Someone once said in a video with Rajat, “GMAT is the first exam you study for yourself”. It resonated with me, because you are right this was in deed was the first time I have wanted something for myself; not for mom, not for dad, not for anyone else but me.

Helping me in this journey, as my coach and mentor has been e-gmat and especially DJ. I continue to be baffled at the quantity and quality of help. The mentorship, analytics and a treasure trove of top quality practice questions that helped me along the way has been huge. I know just how grateful I am for their help, because e-gmat was not the first course I turned to for help. I enrolled in 3 other "prestigious" institutions, but, felt very alone and very lost in my prep. And, thanks to DJ, I got my sense of direction, a unique strategy tailor made for me, and a personalized coach invested in my success. With all the guidance & motivation I received over the course of several months, I scored 710 (Q50, V36) in my first official attempt. With that, I personally felt like I let DJ down. That’s how involved he has been throughout this journey for me! And now, as I prepare for my 2nd attempt, all that is in my mind is to make him proud. Can you believe it? Imagine if Virat Kohli or Sachin Tendulkar came to coach you for cricket.. that's how I feel about DJ. He helped me with a plan when to schedule my re-take exam, and made a complete plan for me. I never felt like I was alone on groping in the dark or alone at any point during this journey.

Have you used Nike Run Club app? If you have a marathon in say, 2 months, it will tailor make a training schedule for you on when to do the runs and when to rest. Just like that, DJ gave me a personalized training path, keeping in mind the D-date, and when to re-take the test. It helped tremendously, because you don’t get too many shots at this. Unlike a marathon which you can participate year after year, you only get 7 shots at this life changing exam. With DJ as my coach, I literally feel I have everything I need to go after my target score. I never once felt like I was shooting in the dark. I just hope that I don’t let him down in my next attempt. Right after my 1st attempt, I came back home completely blanked out. I sent him an email. And within a couple of hours, I had a promise from him that he will help me plan my next few days before my 2nd attempt. And as soon as he saw my ESR, within a couple of hours, I had an email from him detailing exactly where I went wrong and how we will try to correct the areas where I lack.

Coupled with DJ, e-gmat also offers an amazing analytics dashboard called Scholaranium 2.0. Believe me, you won’t find a better valuable trove of information anywhere else (not any of the other "prestigious" prep schools!) It’s like your personal JARVIS telling you how well you have fared in each test, with a perfect tool to drill down topic wise and find out your weak zones, and improve them. It tells you everything - how long you took for each question, and it puts that stat in comparison with the mean time to solve that question. Deriving meaningful insight from this, it helped me figure out exactly where I was going wrong and focus on how I needed to improve - this is so valuable to have. It helped me improve my accuracy, and focus on concepts I needed to master. I bought into e-gmat's philosophy when it comes to solving SC questions based on meaning based approach and no shortcuts. e-gmat's SC course is truly phenomenal. Their strategy for RC's, "pauses", was a game changer for me - it helped me comprehend passages faster than I used to and become more efficient. Without their quant material, I wouldn't have been confident to score Q50. With its incredibly detailed stats, I was able to plan and prioritize my preparation really well. Also, the fact that you take a concept assessment quiz right after learning a concept ensures that you have grasped everything there is to be learnt from the concept. I doubt there are many GMAT prep companies out there that have this methodology of teaching.

Many of the questions even have video answers (thanks!), which is really great. You get to listen to the thought process of the teacher, and how the right answer was arrived at. And I must mention, Rajat's other motivational videos are impressive. You get to hear all about your fellow student's experiences and triumphs. You never feel alone in this journey with e-gmat. The sheer quality of explanations and the level of data insights you get from the new platform is breathtaking. It’s all available to you as you aim for your top score.

My only wish list for e-gmat is for them to have more mocks. At 5, I am left wanting more (so that I wouldn’t have to spend extra money trying to buy more for 2nd attempt). Other than that, I feel it’s a package that can help with your success, just as it has for me so far. Personally, I feel that e-gmat is charging much less than the value it is providing to people who want to work with its team. Looking back, I don’t mind paying more than I did. They are worth each penny (and more) that they are charging.

Invest in them, they will invest in you. Good luck for your GMAT journey. Mine isn’t done just yet.

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Last year (2021), I took the GMAT and scored a 730. I did not want to take any chances with my MBA applications and wanted to work with the absolute best. I must have talked to at least 35 consultants across the globe. In our first conversation from the get-go, Donna blew me away. She was the first consultant who had gone over my resume and other details that I had shared with her before the call. She told me the strengths of my application and how she can help guide me in telling my story. Our call was scheduled for 30 mins. But it lasted almost 60mins. At the end of it, I knew she was the best consultant I had talked to. So when I asked her for the charges, I was slightly hesitant because I had not budgeted that much money for the applications. I asked Donna if I should buy her hourly services. She left the decision to me, but told me that if she puts in the hours, hourly services will cost me more than the comprehensive package. I slept over this for a couple of days but then decided that I needed to be in the right hands. And so I signed up for her comprehensive package.

I cannot thank Donna enough to have helped me find my voice to write the most personalized story that I could ever tell. She and I spent the first month only on me sharing my story with her and brainstorming the exact reason why I even wanted to do an MBA. Then once we had my story and reasons for MBA ready, she got it all reviewed by Susan Cera. They both guided me to the main highlights of my achievements and my goals post MBA and helped me articulate it as well as I could. When it was time to work on my resume and my essays, Donna did not cut ANY corners at all. She believes in "tough love" because she wants the best for her clients. During the entire essay drafting phase, we had numerous calls and she must have put countless hours in reviewing each draft that I was writing. And she was giving me detailed feedback about each draft. Only when she was satisfied, she would send the essays to the school reviewers of that specific school in their team at Stratus. And then they would give more detailed feedback on how to improve the application further. Never ever did she look at the clock and tell me that she has spent way many hours on my application that she would have liked. There were so many times when I needed to get on call with her on very short notice and before I would ask her, she would set up a mutually convenient time. Sometimes within 15 mins of our email conversation. She even helped proof-read the entire application with me. She will never write the essays or the application for you. Trust me, she will teach you how to craft your story. After all my applications were submitted (6 of them), she took my mock interviews and provided me with live feedback and also a recording of the entire interview for me to watch later and make specific notes in areas of improvement. Then there were days when I used to feel low and not confident if I will make it into any of my dream programs. And she would drop me a note or sometimes get on video call to cheer me up and motivate me and ask me to stay positive. She does not believe in forecasting how many and what all admits one will get. She only believes in crafting the best application and putting the best foot forward. I can confidently say that she must have put 100+ hours on my 6 applications.

While I am still waiting on one decision, I have been accepted at an M7 program (and got accepted in another highly selective T10 program)! None of this would ever have been possible without the help from Donna, Susan, and the rest of the staff at Stratus. I cannot be more thankful to each one of them. At this point, I am confident in saying that I was truly blessed to have been referred to by GMATNinja and that the money that they charge is way less than what Donna (and the team) truly deserve. The fact that she helped me get into a dream school and has been there for me every time I needed it, is something that I cannot be thankful enough for. She is my guiding light. My angel. I am writing this review so that it could help motivate others to join her and get the best in their applications for themselves. She is the best in the business and I wish her all the luck and love and more than she expects. I wish I could give her 10 stars. :)

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