Multiple School Package Reviews

I decided to use MER services because of extremely positive opinion online and the fact that Poonam is a 1-person shop, which led me to believe that services would be personalized. It was the best choice I could have made  Free consultation further confirmed my hypothesis and I remember that we spoke for more than 30 minutes than we initially planned. This was just one of many calls that took longer because she was always focused on understanding the objective and reaching the outcome rather than time, which shows her flexibility and commitment.

I noticed she was a bit more serious during our free consultation. Maybe this was related to fact that I was a bit unclear about timelines, and she was unsure of my commitment. It didn’t affect me in any way, it’s great that she showed her warm and caring personality from the initial call until the end of the process.

1. Resumé Review:
Poonam’s Initial thoughts during our free consultation was that my resume was solid. So I certainly felt very confident about it. However, when we got into our resume consultation, we only realized how many ways we can improve it and show my professional accomplishment and a bit of my character. She made sure to highlight accomplishments/impact very clearly and concisely. We consolidated descriptions of CV into bullets but also included details that show my interests, extracurricular activities that I never included in the past. When I look at my CV today, it shows who I am as a professional and person and that was never the case until our review. She helped me to rewrite bullets in a clear manner that was applied consistently with the STAR method. Her suggestions on the font size, details to include, and little things such as appropriate margin made a difference to make my final CV perfect.

2. Essay help:
The start of essay work was the brainstorming questionnaire you have designed. It is a perfect starting point of reflection for MBA applicants that made me reflect on my life decisions and what has influenced me to pursue different personal and professional choices. I feel like I came out knowing myself better after finalizing the questionnaire with clarity about my current and desired state, personally and professionally.

The brainstorming questionnaire was just the beginning of the journey we embarked with the EMBA application for INSEAD & IMD. The initial essay consultation was really helpful in understanding my strength and where to focus. I may have lost focus if it was not for Poonam’s advice and persistence to push for better content. Our conversations were deep, and she made me feel comfortable speaking about things I don’t usually tend to open up. She has a gift for understanding people and bringing the best out of them!

She also has a gift for creating the right essay structure to capture the reader’s attention . Sometimes I remembered having the right story, but only after her suggestions about structure/organization, the essay really came to life. She is a master of structure and editing. I always asked her how she succeeded in using so few words while maintaining the content. Can you please share this secret with me?  Just kidding.

3. LOR Guidance/Review:

Poonam made great suggestions to incorporate examples by all of my recommenders, and only then I felt that LORs started to come to life. Also, my recommenders were very positive about content recommendations and editing.

4. Turnarounds (Response time) meeting Strict Deadlines:
She answered all my questions in a clear and timely manner. She was always on time with agreed deadlines- ahead of time on our INSEAD & IMD application that we both worked with a lot of heart and dedication to submitting nearly a week ahead of time. I am delighted to inform you that I have received admission offers from both INSEAD’s and IMD’s EMBA programs. Keep up your great work, and thank you for this journey! You are really doing an outstanding job in editing and preparing MBA applicants. If I hear of anyone applying for MBA/EMBA, you certainly have my recommendation.

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I had the pleasure to work with Poonam for a period of 2 years. First, in 2021, when I was applying for the MBA program at McGill and Concordia, the two best business schools in Canada. Second, in 2022, when I applied to several MBA programs in California (UC Los Angeles [UCLA], UC San Diego [UCSD], and UC Irvine).
Getting accepted to these top schools was a challenge for me as my GMAT score was lower than the average score requirement for all schools (My GMAT Score 610/800).

