Vincent Mendez

Best advice for applicants: “From over 20 years of working with applicants, training other coaches, and navigating client-satisfaction challenges at a top coaching firm, I can pinpoint the one area where all applicants need more help than they realize: storytelling. It starts with stepping through an intensive introspection process to identify your core differentiators and the optimal version of your story. Then, just as critically, it involves developing and executing your story in a way that resonates best with Admissions Committee readers. Nothing like this is taught in any MBA program, and it’s a completely different skill set from evaluating hundreds of applications as AdCom readers do. Every time I’ve worked with a re-applicant, or someone who was unhappy with their original coach and switched to me mid-process, the problem was always inadequate storytelling.” Background: Born and raised in New England, Andy studied economics at Stanford, where he took several second-year MBA courses at the Stanford GSB and served as a writing tutor for the university’s most rigorous and selective humanities track. After graduation, he worked at an e-commerce startup and was promoted to Program Manager for Online & End-User Marketing. Eager to focus more on storytelling and creative expression, he wrote his first screenplay and signed with a Hollywood literary agency. When Andy began coaching, he immediately enjoyed the combination of strategic marketing and audience-targeted storytelling. Since 2002, Andy has worked with three top-rated consulting firms. He co-designed the editing service for one firm, worked as a re-match consultant for clients unable to continue progressing with their original consultant, and served as the sole ‘essay doctor’ for the entire firm (100+ consultants) for clients concerned about the quality of their essays. He continues to mentor new consultants and teach workshops on essay development, while also supporting Stanford’s admission team as an alumni interviewer. Andy specializes in helping clients in crowded applicant pools dig deeper to identify their most compelling mix of differentiating, MBA-relevant strengths, and then optimally convey those strengths through superior storytelling. He has helped applicants gain admission to every top business school in the world, including Stanford, HBS, Wharton, Kellogg, Columbia, INSEAD, LBS, Haas, Sloan, Booth, Yale, Tuck, Duke, and Stern.