Admissions Gateway | MBA Admissions Consultants

I am based in the US and a friend in Singapore referred me to Admissions Gateway. I received positive reviews from other friends so I joined Admissions Gateway and worked with Rajdeep Chimni.

Chimni’s guidance was instrumental in helping me leverage my work and extracurricular accomplishments to create a strong cohesive application profile and story. The process not only helped me in my applications, but the principles/rules I was taught when thinking about material for my essays and going through revisions is something I believe helped me gain important life skills which have been beneficial in my professional life and will help me through my MBA experience.

Coming from an Engineering background, I was not experienced in building a Product Management oriented resume. I received guidance re-thinking my accomplishments not just from an engineering perspective, but from a business leadership perspective and highlighting the impact my work has had on the company. This significantly boosted the level of my resume. There was detailed guidance structuring each point and ordering them to present career progression and cohesive story.

Chimni’s strategy of staggering applications between round 1 and round 2 was extremely helpful. He is frank and clear on suggestions about which schools to target in round 1 based on the strength of the application profile. This helped me secure an offer from the best target school in round 1, and then aim for some dream schools in round 2.

It was a learning experience for me to realize the amount of thought that goes into structuring an essay. Chimni was persistent about ensuring that every sentence was structured in the most impactful way and the content was of high quality. What I liked best was that he did not take shortcuts, and there were essays where I went through 4-5 iterations before he was satisfied with the content. One of the things that helped the most was learning to identify sentences full of buzzwords but no concrete content and replace them with sentences which showed material impact or knowledge. I really learned to not settle for second best and make sure that every sentence in my essay was of a standard I was satisfied with.

My results: Kellogg – Admitted, Offer Accepted 2. Tuck – Admitted 3. Ross – Admitted with 50% scholarship 4. Yale – Admitted.

I was on the NYU-Stern Waitlist and looking for advice for updates, my conversation with Rajdeep was helpful. I appreciated the gesture as I was not a client yet and because Rajdeep didn’t charge even though others in the market charge for waitlist counseling. So, I felt, his focus was not on making a quick buck when the applicant is somewhat vulnerable, but instead to guide first. After navigating the application cycle that year without success, I decided to work with Rajdeep as he had a great track record of helping candidates to M7 schools and especially helping re-applicants.

Three things that stood out:

(i) Overall modus operandi: Structure and frameworks behind each component of the application; nothing felt half-baked / under-researched nor without a well-reasoned rationale. Everything was discussed and reasoned out (nothing arbitrarily “imposed”) which was essential to my working style.

(ii) Interactions: Very positive and patient discussions with Rajdeep across diverse aspects and topics; from resume and essay refinements to application form Qs etc.

(iii) Product Delivery – Time and Quality: The process timelines were well-planned out that helped smoothen workflow and ease nerves especially in schools with near/same deadline dates. The final product (essays) was always AdCom-ready and allowed me to submit with confidence each time, knowing that I had truly put my best foot forward.

I have a non-traditional background and my colleagues advised contacting Rajdeep due to his experience with having seen a large set of successful applicants and his measurable, impact-oriented approach to communicating one’s profile.

The process with Rajdeep was very personalized. A genuine effort was made to understand the unique elements of my profile and I never felt the pressure of having to work in a set number of hours. The process of making a one page CV included many brainstorming calls as well as revision calls. Rajdeep’s approach to making a good, impact-oriented CV is highly recommended as it really brings out the qualities you would like to convey confidently and without bluster.

Rajdeep was very knowledgeable about what was needed by each individual school and was flexible in the way he gave inputs. Sometimes, he would help structure an essay before I embarked on writing it. At other times, he would function as a sounding board for ideas and examples (should I use this example or another? What are the pros and cons?).

He was available on Whatsapp and made an effort to always find time and answer pressing questions. At one point, we had 4-5 touch points in 10 hours so that I could finish an essay on time. Though I would not recommend anyone to be in this position, I am grateful that Rajdeep’s supported me at such a critical juncture.

It was clear that he was not counting hours but was more concerned with the quality of the output – in some cases the commitment to quality bordered on healthy obsession – which is helpful for candidates going through this laborious and grueling process while balancing professional commitments.

I got into Booth ($30K) and Kellogg and had great results even though I started late in R2.

Rajdeep’s track record and my friends’ recommendations made him an easy choice. I started in round 2 and hence had to be quick and efficient to apply to the 5 top schools I was targeting. What stood out was the sheer honesty of feedback and the clarity of thought that led to excellent execution.

Rajdeep’s assessment, though not easily digestible by everyone ;), is super accurate, unbiased and reflect the reality accurately on all aspects such as school selection, goal discussion, etc.

Rajdeep functions like a great product manager- takes in all the information and arrives at the core of what has to be done very fast, and gets it executed faster! He knows this drill better than anyone I have met. His work on the resume alone is a game changer. And on other aspects such as goal definition and essay stories, Rajdeep has a deep understanding of how work profiles and motivations flow into goals, what works and what does not and is very specific.

The best part about the process was that Rajdeep really pushes for the best possible outcome in the essays, even if it means above an average number of iterations for him. He knows the schools really well and his feedback is 10x more meaningful and impactful than the ones I received from alumni/students of the schools themselves.

I got interviews at HBS, Wharton, Kellogg, and MIT. Overall, a great experience and could not have hoped for a better result than HBS!!

A close friend at Harvard gave me rave reviews about Rajdeep so I reached out to him. During our first call, I really liked his clarity, experience on the process and insights on my candidacy. I found him very honest and someone who will not mince words during feedback sessions. I spoke to 2 other well-known names and the difference was stark, making the decision a no-brainer.

I honestly could not have got a better consultant and more importantly a ‘dear friend’ than Rajdeep during the arduous journey of applying to 5-6 business schools. The best part about working with Rajdeep is that he is really passionate about your candidacy and dedicated to bringing the best out of you (For example, he helped me extensively with my Darden interview and GSB application as a friend without charging anything additional as he wanted me to get through these schools).

Having seen friends struggle with other MBA consultants, he stands out because of his extremely clear, well thought through and sharp insights during the process – I remember how his honest and sharp feedback during back to back 3-4 sessions helped me sharpen my goal definition in just 7 days. His approach to essay writing was very helpful in helping me identify the most important and relevant life stories (the most difficult and understated part of the process) and weaving them into a coherent narrative. I can say with definite certainty that he is one of the best consultants any applicant can have!

I worked with two of the consultants regarded widely. With Rajdeep I applied to Harvard (interviewed), Wharton and Kellogg and with the other US based consultant I applied to Stanford. Rajdeep’s personal touch and deep insight was so much better than the other consultants email based and ‘editing’ approach that I finally used the material worked on with Rajdeep for Stanford too.

