This is an outstanding product that I would recommend to anyone. It was the most helpful overall tool I found in my MBA journey! It walks you through every step of crafting your personal and professional story in a way that speaks to admission committees. I think it was well worth it to pay the additional add on fees for personal reviews on essays. The feedback I received was brutally honest, but trustworthy, and ultimately that feedback made my application exponentially more coherent and powerful. I'm extremely grateful to Maria and her team for the services they provided, as I ultimately gained acceptance to my top choice!

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I was hesitant to pick a virtual service over an Admissions Consultant, but now that I have been admitted to every school I have applied to (with a mediocre GPA and GMAT score), I could not have made a better decision. ApplicantLab helped me re-frame my mindset that gave me the best shot at success. In addition to all of the online tools they have (to do everything from tailoring your resume to interview prep) they also have paid services which you can utilize for a second opinion of your admissions material. I found the resume editing service especially helpful. I highly recommend ApplicantLab (and they had a free trial when I used it, why not try it out?), and would not have made it into my dream school without them.

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Subscribing to Applicant Lab—after my partner repeatedly encouraged me to do so—was possibly the most crucial decision for my MBA application journey. It completely changed the course of my applications for the better. The extensive resources that Maria has meticulously curated and the thoughtful process behind creating this marvelous platform simply cannot be overstated.

The process begins with deep self-reflection, but I believe the heart of Applicant Lab is the "Essay Advice" section. The depth and breadth of research presented for each school is truly exceptional. Maria literally includes school visit videos and directly quotes admissions committee members from various programs. This comprehensive approach helps you understand the unique culture and expectations of each school.

The return on investment cannot be expressed enough—for the minimal price, you get access to all the resources required for application, from the self-reflection platform to interview and waitlist preparation. This incredible value proposition sets Applicant Lab apart from traditional consulting services that charge thousands of dollars.

What makes Applicant Lab even more valuable—perhaps its best-kept secret—is that you can reach out to Maria directly for guidance. She generously offers ideas and addresses fundamental questions. I discussed my approach for at least one essay with her, and her advice was invaluable. When I was waitlisted at Berkeley Haas, I was heartbroken and immediately emailed her. She compassionately responded with a detailed 15-minute video message explaining how to approach the situation effectively. Fortunately, within a week of receiving the waitlist notification, I received my Wharton admission!

I cannot emphasize enough how much credit for my Wharton acceptance belongs to Applicant Lab. Maria is brilliant and consistently provides best-in-class advice. I wholeheartedly recommend Applicant Lab—choose it without hesitation, and you'll certainly thank me later.

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Accepted to Wharton, Booth ($$$), Sloan ($$), CBS ($), Kellogg

I was especially worried about applying to M7 MBA programs, especially with a below-average GMAT score (710 in my case). But thanks to ApplicantLab, I was admitted to five of the seven M7 schools I applied to, and I can confidently say it was the best decision I made during the entire process.

If you’re wondering whether an online platform can truly provide the same level of guidance as an expensive admissions consultant—don’t be skeptical. I did not use a consultant, and I am so glad I didn’t because ApplicantLab gave me everything I needed and more. The platform is incredibly thorough, insightful, and designed to help you craft the strongest possible application—without spending thousands of $$$.

From the start, ApplicantLab helped me write essays that would stand out. I kept rewatching the videos, which helped me brainstorm, nail down my story, figure out the flow of my essays, and refine them—something I wouldn’t have been able to do with just a couple of back-and-forth conversations with a consultant. The ability to revisit the guidance whenever I needed allowed me to iterate and make adjustments as frequently as I needed, ensuring my essays were as strong as possible before submission. The platform also guided me through revamping my resume into an MBA-specific one.

What truly sets ApplicantLab apart is its tailored, school-specific advice—insights I couldn’t have found even with extensive research. Maria (the founder) has spent years attending admissions events, consolidating what each school looks for, and distilling it into actionable advice. Beyond essays and resumes, ApplicantLab provided invaluable guidance on everything from tactical decisions (e.g., whether to re-request a CBS interview after an unlucky first round) to seemingly small but critical details (e.g., where to submit my additional math transcripts to make up for my low quant score). The platform even helped me strategize my Wharton Team-Based Discussion topic, ensuring I presented my best self in group settings.

