This is my review about my experience with Jatin Bhandari (PythaGurus). From my experience, the absolutely best consultant one can work with!
Admits: MIT Sloan Fellows Program starting 2020. R2.
Profile:M / India / 40 years. Agri Commodity Trading and Supply Chain Management experience including 7 years in West Africa and 7 in the Indian subcontinent.
Have an MBA from one of the top B-schools in India. But since 2015 got the feeling that it was insufficient beyond a point. I needed a little something to catapult myself into the “next level of things”.
GMAT:Gave my GMAT in Jan 2018 (700 / V41 / Q44 / AW5.5 / IR 8). Self prep over 35 days. Used the standard core books (in no particular order –
OG for GMAT Review,
Manhattan GMAT Guide, Kaplan GMAT Prep Plus, Princeton Review) with a load of help from gmatclub.com. Burned the proverbial midnight oil studying 6-8 hours every night after a full day at work. It was intense and tiring, and I knew I could not sustain this for long, hence the 35 day deadline.
Finally decided to start the applications in August 2019. Only hitch was that I hadn’t the foggiest clue about how to go about it. The internet has loads of advice on what each part of the application looks for and how one should approach it, but then how does one know which bit of advice is right and which isn’t. Plus it’s not a one size fits all – an approach or content that works for me may not work for another aspirant due to our varied backgrounds, experiences, aspirations, personality types, KSA etc..
After a month of getting thoroughly confused, decided to follow what I do at work – when in doubt, bring in the professionals! It’s okay to ask for help; this isn’t something one wants to “try”; one wants to give it their best shot and get it over and done with in one go.
Spoke to a host of consultants. While they were all very professional, very convincing and very prompt, I still wasn’t getting the comfort I was looking for. So I decided to look up some user feedback on the net. Was going through a host of feedback on gmatclub, when one post caught my eye. There was this candidate who wrote a terrible feedback about a consultant he worked with, and the consultant answered back on the thread. What caught my eye was how the consultant responded – he didn’t rant. Instead he answered each point made by the candidate with facts, dates, timelines and specifics. Nowhere in his revert was the consultant rude, but he made a strong, logical case without mincing words. That’s how Pytha1Gurus got added to my list.
I spoke to Jatin Bhandari for the 1st time in the end of September. And I found that missing element that propelled me across the starting line. Jatin was articulate, upfront and structured in his thought processes, and asked bloody good questions. He didn’t dive into the sales pitch right away – he spent a couple of hours just understanding my profile, my motivations for applying, my desired outcomes, and in clarifying the rules of engagement. He addressed every query upfront, and was very clear on what he expected from me and what I was to expect from him, and how each of us needed to operate during the engagement to ensure we derive the best from each other. No sugar-coating, no bull-****. And he was amazingly positive about the adventure I was about to embark on.
2 calls later, I paid; and the game was afoot!
Long story short, Jatin delivered on every bit he promised and in the manner he promised. He pushed me when I slacked off, he motivated me when I was on the verge of giving up, he coaxed me when I was delivering sub-par inputs.
Proof of success – The MIT SFP admit.
In the rest of this piece, I’m going to club feedback about Pythagurus with what value an admissions consultant brings to the process. All of what I think a good admissions consultant should do or not do, I’ve learnt from my engagement with Jatin Bhandari and Pythagurus.
1. Why engage with an admissions consultant?Even Roger Federer, The GOAT in the history of sports, has a coach. A coach is a neutral observer with skin in the game wrt the player’s victory.
1. He observes while the player performs, identifies the shortcomings in the players style, skill, knowledge, attitude and personality. He then benchmarks the player’s abilities to the pool of players he’ll be up against, and imparts specific advice to the player for him to beat each opponent. He also advises how to get out of tough spots.
2. A coach lays down a match strategy depending on the opposition to ensure the player does nto burn out, overtire or get hurt during the match. But he also sorts out the player in case he starts slacking during the match.
3. The coach is also the player’s biggest fan and cheerleader. He shouts encouragements from the sidelines when the player is down, tells him what he’s doing wrong during a match and fights tooth and nail on the player’s behalf.
4. A coach also ensures that the player is working out as required, during his break between tournaments, is getting the right amount of nutrition and sleep, and is maintaining a disciplined regime.
All this is precisely what an admissions consultant (AC) does for an MBA aspirant. An AC is a subject matter expert who makes the journey easier and more efficient, and serves as point of reference for a candidate.
2. Is an AC a must?
Theoretically - No. There is enough material on the internet regarding each element of each school’s application. The schools themselves are more than happy to connect and advise.
Practically – Yes.
- Does one really have time to go through all the material available online?
- How does one know which bit of advice is correct / relevant basis the candidate’s background, experiences and desired outcomes? One size doesn’t fit all.
- It’s always good to have someone to talk to and tell you where you’re going wrong or right?
- Ensuring one doesn’t miss out on any critical elements of any application.
- Ensuring the candidate maintains the discipline and rigour required to meet the deadlines without getting stressed; and submits quality and relevant material.
But hey, It’s not a one size fits all kinda situation. Totally depends on the candidate and his circumstances.
