ApplicantLab Reviews & Ratings 2026

After coming off an unsuccessful application season, I wanted to make sure I utilized all avenues to not repeat my mistakes this time. After hearing some positive word-of-mouth, I signed up for Applicant Lab to see for myself. I used the Lab in addition to working with actual real-world consultants, and it turned out to be an immensely useful guiding tool through the application journey.

I must say that Applicant Lab was the most value-for-money item in my entire MBA application expense list. Maria's inputs and ideas often were the starting point for all my school essays. I did 8 applications in the entire season and utilized the Lab for all of them. Maria has a great understanding of the entire process and freely shares her knowledge through the Lab. Its almost like having a close friend who you can bank on in this stressful journey.

For the two additional questions posed by Booth after interview invite, the Applicant Lab team (hello Carin!) was quick to update the portal with their thoughts. Overall, I highly highly recommend this tool to everyone, even those working with consultants on full packages. The additional perspective, tips & guidance is worth much more than the cost.

"I would say do not even think of applying to M7 schools. Duke, Ross should be fine", said Stacy Blackman Consulting during their 30-min free evaluation call, without even listening to my "what matters most?" story for once. I was dejected.

From that moment just over a year ago to getting into Stanford GSB on a full tuition fellowship, has been an amazing journey!

But it all started when Maria "listened" to my story after I reached out to her as one of the 50 finalists for the Stanford Reliance Fellowship (given to 3 Indian students every year).

Being the first one to pursue a proper college education in my family, let alone applying to a business school, I had no clue about the admissions process, and I wanted someone to guide me - and not spoon-feed me like most Indian consultants do, for exhorbitant rates! - on what the admissions team expects from applicants. And Maria was willing to be the mentor I was looking for!

I wanted to take a DIY approach with some expert inputs along the way - something ApplicantLab offered in a unique way as Maria has listed specific advice for each school in terms of short write-ups and in-depth videos...and with a good dose of humor!

The best thing about the ApplicantLab platform is that it guides you to do a lot of "pre-work" before getting to write essays. Be it about your career journey, leadership traits, extracurricular stuff, future goals - it all comes into a matrix form once you are done with the pre-work steps. And then, it is very easy to pick and map the important points for a particular essay prompt. More importantly, this pre-work gives you enough time for self-reflection, something that eventually helped me bring out my most personal and authentic stories in the "what matters most" essay.

Towards the R2 deadline (I applied to 3 schools all in R2), I was lagging behind and so I even availed a few hours of help for AL's premium services, where each of the conversations with Maria were very helpful, especially for my MIT and HBS MS/MBA applications.

On the platform, the video guides for essays of all schools are in-depth and you'll have enough guidance to write the best essays on your own - that's what ApplicantLab stands for: "Be your own admissions consultant!".

In all, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of working with ApplicantLab/Maria and would HIGHLY recommend anyone to go for it. ApplicantLab will be your best guide if you are taking the DIY approach!

Belonging to an over-represented applicant pool (Indian male candidate working in an IT industry) and scoring an average GMAT score (700), I very well knew that the chances of getting into a top-tier B-school were slim. Almost all the admission consultants whom I approached pretty much dissuaded me to apply to any of the top 25 B-schools .But Maria was probably the only one who said ? ?Lets give it our best shot? and actually encouraged me to do so. I ended up getting wait-listed in two universities and got an admit from HEC Paris (one of my top choice schools). I can safely say that the Applicant Lab and Maria were the primary reasons because of which I could get into such an esteemed B-school even after having a low GMAT score.

