Admissions Gateway | MBA Admissions Consultants

I gained admission to Chicago Booth with $$ scholarship. Initially, I was not planning on working with a consultant but I was strongly encouraged to do so by several students. I chose Chimni from Admissions Gateway as he had great experience of helping students to the top-10 b-schools.

Two things that really stood out in working with him
-Honest and blunt feedback on all work: This helped me get to a polished application much sooner – be it during resume reviews, goal setting, essay reviews
-Return time: When I had my deadlines closer, the time that he took to return my work, and spend time during the call was really good.

Chimni challenged my thought process – all resume bullets, or essay points were challenged. Each point was included only after a discussion that is driven by reason and logic. He always made me feel that I could do better, research more, write better, and respond to interview questions better. After the process, there was a satisfaction of putting my best foot forward. Looking back, it was a lot of preparation but was totally worth it. I had multiple admits and am attending Booth.

I heard excellent feedback from friends at Harvard and Wharton who had worked with Chimni.

I signed on with him after having spoken to several other international consultants. Though Rajdeep was not as reassuring about my chances (we were talking only the top-3 schools) as I would have liked in the initial call, I appreciated his candor and willingness to provide straight, honest feedback.

He stayed true to this trait throughout the application process – never diluting his opinion, never settling for anything less than a top-notch draft, and never giving up unless I did.

I remember when I really wanted to apply to this top-5 school in Round 1 but was severely behind on my essays, having had to take a few weeks off mid-process. Rajdeep agreed to resume work on my essays 2 days before the Round 1 deadline, that too in the busiest 3-day period packed with several schools’ deadlines. With a few hours to go, he gave me a blunt critique on my latest draft and suggested we defer to Round 2 so as not to compromise on quality. When I told him that I wanted to continue working on revisions up until the deadline, and only then decide on deferring, he not only agreed but also got on calls with me every couple of hours, until well past midnight, giving his go-ahead for submission only once he was satisfied with my drafts. I ended up winning a full-tuition scholarship from that school!

A friend who recommended him told me, “he will put his heart and soul into your application”. I can vouch for this– at all times, I felt that he put my applications at the centre of his priorities.

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.

Hi, I am attending Booth and will be working in consulting full time. I was in the technology sector and had less than average work experience. With the goal of targeting the top-5 b-schools, I evaluated numerous consultants but the reason I chose to work with Rajdeep Chimni was that I felt he understood my background, my achievements and the challenges of being an international applicant. He was also recommended by a friend who got into Booth.

Chimni had a scientific approach to the entire process. He helped me hedge my risks by making me apply to 2 reach schools, 1 safe school, and 2 dream schools. This gave me both a safety net in the top-10 while trying for the top-5.

My first challenge was the resume as it was extremely technical and Rajdeep taught me how to present my accomplishments in the larger scheme of things and in a more strategic manner. The numerous iterations that we went through also helped me figure out the highlights of my story.

Apart from this Chimni helped me balance my work and applications even if it meant working late into the night or mostly over the weekends. He never compromised on quality. He stayed up until 1 am before a deadline and kept iterating drafts until the essays were good to submit.

Thanks to Chimni I got interview calls from 6 of the 7 schools with admits from 4 schools including MIT Sloan and Chicago Booth with $60,000 scholarship.

I decided to work with Rajdeep after very strong recommendations from college seniors and friends.

For me the challenge was presenting a coherent story due to multiple job switches and Rajdeep helped me tremendously with this. He understands the process really well. There was this time when I was really nervous about an interview and he was very patient during the mocks, helping me build my confidence. He was just there, available all of the time to address the smallest of my doubts even at 3 a.m. in the morning.

Rajdeep will not let anyone send in anything mediocre. I remember there was this essay that I wasn’t positioning well and he kept iterating and telling me how to take a different approach specific to that school.

He has been a great mentor throughout and it is because of him that I attended school of my choice-Tuck.

I worked with Rajdeep on my Masters in Management Application to London Business School. Despite applying very late in the process (4th Round) and tight deadlines, Rajdeep was phenomenal in helping me put together my essays and story. Rajdeep works harder than you and brings a lot of experience and understanding of different schools. During the process his work on my CV was phenomenal and I ended up using the same CV for my strategy consulting applications, successfully. I would strongly recommend him as a thought partner as you start your MBA / MiM journey.

A friend at Kellogg referred me to Rajdeep. He provided in-depth guidance on getting the personal story in the right shape for the various essays (Cornell and Booth). On many occasions, Rajdeep helped me identify what needed to be shown in the essays and what didn’t. He also helped me trim my responses to the interview questions and made them more crisp and direct.

As the essays required a lot of secondary research and guidance from alumni and current students, Rajdeep also helped me tap his vast network at the top schools to network and gain first hand insight on courses, clubs, experiential programs and culture.

Rajdeep is an excellent consultant and really works deeply with a client to get the best from them. He understands the market so well and gives such tailored advice. My resume looked completely different with his intervention. I highly recommend him to everyone

Rajdeep’s advice was extremely helpful for my MBA application. His input on my resume and school selection strategy helped me navigate the admissions process successfully. The fact that he is an MBA from a top US school helped polish my thinking towards the essays and recommendations and in creating a sell-able story. When my wife was applying to b-school two years later we took advice from Rajdeep again. His work rate and time spent fine tuning small details is phenomenal and it showed as both of us ended up at M7 schools!

