Temoignages

I started to think of applying to the Top-10 US colleges in the fall, that is, a few months before all the application deadlines. I am the kind of person that is genetically unable to prepare well ahead of time or do “a little bit every day”. On the contrary, I can only give my 100% in urgency situations where pressure stimulates me and forces me to be creative. Yet, most college application guides out there make students believe that they stand no chance to succeed if they don’t start preparing applications a year in advance.

Dan and his team were wonderfully flexible and helpful in that respect. They immediately assessed my level in Maths and English and grasped what my application preparation needs and timeline were — especially regarding the GRE, which I had just a few months to take without much room for failure. Dan and his team designed an excellent, fit-for-purpose, and intensive GRE training program that fitted my professional work agenda. They made me target my priority weaknesses to allow me to reap the most GRE points. That training strategy worked awe-some-ly: in 1.5 months, my GRE score improved by +7 in GRE Verbal and +8 in GRE Quant. I also clearly gained self-confidence in Essay writing thanks to Dan’s tips and advice on how to best structure and deliver essay arguments — Essays are often downplayed by college applicants, and this is a fatal flaw especially in Social Science, Politics and Humanities.

Dan and the Vincia Prep team are young and hence flawlessly connected and reactive. The training material they work with is always up-to-date and cutting-edge. They will give you that pinch of salt and those tips-that-are-not-in-the-handbooks which are critical to standing above other GRE (or GMAT) test-takers on test day. I must add that, as a French applicant, the VinciaPrep team provided me with an invaluable sense of, and acculturation to, the American style of arguing and writing. This literally also tells you how test graders are likely to think, which is always good to know! Being able to master such a “switch of visions" is an enormous asset for anyone wishing to excel on a US standardised test.

So, 1.5 months later, on my first GRE attempt, I scored 166 Verbal, 162 Maths, and 5.0 Essays. That was perfect for my Master’s applications. I had astounding results, as I was admitted in every Master’s program I had applied to: Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Chicago, Johns Hopkins, Georgetown, and Oxford! Needless to say, that flurry of good news felt rather good. I chose Harvard, where I was subsequently offered three different scholarships, which together make for a full scholarship — that is to say, over $180,000… My Master’s at Harvard will hence be cost-free. It’s quite crazy.

My warmest thanks to Dan, Umer, and the rest of the Vincia Prep team! And, to future applicants in need of training who are still hesitating: rush in! VinciaPrep will take you to new heights.

Here are the two main things about Dan and his team:

1) They are incredibly good at what they do.

2) They really care about accompanying you to reach your target and they will go the extra mile for you. They care about you as a person.

Their help was invaluable in transforming my dream of getting accepted into the Stanford MBA a reality.

I started my application process with the goal of getting a GMAT over 700 to apply to top 5 US MBAs (in deferred admission). My math was quite rusty, to say the least, but Vincia team helped provide me with the structure and the resources to create a study plan. Then I studied. But they helped me get the maximum value out of each hour I spent preparing for the test. This was invaluable: preparing for the GMAT is far from being fun. But when you are accompanied by a team that can help you make the most of it and who truly master the material, it is much easier to stay motivated and at the top of your game. Again, I want to highlight the level of expertise Vincia Prep’s teachers have; they are some of the best teachers I ever had. They are able to explain to you the answer to a problem in three different ways, while being extremely good pedagogues and keeping you engaged.

I passed the GMAT a first time before having finished the plan of study recommended by Dan and his team: I did not get the score I wanted. But after another month of work where I was able to finish everything, I obtained a 720. Every step of the way, Vincia Prep’s team cared: they sent me check-in messages, they called a few days before each test to talk about the best strategies to make the most of my time, and when I didn’t get the score I wanted the first time, they truly gave me the motivation boost that eventually helped me score 720.

After getting my GMAT, I started working on my essays. Again, Dan and his team proved to be incredibly competent: they will not write your essays for you, but they will help you understand how to construct a solid application by articulating all your experiences, understanding which ones you want to highlight and how you can best create a complete picture of yourself. This was incredibly useful, especially for the most essay-heavy applications. This guidance kept me on track, and in the harder moments, having someone who truly roots for you is an incredible thing.

All of this long text to tell you: I would recommend Vincia prep to everyone I know. They are simply extremely good at what they do and very caring. The journey from my first GMAT mock test to my Stanford acceptance was a long one and I am very grateful for Vincia Prep’s help and support all along the way.