I basically used all the features of the Applicant Lab including the add-on services such as the strategic feedback sessions, editing services and the mock interview session with Maria. My views regarding the product and the services are as follows:
Applicant lab as a tool: I feel , the applicant lab is a very innovative and intuitive tool which has succinct and complete advice segregated school wise. I was pretty much amazed by the detailed advice available on all the schools and specific suggestions for each and every essay question that is available in the Lab.
Strategic Feedback sessions: Booking the strategic feedback sessions for each school proved extremely helpful in my case. Maria used to give me a personalized feedback on the essays and even the short answer questions from the application forms. In many cases Maria actually chalked out the central theme of the essays which would best portray my candidacy. I strongly believe this was a game changer for me. Getting such a personalized and elaborate feedback from a Harvard alum was indeed a steal at the price at which it was offered.
Editing Services: Applicant lab has a tie-up with Admissionado for the essay editing part. The turn- around time is pretty good and you really get better versions of your drafts in practically no time. Maria was kind enough to do the editing herself for some of my essays during the strategic feedback session itself.
Mock Interview session: The interview prep section of the Lab is by far my favourite segment. Maria has uploaded video advice for almost all the possible questions that someone could get in an interview. I extensively followed the advice posted on Applicant Lab for all the interview questions and I believe it worked pretty well for me. I also took a mock interview session with Maria and I can?t emphasize enough upon how much this helped me. During the course of 90 minutes Maria fine tuned all my answers and made sure I was touching upon all my highlights within the 30 minute interview. I remember one of my interviewers specifically told me that my answer for the question ?Walk me through your resume? was one of the best he had heard during this year?s application season. The entire credit for this goes to Maria. During the mock interview session she practically framed this answer for me by recollecting the data she had read in my essays during the strategic feedback sessions.

To sum it up I would just like to mention that Maria and the Applicant lab were instrumental in getting me admitted to my top choice B-school. I can?t thank Maria enough for the support throughout the application season. In short I will recommend Applicant Lab to all the prospective candidates who want to get into a top b-school.

I have recently used Applicant Lab's services for my application process. We all are aware how much a normal admission consultant would charge - at least a couple grand. Unlike a normal consultant, Applicant Lab charges just a fraction of it and actually guides you to prepare your application process, this whole process actually a good experience or a good introspective session that one needs. Maria would help you if you are stuck anywhere, provide you good insight on what actually the Ad Com looks for, help you tailor-make the essays and responses for different questions that they might ask and train you for interview. Overall, I would highly recommend their tool and the process it lets you go through. Trust me it's value every buck you pay for.

I got accepted by ie business school in 2017 because of Applicantlab, and I?d like to share my fantastic experience. Before I purchased her service, I?d done a lot of researches and saw a millions of great feedback about Applicantlab. However, I had a concern which was actually the unique application process used by my target school, ie business school. As you may know, ie's admission process is quite different than the other schools and you are tasked to create video content on top of an essay to answer questions provided by the school. Although I had the concern above, many good reviews had me purchase the service and it turned out to be the best service I've ever bought.
The well automated algorithm she created is indeed perfect. I was skeptical as to how it worked, but it?s very intuitive to go through all the required processes such as brainstorming, preparing for essays, and interviews. She embedded her own video explaining everything step by step in order for users to understand what to do on the tool. What amazed me the most was she also put her video specifically for each school including ie business school. There are more than 10 questions that ie asks you to write about (you need to choose 3 of them) and she basically covered everything in the multiple video. She even advised that which questions I should answer and shouldn't, and most importantly why I should answer them.
To me, the most useful part of the service was ?how to prepare for interviews?. Based on her advice, I prepared for all the questions, and surprisingly 80 ? 90% of the questions that I was asked during the actual interview were what she told me to prepare before the interview. Interestingly enough, the interviewer even told me that all the adcoms thought my video, which I created based on Maria?s advice, was the best among all the candidates in my intake.
Again, I was a bit skeptical at the beginning but now I cannot believe she is still providing applicants with this level of service at ultimately low cost. If you get scholarship at the end, the fee for this service would be almost nothing. I strongly recommend to purchase her service before you waste money on cheap MBA consulting service.

I'm a workoholic.

Working 60+ hour weeks, two non-profits, and a side business, I needed admissions help that could operate with my schedule but still quench my thirst for details and specifics.

ApplicantLab was the perfect solution for me.

It contains amazingly detailed videos of not only what to do, but why you do it, which is really the secret sauce of admissions! The online tool walked me through the entire process of building up my MBA profile, and made sure that I thought through all of the important introspective questions that are necessary at putting together solid essays.