This was my third year of applications. Over two years, all I could manage was few interviews. After talking to many consultants, I was confident that I had a good profile – 760 GMAT, Undergraduate degree from IIT and some of the best start-ups on my resume. However, I had struggled to connect the dots and present my candidacy in the best way.

After painful rejections, an MBA consultant pointed me toward Rajdeep Chimni. Chimni pointed out a few very important mistakes and tangible ways to improve the profile. He seemed logical and I could see a much better approach to tackle the process.

The process began by revamping the interview, and I could see a big difference. I believe that while my resume earlier was quite good, as confirmed by peers and other consultants, Rajdeep helped take it to another level. Most importantly, I saw a huge difference in the essays and how I projected my story by merging career goals and past background into one seamless and easy-to-understand narrative. Besides considerably improving my profile, Rajdeep helped my understand nuances of structured business writing and that has helped me in my career as well.

The result was that out of 10 schools I applied to, I got 7 interview calls – Kellogg, Booth, Tuck, MIT, UCLA, Ross, LBS, ISB – and got admits to 4 – MIT, LBS, Ross and UCLA. I will now be attending MIT Sloan – my dream school – and cannot thank Rajdeep and Admissions Gateway enough. Their true value is not in handholding applicants, but in shaping a mindset and developing a structured thought process that will help applicants throughout their careers.

I worked with Chimni when I was applying to 3 top schools in the US. He spent time to understand my background and experiences, helped me craft the most effective narrative that brought out my unique qualities, and further polish them so that my application really stood out in front of the admission committees. He also helped to very effectively navigate a profile weakness that I had. Would strongly recommend working with him.

Rajdeep has helped many people from Bain to the top schools so a friend referred me. I started in round 2 so I was late and had 1.5 months to apply to all my schools. Rajdeep took a lot of the stress I had regarding Bschool apps away from my shoulders, and I appreciated his involvement and dedication. He knew his stuff, that is, what schools are looking for and his advice was valuable. I felt relaxed and I could think and focus knowing that I had the right help. I gained admission to Wharton, Tuck and Ross.

Unlike other consultants who discouraged applying to most of the top b-schools, Chimni evaluated my dream school options and encouraged me to apply to a perfect mix of top and safe schools.

Chimni applied a very well-structured logic-based approach at each stage of the application process. Firstly he understood my goals and choice of schools at a personal level. He encouraged me to apply to schools that seemed fit to my kind of profile.

Secondly, his step by step approach to target one element of the application at a time helped me optimize my time, serving as an integral part of the strenuous application process. His inputs were very to-the-point, solution driven, and backed by strong logic, speaking highly of his experience in working with candidates from my industry.

Lastly, Rajdeep was always there whenever I needed his input, from a trivial questions on resume-formatting to preparing for interviews for Yale and Kellogg, including several rounds of mock-interviews! I made it to one of my top choices – Kellogg as well as an admit from Yale.

My husband, a Kellogg alum, recommended Rajdeep. I had an initial conversation with Rajdeep and he gave me great feedback regarding my candidacy. Also, I was impressed by his strategy to present my professional and personal experiences for a strong application.

I was a re-applicant and was faced with the challenge of changing my positioning in just 6 months. I think what Rajdeep does best is that he gives a structure – a clear time schedule to accomplish each part of the application so you only have to think about one school/deliverable at a time plus a format to think about each prompt. He pushes you to get as detailed as possible and his clarity of thought is brilliant which reflected in all my work by the end.
He challenged me to think and write in-depth stories and stay clear of the mistakes I had made in my previous applications. His guidance not only helped me produce applications of such high quality but I feel in the process I have evolved as a more self-assured and confident incoming business school candidate becoming much more aware of what I really want to do going ahead.

A few highlights of working with him have been – quick essay edits/revisions, weekend or holidays were never an interruption, taking time to help me strengthen the basis of my application – resume and goals. With these two things set early on in the process really made the process more manageable and reachable.

Rajdeep is truly invested in his candidates, has a great work ethic and will push until you achieve your full potential and I could not have asked for better support.

I applied to Harvard, Booth, Columbia, INSEAD and Stanford last year but did not make it. Upon speaking to friends, it was clear that everyone in my circle who was attending the top 10 schools worked with Rajdeep Chimni. As a re-applicant, I was unsure of applying again. I was recommended to speak to Chimni and assess my chances. Rajdeep was perceptive and quick in giving objective feedback on my resume and alignment of goals and skills, and was confident about my application.

I applied to 4 schools in R1- Booth, Tuck, Ross and Yale. The thought process of school evaluation in alignment with goals was critical. One of the challenging parts was to re-think my career in terms of skills and translating that into a resume. A key difference I saw was the focus on impact to be able to project the big picture.

Merely stating ‘I led a team to change the education system in state vs. saying ‘I lead a team of 5 to develop an affordable quality education program to reach 100,000 students across state – is what differentiates Chimni’s way of working. He will ensure that you introspect and think about the work you to as a genuine contribution instead of underselling yourself. My resume had 8-10 iterations until it was in the best shape.

I enjoyed working with Chimni on my goals. He would ensure I am thinking through what I want to get out of the MBA in terms of academic, experiential and part-experiential choices. His breadth of experience in working on applications puts his at a unique position to critically evaluate my story. I think this experience consolidated what I want to achieve from my MBA and what I want to do for a living.