In fact my whole experience with Admissions Gateway was great and different from the usual. RC didn’t seem keen on just getting another client and grilled me on my commitment to the grueling application process. He questioned my choices of schools and discussed them in detail, which was helpful for me to think beyond brand/ranking and make informed decision based on my interests and profile. This was different from other firms who were not very informative/open in their first free-consulting session. Admissions Gateway also (surprisingly) offered one of the cheaper and more comprehensive options of the top few firms.

RC helped me completely transform my resume even though I thought that I had a pretty decent version. I was stuck in a mindset and kept making minor adjustments as we discussed the various approaches to creating a resume but RC kept his cool and asked me to go back and make corrections. While this process probably took long, it was so worthwhile that my resume then supported my essays and helped me frame suggestions for my recommenders. This art of resume making that I learnt from RC is itself something that I am going to treasure throughout my professional career.

I think the biggest issue anyone faces as they are writing their essays on goals and “why MBA”, is in aligning one’s previous work experience and career choices to what one wants to do post-MBA. While it is fine to have eccentric dreams and ideas for this prompt or even not be sure about one’s post-MBA goals, RC made me realize that one needs to keep it simple and believable. While he doesn’t like to spoon-feed, he remained calm as I went back and forth with him as I charted out my goals.

RC helped me create a proper framework to streamline my approach towards my essays. While I felt like I had no real story to share, I was able to come up with several anecdotes and events in my life that I didn’t know or think affected me in the ways they did. Writing essays with RC was just a process of introspection and retrospection. Honestly, even if I hadn’t made it through, I’d have cherished having discovered myself so much more at the end of the process.

The best thing about working with RC is that he just stays calm and so approachable that I was able to re-iterate on my story several times before writing it. RC’s editing of my essays made them so precise and coherent to the essay prompts that we were able to talk about everything and yet honor the strict word limits that the schools impose, while not losing the essence of the story.

Overall, I think RC is easily the best consultant out there.

I heard about Rajdeep through a friend at Kellogg and was impressed by Admissions Gateway’s results in the M7. I had a great experience working with Rajdeep. He helped me polish my resume to another level of sophistication. With respect to the school selection strategy, I felt that one can rely on his judgment in terms of what schools one has good chances at. For goals definitions and essays, I believe that Rajdeep had the best frameworks and storytelling tactics that are required for a business school application.

If I had to do this alone, I would not have been able to bring out my story and leadership skills the way I could because of his guidance. Something that I appreciated was the fact that he never put a number to the iterations that can be made, and instead made sure that we achieved the best version for each essay and application component. I was cramped on timelines and he really helped me achieve great outputs fast by taking out time, even at odd hours.

Post the application, I got great interview support in terms of being able to practice for interviews multiple times. I had Rajdeep for guidance throughout the process, be it for my post-interview-invite essays or scholarship applications. He even connected me to alums and students who I could speak to. It was great having him as a mentor and I put in the best applications I could. Looking back, I can see how invested he has been with me in this process. I couldn’t have done this without him!

I secured admission at Chicago Booth, Kellogg, MIT Sloan, Tuck School of Business and Wharton with scholarships ($$$). I had applied to all schools in Round 2.

I had heard about Chimni from a friend and he was strongly recommended by people who had worked with him.

The resume-making experience was one of the strongest lessons. Chimni helped me transform my resume from a document detailing what I did and what the local impact was, to one that showcased what the bigger picture is, what my learnings were and how I helped grow/sustain the business of my company. This style of resume-writing is not just for getting into Business School but for the future as well!

I had a constant back-and-forth with Chimni on school selection, depending on my mood on that particular day but Chimni helped me find the right balance of schools I should apply to, based on his rich experience – I am very grateful to him for having helped me stabilize my thoughts. We got a Harvard interview in R2 but did not make it, maybe we could have done that R1 but we got Kellogg and Booth admits in R1 so always a balance.

The one thing that stood out for me was that Chimni helped me identify goals which even I had not realized were in the back of my mind. Initially, I was looking at the application process as a way of getting in to a good school but Chimni focused on thinking about my short-term and long-term career goals realistically and not just from the point of view of applications, and now, what I had mentioned in my applications as my goals mirror my actual thoughts. Special thanks for this!

Chimni is an absolute genius at balancing essays to capture the essence of the candidate’s thoughts and the viewpoints of the respective school’s admissions committee. As is the case with my resume-writing skill, my goal-focused essay-writing skill has improved by leaps and bounds, and I firmly believe this will help me with my job applications in the future, too!

The fact that he cares so much about the candidate and the level of attention he gives is quite impressive. I remember receiving feedback about essays at even 2 AM in the morning and this level of dedication is unheard of in the Admissions Consulting universe. Eventually, my conversations with Chimni became much more casual and we have even discussed topics outside of applications, including sports and politics. I strongly recommend MBA aspirants aiming for the top 5 schools to work with Chimni!

I applied last year with another consultant and a friend referred me to Rajdeep for a ding analysis.

Rajdeep gave me candid feedback on my resume and application and also discussed LOR pointers. Analyzing my profile (education and work) he helped me understand the strengths and weaknesses of my application and then he focused on what the gaps were in last year’s applications.

The best part that I liked was the resume analysis. I have a mix of business analytics and supply chain experience. My resume though was not technical, but it was how/what I contributed to my function and work. He took it to a different level. He helped me to connect my contribution to the larger perspective – how my work impacted the overall business. He explained how to think about the larger picture by giving a step-by-step example of the evolution of a resume pointer for a bank-ops profile. I liked that.

Then he analyzed my goal and essays. I somehow knew my goal statement was weak. However, he not only ended the discussion with that conclusion. He explained what admission committees expect in applications and what was going wrong in my applications.

He then went essay by essay discussing the prompt breaking it down and showing what all I had covered and what all I had not. He also stress-tested the depth of the essays for goals, skills and school-specific networking.

Lastly, he explained how I could think about my school selection this year, and pointed out some nuances of the schools that I picked last year. I got a great overview of the quality required of an application and recommend that every applicant should speak with Rajdeep at least once during his/her application/reapplication.

A friend at Wharton referred me to Rajdeep Chimni. I worked with Chimni on the Wharton team-based discussion and interview preparation. Chimni shared great tips for the group discussion and interview and also reference material like sample pitches of a different topic last year. He then also brought in a Wharton student to share her actual experience on the group discussion, which gave me a great idea of how things would actually play out. He was very approachable and when I got waitlisted I reached out to him and he also guided me through the waitlist process. I followed the advice and finally got through. When I reached out to inform him, he connected me with other admits as well so that I could integrate with the group quickly!

