PythaGURUS Consulting: A story Review on US Top 10 MBA Scholarships

Dear Applicants,

I am writing to share the story of an applicant ( Shreya, Work experience 3 years, GMAT 710) who recently cracked Darden’s Full Time MBA Program with 50% scholarship.

Why is this story important for me? Before she started the MBA Admissions consulting process with PythaGURUS, she already had a ROTMAN Admit( Deferred from last year), and was aiming for US Top 10 Programs ( With a GMAT 710 and 3 years of work experience).

While she had an average profile, she really made up for it by working very hard on the feedback given to her in every iteration. We had our own reservations as she had given up a year by getting Rotman Deferred, and wanted us to fight for a US Top 10 with a 710 GMAT.

I wanted to share this analysis as I have come across a LOT of MBA applicants who do not understand the importance of adding real meat to the stories. These applicants are either not proud of themselves just because of their GMAT Scores or feel that they are not good enough because of their average extra-curricular activities, and other mundane aspects of the profile. I am not suggesting that every average profile with a 710 GMAT can crack US top 10 with significant scholarships. However, I certainly know that most of the average applicants have great stories hidden behind the mundane accomplishments. Adding the right context to these stories can significantly improve the quality of results.

I acknowledge Shreya for following the process very rigorously. It was so easy to give feedback to her as she was always prepared to see what was missing. Every round of iterations brought a strong incremental value and there was no resistance at all from her.

Suggestions for you-

- If you do not have the million dollar stories, you can still have a very strong context on the stories. “Why is this story important?” is more relevant than the “What was the Story?”

- It isn’t just about improving the profile. A lot of you work on improving your profile but fail to work on “What am I communication about my profile improvements, and how are those improvements relevant to the b-schools and their admissions committees?”

- Do not have random networking conversations with the current students. They get bored of these calls too. Before every networking call, create the right set of questions that will bring value to your essays.

Directly from Shreya:

Hi, This is Shreya. Want to share my experience with PythaGURUS for admissions consulting. This has truly been long overdue from my side.

I started looking for MBA programs in 2017, when I took my first GMAT exam and secured a 710.

That was the first time I interacted with Jatin. Having contacted several other consultants at that point, I felt Jatin was the most honest about my level of competitiveness and was a consultant who did not believe in giving false hopes to a candidate. Even though I secured an admission with Rotman that year, I decided to wait a year and improve my profile.

Next year, I reached out to Jatin after reading all the inspiring stories of the admits. Again, Jatin was blatantly truthful about my standing in the colleges I wanted to apply and the crunch of time in which I wished to do so. This always helped me stay grounded and put my best foot forward and displaying my best in the applications.

The beauty of the process at Pythagurus is that the process is very structured and has been broken down into several steps important to the application process. Jatin even provides detailed instructions, formats and examples for each step, which I found very helpful. The way he pushes you to rewrite essays until they do not bring out your uniqueness truly allowed me to introspect. The entire process helped humanize my story and made my application unique. Receiving an interview call from Darden was truly unexpected. Post that getting the admit along with a scholarship was just surreal.

Thanks Jatin for the constant efforts and guidance!