The network of resources available through Admissions Gateway is useful. The concept of pay it forward applies here. Chimni connects you with current students with similar backgrounds and goals to understand what a school has to offer and if the choice of school will suit your aspirations.

As a re-applicant, I can certainly say that having Chimni guiding the process was very helpful. The process of applying was not just about securing an admit to a school of choice but also brings a lot of clarity to professional and personal goals. I strongly recommend working with Chimni for the sheer breadth of experience he has and his focus on quality.

I have 3+ years of experience in Healthcare and was targeting the top b-schools. After talking to friends from college who were admitted to the top-5 and hearing positive reviews I decided to work with 2 top counselors Sandy for HBS and Chimni for the other schools.

The toughest challenge was identifying the focal points of my personal and professional story. This is where I thought I got more directed inputs from Chimni. While Sandy focused on what’s wrong Chimni focused on what to do about it. It was a great help also that all inputs were illustrative and i knew exactly what to do next. This is were the apporach of talking to chimni was much better for me than getting some comments on email from Sandy and I switched over to working completely with Chimni.

Even for my resume I was thinking of my work more in terms of tasks and responsibilities and Chimni really helped me think at a more strategic level. I had varied functional experience so it was great that Chimni understood my company and my work. Over multiple discussions on the story (and seemingly endless iterations), I could put together a comprehensive application that brought out the strengths in my profile, specifically catered for each school. While going through the early drafts of some of my essays, I realized the evolution in ideas, the clarity of thought and the nuances in language as they evolved. I learnt from each application and strengthened the next one.

I received admits from Harvard with $100K aid and Kellogg with $100K scholarship. Results apart, the whole experience was great with Chimni and its important to feel comfortable while going through the process.

Working with Chimni was a game-changer for my applications. He really helped me discover my strengths and streamline my stories to align with my post-mba goals. The best part was the extent he went to in order to bring out the best application, without counting the number of consultations or iterations. I got admits from 2 schools & 1 wait-list) and I am at my dream school, Kellogg. Once admitted I was surprised to see how many of Chimni’s client’s were admitted to Kellogg!

Post my 30-minute free consultation I knew I had found the right admissions counselor.

I worked on improving my GMAT score and achieved a 40 point increase. We targeted schools across Round 1 and 2 and applied to a range in the top-15. We worked on presenting the collaborative aspects and strategic impact of my work and then found a way to align these with my goals. Chimni found ways to convey my story in a concise and impactful manner in the interview by guiding me through several mock interviews. He was very flexible in accommodating sudden changes in admissions strategy or work schedules.

I received admissions from Yale, Tuck, Fuqua and Kellogg with $100K scholarship. In hindsight, I see 3 major reasons for my success. One was starting preparations for the admissions process early on, then a structured approach to essays and interviews and finally depth of research on business schools and career goals.

The personal attention that I got was the best part of my experience with Chimni. Through the entire stressful application process, I felt like I had someone along with me in the journey, cheering me on. Whether it was sending me reminders when I was procrastinating on my essays or editing them on deadline days, I knew that there was someone as invested as I was in making sure the application that got submitted was of the best possible quality.

Coming from a non-traditional background (retail) with a fashion major in undergrad, I was concerned about how I could tell my story concisely and with enough context through my applications. Chimni helped me with every step, starting with resume building right through to mock interviews.

When working on my resume with Chimni, his insistence on thinking about the strategic impact of each point on it helped me look at my own achievements in a new light. Writing the essays was a challenge in terms of bringing out impact without going overboard on details. Chimni was very patient in working through multiple drafts, giving me examples on how I should be thinking and writing until we got it right.

With an uncanny sense of when I needed a little extra push, he was constantly supportive and highly responsive. On sensing my nervousness about an interview even after a mock, I was connected to a couple of other successful applicants to talk to who helped alleviate my concerns. Chimni helped turn my dream of attending a top B-school into reality and I highly recommend them to all prospective applicants looking for a personalized experience.

While scouting for admissions consultants, it was refreshing to come across someone like Rajdeep, who gave very honest feedback about target schools, required GMAT scores and weaknesses in my profile. What convinced me to work with him were the excellent reviews from his clients, who are now in top business schools. In retrospect, it was the best decision I made as I got into two top schools (ranked 3rd and 4th). I greatly enjoyed working with Rajdeep and the real testimony to our working relationship is that now I consider him a friend and a mentor.

Some of the key things about Rajdeep’s working style, which I really liked, were:

1) He is really calm. There is never an emergency even if the deadline is only two hours from now. He keeps his cool and that allows you to stay calm and focused.

2) For different school essays, that we worked on, his style and approach, in terms of giving directions to my essays was tailored to what the school was looking for. For instance, while working on the Stanford essays, he asked me to read a book, which helped me understand the writing style that my essay could take and then let me take the lead in terms of content. This allowed me to come up with a good essay that was original and reflective of my personality and I got an interview call.

3) I feel I greatly enjoyed the process of working on my essays and revamping my CV because Rajdeep helped me look at my work through an entirely different perspective and forced me to look at things I had done through a wider lens as opposed to seeing it functionally.

4) He is aware of how much work an essay requires to make it click for a particular school. So, it won’t be the case that you spend the same amount of time fine-tuning your essays for different schools.