After building up my profile strategy, it helped me brainstorm essay topics and ultimately helped me create outlines, drafts and final versions of my essays. Finally, working with Maria via her videos on the essays were amazing. Her professionalism and upbeat attitude helped get me through a tough application schedule.

Ultimately, I got into my top choice!

I used ApplicantLab for my applicants to Harvard, Stanford, and Wharton in Round 1, and was accepted to all 3. Private admissions consultants were so so expensive and not an option for me, so I took the leap, and could not be happier about my choice.

The service is unconventional as a concept, but superbly executed by Maria and is (to me) a gamechanger. I had questions about how effective an online system would be, and am blown away by how much direction it gave my essays and my interview prep. I felt super comfortable with my essays by the end of the process, and went through so many fewer iterations than I read about from other applicants. I cannot imagine any admissions consultant service being more helpful or adding more value to my admissions process.

Thanks again Maria!! And if you're already a self-driven, motivated applicant, then there really is no need to shell out thousands - the system works superbly.

I was a reapplicant to schools this year when I found ApplicantLab. I heard about the tool through the Forte Foundation's MBA Launch program and tried out the free trial.

After just an hour working with the tool I could tell that I needed to buy it. It's a one-stop-shop for organizing all of your brainstorming and applications. Filling out the tool is actually fun because there are some great features such as writing out your stories and dragging and dropping the traits that it represents. Then, when you want to write about certain traits, you can use a filter to bring up the stories that best represent those traits.

However, the absolute BEST part of the lab is that Maria makes videos where she goes through ALL of the top business school applications and explains the rationale behind the questions and has rock-solid approaches to take so that you can respond.

If I didn't have access to the videos, I would have spent many hours of unnecessary time thinking about what Maria explained via her informative and entertaining videos.

On top of that, I bought a few hours of review time from Maria herself. Not only was ApplicantLab itself relatively inexpensive, but Maria's hourly rate (about $150) was much less than other consultants (some charge $300-$500?!?!).

Hiring a consultant for $4000+ is just insane, ApplicantLab is ~$300 and you will get absolutely equal or better value.

I used ApplicantLab's platform for my application to Columbia's August-entry MBA program and received a full merit fellowship for both years and I couldn't be happier!! Prior to using ApplicantLab, I had a couple of calls with traditional admissions consulting firms who told me my chances at a T10 program was slim to nil, that I should aim for T15-20 programs, and that they are reluctant to help me target a T10 school. Needless to say, the dispensed advice was off-the-mark and I decided to use ApplicantLab to take a stab at the admissions process myself.

My biggest takeaway from ApplicantLab is how intuitive it is to use to flesh out your unique story - this was my first time applying to an MBA program but the platform gave me step-by-step guidance on understanding my strengths/weaknesses, school-specific advice that is peppered with funny anecdotes and useful videos created by Maria, and awesome brainstorming tools for essays. The platform also gave me the flexibility to work on the application at my own pace (sometimes I have a stretch of several hours to work on it while other times it may just be 15-20 minutes during a lunch break - regardless, the platform provided the right probing questions and advice to get my ideas flowing!).

Two oft-overlooked sections that I think really gave me the edge: the resume writing and interview prep sections. In the resume section, Maria really outlines the importance of the resume despite the short time an Adcom might spend glancing at it. She also provided an easy-to-use and adaptable template that helps frame how I wanted to tell my story in the context of the overall application. In the interview prep section, there was useful but candid advice on how to approach the common questions (why MBA, why now, why this school, etc) as well as some unique questions through written and video advice. She also has several videos explaining how to really excel in Skype interviews as well as "record yourself" interviews used in the application process by Yale SOM and others. Overall, super thorough and relevant for pretty much any school you may be looking at.

Finally, Maria responds to questions through email which was an added bonus. She is experienced and provides practical and actionable advice to really move you ahead of the applicant pool and is a super approachable and professional individual. I highly recommend ApplicantLab for anyone interested in attending the MBA program of your dreams!!

I was not very confident about how would a tool help me write essays or get me into top business schools. I was like "Are you really serious? This is just a tool Man!".

