Signing up with
MBADecoder has been one of the best decisions and investments I made during my b-school journey.
Although I initially signed up with
MBADecoder to apply for the 2019 intake, I pushed it to the 2020 intake owing to a compelling professional opportunity. Namita was extremely flexible and a year later, we picked up right where we had left off.
Starting with the exhaustive mini-questions, questionnaires and SWOT analysis, we were able to distill the key points in my story. Another huge factor was that Namita was accessible at all times which reinforced that I had made the right choice.
It was a bumpy ride when we started identifying the schools based on my profile because I had a fairly atypical profile and a fairly high number of misconceptions about where I would be a better fit and where I won’t. Nonetheless, I loved how Namita was brutally honest and cautiously optimistic through the process.
After a series of calls with Niranjan, Namita’s senior expert, we started diving into the CV and essays. The attention to detail, that at the time felt extremely irritating, ended up paying dividends even after receiving my admission – My post-selection CV took less than 30 minutes to prep and the CDC was impressed how I already had all the necessary criteria met.
Unfortunately though, R1 was a bust and instead of cutting me loose like a bad investment, which “one of India’s biggest consultants” did (read ghosted me), Namita and Niranjan were super supportive! Their attitude was one of empathy and we rallied to build an entirely new approach. We even went back to the drawing board for a few things and built some extremely compelling applications this time around.
It was no surprise when the admission rate in R2 jumped to 60%!
A few things that I believe set MBA Decoder apart are:
1.Namita’s personalized approach. She really listens and understands you as not only person but also a professional.
2.This isn’t a client-service provider relationship! Both Niranjan and Namita get involved at a very granular level and share in the successes and guide you through all the failures.
3.Accessibility. Honestly, I was terrible at keeping timelines and would often leave things to the last minute but Namita would stay up through the night, ready to help, right down to the minute I hit the submit button.
4.The process! I hated it when it started because I had to do everything myself. Before Decoder, I would often just copy a standard template or best practices for essays and CV off the internet and write long and drab stories that would put an insomniac to sleep. In contrast, Namita would deep dive into each draft, highlighting the good, the bad and the ugly – this iterative process of authentic content creation was critical to building a story that was authentic and compelling. She would factor in my weak points and mentored me to build robust narratives through a tough yet rewarding iterative process.
5.Niranjan is a zen-master. His approach wasn’t just to prep me to get an admission into a school. Instead, a lot of our calls involved him doubling as a career coach and a mentor.
I would definitely recommend
MBADecoder to those willing to put in the sweat to not just get into a good b-school but also those hoping to learn skills that will serve them well during and post the MBA.