28,622Leland Reviews

Honestly, Kamna was a lifesaver for my Wharton TBD prep and I can't recommend her enough. Coming from finance, I was already pretty intimidated by the whole group discussion thing (definitely more comfortable with spreadsheets than talking through ambiguous business problems with strangers), and Kamna just got that immediately. She gave me super practical, actionable tips that actually worked. She also helped me realize I was way more capable than I thought: she'd point out when I was being too hard on myself and remind me that my finance background actually brought valuable perspective to these discussions. The mock sessions we did were so helpful, and she was great at giving me confidence boosters when I needed them most. By the time I got to my actual TBD, I felt like I could just be myself and contribute naturally instead of stressing about saying the "perfect" thing. If you need someone who'll give you the real, practical stuff that actually matters and help you feel confident going in, definitely work with Kamna.

I'm writing to give Kamna my strongest recommendation based on her incredible mentorship during my transition from Bain to Wharton. As a Senior Associate who's pretty obsessed with creating real impact (and someone who's worked with tons of advisors), Kamna was honestly in a league of her own. When I was feeling stuck at Bain - successful but craving more meaningful work, she immediately got it. Instead of giving me cookie-cutter advice, she helped me dig into what "impact" actually meant for me personally and how an MBA could be the launching pad for the systems-level change I wanted to drive. Her guidance was comprehensive too: from helping me nail why Wharton was the right fit, to crafting essays that actually told my story authentically, to preparing for the TBD, to being more strategic about how to spend my time during the MBA to maximize opportunities for the impact work I care about. Working with Kamna felt more like having a really insightful friend who happened to be incredibly strategic. She pushed me with tough questions and taught me to think about networking as finding fellow changemakers rather than just transactional relationship-building. As someone who's spent years optimizing performance both on the track and in consulting, I know exceptional coaching when I see it. Kamna's mentorship didn't just help me get into Wharton, it shifted how I think about using my career as a vehicle for change. I can't recommend her highly enough for anyone looking to level up while staying true to what actually matters to them.

Working with Ellen was great! She was open to organize our time together according my needs. Her help was immense especially this my statement of purpose. Ellen was always in time responding my messages and being a big support during all my application.

Kamna was the first manager I had at Bain and Company and remains the best manager / mentor I had there in my 3 years. During our first case, Kamna showed me the ropes of working on a case team, but more than that led by example. I watched as she managed upwards and downwards, absorbed stress, delivered effective analyses, and handled client communications on an exacting case, all the while carving out opportunities for development and mentorship for the more junior people on the team (i.e. me). Impressed and informed, I requested that she be my Professional Development Advisor at Bain, and I feel very grateful to have made that decision. Kamna has been a steadying and cultivating force during my time at Bain. She has had my back in promotion conversations, been honest with me in harder times, sagely given career advice, encouraged perspective, and been a personal bright spot. On top of all her case work, she was always generous with her time and clearly cared deeply about my development. I was involved in extracurricular volunteer work where junior consultants can take the lead in consulting work for a local non-profit to help them achieve strategic objectives (via an organization called Inspire). After I experienced an overwhelming start to the case, Kamna offered her time and gave valuable advice on zooming out, orienting towards the organization’s primary objectives, and creating a framework to home in on an effective project, advice I still remember to this day. She has supported my career and non-career interests outside of Bain, willing to remove herself from the often-consuming world of consulting and use her own experiences to help inform my decisions. Even after she left the company, Kamna still offers her time and connections to help me find a new career path. I am very appreciative of her as a colleague, friend, and mentor.

Kamna’s attention to detail is undoubtedly one of her greatest strengths. It shows in her ability to ask the right questions and notice the subtle things that others might miss, details that often hold the key to deeper meaning. She took the time to truly understand who I am, my story, what I’ve done in the past, and what I aspire to do in the future. She then helped me connect all of that to a broader purpose and how a master’s degree fits into that journey. Very few people genuinely invest the time to understand who you are at your core and help you align that with who you want to become. Kamna does that, and it makes all the difference.

Kelly being an artist herself, who also studied in the arts brought a unique creative perspective to my profile. The portfolio piece is an added challenge in addition to the applications, so I was happy that Kelly understood both sides and how to bring them together for a polished school list, profile, and portfolio all in one! I got into USC, RISD and Art Institute of Chicago. Now I just have to decide which of these amazing schools I want to attend.

There's no way I would have been accepted to the school I applied to without working with Kelly as my admissions consultant. She's very intuitive, upbeat and knows how to bring out her student's abilities. I have a unique combination of interest and experiences, that wasn't an obvious fit for specific majors. Kelly helped me strategize to show how these intersections are what makes me unique and align with specialized programs combining business and fashion at NYU, Parsons, FIT, SCAD and Baylor.

Being a pretty straightforward applicant, STEM and international, the statistics were against me attending my top schools. My academics were strong, but I lacked an interesting story to tell. Thankfully, Kelly helped me understand what was unique in my individual path on how to showcase it so that universities can know me on my grades and test scores. This was essential in helping me get accepted to Georgia Tech, Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, Penn, UIUC and UT Austin.