My overall experience was fantastic. My general advice to anyone who is looking for help with their applications is this- Look no more, Rajdeep is the right person!

I applied last year but felt later that I had a lot of shortcomings in my profile, had changed jobs many times and didn’t have a clear picture about how to go about my applications.

When I approached Chimni I was facing several challenges. I didn’t know how to use my time in the months leading up to the admissions season. I was not sure whether I should retake the GMAT or research the programs and Chimni was incredibly helpful in helping me plan.

Chimni helped me build clarity on how to portray my story and my various experiences: how to select and curate the relevant ones which would portray my traits. I spent ample time brainstorming key experiences with him and then selecting stories and bringing out strengths. Chimni also helped me network and suggested approaches and insights on structuring conversations that helped me craft a unique answer to why I was interested in coming to that school.

I think just the critical review of my essays and resume and my overall story helped me come across more confidently during interviews and video essays. I had a lot of questions and Chimni was always available and helped me gain admission to Wharton and Yale.

I had an ambitious target of making it to a top-5 business school. I was looking for guidance from someone who had experience counseling students who attended these schools and would help me think through how to best represent myself while ensuring authenticity and making sure MY story would shine.

A friend at Wharton informed me that Rajdeep was hands-on and had a clear understanding of the admissions process. I faced two challenges:

1. Lack of time: I began thinking about applying in July-Aug. Despite the crunched timelines and having to work on applications while balancing a demanding work schedule, Rajdeep helped me structure the workload and meet R1 deadlines.
2. Lesser work experience: When I applied I had under 2.5 years of experience. Through the resume building process, Rajdeep helped me highlight leadership experiences throughout my work experience which I was able to build on in my essays.

The best part of working with Rajdeep was the personal attention. At no point did I feel that I was being given generic advice or counseling- every bit of guidance was specific to my school selection and background.

Going in with an ambitious target of making it to a top-5 business school with 2.5 years of work-ex, I could not have asked for more. Rajdeep pushed me to keep improving my essays till the last moment and ensured that I did not compromise on my application. He personally engaged on every aspect. For most of my Round 1 applications, Rajdeep was up late, helping me review essays. I was invited to interview at HBS and Stanford. I was admitted to Kellogg with a $100,000 and also made it to my dream school-HBS with $100,000 scholarship!

I was a re-applicant targeting the top 10-12 b-schools. Rajdeep helped me do the following things differently this time.

Resume: My earlier resume solely focused on consulting projects while applying for class of 2017. It looked more like a resume for a job than for a business school application. The feedback I got from Admissions Gateway counselors was to include more firm specific and practice specific stories instead of project level bullets. I incorporated this feedback by including themes on practice/ business and firm development and leadership roles in a STAR format. Most business school use VMock as a tool to evaluate resumes. It gives a score which considers things like formatting, strength of bullets, word usage, etc. I used my bschool application resume as a first pass once I started school and got a 9/10, which illustrates that this is the right way to craft a resume.

Essays: Rajdeep helped focus my essay themes on macro topics such as firm and practice development instead of project level stories. He really distilled out the broader stories from my professional background.

Interview: I fundamentally changed the way I prepared for the interview. With the Admissions Gateway question set, I listed down about 25-30 basic questions which I could expect in any interview. I then wrote answers to all these questions in STAR format and practiced a couple of times with Rajdeep. This enabled me to include all relevant points within 2 minutes and ensured I did not ramble long winded sentences, but answer in a clear concise manner. We followed the philosophy that once you know what you want to say then you can focus on who you are.

The process was a great learning experience and I used my resume and interview approach to recruit sucessfully for consulting as well.

When I started with MBA apps there was a huge amount of confusion in my mind with the number of choices/ decisions/ information so I decided to work with a top notch MBA consulting firm which had proven results. I saw a lot of consultants charge exorbitantly with variable results. My friends at Harvard and Wharton recommended Chimni so after an initial chat I signed on.

I applied to Wharton, Kellogg and Tuck. A lot of time went into understanding my work at a more strategic level and then we framed the resume. This process helped me understand the criticality of what I was doing and the impact it was leading too. This helped in my essays as I was able to tell Macro stories with more width and delve deeper into aspects that showcased both my achievements and my approach to my work. It was a research based process with a lot of reading, talking to students and delving deeper into each aspect until I could ‘own’ that aspect. For e.g. what I wanted from a particular class or what I would do on a global experiential program. Interview preparation was structured and one advice I found useful was to first learn everything then detox and become more conversational, being fully confident that I knew everything vs. not being prepared because that would be too structured.

In round 1 I was WL at Kellogg and gained admission to Tuck. In Round 2 I gained admission to Booth but Kellogg was my first choice so Rajdeep helped me navigate the waitlist with respect to being top of mind, sharing my success with ad comm and sending in updates. I finally got admitted to Kellogg, Booth, Tuck & INSEAD.

I am based in Europe and was looking for someone to help me structure my thoughts as I prepared to re-enter student life. In Rajdeep, I found a counselor who helped me do exactly that.

Rajdeep helped me remove complexity from the way I expressed myself in my essays and CV, helping me deliver the emotion I wanted to express in its purest form. He made me think about the what and the why.

You will soon realize that applying for an MBA is an extremely time consuming process. Having Rajdeep support me during this period was crucial to staying on track and meeting deadlines!

