Data analysis is more important than just having the statistics. Consultancies have the data – the statistics about what range of scores maps on to admits in which school. But more often than not, the mapping gets highly nonlinear !.. ;(
You could never quite guess where a student might end up by just looking at his or her scores because the student might have a great research profile or publications too (which count a lot, in addition to having good marks). Now this profile requires a smart analysis because the mapping tables would fail in such cases. The SOP will have to be drafted aptly, the letters to professors will have to be crafted smartly, research labs at the potential universities will have to be scrutinized thoroughly and what not!
Students are actually lucky that a person of her qualification – an MS in CS (from UIUC!) and an MBA from NYU Stern is willing to guide them hand in hand, through their admission process! I guess this ‘just’ explains everything I got from Nistha. There’s so much more you can get with Scholar Strategy than you think.