Another useful section of the platform was the interview prep. My initial responses aligned with the platform’s "what NOT to do" examples—thankfully, ApplicantLab’s detailed guidance and sample responses helped me refine my answers. It even answered my questions about whether or not to wear makeup or what time of day I should schedule my interviews for. Because I could rewatch videos at my own pace, I continuously iterated and improved until my responses were polished. I have no doubt this was a key reason I was admitted to every school I interviewed with.

Even after acceptances rolled in, ApplicantLab provided thoughtful advice on choosing the right program, factoring in scholarships, post-MBA goals, and the environments where I’d thrive.

Every step of the way, ApplicantLab reaffirmed that it was the best investment I made in my MBA journey. If you’re debating whether an online platform can truly provide the level of insight you need—trust me, it can. I’d choose ApplicantLab again in a heartbeat. If you're applying to business school, this is the single best resource you can have in your corner.

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I first knew about ApplicantLab from a GMAT Club, and I was skeptical about how efficient an online MBA preparation resource could be. But, boy, was I wrong. Maria gives an in-depth analysis of each school's culture and her experiences with the school's admission committee members. She's also very responsive to questions, sometimes within an hour.

ApplicantLab requires you to do a lot of self-reflection and soul searching upfront, making the actual essay writing process that much easier. But my absolute favourite bit of using the platform is Maria's humour. She makes everything sound so funny and light-hearded, while still driving home her points, and the results speak for themselves. Despite a below-average GMAT and coming from an over represented demographic, I got into my dream school: Kellogg!

The interview prep section was also very useful for me and helped me structure my answers in a way I could remember and that felt genuine. If you're on the fence about ApplicantLab, just give it a try! You won't regret it.

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I got Applicant Lab after I wrote the GMAT and started prepping for application season.

I would actually recommend that you get a subscription while you prepare for your GMAT, this way you can brainstorm your stories slowly in parallel, say a story a week and by the time you have your score you will have 12-16 stories to choose from.

This is a solid tool in the sense that you do the hard work upfront in terms of why MBA, why a particular school, why now? and these things are important for you to understand before you commit to applying.



Helps you get the brainstorming done in advance so you have a pool of stories to use in your essays.

You can then map the stories to the traits that each school is looking for in a very organized fashion, then you can pull those in for the essays.

Very structured notes for each essay by school.

Helps you get the brainstorming done in advance so you have a pool of stories to use in your essays.

You can then map the stories to the traits that each school is looking for in a very organized fashion, then you can pull those in for the essays.

Very structured notes for each essay by school.

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I cannot express enough how incredible my experience was with ApplicantLab. From the very start, Maria went above and beyond in answering my questions. Her dedication and responsiveness made me feel supported and confident throughout the entire application process. The platform itself was fantastic – user-friendly, well-organized, and intuitive. It made the daunting application journey not only manageable but also very enjoyable. Investing in this service was hands down the best money I ever spent on my MBA application journey. It was truly my favorite part of the entire experience. The personalized support and the high-quality platform all contributed to getting into the school of my dreams! I highly recommend ApplicantLab to anyone embarking on their MBA application journey!!!

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After writing the GRE, I thought I the most difficult part of the MBA Application process was over. However, upon starting the application process, I realized how lost I was, and how unprepared I was.

Luckily, discovering ApplicantLab early helped set me up on the right path. I love how it breaks the application process into bite-sized chunks, from research, to brainstorming, to the initial draft, to the final checks. ApplicantLab even provides details on how to contact students, and how to best use school websites to dig up interesting details. But perhaps what it does best is allow you to tell your best stories. Only after using ApplicantLab was I able to transform my essays from vapid word salads to deeply personal, unique, and powerful essays that showed why I wanted to get an MBA, and how I would use it to impart change in the world.

Even as an international student who is an overrepresented minority, I was able to obtain admission to a lower-ranked T-15 with a 120k scholarship and two T-20s with full scholarships. Quite frankly, due to my demographics, I had expected to not receive any money, and I am sure that my wonderful essays were instrumental in that.

All in all, Maria and her team at ApplicantLab have created a truly useful resource that can help you get into the school of your dreams!

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I'm an international student and the MBA application process initially was a bit daunting, and seeing the admission consultant prices spooked me even more. I looked for alternate options and came across ApplicantLab. I was initially sceptical as I was scared this would not have personalized information, but after reading client testimonials, I decided to take the chance and boy, did it pay out!!!