Thanks for the hard questions and keeping me on track Rajdeep.

When I got my GMAT, I was happy with my score and I thought that I could get admission into the top 15 but I wasn’t sure how to approach the application process. I met Rajdeep and showed him my resume which I thought was very good but he rated it 2.5 out of 10 which came as a surprise as I had put in a lot of effort on developing it.

Rajdeep changed how I should portray my strengths and helped build and bring out my story. Now when I look back, I understand the 2.5 rating! He also ensures that the school is the right fit for you and that you are a right fit for the schools. So in choosing the right school and preparing your application targeted at that school, he was tremendously helpful throughout that process.

I was lucky to get admitted to 4 schools with a full scholarship at one and the credit for this goes to Admissions Gateway and Rajdeep.

I considered a couple of International consultants when I first considered applying for b-schools. I read extensively online and held initial telephonic conversations with each before deciding to work with Chimni.

I was drawn to Admissions Gateway as Chimni personally works on each of the applications that ensures you can make the best of his experience. Throughout the process, Chimni was beyond candid, letting me know when something was great or making me start from scratch when it was not.

He was always reachable and patient, often responding within hours of my countless emails, day and night. Besides having a fantastic eye for helping to craft a narrative around your unique story, he was also very good at keeping me on track with timelines and helping me prioritize during an incredibly stressful process.

Chimni follows a thought through and extensive approach, taking the time to get to know you as a person – asking questions that go beyond what is typical – to make sure your whole life’s story is captured throughout the applications. There is no doubt in my mind that he was a huge factor in my gaining admission to Yale SOM.

Having worked with two consultants I saw the additional value Chimni brings for each part of the process.

Resume

The way Chimni made me think about how to draft the resume was different compared to my previous experience. The resume drafting process was thorough, with a lot of attention paid to which points to cover from my work experience and extracurriculars for maximum impact. Having the resume written out in this format also helped with interview preparation and knowing what points to highlight.

Essays

Chimni’s method of working on the essays was structured and helped me manage my time well. The process of having an initial kick off call to discuss the content to be covered in each essay, and then working on various drafts and edits worked well for me. Chimni focused a lot on the content of the essays, making me think about the value of each point that I was putting down and what aspect of my profile I was trying to bring out. One big difference I saw compared to my previous experience was how the content on why that school or what I hope to learn from that school was covered – it was very pointed and discussed specific courses, activities, clubs, and what exactly I was looking to get out of them. Unlike what some other consultants tend to do, Chimni ensured that all the writing in the essays was mine, and represented my style, but of course provided the necessary guidance on the editing and how to make the content sound more relevant and impactful.

Approachability/accessibility

Chimni is very approachable, and I never hesitated to reach out to him for any help or clarifications. He was available throughout the process of working on an application, and was always responsive to my emails and messages. We had calls scheduled regularly to check in on progress, which helped me manage my work within the required timelines. The work was well paced out so there was no last minute rush to get things completed, as compared to my previous experience. Chimni has a good mix of being strict on timelines, while being understanding about unanticipated delays due to commitments at work. I also appreciated the fact that Chimni always made it a point to let me know if he was running late on our scheduled appointments, which becomes very important for candidates trying to juggle work responsibilities and applications at the same time.

I joined Rajdeep as many people from my industry and company had worked with him and seen success at the top schools. My work experience was distinctive and Rajdeep helped me link it to business impact and showcase it in the best light. His resume making skills are extremely good and he unlocks your thought process and makes you see the bigger picture. He supported me on as many iterations on the essays as were needed and was readily available. For interview prep he walked me through both interview frameworks and mocks. Thanks to his help, I gained admission to Cornell.

Rajdeep was referred to me by a friend who had gained admission to Wharton last year working with him. I had strong work experience with a top-tier management consulting firm overseas; however my low GMAT score below 700 especially given the competitive Indian male category impacted my chances of gaining admission into a top 5 school severely. Rajdeep helped me choose the right schools given his in-depth understanding of both my profile as well as how I could fit into the schools.

He was able to weave a very compelling story drawing from different facets of my life I could not connect coherently. He was able to address the GMAT weakness in the optional essay and get me back in the competition. I think they miraculously turned a weakness around and made sure I was not dinged. A lot of creative ideas flowed between us and I really appreciate all his hard work to get me past this stage.

He was immensely helpful during the interview stage and gave me a good sense of how things work internally. I felt much more in my comfort zone after mocks and felt at ease during the interviews overcoming nerves. A big thank you for helping me secure admissions to my top schools Kellogg and LBS.

I had an outlier profile and was looking for a consultant who could still bring out the strength in my story considering all the challenges in my profile. After speaking to many renowned Indian & international consultants and also hearing Rajdeep’s name from some of the alums/students from top schools, I reached out to him and in one discussion, I was sure of working with him for my applications.

What helped me a lot in structuring my essays was Rajdeep’s detailed and thought-through structure of each essay. He understood my profile and brought about strength in every essay beyond what I could think of.

Some other things that stood out were his always-positive tone of speaking, his follow-ups as if this was his own application – I remember once I was really exhausted with writing essays and was pushing myself late at night and I got a mail from Rajdeep with subject line “Focus and Write” – such messages/mails kept me going.