I heard about Chimni from work colleagues and friends who had gone through the MBA admissions process last year

I was apprehensive about landing into the M7 given my average GMAT score. But the entire process was designed to play on my strengths and bring out qualities that I didn’t even think I had. What helps is Chimni’s knowledge about schools- from what they are looking to evaluate in the essays to the type of questions one can expect in interviews. I also appreciated the fact that he adhered to timelines.

Resume: If I were to compare a before and after version, this was the area of most remarkable change. We first decided on what my story would look like and then shaped the entire resume based on that story. Chimni gave me ideas of the examples I could use to develop my work ex bit and the entire thing went through at least 5 iterations to bring out the best traits.

Goals Definition: Even though our thoughts here didn’t match, Chimni was onboard with my idea with a bit of convincing, which was also a good exercise because it forced me to develop them better.

Essays: This was also an area of huge support. The process starting from getting a brief about the structure of every essay, reading samples, creating drafts and then building them based on own/primary research is very meticulous. There were a lot of areas where Chimni pushed me to be thorough, the end result of which was amazing. Specifically for my Kellogg Wharton essays, I was extremely impressed by what we managed to send considering the first draft I had created.

A former colleague recommended Chimni to me. I started out late in R2 so there was some time pressure and I needed to execute well as I had time to apply to only 3 schools.

I could not be happier about my experience with Admissions Gateway. I had a somewhat unusual profile with a mix of experiences and wasn’t sure about how to package them effectively.

The first thing that struck me about Chimni was his clarity on what the applications need to look like, where the gaps were, and how to fill them. We started with the resume, which was completely turned around. I didn’t even know how much work my resume needed before I got feedback from Chimni, but by the time we were done, it was clear that he had made a world of difference.

Chimni brought similar clarity to my post-MBA goals. He took my goals and fitted them within a convincing, consistent story. In the essays, he helped shape my story which was scattered given my unconventional background and brought a laser sharp focus.

Finally, for the interviews, Chimni conducted detailed mocks but also introduced me to alums who conducted mocks, so I could understand the nuances of what made each school different and what it would take to connect with alumni interviewers.

The rigor and structure brought to the whole process by Chimni really stood out, and that’s what made all the difference in the end.

I was in touch with Chimni a year before applying and did my counselor research very thoroughly. I aim to get into consulting with a focus on energy, so I shortlisted schools with strong consulting offerings.

The biggest challenge was converting the technical aspects of my work to something that could be consumed by the Adcom and presenting my impactful stories from work which were very technical to a form that could be understood by an Adcom member. Rajdeep helped immensely in creating the stories and then removing the technical jargon from it.

Moreover, I was going through a lot of stuff at the personal and professional front, and as a result, I turned my essays drafts very very late – at times, just a few days before the deadline. I was fortunate to have worked with Chimni who supported me in forming a cohesive narrative, and that too when I seldom gave him enough time to go through my essays. He was incredibly helpful by being accommodative. Like just two days before the Kellogg interview, he gave me the much needed ‘lecture’ that helped me pull everything together and put up a much better front in the interview.

I had heard a lot about him being a stud or pro for resume. Although, we always hear and read about the STAR format, implementing it in a 2 line bullet in the resume is easier said than done. Chimni helped me apply the STAR format to bring my most significant achievements at work in my CVs and essays. There were also instances when I was keen to use a story which in the O space would be deemed as impactful but through discussions came upon a more impactful story. Chimni’s ability to bring an outside lens to my work and portray it well helped build my candidature. The MBA Admissions journey is a long and tedious one, and often at times, we overanalyze and overcomplicate the whole admissions process. However, Chimni helped me understand the crux and keep things simple and build an effective application strategy.

As for my results, I have secured an admit from Duke Fuqua with ~50% tuitions scholarship and Dartmouth – Tuck and am currently on the waitlist for Kellogg and Booth.

A lot of people from my consulting firm recommended Chimni and Admissions Gateway, and I had a great time working with him. A few things made a big difference to the results I got.

1) It was helpful that Chimni agreed to take me on in May even when I did not have a GMAT score. He was confident in my profile and that was a comforting factor.

2) The resume making process was phenomenal. The specific guidance provided, culling out the strategic-level achievements from the tactical ones, the number of versions Chimni iterated with me on and the transformation that the resume went through was fantastic

3) Goal definition: The goals I wanted to go with were very atypical. Unlike investment banking, impact investing, consulting or social impact in the long-term, my goals were around organizational culture and leadership effectiveness. I liked that despite the fact that they were atypical, they were in line with what Chimni recommended for me as well and that he didn’t try to ask me to go for more “conventional” / “less risky” goals. Chimni’s help in culling out these “softer” goals was also great.

4) Chimni’s advice on the examples to pick and flow for the essays was extremely helpful. He did a really good job of helping tie in the goals with the essays, making my entire “story” water-tight.

5) Finally, the interview prep and mocks, review of the answers for each key question, much like the other parts of the application process, were also very specific, structured and helpful.

I got admitted into LBS, Booth, Wharton, and Tuck! All in all, it was a great experience to work with Admissions Gateway and definitely one I’d recommend!

Considering that I was reapplying in a short time (R2 2017 – R1 2018), I wanted professional guidance on approaching the admissions process. Chimni was upfront from the beginning about the strengths and weaknesses of my candidature, where I fit among my applicant pool and what I could expect from a counselor and the time and effort I should give in return. He came across as experienced, knowledgeable and realistic; a “blunt but fair” combination that I found particularly useful in the early stages of the application. After going through my applications, we decided to apply to a range of top-5 and top-10 schools.

Saying that Rajdeep helped me with my resume would be the understatement of the century. The STAR system was a game-changer for me, and my resume looked far more professional and impressive than last year without me having to resort to any disingenuous means. This also shaped my mindset in terms of approaching the essays and also help me identify great examples for the interviews. I am delighted to get two top-5 admits, and it took two years but worked out well.

As a re-applicant, I was aware of the complexities of the application process. However, I did not have a good idea of how to structure my application – resume, essays, goals, etc. As a result, my previous applications had been incoherent and inconsistent.

A Booth alumn who had worked with Chimni for her applications recommended him. From the first conversation, I knew that he is highly knowledgeable and heavily invested, and treats each application with the same care and detail as if he were making his own application. After talking to friends and reading Admissions Gateway reviews I joined Chimni. The 4 areas in which I benefited were:

Resume: Chimni helped me polish my resume, elevating it and giving it a solid structure. He helped me pivot how I looked at my work, academic and personal experiences and convey that in a strategic and targeted manner. With his help, I was able to draw out the broader implications of my work on my team, company, and clients both from a business and personal perspective.

Goals definition: Chimni took the time to understand my background, helping me think about career goals that make sense and relate to my passions and experiences, and then conduct targeted research on each school’s fit with those. I was able to refine my vision for a post-MBA career and clearly articulate how an MBA would help me.