Given the situation, my only chance to succeed was to ensure all other aspects of my application were world class. To achieve that, I decided to seek the support of an MBA consultant. As I was looking for a consultant online, I came across Poonam’s profile, and given the positive feedback online about her, I took a chance and partnered with her on this journey. Now, I can easily say that I was LUCKY to have come across her profile!
I worked with Poonam in 2021 on the MBA application at McGill, Canada and received my letter of admission from McGill! I received admission offer from both - McGill and Concordia , but my student visa to Canada was rejected, so I shifted my focus to business schools in the USA.
In 2022, I worked with Poonam on the applications of several schools based in California (mentioned above), among which was UCLA - the school of my dreams! When I first considered UCLA, I was almost convinced that I would never be accepted as my GMAT was way below the school average
(school GMAT average is 710 , and my GMAT score was 610). I believed I had no chance of being accepted.
Despite that, Poonam inspired me to look at the strength of my application on a holistic level and motivated me enough e to take a chance with UCLA. For 3 weeks, I worked with her on polishing my essay story and CV. Her guidance helped me highlight my strengths and organize my essays in a structured and simple, yet a sophisticated manner.
She also suggested that I write an optional essay clarifying the reason behind my low GMAT score. My reason was that I have test anxiety.
With Poonam’s support, I demonstrated my quantitative skills by highlighting the quantitative nature of my work and my involvement in analytically driven projects. After having gone through 3-4 rounds of feedback, I was able to craft an excellent application .
And guess what! I GOT INTO UCLA WITH A 610 GMAT SCORE!!
What I thought was impossible came true with Poonam’s support! I am forever grateful to her. ( I also received admission offers from UCSD and UC Irvine.)
I advise every student facing similar challenges to work with Poonam. Without her I would have never made it to UCLA! Her passion and urge to help students get to their dream school is what makes her exceptional. She will surely help you reach your goals despite the odds!

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I first got knowledge of MER’s service offerings after reading and watching Poonam’s compelling interview with Shailesh, one of her successful students. His story resonated with me, seeing as I intended to apply to the same school. Poonam’s great reviews on GMAT Club though convincing, the clincher was the confirmation of her great qualities and capabilities by Shailesh. The free consultation was very engaging and eye-opening. Poonam was able to critically assess my profile to determine my ‘fit’ and eligibility for my school of choice. I was very impressed by her thorough and deliberate approach. This set the tone for the work ahead.
1. Resumé Review:
With my initial resume being too long, the editing process to bring it within stipulated parameters was very enlightening, though cumbersome. I was introduced to the STAR method at our counseling session. This ensured better structure and organization. Poonam guided me on how to better
highlight my accomplishments and impact to guarantee a positive outcome.
2. Essay help:
Poonam’s guidance and instructions throughout the essay writing process were well thought out and tailored to my unique abilities. The counselling session to brainstorm ideas led to a better understanding of my profile and strategic positioning of my stories to create maximum impact. Poonam’s topnotch editing skills were used to improve sentence structure, correct grammar, and organize my stories for better narrative flow. It was interesting to see her trim my essays down to the required word limits, making them fit for purpose. Poonam was able to deal with all my questions and queries exhaustively, and on time too.
3. LOR Guidance/Review:
Poonam’s advice and suggestions went a long way in helping my recommenders put together compelling recommendations.
Poonam’s commitment and remarkable response time was a source of motivation. Her quick turnarounds encouraged me to press on even when I felt overwhelmed. I was surprised at the
amount of knowledge I gained within the short time of working with Poonam. Apart from achieving our aim of crafting very compelling essays, Poonam’s customized approach provided
an enabling environment that impacted me positively. I gained new knowledge that helped improve my writing and research skills. Also, Poonam’s genuine concern for the success of her clients through her words and actions distinguishes her from other consultants. Consequently, I am happy to say that I have been accepted into INSEAD’s GEMBA program. I would highly recommend MER’s services to prospective applicants any day.

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I have worked in the banking industry for 10 years. In my profession, I predominantly worked on excel models and PowerPoint presentations. So I knew that I was out of practice when it came to essays. When I contacted Poonam, I had already started my MBA application journey and written draft essays. However, I knew that I could get my ideas across better and wanted help with that. I did a lot of research online and based on reviews, MER sounded like the best possible fit for my needs.

Free consultation: I decided to sign up with MER after having a Zoom call with Poonam. She came across as well experienced and took the time to understand my background and goals. Poonam provided me with a clear understanding of her approach and methods and suggested services that would best suit my needs.
For me this was key; I was not looking for someone to just edit my grammar or writing style, but someone who could help me express my ideas as clearly as possible. Based on our initial call, I was comfortable that Poonam would be able to do this well.