I must admit today I laugh at myself when I think what I used to think about this tool. Since it was just for a few bucks, I thought let's go for it. I bought the tool and started working on it. I showed my last years Resume to a couple of people and everyone was like "Hey, did you really apply to Business schools with this resume?". I was highly embarrassed. Come on, I paid so much for this and now you are laughing at me on this resume?

Trust me: I got awestruck when I saw Maria's advice on how to build a resume for MBA school. At that time, I wanted to punch my consultant too badly. I mean how dare he made me make a resume that was the worst resume in the world. Maria has made a comparison on what a good resume is and how badly you can make your resume. And all the qualities of a bad resume were there in my old resume. It was a BS.

I worked on my resume again and followed the advice that was provided on the tool. I felt a bit confident that atleast I have made something better this year than what I did the previous year. This also made me realize that some of the "big" consultant companies are using their big names to get the business but are hiring low quality consultants to provide services.

I started working on other modules of ApplicantLab. Initial modules brainstorm you alot by asking you to think alot and answer alot many questions. I felt a bit less confident on how boring it was. But I realized its worth once I started writing my essays. I felt that whatever the questions were asking was already brainstormed by the tool in the initial stages. It got so easy to just pull the information/answers I already wrote and plug them in the essays to make a story. There are many sanity checks that ensure that you are adding the information that the essay is looking for. The best thing is you have very specific information for every school.

I even realized that my previous consultant was not even providing me any direction or ideas to write my essays. He was just asking me to remove this and add something better. But ApplicantLab has very well explained videos for every school. Maria has provided alot many ideas/examples for you to think and has provided right directions to help you get further ideas.

Feeling more confident now, I started working on my first essay and this way I ended up submitting 10 applications within 30 days.

It was Diwali night (A North Indian Festival) when I received my two interview invites within a span of 30 minutes. I got excited and opened the interview module of ApplicantLab and started preparing for interviews. My experience with interview module was again awesome. All the general and behavioral questions are very well explained and they guide you to generate many ideas to talk about. This went in my favor. I prepared well and started receiving interview calls from a couple of more schools in the mean time. My interviews went awesome.

I ended up spending less than what I spent last year and got admitted to 3 schools with huge $$$s.

It was 2 weeks after the interview of one the schools that I came to know I got admitted and that too with unexpectedly high scholarship.

I have added my detailed story here: https://gmatclub.com/forum/stepping-into-my-10-years-long-dream-thank-you-applicantlab-262884.html

Happy learning!

As a fringe candidate with some traditional red flags (short work experience at a no-name company, sub 3.0 GPA) I really needed a way to showcase my best self to wow admissions, and ApplicantLab provided me everything I needed. I'm now a student at a top MBA program that, based on my statistics and work experience, I should have no business at.

With well designed modules that cover everything: resumes, letters of recommendation, essays (amazing, comprehensive, and tailored to every essay from all of my target schools), and interviews, ApplicantLab is an fantastic resource that covers all the bases and really gives you the best chance to get into the school of your dreams. It's flexible and lets you work on your own time, not needing to find times with admission consultants and schedule meetings - I did most of my essay writing offline, using the tools provided by the lab.

For the price, ApplicantLab is easily the best value in admissions consulting for B-school - for the cost of taking the GMAT you have a fully comprehensive admissions consultant tool, with access to Maria when you need it and amazing turnaround time on any questions you might have for her. She even found time on Christmas Eve to help me identify extra schools I should consider, given my career goals.

TL;DR: ApplicantLab is a comprehensive and incredible tool for admissions, and worth every single penny.

Key message:

**Expensive firms are not the only viable option!**

ApplicantLab is essentially a series of one on one recorded consulting sessions that you can replay time after time! It's personalised, intelligent advice that doesn't have any personal agendas or biases. Here's how it helped me.

The reason I looked for extra advice was that I lacked some confidence in my profile and I also felt a bit out of the loop being so far away from the US and Europe, as I was based in South Africa. In retrospect, I think many people people feel this way; it's normal.

