The assessment
Send your CV, your transcript and what you are aiming at, and I will have gone through them before we speak. The hour itself is spent on where you actually stand, my honest odds on each target, and the deadlines that apply to you.
Start the assessment — £250 Free 20-minute call first
Credited in full against any programme booked within a month. This is where the work starts, not a sales call.
What the hour covers
- Where you stand, measured properly. Your transcript read against the published entry standard of each target — the real one, including how your grading scale converts — rather than against a general impression.
- A target list with odds on each. My estimate, said plainly, including the ones I think you will not get. Nobody else will tell you that, which is precisely why it is worth having.
- The two or three things that would move those odds. Separated from the twenty that feel urgent and change nothing.
- Your deadlines. Including the funding dates, which at most universities fall well before the application dates and are the ones people miss.
- What to do first. In what order, on your timeline, with the things that can wait named as such.
It is your material I go through, not a template with your name at the top, and if the honest answer is that you are aiming at the wrong thing, that is what I will tell you.
How it works
- Pay£250 by card. Stripe handles it; nothing is stored here.
- Send your materialCV, transcript, test scores if you have them, and the programmes or roles you are aiming at. An email address comes back with the receipt.
- I go through itProperly, before we speak, so the hour is not spent on me catching up.
- The hourWhere you stand, my honest odds on each target, and what would move them. If a full engagement makes sense, you get the plan and the fee for it at the end of that hour.
Who it is for
People preparing for quant trading, research or development interviews; applicants to MFE and MFin programmes; applicants to M7, LBS or INSEAD; and families whose child is applying to Oxford or Cambridge for a STEM subject.
It suits you best if you already know roughly what you are aiming at and want to find out whether your plan survives contact with someone who has sat on both sides of it. It is less useful if you have not decided what you want yet — take the free twenty minutes first.
I work as a high-frequency trading quant, hold an LBS MBA and an Oxford master's in computer science, and interview MBA and EMBA applicants for London Business School.
Common questions
Is the free call not enough?
The free twenty minutes is to work out whether I can help you at all, and I turn down a meaningful share of them. Nothing is assessed in twenty minutes without your transcript in front of me. The assessment is the work itself.
What if I go ahead with a full programme?
The £250 comes off the fee in full, provided the programme is booked within a month. In practice the assessment is the first piece of that work, so the engagement has already started by the time we discuss it.
What if I do not go ahead?
You keep the assessment and you owe nothing further. It is written to be worth £250 on its own, and a good share of the people who take it act on it by themselves.
What exactly do you need from me?
Your CV, your transcript or predicted grades, any test scores, and a line on what you are aiming at. For quant roles, the firms and desks rather than the programmes. Send whatever you have; missing pieces are not a problem.
Will you tell me my odds honestly, even if they are poor?
Yes. That is most of what you are paying for. An adviser who tells every applicant they have a good chance is not assessing anything.
Can I pay in another currency?
The fee is charged in pounds; your card issuer converts it. Cards from outside the UK work normally.