Counseling Session on Zoom:
Prior to the Zoom session, I had sent Poonam the first drafts of my essays and Resume. She went through each document thoroughly and provided me with nuanced feedback. I appreciated how candid she was. Some of the questions she raised helped me see my essays with new eyes and changed how I approached them for the better.

Resumé Review: Poonam did an excellent job of reviewing my resume. Having been in the corporate world for a long time, working in various roles, it is easy to forget or underplay some of your accomplishments. She asked probing questions around some past accomplishments and suggested ways to present them appropriately. The final version of the resume she helped me craft paints an accurate picture of my experiences and accomplishments.

Essay Help: I appreciated how Poonam took the time to analyze the essay prompts and how I responded to them. From a content perspective, she identified relevant additional angles that I could bring into my essays. Through her suggestions, I was able to craft short and concise essays that communicated multiple ideas clearly. I definitely feel that the final drafts of my essays are more ‘ideas rich’ than the initial versions. In one of my essays, I had to analyze an idea from multiple angles, and I found organizing my thoughts extremely challenging. Poonam recommended a structure that allowed me to better present the idea, its benefits, and considerations for its implementation in a logical manner. I really appreciated her support with writing a convincing conclusion that tied everything together. She always provided clear answers to my queries via email and within the comments section of my essay documents.

Editing Skills: Poonam is a true expert. Seeing how she can seamlessly bring multiple sentences together concisely has been a great learning experience for me. Through her editing, I could cut out unnecessary verbiage and present concise essays that clearly articulated my ideas.

Response Time: Her turnaround time was excellent, especially when we were working with an 8-hour time zone difference. In our initial conversation we had discussed timelines and Poonam had made great suggestions. She reverted on my drafts within 24-48 hours, and we met the final deadline comfortably.

It was great working with Poonam. She is candid, friendly, and helpful. I enjoyed working with her and learnt a lot about how to bring ideas across succinctly, I will definitely be applying some of these skills to other areas of my life. I applied to only one school-Warwick, and I have received admission offer with a 25% scholarship

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While searching for a consultant for the MBA application, I occasionally saw an article about tips for writing a good essay. The detailed information and guidance within the article attracted me to view the MER webpage. When I read the positive feedback from students, I scheduled a call to understand more about MER. After the introductory zoom call with Poonam of MER, my heart told me that MER is the one that I want to take for my MBA application process.

School selection is a process of figuring out which school will help me achieve my career goal. I enjoyed the school selection process with Poonam, as our discussions clarified my logic for selecting my target programs.

The counseling session on zoom is one of the parts I enjoyed the most in the application process. It's a process of learning. We brainstormed to make each resume point short and robust. The resume-building process gave me a deep understanding of my past achievements. I took her suggestions to build each bullet with the STAR method. For essays, I still remember the confusion when I prepared my first drafts essays for Haas. I had 100 ideas but could not decide where to start and end. Our discussion provided me with directions

I appreciate the questionnaire of 25 questions that she made me fill out to brainstorm ideas before starting the application. It provided me with a lot of materials we later used in essays. Also, the questionnaire helped me find the right story that fits the essay topic (especially for Stanford), which I didn't realize before. Her guidance helped my essay flow more smoothly and led me to do self-reflection sincerely. The self-reflection she encouraged me to do also helped me a lot when I prepared 2nd round school essays. Poonam significantly helped me highlight my strengths in my resume, essay, and interview. She helped me show my best aspect to the admission committee and suggested many stories I had ignored earlier. Her editing was excellent, especially when we needed to meet the word limits.

Poonam always answered my questions and provided practical advice. Her guidance was not limited to the professional level; she also helped with emotions. I truly appreciate her encouragement and moral support after my Round 1 failure, which led to my success in Round 2.