Maria's platform caught my eye while I was looking for supporting material. The price was far better than the traditional admissions consultants and after the free trial of the platform I took the plunge and purchased access. The beauty of an appified, online admission advice process is the following:

1. Maria's words and advice have been chosen very carefully for her videos, and you can go back and listen to them over and over
2. The platform's algorithms are smart and give you personalised advice that I found very helpful, for example in identifying your strong and weak points
3. You can work at your own pace, which means you have enough time to type down various thoughts and reflections. You simply wouldn't have that amount of time with a consultant unless you paid for huge amounts of time
4. You can get personalised, well-researched advice for any of several top tier schools at no extra cost. If you want to add a school, it's easy.

Maria and her team have clearly put a huge amount of time and effort into curating a product that I found so relevant and helpful, greatly assisting me to get admitted to Oxford in stage 4 of the 6 rounds of admissions (this year there are only 4 rounds). I was blown away.

Don't consider this a second choice to traditional consultants - the lower price point is not a marker of its usefulness or quality. It's simply due to the online nature of the offering that the price comes in more affordably. Plus, if you decide you want someone to speak to, Maria is available for one on one consultations at additional rates.

I wholeheartedly recommend ApplicantLab. Good luck!

When my friend, a Boothie, said that ApplicantLab is the single best investment he had ever made in his life, I thought he was overselling the service. A mere six months later, when I got three admits from the four schools that I applied to (still waiting for the other one school to get back), I knew he was RIGHT!

Coming from a developing country of Indonesia, few of my friends have gone through the MBA admission process, let alone top business schools? admission process. I knew that I had to take GMAT, but I had zero knowledge on how to package my experience and ?sell? my profile to the Adcom. I also knew that I could get help by paying some $5,000 money to MBA consultant, but given my Indonesia salary, surely I wouldn?t be able to make it.

At that time Maria and her ApplicantLab came as my life savior.

From the start, ApplicantLab guided me to categorize my experiences into buckets. I began to reflect on my character development, the reason I want to do MBA, and the path I want to pursue after my MBA. I like how ApplicantLab does not tell you to write what the Adcoms want to hear, instead, let you authentically portray your best side and be the genuine you!

Of course, as a normal human, there are times I felt that the whole admission processes are very exhausting. Luckily, Maria kept the entire process interesting using her humorous content and empathetic videos. Her story-based approach allowed me to stay engaged, and I imagined that my life is a book that the Adcom will very much love to read.

Overall, I would STRONGLY recommend self-motivated applicants to subscribe for ApplicantLab service for three reasons. First, the quality of content and the school research that Maria has done is second to none. The research will help you to understand deeply about the school and tailor your application. Second, the level of authenticity you will achieve in your application. After all, the Adcoms are not looking for uniform MBA essays done by professional essay-makers. They want to see the real you. Thirdly, a supportive friend throughout your ruthless MBA application journey ahead. Maria is wondrously responsive, and beyond herself, she cares that you succeed in your application.

My journey to securing a spot at my dream MBA schools would not have been possible without Applicantlab!!!

I am a South African and was never exposed to the typical US/Europe Ivy league school application process. I had written the GMAT and scored 640 so I knew that everything would hinge on the rest of the application seeing that my GMAT score wasn?t above 700. To put it simply, I needed the remainder of my application to be extraordinary!

I did my research and found that Applicantlab was the best on the market. It is extremely cost effective and very convenient because much of the work is done a pre-established platform which eliminated complexities relating to time zone and consultant availability.

I was skeptical at first, so I signed up for the FREE trial. After a few short sessions I felt extremely confident about the quality of the product and decided to take the plunge and subscribe to all services. I have never regretted making that decision.

The platform is aesthetically appealing and very user-friendly. It takes the applicant on a journey and puts you in the shoes of the admissions committee member to ensure that you not only develop an authentic essay that speaks to your truth but do so without losing your targeted audience.

The platform is structured in such a way that by the time you get to finally writing the essay you already have a few anecdotes and key stories to help you answer that ?daunting? essay question which was extremely helpful for me. I?m an accountant by trade, so essay writing and storytelling doesn?t come naturally to me. The good thing about the tool is that you can revisit the modules as many times as you want at no extra charge. I revisited the modules a few times before I wrote my first draft essay.

