Harvard Business School, MBA
20 years
Empathetic, narrative-driven, relentlessly thorough
Marketing, media, entertainment, advertising, Spanish-language and international markets, journalism, non-traditional, first-gen, and LGBTQ+ applicants, ESL candidates
Writing and storytelling are in Court’s DNA. His byline appears in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Forbes, and many other publications, enabling him to bring a working editor’s eye to MBA application drafts. The Texas native is the recipient of a Lambda Literary Foundation Fellowship, a New York Foundation for the Arts grant, and The Arlenes: Articles That Make a Difference, awarded by the American Society of Journalists & Authors (ASJA).
Court came to MBA admissions coaching through a career that turned out to be the perfect preparation. He grew up in San Antonio, Texas, in a neighborhood that’s 93% Mexican American, a place where the rhythms of daily life, the language at the corner store, and the ambitions of the people around him were not reflected in the institutions that would later shape his professional world. That distance between where he came from and where he was headed became, over time, his most useful professional asset. He has an instinct for translation and a lifelong commitment to building bridges between communities that don't always speak the same language.
Through his journalism training, Court has developed the ability to sit across from someone, listen carefully, and find the story they didn't know they were telling. His subsequent work as a senior media executive and as a professor and essayist sharpened the editorial instincts that now define his coaching. The result is a consultant who does not approach an application as a form to be filled out, but as a piece of writing with a point of view, a voice, and an argument that must earn the reader's attention from the first line.
Court is particularly adept at working with candidates whose profiles do not fit the conventional mold: the career-changer, the candidate with a challenging test score, the international applicant for whom English is a second language, the professional whose most important experiences resist easy quantification. That comfort with the unconventional is not incidental; it's the through-line of his entire career.
The most common mistake I see candidates make is believing the application should fit a mold — that there’s one correct shape their story is supposed to take, a set of approved experiences, a particular register of professional ambition that admissions committees are waiting to recognize. There isn’t. Schools want something far more difficult to manufacture: a person. Admissions officers seek someone specific and irreplaceable, whose presence in a case discussion or a study group would be genuinely different from anyone else’s.
Think of it this way. There’s a stage. It’s all black, with a single spotlight shining into its center. The admissions committee is seated in the audience — waiting, watching, and wanting to be moved. But they can’t see you if you hide in the wings. That’s where most candidates spend the entire application process: just offstage, close enough to be safe, far enough to be invisible. My job is to encourage you to step into the spotlight.
That kind of courage — the willingness to be fully seen — is also what produces the essays I push every client toward: ones so specific to you that if a loved one found a copy in the parking lot of a grocery store on the other side of town, they’d still know it was you, even if your name didn’t appear. The moment a candidate stops trying to sound like an MBA applicant and starts sounding like themselves is the moment the application comes alive.
I had spoken with over 20 consultants and even hired (and fired) two others before finding Court. To say that I was picky would be an understatement.
I could immediately tell Court was different. Having been burned before, I started working with him on an hourly basis to test the waters but quickly upgraded to a comprehensive package once I knew we were a fit. Court gets deeply invested in his work, and that’s exactly what you want in a consultant. His passion and enthusiasm radiated in every call. Court genuinely wanted me to be successful, and he went above and beyond to do it, investing exhaustive time for us to brainstorm, discuss, revise, refine, and perfect. He could see what I was capable of in my writing and wouldn’t stop until he had pulled it out of me.
The ideas and insights Court brought to the table helped me identify my strengths, avoid tempting pitfalls, and find my authentic voice in my writing. The result was powerful essays I was proud of.
As an applicant coming from private equity, I had a hectic schedule and needed someone who was not only flexible and accommodating but could stay on top of me and not let the application process slip. This is where Court excelled. He was also hyper-responsive and could always find time for me, something we get used to with our advisors in PE but rarely find among admissions consultants, speaking for both myself and my colleagues who applied to business school. I was a demanding client, but Court was equally demanding, refusing to let me settle for a less-than-perfect application.
Best of all, I feel like I gained a friend and mentor by the end of our time together. I truly believe Court is among a rare subset of admissions consultants, and the results speak for themselves. His relentless approach, fueled by his passion for my success, allowed me to put together an application that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise. I can’t recommend him enough.
I reached out to Court during the summer before I applied to MBA programs. Early in our first meeting, I knew he was the perfect person to help guide me through the process. He really made an effort to get to know me not only as an MBA candidate, but as a person, and he consistently went above and beyond in helping me with each facet of my applications. His in-depth knowledge of the MBA application process, his level of thoroughness in the several rounds of constructive feedback that he gave me (while still remaining incredibly kind), and his background in storytelling were all immensely helpful as I wrote my applications.
After the applications were submitted, Court continued to go the extra mile during the interview process. He gave me tips on details that I would have overlooked without him, but after hearing them, I felt that my interview skills drastically improved. The mock interview that he conducted gave me the confidence and ability to put my best foot forward during my actual interviews. The coaching he provided for the interviews was invaluable to my success.
Before I met Court, I felt that Stanford GSB was a bit of a long shot for me, but he instilled confidence in me that I had a chance, and ultimately his guidance was instrumental to my acceptance. He not only knows the vital ins-and-out of the MBA admissions process but further stands out because of the distinctive qualities of his professional storytelling background and his kindness through the process. As a person, Court was always incredibly kind, and even though my application process is over I’m glad to say I’ll always consider him a close friend. He is not only a top-tier MBA coach but also an amazing human being.
Court’s coaching was invaluable, and I consider working with him to be one of the best investments that I’ve ever made for myself. Thanks to him, I’m going to attend the school of my dreams. I would unequivocally recommend Court to anyone who is lucky enough to have the opportunity to work with him.
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