I applied to 7 schools in total - Stanford, Kellogg, Booth, Yale, Fuqua, Darden and Stern - and got interview invites from all of them except Stanford. All the interview invites converted and I received $300K+ in scholarships!

The Lab helped me across the process - some specific examples below:
•⁠ ⁠I loved how the Lab split the entire process into different modules and summarized it all into to-do lists. From initial identification of profile strengths & weaknesses, building career vision and brainstorming stories to writing the essays, LORs and resumes, the advice given is super helpful and gives the best structure to the whole process.

•⁠ ⁠The interview prep module is also amazing with school-specific advice and detailed videos for even the 1-minute video interviews that you would have to do for some schools

•⁠ ⁠The BEST thing about this is the team - my initial misconception that you might not have personalised advice was broken during the first review I had with Austin. She helped me perfect my initial story and gave me ideas on what I could do better and how I can show my story in the best way possible. I had my interview prep and school review with Ken and he gave me some great pointers on how I can make my essays better and how I can tell my stories better in my interviews. And Maria is always super responsive and gets back within a few hours, always positive and encouraging!

I would highly recommend the tool as you go through your application process, as an individual tool or complementary to other services that you are availing. The tool and the team behind it will have your back :)

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Trying out ApplicantLab was the best chance that I took. I had just sat my first GMAT and was looking for guidance on how to tackle the whole application process. Coming from India, all those highly rated consultants who I felt would be the best for me, were priced completely out of my reach. To add to the cost was the fact that these consultants work in packages of 3 or 5 or more schools. This felt like a limiting factor. What if I wanted to apply to more schools? What if I changed my mind and wanted to apply to some other school than what we would decide initially? Do not misunderstand me. I come from a non-traditional background, and at that time, I also felt that I would be best served in a 1-1 model working with a consultant. But I also felt like that would hamper my originality.

In my research phase, I spoke with a lot of students and someone fleetingly mentioned Applicant Lab. It was after this that I tried the trial version and I was hooked! Applicant Lab felt like the perfect blend of the guidance I needed while keeping my originality intact and being able to tell my story in my way.

Another big factor was I wanted to be sure of the person I would be working with. I saw many of Maria’s videos on YouTube, and what struck me was how genuine she seemed, a good person, someone trustworthy, and I liked her sense of humor too!

Apart from the 1-year Lab subscription, I also took a Sanity Check since I was in a huge mess regarding my story. I am not exaggerating, Maria hand-held me throughout the process, helping me narrow down my choices and making me realize the holes in my initial story. I cannot thank her enough. There are almost 50 emails back and forth between Maria and me, and not once did I feel unwelcome. Maria will be your cheerleader in your journey.

Speaking about Applicant Lab, Maria has done a great job in distilling all the advice in bite-sized pieces that don’t overwhelm you. My advice would be to sign up well in advance so that you can follow through with all the advice at the intended pace. But you can also jump through modules as I did.

Coming from a non-traditional background, I was struggling with my resume. The way Maria has set up the Resume module - getting into the nitty-gritty is so good! The school-specific advice was a goldmine for me. I cannot speak highly enough of the value of this module especially.
Applicant Lab has some advice for every facet a candidate might need help with. Right from helping guide how to reach out to students and looking for potential companies to target, to giving tips on trying to re-negotiate scholarships, Applicant Lab has it all.

Another aspect of Applicant Lab that I liked is that it does not have any ‘sample’ essays or guides. There are excerpts only where Maria would just give you a flavor of the essence of how to go about telling your story, and that’s all. You have to think for yourself. And that’s the best part! You sharing your thoughts in your own words.

After I got my interview calls, I was worried about how to go about preparing for them. But Maria has covered interviewing ‘in detail’ within Applicant Lab. Just to give you an example, she even tells you how to position your camera and where to look, and a very funny, but extremely handy trick to use in training yourself to look at the camera when speaking!

I applied to 6 schools in R1 and interviewed at 5 of them. I got significant scholarships at 4 schools, and none of this would have been possible without Maria and Applicant Lab.

While concluding, I would like to point out that Applicant Lab is like a DIY admissions consultant. What I mean is, there will be no one pushing you and prodding you to get up and make the effort. You will need to be able to hold yourself accountable. And if you are someone like that, there is no better tool for you out there than Applicant Lab. This will be the best $300 you will spend.

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