Rajdeep could understand from the quality of my essay versions whether I had written it with thought or not and his feedback was spot on. He would keep making me iterate until he was sure that the quality of the essay was top notch. In the end, I was satisfied that I had submitted the best application I could have. I achieved a superb result and this certainly wouldn’t have been possible without the right guidance (both motivational and strategic application work) and Rajdeep’s positive energy.

My plans to apply for an MBA program in a top B-school formed in mid-2015. My objective was to get into a top ranked school (USA top 15). After applying to 7 schools in round 2 2015, I ended up getting offers from Tepper (CMU) & Kenan-Flagler (UNC).

Tepper is a good school for tech recruitment but somewhere I felt that I could do better. I had conversations with Rajdeep Chimni after hearing positive reviews about Admissions Gateway from few people going to the top-10 b-schools. Rajdeep assessed my chances fairly and told me both the risks and the upside. I took the tough call to apply again after taking various inputs and reflecting on what I wanted to.

I first introspected on my previous applications with my Rajdeep and identified few areas of improvement.

a) Better portrayal of my job accomplishments. Everyone knows the STAR format but there are different levels of applying it. Bringing out the leadership and strategic aspects of the work
b) Detailed research on goals
c) Reaching out to and talking to students at target schools and then keeping notes and seeing how those could be used in the essays to personalize. This helped a lot.
d) More insight and polish in the essays. Picking the right examples is very important so think a lot before you start to write. (Warning – The iterations may seem endless but they do bring out that level of insight) The initial research and chats with students helped me refine the essays and focus on the depth of key points such as collaborative experiences, opportunities to contribute within specific clubs in business schools etc.
e) More focused interview prep. Start preparing for your interview early because there could be only 7 days between the invite and the interview which may not be enough for people who have never interviewed before

The result of this was that I secured an admit from The Fuqua School of Business (Duke University) in Early Decision round with a scholarship of $19,800. The scholarship was definitely a bonus being an Indian male!

I started worked with Chimni on my resume. He has a structured approach to look at the resume as a whole with a sharp focus on individual sections and points. He gives you great advice on how to reflect on your experiences and articulate each point. He has brilliant resume editing skills as well. My resume now truly reflects the extend of my experience and accomplishments!

Chimni helped me refine my goals as I am applying to the Stanford Reliance Dhirubhai Scholarship essay. Based on his valuable inputs on the essay both in terms of structure and flow and in terms of content and editing, I got shortlisted for the scholarship.

Rajdeep has a lot of experience of working with prospective MBA applicants from diverse backgrounds. When I reached out to him, he not only helped me in identifying my strengths and weaknesses, but also helped me in establishing a crystal clear strategy for my application process.

I have observed Rajdeep going beyond his normal responsibilities/expectations to co-create the strongest possible application, with a strong intent to help every client achieve his/her goal.

While working with Rajdeep for my Wharton TBD preparation, I found him very flexible and approachable. He shared important insights for the TBD, and also held a webinar in which first year students discussed their experience. This helped me a lot in cracking the Wharton interview and gaining admission

After doing my research and talking to people at the top-5 schools, Chimni was the automatic choice. Working with him was enriching as it shaped my thought process and helped me put ideas into a more structured and organised manner while emphasizing the broader impact of my achievements.

A couple of things really stood out for me during the process:

First was the commitment and dedication to ensure that the best application was sent out, even if it meant working on essays at extremely odd hours. Moreover, the r2 applications were tackled with the equal zeal and enthusiasm as the r1 applications.

Secondly, the expertise and know-how with respect to every school was something that impressed me. This helped me put forward my best possible application to every school I applied to.

Chimni definitely knows how to identify your strengths and weaknesses, get the best out of you and deliver results. I gained admission to Wharton with $30k scholarship, Kellogg, Tuck and Ross with $40k scholarship

I had a good profile but was not confident about getting into a Top-5 school. My hectic schedule was not allowing me ample time to focus on my applications. However, I was aiming high and Kellogg was my dream school. Rajdeep encouraged me and helped me gain confidence in my abilities.

During the days when I was writing my applications, I usually worked on my applications late into the night after work and Rajdeep used to make time to review my thoughts and bounce ideas. I doubt other consultants would have taken calls after 7 PM. My positioning, demonstration of fit and Rajdeep’s support eventually got me admitted into Kellogg.

Admissions Gateway, (Rajdeep) was immensely helpful. They shared the key aspects to focus on while choosing the school, gave tips and tricks customized to shortlisted schools, heard me out on my story and helped me refine it.

My consultant constantly challenged me even if that meant much more time than committed by them to ensure the story was convincing. Post shortlisting, they helped with detailed interview preparation, mocks customized to the school we were looking at.

I work in HR consulting and was finding it very difficult to draw out the business impact of my work. Chimni helped me think about my work in an organized and strategic manner. I thought about not only what I did but why we did it and how it helped our clients. This gave me a great platform to write my essays. Chimni was tireless in drawing out my characteristics and skill-sets in the essays. There was also a lot of focus on networking and bringing out the relevant attributes in the essays. This gave me a lot of confidence during the interviews as I knew each element of my story well and was able to convey my story with maturity despite being a younger candidate. Chimni helped me get into my top choice school and the approach I took during the applications helped me in my job interviews as well.

I applied to a few business schools but did not get in. I had sought help from top consultants such as Sandy and Stacy. A known consultant in Mumbai introduced me to Rajdeep as he felt he was the right person to get me into a top-10.

