This is not your typical admissions consulting services. If you have the will to put in the effort, Applicant Lab will help you in every way possible.

I am a second time applicant. First time, which was over 5 years ago, I had paid over $600 to had my essays written for me. In hindsight, I realized that the consultant took no interest in knowing me. What she produced was a stereotypical file of essays and SOPs, which lacked "ME".

This time around, I was determined to not follow the rat race, but truly understand why I want to do an MBA, what motivates me, and what are my strengths/weaknesses.

After researching via GMAT Club and attending a session on Resume building from Maria through eGMAT, I bought the online Lab access.

It really helps you structure your thoughts and dig out the times when you did great at work or in personal life, but might have forgotten about it or didn't think that experience would help in your application. The Lab helps you identify your weaknesses, and then work on it to present the best version of "YOU".

I religiously worked with the lab and watched all of Maria's videos over 2-3 months. I received excellent remarks on my resume. During my interview at Ross, my interviewer was very impressed with my preparation. She was happy with the thought and effort I'd put in to know the school and how it fits with my goals.

At first, I was a little scared that the whole experience of Applicant Lab will be impersonal. I thought, it will be one advice for all, and I might get stuck again with representing myself in a stereotypical way. But I was quite impressed with the depth of options offered. Maria doesn't hand anything to you on a platter. She will present you with her thoughts, what she thinks works, and given your situation what works best - rest is up to you. If you follow the tool religiously, you'll see how it enables you to know yourself better.

If you're looking to be spoon-fed, then I won't suggest using the lab. But if you want to write your own essays, and present a genuine self to the schools you're applying to - Applicant Lab is your best bud.

By the time I completed all the modules from Lab, I knew exactly what I wanted from an MBA, why Ross and Schulich, my strengths and weaknesses, what I brought to the table - and I could talk or write about it in a precise and succinct manner.

And if you are really in doubt, and need human interaction, Maria is available at all times for help. She'd answer my emails within a day. I'd thought I will request her to do Skype interviews with me, but her interview module was so interactive that I didn't need to.

All in all, best value for your buck. Especially if you are on a budget and believe in doing things by yourself.

Thank you Maria! Your product was not only helpful in my admission process, but also has helped me find and build my perspective and gather my thoughts - and I am finding that increasingly helpful along every step of my MBA life.

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When I started preparing for GMAT this January, my quant score was good (Q45-Q49), however, my Verbal was very poor. On any of the mock tests, I couldn't score more than V31. At times, it went as low as V28. My target was at least a 700, so I had to do something about it.

While signing up at GMAT Club, I received a trial access to eGMAT. I instantly liked it, and purchased the whole package. the curriculum and the sessions are not daunting at all, they're actually very fun to learn with. And the tests after every module gives you a real-time check of where you're at.

I couldn't personally attend the live sessions, but the recordings came in handy and actually saved a lot of time.

Once I had completed the entire course for Sentence Correction, I started testing myself via Scholaranium. It gave me a good insight into my strengths and the areas where I could improve.

I maintained a notebook and an error log, revised videos when necessary. I also went through the Manhattan books before starting the eGMAT course. I felt that helped me apply the grammar rules to logic. eGMAT's tutorials and modules are very logic-based, so there is a high probability that if you do them right, you won't mark the answer wrong.

By the time I finished the modules, SC and CR became a piece of cake. My accuracy increased to about 85% and I could actually reason with myself if I marked the answer wrong.

I would also like to mention that both Rajat and Payal's promptness in answering my questions, or getting back to me whenever I needed them was beyond expectations. Their team would get back to me within 10-12 hours, at times sooner. Not that I needed a lot of help, because the videos were self-explanatory, but they were always there to address any admin-related query.

In the end, I couldn't do as well as I had planned, for reasons beyond my level of preparation. I will mention though that while taking my mocks, I was scoring between 700-750 (V38-42). I didn't have to retake my exam because the for the schools that I am applying to, 680 is a reasonable score.

But eGMAT made the experience very enjoyable. Before that, Verbal seemed like a huge mountain that I could never climb. If you respond well to logic - you will ace the eGMAT course, and hence the GMAT!

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