, and leadership in individuals has always been a passion of Susan’s. She has independently advised students on their college and graduate school applications, resumes, and job search efforts for many years. On a personal level, Susan is now based in Atlanta, GA and is the proud mom of two children, one a recent graduate and one a rising college junior. She spends her free time hiking, writing, traveling, volunteering, enjoying the arts and collecting new memories with family and friends.
End to End Consulting Services for your dream school
End to End Consulting Services for your top two schools
End to End Consulting Services for your top three schools
End to End Consulting Services for your top four schools
End to End Consulting Services for your top five schools
End to End Consulting Services for your dream school
End to End Consulting Services for your top two schools
End to End Consulting Services for your top three schools
End to End Consulting Services for your top four schools
End to End Consulting Services for your top five schools
Business school applications are long - you need to create a resume, essays, short answers, and support recommenders for each institution. Getting to perfection takes time.
The exact time to get to the end state depends on a number of factors including which schools you’re applying to (every school has a different application), how good you are at writing and editing, and your personal commitments.
We have worked with successful clients who have spent four weeks on an application and we have worked those that have spent four months. That said, based on what we have seen in the past with applicants’ work schedules and writing styles, we recommend starting at least three months before the deadline to maximize your chances of success.
We start working with candidates as early as February.
Our mission is to help every candidate realize their true potential. When you retire, we want you to look back on your career and be proud of yourself for achieving your dreams. As such, we want to make sure that your financial circumstances are not a barrier to success.
In keeping with our mission, we provide a small number of partial and full scholarships to our applicants. These are awarded after you start working with us and are based on both professional potential and financial need. Please note, these scholarships are only available for our All-Inclusive Package.
That said, we also want to make sure you are working with the best team, and attracting top talent is expensive. Hence, we’re not able to provide scholarships to everyone. Your project manager can tell you more about scholarship opportunities after we start the engagement.
We understand that not all applicants need help with their entire application. For applicants who need support with only one or two aspects of their applications, we’ve broken down our all-inclusive offering into different phases of the application lifecycle such as best-fit school selection, resume editing, essay editing, and more. Please check out this page for a list of all our offerings.
For applicants interested in a structured and rigorous preparation program, we have the MBA Next Year coaching service where you work with our top Graduate Coaches. They create a personalized plan to help you set and achieve targets, giving you a leg up when you apply next year. Your Graduate Coach has experience in your industry and helps you think through career progression, leadership experiences, community involvement, test prep, and more.
Do we guarantee that you’ll have the best chance of being accepted if you work with us? Absolutely! Do we guarantee that you will get accepted? Absolutely not!
Anyone guaranteeing admissions is either lying or engaging in nefarious activities. That said, here is what we guarantee – when you hit the submit button, you will not regret the quality of the application you submitted. Our job is to make sure that you present the best, most comprehensive version of yourself through your documents.
Over 90% of the applicants we worked with got into at least one of the schools they applied to. Although this means you have the best chance of getting accepted at your dream school by working with us, it does not mean you will definitely get into Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Columbia, or any particular school for that matter of fact. Business school applications are competitive.
We help candidates create a personalized strategy that includes applying to dream schools, competitive schools, and safety schools. That does not mean we will force you to apply to a school that you don’t want to attend. We help you create your school selection strategy, but the final decision to apply to an institution is yours and yours alone.
The schools that fall in each category -- dream, competitive, safe -- depend on your profile, background, and test scores. For some students, Wharton is a safety school whereas for others Georgetown McDonough might be a safety school. Our acceptance rate is based on which schools candidates actually applied to, not which ones we thought they should apply to.
Our Graduate Coaches are selected through an extremely rigorous process. We make sure they are knowledgeable, smart, courteous, personable, and professional. Further, you are paired with a Coach based on your profile, background, and interests based on the information you provide through our comprehensive intake form.
However, it is very important that you get along with your Coach. The quality of your application is directly dependent on how well you get along with them. In the past, we’ve realized building a relationship doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time to get to know each other, understand the candidate’s persona, and craft a strong application. We try not to prematurely undo progress by switching Coaches.
That being said, if you have any issues, email us as ceo@inspirafutures.com and our CEO will personally reply to you within 48 hours. Your success is our topmost priority and we will go above and beyond to make sure you get accepted at your dream school. This includes switching your Coach if needed.