My experience with Admissions Gateway was life changing! With my low GPA, poor communication skills and monotonous work experience, I was not going anywhere. I am an entrepreneur and had never built my resume earlier. It was quite challenging initially to align my thoughts and come up with all the work that I have done in STAR format. My friends and mentors were amazed at how well my resume was presented.

I then worked with him on my essays. It was quite tricky to choose between the options for a particular essay and we brainstormed a lot. Also the research that I had to do for writing the Goal essay felt like never ending.

I was so demoralized after my previous year’s results that I worked with another consultant along with Admissions Gateway but in the end my admissions came through Admissions Gateway. This top 5 MBA is going to have a profound impact on my life and I am indebted to the team for making it possible. I was happy to just get into a top-15, I got into Kellogg with a named scholarship of $125K.

During the application process, I had difficulty in portraying the real impact of my work from a business perspective. Rajdeep really helped me understand the larger strategic impact of my work beyond the day to day engagements.

Also, I had a very hectic work schedule and often I would get delayed in sending work across, working on neck to neck deadlines. But Rajdeep worked around the timings that were convenient for me, helping meet the deadlines.

Rajdeep also did a fantastic job when it came to my essays, helping me identify what the B-schools were looking for and the special USPs in my profile that would appeal to the ad com, making me a perfect fit for the school. All this really worked out well for me as I got through Duke with a scholarship.

I come from a manufacturing and operations background and my work was distinct and highly technical. Rajdeep worked with me very patiently to help me change the engineering oriented points to those that showcase business impact, which really helped me put forward my story and essays in an easy to understand manner.

I was wait-listed at a few schools and Rajdeep worked with me continuously to keep top of mind at those schools through updates and also provided tips on networking with students to give school specific updates. His accessibility and responsiveness was exceptional. Starting from the interactions on profile to discussions about the various schools and their fit to my profile, he was open to having a thorough conversation and more importantly two-way communication.

I got off the wait-list and will be attending Yale!

I started working on MBA applications in round 2 and was a bit apprehensive on working with a consultant because of experiences my friends had reported. Working in an unconventional (Oil and Gas) job, I wanted someone who could understand the nuances of my job and guide me how to reflect that in my application essays.

While talking to Chimni, I realized he understood my profile and had in-depth knowledge of the admissions process. He also had positive reviews from his previous clients, and working with Chimni turned to the best decision as he is heavily invested in helping his client’s succeed.

The initial brainstorming session with Chimni helped crystallize my short term and long term goals. He carefully listened to my personal and professional journey so far and suggested the ways to align my career goals and paths leading up to them.

Chimni is very passionate about his work and ensures that his client is putting in their best application no matter the amount of work it takes. Through numerous iterations of CV and essays, my application came out strong without losing personal touch.

Chimni also had a big impact on my interview preparation. He is a great interviewer and conducted several mock interview sessions after which I felt comfortable. His advise on approaching the interview questions is beneficial not just for the MBA interview process but also holds true for recruiting.

Going through the MBA admission process is a testing process, both physically and mentally and it helps if you have someone to help and advise you throughout. I found that mentor and friend in Chimni and I greatly owe my admission to Kellogg to him. Thank you Chimni.

A friend who worked with Rajdeep and gained admission to Harvard recommended me to him.

I had been admitted to a couple of colleges in the previous year, but I thought it was possible to do better. My feedback from Tuck had been about my story being convoluted. Speaking with Chimni further gave me the confidence that he would add a lot of value in my application strategy and with crafting the story/narrative.

During the profile evaluation, Chimni showed a lot of confidence in my profile and was sure that I could crack an M-7 school. He was straightforward and direct in pointing out both my weaknesses and strengths. I was also impressed with his knowledge of the process specific to each school.

During the process he was diligent with pushing and challenging every point on my resume to get it to be strategically positioned. He also had extensive experience in working with candidates from similar profiles and how the schools perceived them, which helped shape my narrative appealing. He was extremely flexible in working with me, sometimes working on up to 10 edits on a single essay. I remember him challenging my essays for a school about 2 days before the deadline but then working on 4 edits in that time span to help me get it in on time.

I gained admission to Harvard Business School – USD 105K, Kellogg – USD 40K, Darden, London Business School – GBP 40K, Duke Fuqua and UCLA Anderson – USD 100K

Working with Rajdeep on my resume was the defining moment of my MBA application journey. After getting rejected without interview from all the B-Schools that I applied to during the 2016 cycle, I approached Rajdeep who helped me realize the strategic impact of my work-experience during the resume building process.

Rajdeep helped me identify various leadership stories which boosted my confidence tremendously. Moreover, it helped me understand my personal brand, helped me understand the strength of my candidacy and provided me with a framework to position myself strategically.

With all this, I was able to put together a much stronger set of applications for 2017 admission cycle, received multiple interview invites (Tuck, UT-Austin-McCombs and Emory-Goizueta) and have decided to matriculate at UT-Austin (McCombs). Rajdeep has a deep understanding of the waitlist process as well and helped me chart a concrete plan for navigating through the waitlist which helped me remain on the Tuck’s reduced waitlist till the very end.

After speaking to multiple students even consultants many suggested that I change my story and put in a consulting focus to make it more saleable to ad-coms. This did not ring true to me and I was uncomfortable with digressing from the main text. When I spoke to Chimni at Admissions Gateway he gave me the confidence to pursue my “Start-up theme” while showcasing how we could give it strategic direction.