For LoR, my recommender initially didn't follow the proper format . Poonam’s guidance and feedback were beneficial. Also, I faced a peculiar situation regarding my recommenders, as both my recommenders quit PwC in late November 2022. Poonam helped me draft an optional essay explaining why taking my LORs from them was crucial. This was indeed helpful. Poonam's response time is within 24 to 48 hours, and she was very particular about following the timelines. But I couldn’t follow it well and shared some draft essays late. So sorry for the inconvenience.

The interview was my weakness in my application process, and I wasn't well prepared for Round 1. However, the interview tips, mock interview session, and her detailed feedback on the mock interview greatly helped me prepare for 2nd school's interview. Following her advice, I practiced more, felt more confident and kept getting better in my subsequent interviews.

I am happy to say that I have been accepted into Kellogg, Anderson (with 120 K scholarship, and UC Davis (70 k scholarship). Also, I was interviewed by CBS and Haas and waitlisted by Chicago Booth. I am excited to join Anderson in Fall. I would not have been able to achieve this without Poonam's help. Thank you, Poonam. I am 100% sure I will recommend MER to my friends who want to apply for the MBA program.

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While researching for consultants in the previous application cycle, I got to know about Poonam, I saw one of her videos with one candidate whom she helped to get into Harvard. I really liked the way she discussed how they went about doing things and Poonam’s process made sense to me.

I got on a call with Poonam pretty early in March. We had a discussion, and she was able to help me with my doubts mainly about my comparatively less work experience. What struck me was that she was more concerned with clearing my doubts and getting to know my profile rather than convincing me to take her up as a consultant.

In our 2.2.5 hour long counseling session, we went in depth about my first drafts, the right stories, and the process of how she works. Poonam helped me make my resume more B-school- appropriate. Also, she gave me pointers about my accomplishments that I shared with her in the questionnaire. A majority of our time went into the initial questionnaire and Poonam made sure that I gave it the importance it needed. Surprisingly, the questionnaire not only focused on my academic/professional achievements but also my personal traits, which proved crucial in the long run as we were able to leverage such traits for a couple of essays.

Out of all the areas, I think organizing my stories in a coherent essay was the area in which poonam helped me the most. With her help, I was able to flesh out proper essays which didn’t seem like a collection of random stories put together. I can’t thank poonam enough for her editing skills. She played a very critical part in helping me meet the word limits of the essays without compromising on the stories I wanted to tell mostly. This gave me the confidence to present my stories knowing that poonam will be able to trim it down to meet the word limits.

Regarding LORs, she helped my recommenders use more concise language and overall structured the points shared by them to be more in line with our stories, highlighting my achievements.

Poonam was always available to answer any questions I had, and she did in fact quickly respond to my queries about the essays, stories and general admission process. She was absolutely fantastic with her response time. Since I started the process a bit late, we only had 1.5 months to cover 5 b-schools. But I was able to complete all of them properly with time to spare. This wouldn’t have been possible without Poonam’s help as she instantly responded to all my drafts and queries well within 24 hours.

One thing which I loved about our time together and one of the main reasons why I wanted to work with Poonam was the genuine attention she gave to my applications. It didn’t feel like I was just another client whose applications she just wanted to get over with. She was always straightforward, and she let me know when my drafts weren’t up to the mark. I have received admission offers from ISB and McDonough. Also, I was interviewed by Tuck and Foster , and waitlisted by Tepper. I will be joining McDonough in Fall. I will definitely recommend her to other applicants.

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I got in touch with Poonam early summer of 2021 when I was getting my application ready for NYU Stern. She was quick to respond and had initial conversation regarding my profile and advised I should not apply in R1 as my GMAT score was low as well as I needed more time to prepare application. That was the best decision ever. I re-took GMAT and got my dream score. After that, Poonam, with 15 days left before deadline, helped me compile 2 school application's. She went through my essays word by word, spent hours refining them and asked me questions which helped me even during the interview process. I will highly recommend using myEssayReview's services especially for people who are working full time and have very limited time to apply for MBA programs.