Essays: Chimni helped structure the essays for each of the target schools, thinking strategically about what we wanted to communicate and giving me feedback on whether the essay was achieving that. He treated the essays with such a high degree of meticulousness and deep thought that by the time I had written a few revisions, my essays had been transformed into near-perfect expressions of me.

Interview Preparation: Once I received interview calls, he also helped with frameworks and strategies to answer questions intelligently and coherently. I was able to structure my thoughts around the most important questions before heading into the interview and this helped bolster my confidence to handle any one-off questions.
In summary, I found Rajdeep to be highly knowledgeable, strategic and meticulous and his help was invaluable in navigating the application process. If you are really serious about cracking a top-tier B-school, I would highly recommend working with Rajdeep.

A couple of my friends referred me to Chimni. The initial call was great, I thought he was dedicated and had a great track record.

What stood out for me during my experience working with Chimni was professionalism and expertise. He was efficient in helping me brainstorm the elements of my essay and make me think out of the box. Post the initial iterations on essays, I found it difficult to think outside of the box or start afresh. Rajdeep would devote time in helping me come up with new angles in such situations.

He was extremely approachable. There was no delay or lag in reviews. Rajdeep was always mindful of the task at hand and ensured timely completion of all parts of the process. I was impressed by his thoroughness when checking the resume and forms, pointing out some of the most easily overlooked gaps. He also emphasized on through checking of each element from my end, reminding me of the same even post-finalization.

Admissions Gateway provided support through every single step of the application process. Chimni even assisted me in writing to the schools for scholarships after receiving admits. The regular web sessions with students, especially during the interview process were useful. I especially benefited from the session with Wharton students held before the GD, which helped me structure my pitch and prepare well for my team based discussion. I had chosen Admissions Gateway initially because of this end-to-end collaboration and was happy to see that AG stayed true to its promise. Unlike most other consultancies, the team did not impose any restrictions on the number of drafts or mock interviews that I could request.

My results were great. R1 – Wharton (admitted with $40k scholarship), Harvard (interviewed, not admitted), Booth (admitted with $50k scholarship), LBS (admitted), Columbia (declined to interview).

Highly recommend Admissions Gateway and Chimni!

I heard about Chimni and Admissions Gateway from a colleague at work and was impressed by his track record. Chimni is a pusher. He knows when you’re giving 90% and pushes until you reach your 100%. Chimni did not push his own opinions on me and rather let me figure out my own stories and goals and helped shape them.

Chimni helped sculpt each line on my resume to bring out the impact of my experiences. Instead of writing simple job descriptions found in most resumes, he forces you to think about quantifiable results and how your work has made a difference. He is very hands-on and involved in every step of the process and focuses a lot on research and networking with current and ex-students to really get to know the school and your fit with the school. For the essays that ask about specific situations, he goes over all possible experiences you can write about and you select and build on the most relevant.

He did full justice to my applications and did not allow me to submit any essays that he believed were less than perfect. There was no limit to the number of iterations and he did not hesitate to go back to the drawing board even very close to the deadlines if needed.

I worked with Chimni mainly to prepare for my HBS mock interview, based on my friend’s recommendation. Chimni’s approach was very different compared to other well-known consultants I worked with. He suggested a lot of input over the phone compared to email, which was the exact style I was looking for.

For example: Before the main mock interview with Chimni, I had 2 calls with him just to understand how to prepare for B-school interviews, HBS in particular. Post-interview, I had a call with him to go over the interview and we brainstormed about the HBS post-interview reflection note. And I will again emphasize that most other consultants would just do 1 call and answer other queries over email.

For me, this personalized approach was what stood out – the fact that he’ll have my back when I am stressed and make himself available for any questions during my preparation.

Overall, I would strongly suggest Chimni and Admissions Gateway. Looking back, I felt I should have subscribed to the whole application package and I could have created a much stronger application.

Working with Chimni was quite amazing. Most important was the strategic advice that was given right at the beginning. Before that, I was not projecting my candidature well. By the time I finished my resume I had greater clarity on my strengths and how to project them. The guidance at each step was comprehensive and helped me put my best foot forward.

I had a lot of content for my resume and essays but I didn’t know how to put it together cogently and also make it succinct. Chimni’s discussed various examples and frameworks which allowed me to think deeply and bring out only the strategic stuff. Another major hurdle was managing the word count as I had never written such essays. But through iterations, I improved at being able to tell my story well.

For the interview, Chimni shared approaches to each type of interview questions and the strategy in terms of how much time and what needed to be prepared. This was really comprehensive. I also used ClearAdmit to research the questions and bucketed them into the categories that had been shared. All the questions asked fell into one of those categories with a slight variation.

This time I started early and followed a plan and had great results getting into Stern with scholarship amongst other schools. Chimni helped me look at the big picture and showcase the most relevant parts of my profile.

I started early, reading blogs on multiple websites such as Poets&Quants and also talked to a lot of current students. I heard great reviews about Chimni so I was excited to work with him.

Resume building and conveying my thoughts in the essays were the biggest challenge that I faced coupled with a lack of international experience. I was also in a competitive pool of engineers and had a low GPA to contend with but my GMAT was good.

Chimni really helped me think at a high level and visualize the larger picture in terms of my goals and the stories I wanted to showcase. He helped me structure my experience and focus on key traits such as leadership, collaboration, and diversity. Also, he taught me to research schools very well and cater my story into each school.

It is an overwhelming process and whenever my energy was low I found support. Chimni also helped with a structured approach to preparing for interview questions and even weaving in stories that I had not previously prepared. Overall, it was a great experience and I was able to differentiate myself from a challenging pool of candidates and gain admission to INSEAD with scholarship.

My fiancee had great things to say about Admissions Gateway and Chimni so it was an easy choice.

I was from a great undergrad school with less than a stellar academic record, top-notch consulting experience but not from a firm considered gold standard, private equity experience but not from a global bulge bracket – so the profile touched ‘gold’ yet felt silver. Chimni helped me think through my choices and we decided to apply to the top-7 but include all my dream schools. I had done research on Poets and Quants etc but my discussions with Rajdeep helped me put almost a year of research into frameworks and decisions quickly. Having received 3 admits from 5 schools, I feel the strategy was on target.

I had made resumes for competitive roles (consulting, private equity recruitment) and felt I had a strong grip on resume making. But Chimni took the resume to another level. I learned to make my resume focus on leadership aspects in ways I hadn’t imagined. His frameworks and thumb-ruled assisted me greatly. I am confident I have my resume ready once the recruitment season kicks off.