My GPA was a little on the lower side. Moreover, professionally I had been working with start-ups and not with a McKinsey or Goldman which are feeders to the top B Schools. Chimni allayed these apprehensions and helped me focus on the positives such as two promotions and the right portfolio at work. The next step was figuring out the strategic aspects (rather than technical) of what I had done so far and how the same should be presented.

Chimni’s structured approach to tackling the application process and focusing on one aspect at a time helped keep anxiety low. My biggest take away from the whole application process which I feel will serve me well for the rest of my life is to be concise and make an objective assessment of what ones story is, so that at end of it all it makes sense to the reader.

Chimni gave advice on knowing the schools as if I had spent a week there and so I really did intensive research. This helped me evaluate fit and also identify how I could contribute to schools. This eventually helped position my story specific to the school resulting in multiple admits. I applied to 5 schools and secured admits to Kellogg, Stern and Ross and am really enjoying my time at Kellogg.

After talking to friends and students I decided to work with Chimni. He helped outline an exhaustive plan leading up to the deadlines spanning 6-7 months so that one could map everything out. What stood out for me was that the resume was customized as per ones goals and thus a consulting resume was different from say product management. My resume took close to 22 iterations but I was happy with the final result as I learnt how to portray my experiences.

We then worked on outlining the goals. Usually you have an overall goal but we went into the specifics like which industry, how to align this with my profile, what skills I need etc. The most important part was the essays and interviews and this is Chimni’s biggest strength. I had multiple iterations on the essays for all the schools. Even my optional essays were tailored to the school I was applying to. Finally, I would like to highlight the interview preparation. Chimni helps you in how to address the questions and how to handle the interviewer.

I would also like to add that Chimni has high moral standards and will not write your essays. Each essay is your product and they work with you to help you make it better. This helped me be true to myself and maintain my unique voice.

Thanks to Chimni I gained admission to Cornell, Johnson. I would definitely recommend him for applying to the top programs.

In multiple conversations with past applicants/current b-school students, Rajdeep Chimni’s name was a constant as the go-to consultant. Given the market perception and how clear and concise Rajdeep was with his inputs in initial conversations, I signed up. I also had other friends working with him which made the decision easy.

Rajdeep is a great asset to any candidate applying to top ranked international b-schools. He brings to the table clarity of thought and decisiveness in action which is quite rare. His methodological approach helps in prioritisation and time-management, especially critical when you have 4-5 applications to submit in quick time. He clearly communicated review timelines, and allowed for multiple reviews and edits. My CV looked a 100x better due to Chimni’s inputs. For my Kellogg application, Chimni helped me reflect on multiple leadership experiences, to identify the best and helped highlight multiple nuances that were earlier lost on me. Further, he helped me prepare for the interview with mocks and helped prepare impactful answers.

Chimni has developed a knack for identifying candidate stories that will shine. Trust me; he can make your app sing!

I was a second MBA applicant and a friend at Stern referred me to Rajdeep. The end-to-end ownership Rajdeep took for the process was remarkable. Rajdeep has a keen eye for detail and I greatly appreciate his concern for the candidate succeeding in the application process. In my case, the points Rajdeep mentioned on making my SOP more detailed, ‘action-oriented’ and realistic were very helpful. Rajdeep has good knowledge of different career tracks and he helped me think through the application like a business proposal. He truly went much above and beyond what I had expected.

I applied last year with no consultant and gained admission to Tuck. At the same time, I got a product manager role in Team I really wanted. I decided to change jobs and move to US for a product manager role instead of starting Bschool. The bug to do an MBA didn’t end, however and this time I thought about whether getting a consultant would help frame my story better. And no regrets there!

I then had a few calls with Rajdeep Chimni and discussed my application and background. He was surprised that I had given up Tuck but he focused on forming the right stories and figuring out the areas we could leverage. I saw how I could improve my applications and started my second application campaign aiming at the top-5.
Chimni helped shape my story and future goals. He has an incredible insight into different industries and career stages. He helped me draw parallels from various experiences in my roles and craft a well-defined story which accrued towards a constant theme, which was a key to whole process – from my application to my interviews.

Also, the time and effort that he took in meticulously working with me on small details across my application, whether it be the resume or the essay, was phenomenal and critical to making sure that my application was not cookie-cutter.

Chimni has a very pragmatic and straight forward approach to everything which helped keep things on a great track. The whole process was collaborative, and he was deeply invested in my outcome which is exactly what I needed. From the application to the interviews, he was available for any questions and was patient in discussing all possible ideas and doubts that I had. I’m headed to Wharton this fall with a great scholarship, and all worked out great.

Having spent more than 10 years in the industry and having led large teams, I thought I had a very good idea of what a successful MBA application should contain. This notion lasted till I interacted with Rajdeep.
He very quickly was able to explain what the gaps in my thought process were and how important it is to use consulting frameworks to make my application better.
He also helped me with visualizing what my complete story should be and how to make sure its completely represented in my application. Using frameworks like STAR we were able to build a succinct and powerful resume, which helped me not just with my admission to ISB, but was useful for my post MBA job interviews too.
Rajdeep drives you hard and spends a lot of time himself reviewing all artifacts. I thoroughly enjoyed the application process and owe my admission to ISB, largely to his inputs.