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I started my MBA application journey early July because I still didn’t have a decent enough GMAT score until June end. I had gotten in touch with Poonam early on and knew how important it was to start the process early. I couldn’t follow through with her warnings and timelines because I was so under confident given my GMAT.
When I finally started the process with her, I knew I was late, but she was more than willing to formulate a strategy with me and get going. She never made me feel like I was too late and there was little hope left. She was encouraging, and never suggested that I aim for or settle for anything less than my dream.

School selection: Post GMAT, this was the first step. I have always appreciated her for instilling in me the understanding of school ‘fit’. As Indians we are taught from a young age to obsess over rankings. Through her, watching her content and speaking with her, I learnt how truly important ‘fit’ is. This was showcased in my school selection list as well. Since I was so late in the process and only had a 710, I was trying to be conservative about the list, but she kept highlighting how GMAT is only ONE component. If it wasn’t for this over-emphasis, I won’t have taken my Tuck application seriously and won’t have gotten in as well.

Brainstorming: The questionnaire she shares with you at the very beginning really helps in getting your story aligned. It helps YOU more than it helps her because the stories go back so much in the past that on a day-to-day basis, we don’t even remember that some of the stuff happened with us or what we made happen! The questions are expansive and really make you think hard. Don’t consider this exercise a waste of time because this is what ultimately saves you time in different essay prompts.

Resume: The STAR method saved my life here. I sent Poonam a resume way above the word or page limit. She sat me down and explained what the Ad Com is looking for and how each point in the resume is a smaller version of the STAR method. It’s a total game changer.

Essays: I used to think I am a good writer but boy was I wrong! My style of writing was superfluous - too many words and sentences that spanned three lines. This was a disaster for b-school apps! Poonam understood that this was a weakness for the apps, and she patiently cut short my sentences into concise ones which delivered the point and sounded beautiful too. This is where her experience of writing for decades comes in. This is where her very well-earned PhD comes in. The fact that she has edited over 10K essays enables her to retain your message and communicate it in a third of the words you used. Not only that, she guides you enough so that your future iterations and fresh versions come off better than your initial drafts. She truly empowers you. You slowly realize you’re spending way lesser time on churning out drafts by the time you reach your second or third school.

I’d like to conclude by saying that while I got into 2 of the 4 schools I worked on with her, I also got waitlisted at Fuqua. I was complacent and since Tuck was a dream school, I didn’t focus on the waitlist too much and withdrew my application. I can guarantee that had I listened to her tips for the waitlist, I could’ve stood a chance at a positive outcome from that too. She gave me very valuable insights for the same and has a stellar record of converting waitlists too.

When it comes to apps, we already deal with enough stress as is. Be it taking and retaking GMAT, spending years building our profiles and then dealing with recommenders. It’s best to leave the essays to the experts as they’re a crucial part of the application! Thanks for not only your guidance but also your constant support by treating me not just as a ‘client’ but like a pupil whose future you’re so invested in!!

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I was a re-applicant and after my first year of applications, I knew that I had to strengthen my essays. Through my research and a friend’s recommendation, I researched MER. The key things that stood out were 1. Pricing for the comprehensive package and 2. The turnaround time.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t skeptical when I saw MER’s competitive pricing as compared to other MBA application consultants. But because of the recommendation and my introductory phone call with Poonam, I knew this would be the right fit. Poonam showed genuine interest in helping me with my application and offered lot of advice and feedback in the introductory call itself. Moreover, while some other consultants were being very pushy about signing up with them ASAP, Poonam gave me enough time to think about my needs and plan accordingly. This experience with Poonam assured me that MER would be the right partner.

The brainstorming session is the first step with MER, and it is very important. Even though I had been through one cycle of applications, I still had to do lot of introspection to answer all the questions in the brainstorming sheet. The questions are well structured and helped me list several life stories that I eventually used in my essays. After submitting this, I was surprised with the detailed comments and ideas she had about essays based on my school selection. Poonam read through the entire document in detail, and she even quoted few of those stories, months into the application cycle. This was reassuring to me – Poonam took to a personal level to learn about her client. Based on the school’s essays and life stories, Poonam suggested few structures that I could use. She highlighted the advantages of one structure over another, which helped me pick the right content for my essays.