Goals definition and essays – here is where I think lies the meat of the service. Chimni’s clear thought process, ‘growth’ framework for goals and essays, samples from the AG system, were invaluable. This process can take forever, but Chimni helped with shortlisting and hotlisting ideas. Chimni helped every step of the way, without regard for #brainstorming sessions or #iterations with the sole focus of getting a good job done. On occasions where I slacked and resulted in pushing work close to the submission deadline, Chimni was available even at odd hours on WhatsApp/email/phone, turning around deliverables in a couple of hours but not letting his guard down on ensuring perfect essay messaging.

While Chimni has a focus on getting the application process done, he often goes above and beyond. He has reviewed entire application packages (not just essays and resume, but the short answer ones, career descriptions and the entire gamut which applicants often underestimate). He has helped with scholarship forms and essays. He has even reviewed essays for schools we hadn’t agreed to work together on. He has helped think through post-admit school selection. Overall, I feel like I have gained a well-wisher and supporter in the MBA journey rather than just a counselor.

I got a full-tuition scholarship to Kellogg (along with admission to Columbia and Tuck), which itself is about a 20x return on investment.

I was deciding between a few consultants (Accepted.com, Menlo, HBSguru and Admissions Gateway). After my call with Chimni, I knew right away that I wanted to work with him because of his candid, action-oriented and well-informed approach. He has a great track record and the support provided was more exhaustive.

Chimni helped me break down the process into key parts with manageable timelines. Starting from the resume, within 1-2 iterations I could see the difference – Chimni deeply understood my work and helped me bring out the impact. He pushed my thinking on articulating my aspirations and conveying my story in a compelling way, through multiple discussions and connecting me to current students. For the interviews, he not only conducted mocks but also leveraged the Admissions Gateway network to get us real insights –Wharton students discussed their GD experiences to help us prepare.

What stood out the most for me while working with Chimni was how accessible he was, from strategizing school choice over scheduled calls to clarifying last minute queries on WhatsApp chats – his support was invaluable. Overall it was a great experience that translated into amazing results. I gained admission to Stanford (with $110), Wharton ($110K) & LBS (with GBP 25K).

Two friends who worked with Chimni and gained admission to Harvard had given me great reviews about Admissions Gateway. My interaction with Chimni was calm and focussed from the outset. He gave me an idea of how the process works, what the schools look for etc. I was surprised he didn’t get hung up on my weak GPA, which gave me confidence that I had a reasonable shot at the top schools.

The resume building process was thorough; moving the resume from appearing ‘operational’ to appearing ‘strategic’ was the big part. Chimni’s efforts were validated not just with the B-School results but also by the fact that I started getting a number of calls from companies wanting to hire me based on the updated resume I’d put up online. We broke down each resume point into four steps:

1. How it affected my company in terms of its presence in the space (retail banking, FMCG etc.)

2. How it affected the very client that I worked with

3. What I actually did (here went the operational part)

4. Quantify impact everywhere

The school selection was primarily based on my interest in finance and Columbia was my first choice. A lot of brainstorming was done around my goals. My interest lay in finance but my resume was weak on that front and stronger in consulting and data analytics, so I had to position the transition well. As time went on, I was able to merge Big Data consulting and my interest in working in the financial domain.

Another good part of working with Chimni was that no idea was imposed on me and not until I was convinced of the way forward did we move ahead; the whole process went on smoothly.

Not only was Columbia the target school but also the one which came out with the results the earliest, so my journey ended quickly – in mid-November. I have been chosen a Columbia Fellow and have been awarded a merit-based scholarship of $80K over two years.

I liked Admissions Gateway and Chimni’s personalized approach and Chimni came highly recommended by friends. He went beyond his role throughout the process and his confidence in my success was 100%.

Resume: Chimni helped transform my resume using the STAR framework, highlighting the impact that I brought to the firm. It helped shine the light on my leadership aspects and long-term effect of my work, not only preparing me for the B-school process, but also for the recruiting.

School Search: I had done research through interactions with students, alumni and online before connecting with Chimni, but had been unable to reach a concrete decision in terms of schools. He guided me and set a structure by walking me through (1) my chances at the school and scholarships (2) career opportunities and (3) the kind of culture I can expect. I received admits from 4 of the 6 I applied to with a high scholarship.

Essays and goal definition: Chimni helped in not only thinking through the essays but putting in perspective my recruitment targets post-admissions. He broke essays down into simple structures and frameworks enabling me to tackle them as small pieces and not get over-awed by the magnitude. He was available at all hours, discussing any element that I was not comfortable with. He helped me even in the schools we hadn’t agreed to work on. He aided in connecting with students and alumni to make the essay more targeted and personalized.

I am attending Kellogg with 120K and gained admits to Chicago Booth, Tuck, and Haas!

I chose Admissions Gateway/Rajdeep for the Harvard Interview preparation and reflection package. I found the interview preparation Rajdeep provided to be very useful for Harvard specifically but also applicable to multiple schools.

He also helped me interpret the interview and write a strong post-interview reflection. Despite the time difference, everything went smoothly and he was also generous with his time. I highly recommend Admissions Gateway and Rajdeep’s work.

A friend from Kellogg strongly referred Chimni. I had applied to 5 schools last year without success. I am 30+ and already hold an MBA. Chimni discussed my re-application and clearly outlined areas of improvement.

The resume building sessions were standout. Since I had applied to a few B Schools the previous year, I felt I had my resume in great shape before meeting Chimni. However, he not only explained its flaws, but he also helped me understand the basic building blocks of a great resume. It has been an extremely important lifelong learning for me. After finalizing my resume, I had a look at my previous year’s submitted version and could see a stark difference in the quality. This set the tone for my applications.

I received interviews invite from all the colleges that I applied to and gained admission to Columbia with $80,000.

I joined Admissions Gateway as I heard positive reviews since the last 4 years. I had hour long discussions with perhaps 10+ international consultants before zeroing in on Admissions Gateway.

Unlike most consultants who gave generic feedback on a timed clock, Chimni helped me understand my profile and story positioning even before I signed up. He was upfront about my chances at various schools, did not give false hope but rather some much needed confidence after I’d been demotivated by a few other’s opinions on my prospects.

We were both on the same page and this clarity before signing up is what stood out to me and I appreciated the most about Admissions Gateway. Chimni helped me transform my resume and trained me to think hard and work hard. Admissions Gateway is invested in your success and happiness, and not there just to make money.

I have 15+ years of technology experience and am based out of the US. Working with Rajdeep was great because he could actually understand the work I do and had the product management and managerial experience to bring out the best of my work. Rajdeep was fully committed to helping me succeed and his response rate was great. On both knowledge and care, I have to give him top points. The best combination of a consultant who has a technical background to understand your work and has a superb understanding of the MBA admissions process.