I then booked an essay review session with Maria where she went above and beyond my expectations and not only provided written guidance on how to improve my essay but include an audio feedback recording where she explained her thoughts around her written mark-ups allowing me to fully understand how to action any amendments. Her turnaround time was phenomenal, always responding to every query, essay or email within 24 hours.

I submitted my essays and when I got shortlisted to the interview stage I was able to progress to the interview module at no added cost. I did a mock interview with Maria and I can honestly say she is EXTREMELY through. She prepared me for all kinds of questions which left me extremely confident on the actual day of the interview.

Honestly, had it not been for Applicantlab and Maria?s support I would have never been accepted to neither INSEAD nor OXFORD. She not only got me accepted to these schools but helped me write the essays that resulted in me securing a scholarship for both schools.

If you?re still not sold on the many benefits of Applicantlab, I highly recommend that you signup for the free trial. You won?t regret it! I only used Applicantlab for all my applications and my ordinary GMAT score together with Applicantlab resulted in an extraordinary application package.

When initially considering applicant lab I thought it might potentially be a waste of money but that I'd give it a shot before a gave a consultants a couple thousand dollars or more to help me through this process. I never ended up using a one on one consultant because ApplicantLab helped me organize my thoughts and goals in a way that put together a compelling business school application.

Maria from applicant lab spent time helping me through the parts of the application process that I did not understand and even letting me know what parts of my career vision needed to be reshaped.

I would recommend ApplicantLab to anyone! Def give it a shot before shelling out thousands for a consultant.

Good day everyone.

Almost exactly a year ago (2017 October 2) I was rejected from CBS early decision, my dream school (since forever). I applied with what I thought were OK stats (e.g., 730 GMAT, 3.8 GPA from Southeast Asian Uni, MBB + PE). Dinged without interview.

So I did what any rational re-applicant would do and immediately hone in on a higher GMAT score (which I was able to bump to a 750). The NEXT thing I did was go on these forums and find myself an MBA admissions consultant.

At this point - we're practically on the same boat - and I found that Applicant Lab seemed to fit my needs (low risk $-wise, self-paced, school-specific help). I ALSO looked at online reviews myself (and thought that there was NO WAY these reviews were LEGIT). Funnily enough, upon writing this review, I realized that you had to submit a valid GMAT score to even WRITE a review (so yeah, these reviews must be largely legit). Now that we're past the whole fear of 'fake reviews', you have to believe that this is LEGITIMATELY THE BEST MONEY I HAVE SPENT ON MBA ADMISSIONS.

The lab (which is practically a web-based application dashboard) really sorts everything out for you from start to finish (YES, INCLUDING THE INTERVIEWS). The videos that accompany each stage per school were very insightful and really put things into perspective.

For me, the most useful part of the Lab was the interview preparation part. It combines external tools (where to find the likely questions) with internal tools (like what things would which schools be concerned about) and how to position your story to address those questions. It ensures that you have an excellent framework for dealing with the entire gamut of questions you can be asked.

FULL DISCLOSURE: Literally no one in my entire family has EVER attended an MBA program. In my country, only 10-15 people go to a top 15 MBA program EVERY YEAR. So there is almost NO ONE to ask advice from. Hence, almost everything in the Lab was news to me. I realized some very specific things that I would never have figured out in my lifetime (e.g., leave a lot of the point-blank bragging for the recommendation letters - so at least it's someone else saying you're the world's best at X; or don't focus on a SINGLE STRENGTH throughout your application).

I swear to God the Applicant Lab really fixed my re-application package. really fixed my interview prep. really helped me FINALLY get in CBS.

With a quantitative score hovering at the 55% percentile, I knew I was going to be facing an uphill climb to convince admissions officers that I would be a good fit for the rigor of a top MBA program. Not knowing where to start, I scheduled a few free thirty minute consultations with some of the top MBA Admissions Consultants. They confirmed my worst fears, recommending I look at safety MBA programs in the Top 40 or 50. One even told me that in order to achieve my dream of a Top 25 program my applications would have to be ?flawless.? Luckily, they could help? at a cool $11,000+ dollars for my five schools. As a non-profit manager, this equated to about ? my annual salary, before taxes. It?s no wonder I started to lose hope.