3. What does a good admissions consultant do?
1. Will be honest, upfront and detailed about the services they’ll provide, and their costs, throughout the application process. They will also specify the things not available as part of the package. The most important bit is clarifying if who exactly will you be working with (the main guy, a flunky, etc.); and ensuring that you work with only one person for one application. They also should not ask you to engage with multiple people for multiple things during an application, barring scheduling meetings or calls. Jatin made all this and more clear during our first interaction. I knew how much I’ll pay for what and for how long.
2. Expectation setting: An AC understands the motivation and background of the applicant in detail to help them zero in on a pool of schools that he has a best shot at. The AC then identifies a set of schools above the ideal set and a safety net of schools below the ideal set. Idea is to give a candidate a good shot at achieving his aspirations, while building in stretch and ambition.
3. Game Plan: A good AC should plan how to go about applying to various schools. Which schools to apply to first basis deadlines, material than can be used in subsequent applications, and difficult material first. Jatin was clear on how we should approach my applications, while being flexible enough to incorporate my constraints (mainly timelines and schedules at work).
4. Discipline: Ensuring a candidate follows the schedules and meets the deadlines well before the final date. Avoids last minute panic. Jatin would send reminders if I missed a deadline, and would admonish me for being casual. But if I informed him beforehand, he would also be flexible enough to give me an extension if I had a solid reason.
5. Quality of material: A good AC has experience of the quality that a schools requires in terms of content as well as language. A good AC ensures that the candidate submits the right content for each school.
6. Pushing the candidate’s boundaries: in terms of thinking how capable the candidate thinks they are. Jatin made me see so many things about myself and my achievements in a whole different light.
7. Asking bloody good questions: to get the best and most relevant material out of the candidate’s experience and background. The best AC (aka Jatin Bhandari at PythaGurus) will actually help you discover that there is so much more to your story than you believe.
8. Prioritizing material: Every essay / resume / content in an application deck has a word limit. Which means we cannot put everything we believe is our significant achievement, into an application. A good AC will help you sort through the material to identify the most significant, relevant bits. Jatin made me realize that most of what I thought was important, wasn’t in the context of my applications. He taught me how to express more via a very concise content.
9. Will be driven to make you succeed - will be your most intense Cheerleader and will keep your morale high: Applications are an intense, tough, stressful process. It is but natural for a candidate to hit bottlenecks, get tired, overwhelmed, confused and eventually want to give up. A good AC keeps the morale high, boosts you up when you’re down, tells you it’s okay to feel down and out, motivates you with success stories; and ensures you cross the finish line in style. He is like a pacer that long-distance runners use. Jatin never gave up on me even when I had given up on myself. I still remember when I wanted to give up mid-way when I hit a bottleneck in one of the submissions – Jatin spoke to me for an hour and pulled me out of a feeling of absolute hopelessness. He could just have allowed me to give up, but he fought like a tiger for me, with me! And he never billed me for that time.
10. Finishing touches: Fine-tuning the final material to give it that winning edge. Things like compressing it to the word limits, removing redundancy and polishing the language. Jatin has a fantastic flair for language and structure, and can make a train timetable sound like one of Rumi’s poems.
11. Is honest, upfront, relevant, objective, brutal, DETAILED & SPECIFIC in his feedback, without being unnecessarily harsh. This needs a phenomenal level of balanced EQ, IQ and maturity, which I was lucky to experience with Jatin.
12. Is knowledgeable about which school wants what in an essay: Jatin was clear and consistent on what each school looks for, and made it easier for me to understand what to present and how to present it. The same story can showcase many different things depending on the narrative and the context it is told in, and Jatin took my strongest stories and made them epic.
4. What will a good admissions consultant NOT do?
1. WILL NEVER WRITE THE MATERIAL FOR YOU. They may give you material for reference wrt structure of an essay, language, etc, WILL NEVER WRITE IT FOR YOU. Jatin made it clear upfront that this was my story, and only I could tell it in a fluid, convincing manner. He helped with the critique of the material and by asking insightful questions, but never wrote the core content for me.
2. Will never accept plagiarized material. I’ve faced Jatin’s wrath when in the initial days I sent him an essay with the middle part picked verbatim from an article on the net.
3. Will never compromise on quality of material. Jatin and I went through as many as 5 iterations for one essay to ensure I got to the meat of the matter, but never settled for second best or okay material.
4. Will not accept delays or slacking off or a casual attitude. This helps sustain a sense of urgency and also ensures that the candidate has a visibility of the finish line to keep him motivated during this intense process.
5. It’s not their job to be sweet or nice or polite. Their job is to give you honest, specific, objective, relevant, detailed and specific feedback to improve your material. Thank you Jatin, for being all of this.
Jatin Bhandari did all of the above and more. He was with me every step of the journey, and made the whole process a lot more enjoyable and simpler than it would have been without him by my side. He also enabled me to glean insights about myself that I didn’t know about; with his expertise, guidance and support, my application process metamorphosed into a phenomenal journey of self-discovery.
O Captain! My Captain! Our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won;
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring…
Jatin - Thank you for being there by my side during this daunting and difficult journey. You made it simple, more enjoyable, and an absolute success.
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25 Sep 2015, 04:41