Most applicants think highly of themselves and may not be geared up to work as hard as they should. Working with Chimni you will get a reality check. He will give you feedback without beating around the bush and let you know exactly where the app stands.

He knows what he is talking about and thoroughly scrutinizes your application. He has discussions and brainstorming sessions, almost making your story his own. He will steer you away from whims and fancies and is always someone who looks forward. If you get a reject he will not let you dwell on it and just move you on to focusing on the next school.

I can say that he is arguably the best consultant. Of the 5 other people in my company that worked with him 2 got into Harvard, 2 Wharton and 1 Darden with full scholarship. Personally, I got admitted to LBS and am attending Wharton. If you want tangible results and are willing to work hard, then Chimni is the guy to work with!

A few of my friends who were successfully admitted to multiple schools including INSEAD and Wharton recommended me to Rajdeep Chimni or as he is known ‘Chimni’ (among my friends who graduated from top MBAs). It was a great decision to work with him as the process became much smoother with his insights and connections in the industry.

I got into my top choice schools and recommend Chimni to all my friends and also spread the word through Poets and Quants great platform!

There were a few things that really struck me and that I would like to highlight:

·His ability to manage an applicant’s expectations out of the process is good. He knows the system in and out which enables him to pin-point the strengths and weaknesses in a profile.

·I was extremely impressed by his network in various schools. Chimni was able to connect me with a student in every school. His guidance on Kellogg interview and insight on the alumni interviews were key in my interviews at Kellogg and LBS.

·Chimni is a Perfectionist. He doesn’t like compromising on stories and essay qualities. Though it became a little taxing at times because sometimes you are tired and don’t mind a half cooked essay, the final result was completely worth it!

I chose Admissions Gateway based on its excellent track record. My dilemma was justifying the reason for a second MBA and limited measurable achievements outside the workplace, both of which Chimni helped overcome. What I liked best about working with Admissions Gateway was the immediate Feedback & Response – Chimni was always available and immediate in sharing feedback on essays or offering guidance on issues.

Chimni has a clear understanding of the kind of measurable achievements that top MBA colleges are looking for. He pushed me to identify such instances in my personal and professional life. He was great at helping me articulate the various chapters of my story as meaningful achievements to weave a compelling application. His commitment to excellence was reflected in his critical feedback and a clear signal to improve essays that were not working, irrespective of how close the application deadline was.

Personally, it was a crazy ride – Managing a demanding work-life with a family and the endless nights trudging through versions of my essays – In the end I made it to Haas with scholarship!

I heard about Admissions Gateway through a friend at Wharton who spoke about the strong commitment, story-telling skills and personalized attention provided to each candidate.

I had applied to Kellogg and Fuqua last year and decided to work with Rajdeep for my interviews and group discussion. Chimni is extremely thorough with his work. He took time to understand my profile thoroughly well and helped me articulate my story in the most immaculate way.

He went out of his way to give me extra time and guided me well to craft a strong case because he genuinely cared about me. He ensured that I was confident and provided me with amazing tips which drastically improved my interview skills. I have learnt so much from him on a personal level, and his high level of commitment to ensure that his students perform well is inspirational. If you are looking to crack the M7, don’t look anywhere else.

I discussed my case with top admissions consultants and eventually joined Chimni. The first thing that hit me hard that he was brutally honest about everything. I realized that a top 5 college is no cakewalk and every aspect of the application would need to be compelling to get an admit.

In my opinion, Chimni stands out in the three major areas:

First, he has the qualification and the experience for the job. After getting a Kellogg admit and interacting with others from the school, I realized how well connected Chimni is with his alma mater. Coupled with his 10+ years of admissions consulting experience, this creates a good network to tap into. He put me in touch with numerous students and alumni from my target schools and this really helped me refine my career aspirations and build strong goals.

Second, the role that Chimni played was that of an enabler. If you are driven and take the initiative, Chimni is a great resource to get honest feedback. He pushes you to iterate on your application to the point of perfection. He also keeps you on track to meet the numerous deadlines that the MBA admissions process throws at you.

Third, having been in touch with numerous MBA circles after getting an admit, I realized the significance of Chimni’s results. Before signing up with him, I had indeed looked at his statistics with skepticism. However, after interacting with numerous admits, I realized how Chimni has success stories across schools. Going purely by the number of admits Chimni gets into each school, I am sure he would be among the top 2 consultants, if not the top.

As for my results, I secured admits from both my top choices (one Top 3, one Top 5). I would like to end by emphasizing how much I have learnt from Chimni. This MBA Admissions process has indeed been a journey and Chimni has been a mentor throughout the entire process.

I was re-applying and started early with Rajdeep in the month of May, aiming to apply to LBS, Kellogg and INSEAD.

My process started with building my resume. Rajdeep put special emphasis on the resume as it becomes the base of your essays, recommendations and interviews. My resume process went on for a month and we made 6-7 drafts till we were happy with the one we have. We were able to quantify every achievement which made the resume very punchy and professional. Rajdeep’s patience and commitment to delivering results was visible in my resume process itself.

Rajdeep provided access to the rich network of Admission Gateway’s alumni network across B-schools, who were supportive and friendly in helping me out with my questions and connecting me with their classmates. This helped me with the essays, especially the ‘my contribution to the B-schools’ part.

Rajdeep knows how to get the best out of you. My essays, similar to my resume, went through a number of iterations until we were satisfied with them. The final drafts were always so much better than the first ones. The level of research and the professionalism that needed to go into the essays, I wouldn’t have been able to achieve without Rajdeep.

After the essays, resume and recommendation letters, I knew so much about myself and my achievements, weaknesses and strengths that it was easy to prepare for the interview.

Rajdeep goes above and beyond to help you and guide you. I have already recommended Admissions Gateway to a number of my friends and colleagues who are interested in pursuing an MBA .

I was in working in CPG and had applied once before with a top US consultant. I applied to 7 schools that year with their help and was dinged by all. I could not understand where I went wrong and the consultant’s team were not helpful in giving specific feedback. It was then that a friend, who had had a similar experience, referred me to Chimni. In our first meeting Chimni explained to me step by step how my application needed to be improved.

What really separates Chimni is his systematic and well thought out customized approach for each of his students. He has a deep understanding of what each of the top schools is looking for in a candidate and helps you to build your application highlighting strengths that a particular school is looking for.

He goes out of his way and puts in a lot of effort to perfect each aspect of your essay and is readily accessible. In fact at times he kept pushing me and following up whenever he found me slacking off with my application. These were some things that were really lacking with my earlier consultant and ultimately made a big difference towards the end.

In 2017 I got Admission into NYU Stern and wish I would have found Chimni and Admissions Gateway earlier.