However, just a few months before the Round 1 deadlines, I was lucky enough to hear about ApplicantLab through an email from the Forte Foundation. I was hesitant at first, would access to a website really help me get accepted to a top MBA program? After four months of using ApplicantLab throughout the entire application process, I can finally say HELL YES. ApplicantLab was the only ?consulant? I used to write all of my five applications and I was accepted to Duke Fuqua, the school of my dreams in early action with a scholarship(!). I was also accepted to Oxford Said and received interview invites at all 5 schools before withdrawing my other applications. The best part? I paid the same amount to apply to five schools as ONE HOUR with a consultant at the other firms. My friend also used the service and had similar success. She was just accepted to Darden in Early Action with a lower-than-average GPA.

Since I spoke with those consultants last year, my GMAT/GRE score did not change. I didn?t suddenly acquire a promotion, a Noble Peace Prize, or some incredible extracurriculars. The only factor that changed is that I started to use ApplicantLab. The program walked me through every step in the process from developing career goals, to brainstorming my leadership stories, to the actual essay writing, to interview prep. There were multiple modules that are totally unique to ApplicantLab. In particular, the Career Vision and Why MBA modules were essential in making my eventual career essays and interviews bulletproof. Maria asks you questions in these modules that you might have not even thought about and gives you concrete examples to build upon for your own goals.

I also owe a debt of gratitude to the carefully curated and specific advice Maria has supplied for every single school, short answer, essay, and most common interview questions. In most of the schools, you can even access 10-30 minute video presentations where she tells you how to best answer the question. She also recommends the specific traits AdComs at your particular schools are looking for in your application.

Save the money you planned on using for expensive admissions consultants for business school. When you use ApplicantLab, you are going to need it for next year?s tuition!

In short - ApplicantLab covers all aspects of an application, has personalised advice to address the weaknesses in profile and an in-depth analysis of all the essays of the school and writing advice that caters to all kinds of MBA applicant profiles.
ApplicantLab is a complete product for MBA admissions - with help on brainstorming, strategising, essay writing, resume writing and interviews. There are sections that help jog your memory to draft life stories and make your application come to life. The analysis of each of the essays is very intricate and mentions exactly what the school expects. There are video tutorials on how to navigate the schools' website to dig for material in terms of clubs, electives etc. There is a diagnosis of your profile, highlighting your strengths and weaknesses and how strengths can be leveraged and how your weakness can be addressed. I was a job hopper, had a sort of average GMAT and below average undergrad grades and all these concerns are addressed in the modules.
Maria and Carin have also always replied to my questions within 24 hours. I also booked a "Sanity Check" session with Carin, and it was the best review ever. It was crystal clear on things I needed to write and things I needed to remove from my essays, how my story could be enhanced and there were suggestions for editing as well. There was also a detailed review of my resume in the sanity check session and I was able to bring down my resume to 1 page, highlighting all the best parts. I absolutely needed no other tool/consultant after the video review. I was struggling with the "Why MBA" part and there is a whole section on ApplicantLab dedicated to this. It will help you frame a story that starts with your past/current position, ending with your Long term goal and fitting the MBA perfectly in between.
ApplicantLab has also helped me with the interview process since doing the extensive modules on the motivation for an MBA and the particular school created the content for all my answers. Why MBA? Why not a different path to your goals? Why MBA Now? Why a particular school? Why not some other school? Why should we admit you? All these questions became much easier to answer!
I recommend ApplicantLab to all the MBA applicants. It is really cheap, user-friendly and a complete tool addressing all aspects of an MBA application.

Let me be 100% clear, you will not find another person who cares as much personally for your success on a consultant level. Maria is dedicated and will prove it to you by going the extra mile. She simply missed an email from me which she got to a week later, and gave me a free 30 minute (more like 45 minute) interview practice prep for any school. I choose Darden and through her interview prep and advice through the application process I got admitted.

I understand some people may not be sure 100% certain since this is mostly online, but let me clear, the tools she provides as well as her personal touch WILL help you get into a top program for an extremely competitive price. I'm telling you guys, use Applicantlab. Even if you're not planning on using a consultant, 200 bucks is nothing for this.

Thank you Maria for everything! Cheers!