Rajdeep Chimni

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.