I have a CPG background and was referred by a friend at Unilever. I joined Chimni because of his stellar track record. The best part of working with Chimni was the detailed planning for each component of the application process. He always pushed me to reflect and expand my view point of the content that I had put up in each of my application materials and write in the most impactful manner.

Chimni has deep expertise in the admissions process which reduces the time required to research schools. Further, I could easily tap into the AG alumni network to get school specific information to build content for each of my essays. Chimni helped me to position my application in the most differentiated manner and enabled me to beat the odds of admission, coming from an over-represented pool. It took me some extra time to develop a good first version of essays in R1 and Chimni helped me with ~13-14 revisions.

I remember getting on calls with Chimni every two hours on the last day of submission for Kellogg. We worked hard to come up with a version of essays that we were happy with at 1 AM in the morning to submit my application by 2:30 AM. Surprisingly, today, I am happily headed to Kellogg and still remember that last day when I was considering delaying my application to R2 and he came to my rescue! I would definitely recommend Chimni to all the future aspirants to gain admission to their dream school.

I was an early stage candidate (2+ years of work experience in the technology industry) and decided to take a crack at b-school. Initially I started with a US consultant but was not sure what value I was getting.

A student at Kellogg recommended reaching out to Chimni. When I spoke with him, his approach and expectations were what I were looking for. He suggested using the tips and working with my US consultant and also how to get more out of the engagement. However after the call I then did a lot of research and after talking to many students I gave up my $3500 deposit with the US firm and joined Chimni.

I applied to a mix of top-10 and top-5 schools. The resume building process was key as I learnt to look at things from a manager’s perspective and articulate the big picture. For the behavioral essays Chimni helped me identify and outline the examples, situations, challenges and courses of actions I wanted to depict. I also leveraged Admissions Gateway network and really dug deep into what I want from the school and what I can contribute.

I got admission to Darden – $65,920, Ross – $20,000, Cornell – $20,000 in R1. I then interviewed at Stanford and MIT and finally got into Booth with a $40,000 scholarship!

I find Chimni to be one of the very few counselors who are good at channeling their energies into doing their job well rather than trying to impress students with fancy branding and promises. He had an approach to everything including waitlists and negotiating scholarships! His commitment whether it was 1 a.m. or Sunday as if he were applying themselves.

I was looking for a consultant who could help me secure an admit to a top-5 US B-School and Rajdeep came highly recommended by friends who had made it to top US schools.

His approach is very structured and professional. We began with the resume and his way of looking at it from a strategic lens made my resume really strong. I had an operations background so I was earlier struggling with presenting the bigger picture. We finalized our schools, picking Wharton, Kellogg, Darden and Ross in Round 1.

Rajdeep’s approach of deep research on schools made my essays very relevant and specific to the schools. He was extremely patient despite multiple iterations, helping perfect the essays. The engagement went beyond what I had expected or imagined. He even helped me address the smaller details such as the short answers in the application.

I got 3 interview calls and zero rejects. He also helped in interview prep as I had a lot to improve in that area and all this led to my admission at Wharton.

I applied to Stanford, Wharton, Sloan, Kellogg with another leading consultant last year. This year I worked with Chimni as a senior manager in my previous company recommended him.

Right from resume consultation to helping with the interviews, I found Chimni’s suggestions helpful. Overall, his comprehensive understanding of the application process and of schools’ characteristics helped me best structure my life story and highlight the relevant areas of my experience and personality in my applications.

In my case what also stood out was Chimni’s extensive knowledge about the world of startups, given his numerous experiences with folks from similar background – which not only made it really easy to discuss the big picture with him but also made his guidance very crisp and to the point instead of a vague, directional input.

Further, whenever I found myself stuck in the application journey – he really contributed by helping me ask myself the right questions to better articulate my vision, given his in-depth understanding of the degree of clarity expected in the essays. Lastly but very importantly, I personally found it quite challenging to give applications time along with work-life, and Chimni’s numerous reminders and nudges definitely helped me stay on track for completion!

Two colleagues at HBS and college seniors recommended me to Rajdeep. Talking to Rajdeep felt like talking to a friendly, super-approachable advisor rather than talking to a strict professional consultant.

It started with the resume building process. Aware that there was a time-crunch, Rajdeep set up multiple appointments in short intervals to help me progress through this stage. At the end of 10 days, I felt proud that “I” was the person being described in the resume. It was a complete overhaul. Comparing the “Before Rajdeep” and “After Rajdeep” CVs made me realize how beautifully one’s credentials can be narrated in a concise yet impactful manner without exaggerating whatsoever.

In Round 1, I was applying to 3 schools (HBS, Darden and Kellogg). The toughest challenge was putting together my story in a compelling way. I knew that I had quite a few achievements and high hopes for the future; but was my story unique? I thought all my credentials looked good on a resume but could these (boring) stories be transformed into a good-read? While the guidance received on LORs and application forms was highly beneficial, the essay-writing episode is when I benefited the most from my interactions with Rajdeep.

During the essay stage, Rajdeep will give you recommendations to structure (and re-structure!) your essay, help you navigate through 10-15 iterations of (initially) drastic and (then) continuous improvements, assist you in prioritizing points and deep-diving within yourself to bringing out some crucial life-elements and values. At the end of it, the essay is still all about a 100%-authentic-YOU, but you’ll realize that it is far more enriching and informative for the person reading it, and Rajdeep’s experience will suitably align it to the requirements of the respective B-school.

When I got interview calls from all three schools, I knew that they did find my story unique and the admissions teams were indeed willing to learn more about me- and that’s when AG’s resources were useful once again. Apart from detailed tips and advice on what to do and what not to do in different types of interviews, Rajdeep helped set up mock interviews with alumni and students and this process helped improve my confidence significantly.

Finally, the results speak for themselves. HBS – Accepted with $108K scholarship. Overall, a great learning experience as well.

I joined Chimni because of his proven track record and as he showed confidence in my profile in the first couple of interactions. While working with Chimni 3 things really stood out for me:

Quality – His commitment to quality is brilliant. When an nth draft for Wharton essays seemed like a neat final draft to me, Rajdeep made me consistently improve it. As a result I ended up submitting, say an (n+5)th or (n+6)th draft. Same holds true for his attention to detail. For my Harvard essay, he kept working with me to iterate on versions of one sentence to figure out which one captured the sentiment in the most optimum fashion.

Structured approach – Being in the industry long and having had a great track record, Chimni has a very structured approach for all steps in the application lifecycle – right from resume to until interviews. For me, it reflected clearly right at the start, when the final draft of resume was out. Chimni made me think through each and every accomplishment in detail and put it across in the most articulate fashion. For interviews and TBDs as well, his structured approach came in handy – helped me work smarter rather than harder.

