I started thinking about MBA programs in January 2019, and while I had a few factors going in my favor (strong GMAT, Ivy undergrad), I also figured it would be an uphill climb. Among the obstacles to overcome: I’m an ORM, on the older side, and struggled during undergrad (~3.0 GPA). With that in mind, I thought I’d be fortunate to end up at a T15. Instead, with Maria and ApplicantLab’s help, I’m headed to an M7 this fall.
ApplicantLab does a masterful job of taking you through the whole process, from helping you think about your past and career aspirations, to framing your story, to preparing for interviews. After going through all of Maria’s modules, I genuinely felt that I understood myself better and that I was more prepared to talk about my past, present, and future.
Perhaps even more valuable were the details that Maria provided for each school’s essays. The amount of work and thought that went into every single essay question is evident as soon as you click into her suggestions and explanations. She did an incredible job not only analyzing directions you might take each question, but backed that up with why she thought adcoms might be asking those questions. For example, on Columbia’s “why NY” question, she pointed out that the video associated with that question changed from the R1 2017 version, and analyzed why they might have changed it (and how that affects how you might develop your answer!). There’s a TON of content available for each and every question, along with videos that are really fun and easy to go through. I genuinely don’t think that my essays could have reached the level of polish that they did without Maria’s keen eye.
This all comes at SUCH a reasonable cost. For anyone who’s a self-starter and trusts their own writing and brainstorming process, ApplicantLab is a no-brainer. I couldn’t recommend it highly enough!