My resume needed significant work. Being an engineer, my impact to the company are very technical – impact that makes the product more efficient. It was difficult for me to demonstrate some of my key accomplishments as an impact to company. In the session, Poonam helped me show the impact to the company as a result of some of those and convinced me to drop a couple by explaining why those didn’t add value to my resume from a B-school application POV.

The essays and resume strategy sessions showed me how well Poonam understand the application process and the purpose of each material in the application packet.

I appreciate Poonam’s skill of trimming down the essay to meet the word limit. I am a wordy writer, so Poonam told me to not worry if I went around 150-250 words over the limit, depending on the essay, of course! While retaining the same meaning, she would efficiently restructure sentences or cut out words in just one edit! I was impressed. Sure, there were few instances where I thought my voice didn’t show in the edit, and Poonam helped me get to where I wanted the essay to be.

Poonam was very responsive to my questions about essays, resume, applications etc. The night before one of my applications, I had a question for her. She replied within 15 minutes. Turns out she had made herself available to support all her clients during the application time
As advertised, Poonam always delivered the edits in the 24–48-hour time frame. The quick turn around kept me on a schedule and helped me be ready with my materials ahead of the deadlines. That said, Poonam was very accommodative of my hectic, start-up work-life. Sometimes, she gave me an additional day or two to send my draft of essays. But she followed up consistently to make sure that I was on track.

I have a relatively low undergrad GPA. Poonam worked with me to clearly highlight the reasons of the low GPA, how I overcame some challenges, and more importantly, the lessons I learned. I think the low GPA essay alleviated any concerns around my undergrad GPA, which I think was one of the obvious weaknesses in my application.

Poonam understands the expectations that b-schools have from interviews and provided feedback that helped make my responses more powerful. She shared some strategies around when to talk about certain key topics, and which topics to avoid. For example, coming from a niche industry, there was a point that I had pushed to a very low-probability question in the end. Poonam showed me versions of my own response that could easily fit into common questions about “Tell me about yourself” or “why MBA?”. MBA applications are all about differentiation, and these tips definitely helped me do so.

Thank you, Poonam, for working with me on my applications. You have been very patient with my timing and have accommodated by hectic work-life through the process. For where I was in the process, your services helped elevate my application.

I received admits from Haas and Tepper with scholarship and am waitlisted at Darden. I will certainly recommend MER to any prospective applicants whom I come across.

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I got Poonam’s assistance for my resume and essays for Berkeley Haas EWMBA program .

The 2.5 hour session was our first session while working with Poonam. The session was kept after I sent the first draft of essays and resume. This was the right time to get a feedback and make improvements. She was patient and went over everything slowly and steadily one by one. Her feedback was valuable in the brainstorming and coming up with the ideas for further drafts.

Resume writing for MBA was something I was most unfamiliar with. Her approval of the resume was something that was most valuable to me. During the resume building process, she suggested submitting two page resume , considering I have a lot of volunteering experience and extra-curriculars. This feedback was very valuable. She was also very helpful in removing extra details from the bullet points and making them crisp.

Poonam was very quick in understanding my strengths and was always, ready to patiently listen to anything I had to tell. She told me that it will be best to focus on the music aspect for the identity essay. This was again very helpful. She pushed me to not settling and kept me going till we got the best version.
With her feedback, we moved the story structure around multiple times to make the story more cohesive. She demonstrated good knowledge about the structure and always provided useful feedback regarding the flow of the essay. She made me very comfortable and were always open to questions. The answers were also pretty insightful. The response time was spectacular.

Most importantly, all this help I was able to get for the most cost effective price because of Poonam. I couldn't have afforded the heavily priced packages from other consultants. Glad that I approached Poonam.

Overall, Poonam was very professional. Her approval of the essays, resume gave me a lot of confidence. I am happy to say that I have been accepted into Haas EWMBA program. I would certainly recommend Poonam to prospective applicants.

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