Our project team consists of Graduate Coaches, Writing Experts, and former Admissions Committee members. You will work with a Graduate Coach, who will help you draft the perfect application. They are typically a former industry expert who is an expert at storytelling and creating a compelling narrative.
They also make sure your grammar, tone, and sentence structure are in line with what business schools expect. Finally, our former Admissions Committee members review the entire application and ensure that it is ready to be submitted.
Coordinating the efforts of this army of experts requires a lot of effort. Hence, you will also be assigned a Project Manager. Their role will be to ensure all deadlines are met and your application documents are submitted well in advance of the deadline.
We assemble a project team based on the applicant’s professional background, schools of interest, and career ambitions. This ensures that the team understands ‘your language’ and you understand theirs.
If you worked on a major buyout as a private equity associate, we pair you with someone who has a finance background. If you led a team that grew Sales Qualified Leads by 100% for a startup, we match you with someone who worked in sales or knows what it’s like to be at a startup. This helps translate disparate experiences into coherent stories.
The same goes for former Admissions Committee members who review your application. We try to ensure they have extensive experience in the institution you are applying to. This results in relevant and actionable feedback.
A lot of the information needed to assemble the right project team for you is collected through our initial conversations.
MBA admissions consulting firms are either run exclusively by business school alumni or former Admissions Committee members. While both these experts can add a lot of value for an applicant, working with just one does not solve your problem. We are the only firm that allows you to tap into expertise from both, business school alums and former Admissions Committee members.
Business school alumni are great storytellers. They have experience taking disparate experiences and creating a compelling story from them. However, they have never been a part of the Admission Committee and don’t know what happens behind those closed doors.
On the other hand, Admissions Committee members are great at evaluating applications and telling candidates where they can improve. But they might not be the best at helping candidates surface their best experience and create the right persona. After all, the best food critic doesn’t necessarily have to be the best chef, right?
Finally, business school alumni and former Admissions Committee members add a lot of value, but their time is valuable and limited. Hence, we also have project managers that are a part of each applicant's team and make sure that the project is always on track. We want to make sure you draft the best application documents in a timely manner.
Our model brings all these experts together to create a unique applicant experience that brings out the best in them and helps them get accepted at their dream school.
Through our vast network of former Admissions Committee members, Graduate Coaches, and Inspira alumni, we are able to have our finger on the pulse and see what’s going on at business schools.
These insights are early and relevant, and they benefit you. We know before anyone else when and how the Admissions Committee at an institution is changing the intake criteria. We can use this to help to craft a relevant story.
We are the first to get insights such as, “Wharton had an over-representation of applicants with entrepreneurial backgrounds in Round 1. They are looking for people with more of a finance background in Round 2 this year.”
Only 4% of prospective Graduate Coaches and former Admissions Committee members we speak with each year make it on our team. We want to ensure that our applicants have the best experience, so choosing the right team members is of paramount importance to us.
We have a rigorous multi-step selection process. This includes personality fit, industry knowledge tests, and multiple real-life case simulations. Every member of our team is made to evaluate the applications of past candidates. This helps us evaluate the quality of their insights and communication skills. You can learn more about our selection process here.
We also conduct ongoing evaluations to make sure we are the right partners to help you fulfill your MBA dreams.
Creating the right application requires time and effort. It is our duty to make sure every consultant is able to dedicate time and effort to your application.
The number of clients each consultant works with depends on the nature of their role and additional commitments within the firm. For example, the work of a Graduate Coach is very different from the work of a writing expert. Also, some of our team members help with tasks such as conducting research on business schools or writing guides.
Some consultants might work with a small number of applicants who are applying to a lot of business schools whereas others might work with more applicants who are applying to fewer schools.
You can be rest assured that even though members of our team wear many hats, your success is our topmost priority. If we have to choose between losing a potential client or allocating lesser time to current clients, we will choose the former any day.
Customized teaching by 99th percentile tutors to help you identify and bridge shortcomings with proven problem-solving techniques.
Data driven assessment of your personality, background, and interests along with a one-on-one conversation with an experienced admissions expert to help you determine the best-fit business schools.
Not sure what you need? Speak with an enrollment team member