Research – One thing that I was told about Chimni by my friends was that he ensures that you work much harder on your applications than you’d have otherwise thought. To me, it reflected on the extensive research he makes you do for each and every point that you’d want to put in your essays. Until I was thorough with my research on every sentence in my essay, I found it hard for the same to make the cut to the final draft. At some times it did seem like extra work, it clearly wasn’t. One, it ensures that you make a perfectly well-informed statement, two, it saves you a lot of effort during the interview (and also the post-selection) process.

These points, along with Chimni’s approachability and straightforward feedback, make me recommend Chimni highly.

Working in Japan and Thailand, I decided to pursue my MBA to move from R&D to consulting. After talking to several consultants, I decided to go with Admissions Gateway as many of my friends gave great reviews of Chimni.

When I started with Chimni, I thought my resume was very good but then found out that there is a structured and different way of presenting things, beginning with the basic STAR format. I was forced to think a lot more deeply about why I was doing the work I was doing and what impact my work had on the organisation. The resume makeover was tiring but amazing.

After short listing schools, I devoted time networking with college students/alums. Chimni helped get in touch with 4-5 students from each college so that I could build in the key takeaways from our conversations into my essays. I got admitted to a good school with $40K but I was on cloud nine when I got the Kellogg admit call on Dec 14, on the way to a birthday party. So excited to be part of such a brilliantly talented and diverse community in Evanston. Almost 20 of my classmates worked with Chimni as well so I definitely recommend him!

I had applied in R1 on my own without success. I then reached out to Chimni for a ding analysis and to see how he could help me, as he had a track record of helping people from my college. He provided great insight on my resume and application and I decided to work with him for R2.

Chimni helped me revamp my resume to bring out the depth of my experience and the strategic importance of the work I did. This helped shape my stories for behavioral essays as well. Chimni also helped me connect with people at my target schools, and my research on schools and ability to articulate why I wanted to attend a school or what I could contribute improved. The interview prep was also great in terms of communication frameworks and specifics to be prepared. It was great working with Chimni and I gained admission to Booth.

I started my MBA application process with Rajdeep in June. To begin with, we worked on my resume. While working on the resume he would ask me questions which prompted me to think about my work in a strategic way. It helped my resume standout among a pool of competitive IT/tech applicants. My resume went through a complete transformation after we iterated it a few times.

When it came to my applications we worked on a couple of stories and polished it to near perfection. Again, here Chimni helped me in thinking through the scenario, asking “the hows” and “the whys” which made my stories unique. His process ensures that one shows impact in their application, which is really important. In the end I got invites from almost all schools I applied to, and received acceptances from Darden with full scholarship, Cornell and NYU Stern.

I was referred to Rajdeep by two of my friends at top B-schools. He had an immaculate track record and a reputation for working hard. I hit it off with him during the initial evaluation, so I decided to join him.

Besides my experience of 3 years in the corporate world, I had taken a shot at entrepreneurship. However, due to my experience in a non-traditional entrepreneurial venture, I was unclear on how to make my case. Rajdeep helped me focus my efforts on those aspects of my profile that truly mattered. He helped flesh out the strongest aspects from my profile and package them in the best possible form.

Rajdeep possesses superior knowledge of business schools as well as of the business world at large – that enables him to place a student’s profile in the context of the business world, thus making the application more focused. He also helps to fine-tune the candidate’s communication and interviewing skills. Working with Rajdeep not only helped me prepare a great application for an MBA, but it also helped me adopt crisp communication skills.

A friend at Harvard referred me to Chimni. After talking to Chimni, I felt he had a definite, logical perspective to each part of the application. I liked that and joined AG.

For every school’s application Chimni’s hard hitting, objective analysis of my ideas encouraged me to go deeper into introspection and clearly formulate robust fundamentals of my story. I think he instinctively brings this strong and relevant ability to the table which really stood out for me.

He was always connected with me throughout the process and was very involved in all the steps of my application. I greatly admire Chimni’s perseverance as he patiently guided me on my thoughts and approach which changed with every revision of my essays. I knew I can call him any time of the day/night to discuss my doubts and ideas. He was also kind enough to offer quality support for more than we had signed up for which I don’t think would have been possible while working with other consultants.

I had a GMAT score of 650 and was an early stage candidate. Rajdeep was frank about my chances of getting into an MBA program. He gave me realistic options after considering my profile. This pragmatic approach to the applications was the reason why I decided to work with him.

Rajdeep encouraged me to give the GMAT again and I improved to 690. He helped me portray work experience that showed substantial contributions and achievements, which I was able to use to draft up the essays. The inputs received while drafting the essays were invaluable and made each essay more insightful.

The help provided during the interview was also another point that stood out for me. Rajdeep helped me portray my best self to the interviewer by conducting mock interviews and identifying areas of improvement. I gained admission to Ross and a lot of credit goes to Rajdeep.

I had a “non-traditional” background with distance education undergrad and a masters in rural management.
I worked on long distance trains when I was 17 years old. I then entered the corporate sector about 6 years before applying for business schools. Add to this my sub-3.0 GPA, which made my chances of admission dicey.

Very few consultants truly believed that I could make it to a top-5 school, so I decided to work with Rajdeep as he thought I had a shot. Rajdeep helped me look at the larger picture, and introspect on the reasoning behind my decisions and also helped me paint a vivid picture of the hardships faced in a government work context as that truly brought out some differentiated characteristics.

He made me reach out to students at schools to understand the culture and career opportunities there and this helped me customize my applications to those schools and also made me comfortable in interview situations and talking about why I wanted to attend, my cultural fit, and the uniqueness and contributions I bring to class.

Given my 15-hour 6-day weeks, another very important aspect was managing my time and not rushing the applications as it takes multiple drafts. Rajdeep was always easily reachable and calm no matter the time left to the deadline. In the end I got into Wharton which was a great validation of the fact that people with non traditional backgrounds can also make it to the top b-schools.

I connected with Rajdeep after hearing rave reviews from a bunch of trusted friends and seniors from my undergrad. All of them had managed to get through top-15 B-schools around the globe, and more often than not, with hefty scholarships. Another thing that helped cement my decision to work with Rajdeep was his free 30-min Profile Evaluation. Having worked with a ton of people from my background, he was honest in giving me feedback about my strengths and weaknesses, and how I could best leverage my experience to write a compelling narrative.

Once we started working together, I was blown away by his structured approach to the application process, and as we progressively worked from the resume all the way to application essays, Rajdeep helped me tie my strongest personal and professional experiences in order to bring out my truest personality on paper. Despite his vast experience, Rajdeep was also always open to feedback. He also understood my disposition to procrastinate and constantly followed up with me on deliverables so that we adhered to mutually set deadlines.

To sum it up, working with Rajdeep made me understand myself better, boosted my confidence, and helped me tackle the MBA application process in the most efficient manner.