When I decided to apply for an MBA, I was a bit frightened by the GMAT. I first self-studied but could not get a better score that 480. Then I looked for a tutor, and found Dan thanks to this website. After we met for a couple of hours, I knew it would be of a great value for me. Dan's team provided me the necessary theoretical material covered by the GMAT and also the corresponding practical work. During each class we corrected my homework and my teacher helped me understand why I made the mistakes I made. Even in-between classes Dan was available by e-mail to help me when I did not understand a concept. Vincia's teachers are very supportive and patient, which I highly appreciated as the quantitative part gave me a hard time! Once all the concepts had been covered, Vincia offers some CATs, which allow you to easily see the how you can make improvement and your weakest points. Dan also analyzed the results and helped me improve my score by helping me with things like improving my time management. In the end, my score did finally improve. When I finally took the GMAT, I improved my score by 180 points, and I am sure I could not have scored so high without Dan and his team. After the GMAT, I decided to ask Dan if he could help me for the essays. I sent him my drafts and a few days later he provided me detailed feedbacks on how to improve. He did not write the essays on my behalf, but rather just helped me look deeper into why I wanted to pursue an MBA and help guide me in finding ideas. He helped me structure my work and make my essays more convincing. Once again, Dan was really supportive, patient, and available. So if you are serious about studying and enrolling in a MBA program, you should consider working with Dan! 4 months later... I recently received admissions from Boston University with a $20,500 scholarship per academic year, and from Boston College with a $15,500 scholarship per academic year! I am sure that without your support it would not have been possible!

(1 month later after we helped him renegotiate )

Hi Dan, I hope you are fine, I just wanted to let you know that I just recieved a decision from BC. My scholarship has been improved from $15,500 to $25,500 per year! Thank you again, especially for helping me make an additional $20,000!

Hi! Took the GRE Nov. 20th and got a 166 Verbal and 150 Maths. I think my verbal score is very good, especially for a non-native speaker. Your reading comprehension class was particularly helpful. Anyway, I hope the admissions committees will be impressed by the verbal score- I’ll let you know how it turns out!

(8 months later she wrote back)

I did get into the Harvard and I am actually in the States right now, starting classes tomorrow! If anyone asks where to prepare for the GRE, I will send them to you!

You have done a terrific job going through all the Gmat available material, which allows your students to work efficiently and improve their scores tremendously in a small amount of time. Your methods and advice are very valuable and your math courses impeccable. Thank you very much for your help.

(6 months later we did one class on interview preparation and here is what happened)

Hi Dan, How are you? I just wanted to tell you I got into the program I wanted at MIT! I'm pretty excited about it, it should be very interesting! Thanks again for your help during the whole process, it was really differentiating. I'm not sure I would have made it without your advice during our last meeting.

Cheers, Roland

Dear Dan, Thank you so much for your help!! I received the offer from LSE and LBS a couple of weeks ago and I still cannot thank you enough for your great support during my application process. The GMAT was quite hard me, but you taught me lots of good tricks, and most importantly, you were able to give me a lot of "customized" advice that I would have never found in any other school. I think that you are truly meant to be a teacher, you are dedicated and very smart. In addition, you have an excellent knowledge of what schools are expecting from candidates. Your support truly helped me to gain self-confidence, and that for sure highly contributed to my success. Actually, to be honest, without you, I do not think that I would have had the great opportunity to go to LSE or LBS. since my GMAT score was a little low. However, I think that your help with the essays really helped me shine. So thank you very much for your help, support, and knowledge!! I am so grateful! Also, I will not hesitate to advertise your business to my friends and family located in France! I hope we can keep in touch and meet again in Paris soon!!! :-)) Anne-Hélène M.

You helped me boost my math skills dramatically and gave me valuable structures and tricks for verbal. I also think that you really helped me grasp the GMAT logic and saved me a lot of time. P.S.-Wharton, is awesome

I met Dan as I was looking for a GMAT teacher about a year ago. I had studied the GMAT on my own but I was making little progress. Before I started the classes my score was around 550, mainly because of pace problem; I had difficulties to finish the question bank. Dan helped me to learn tricks so I could get quicker at answering correctly the questions. We mainly focused on the Quant section which was was my weakest point. In the end I got a 660. I appreciated Dan’s flexibility to meet for classes, often in the evening, in order to fit my agenda. The classes really helped me to take off and realize what was going wrong in the way I was studying before. Later on I asked Dan to help me with my essays. We discussed my project and kept exchanging emails while my essays were slowly taking shape. I got the feeling Dan really captured my story, making constructive critiques and challenging me over and over. He also helped me with the editing as English is not my mother tongue. I applied to 4 schools: Columbia, NYU, Chicago Booth and Kellogg. I got accepted to NYU, Booth and Columbia. Overall I was very satisfied. Dan is someone intelligent, very professional and reliable. I would strongly recommend him as a teacher and a consultant for essay writing.

Country of origin: France

Educational Background: Sciences Po

Age: 26 Work experience: 4 y

Hours spent with tutor: GMAT 16hrs

Months of study GMAT 6 months / Essays 3 months

(Background information: Mohammed is a GMAT teacher at another company who was trained by Dan when he worked there.)

HI Dan!

The class was definitely helpful, and for my case, and to be honest, it was more about how to deal with the GMAT's type of questions, how to process and how to manage time more than learning mathematics that was useful to me.  If we need to train more people here I’ll be sure to recommend you.

I am very happy to hear from you! The test was good, i got 660 (82 percentile) after a 520 the first time. Your math classes were very helpful. Your good courses made a big difference in my score.

Thank you very much for your help.  Even after only a couple of sessions I felt the benefit of our meetings.  The tricks that you taught me and the way to approach the exam came in handy on test day. I would be very pleased to see you again either in Paris or near Warwick were I am going to go to school.