TLDR: I had absolutely no experience with college applications before, but ApplicantLab helped me get into a couple of my top school choices on my first try. When applying to school, you really need to put yourself into the shoes of the Admissions Committee, and there is no better / cheaper way to do this than to spend some time with this tool (hard to call it a tool even – it was such a personalised experience!)
Details
I did a fair bit of research before going ahead with AL, and only heard positive things about it. Phone calls with consultants never really worked for me, as you just can’t absorb 100% of the information being given. Signed up with AL, and loved the flexibility of being able to work on my application in my own time. There are a lot of videos at each step, which makes the process highly interactive, and IMO, better than talking to an expensive consultant.
The Lab is a treasure-trove of information on the entire application process, starting from your strengths and weaknesses and your resume and all the way till your essays and interviews. The best part is the customised advice for each school out there – I can’t imagine the kind of work that went into this, but Maria is a superstar and the value provided by AL is phenomenal.
Furthermore, there is advice for literally everyone on there. Come from a family business but want to go into consulting? Engineering background transitioning to finance? It makes you think like an Adcom member yourself, and drills into you the Do’s and more importantly the Don’ts of writing your essays.
Finally, I signed up for an essay review with Maria, and was SO GLAD I did that. A couple of anecdotes that I initially thought were amazing were fully taken apart by Maria, and I went back to the drawing board and made some changes.
Summary
ApplicantLab covers every bit of the admissions process, and it’s a must have tool for every applicant out there. The unbelievably low cost is just an added advantage – even at 5x the cost it would provide a lot of value.
