myEssayReview Admissions Consulting Reviews

I decided to use MER services because of extremely positive opinion online and the fact that Poonam is a 1-person shop, which led me to believe that services would be personalized. It was the best choice I could have made  Free consultation further confirmed my hypothesis and I remember that we spoke for more than 30 minutes than we initially planned. This was just one of many calls that took longer because she was always focused on understanding the objective and reaching the outcome rather than time, which shows her flexibility and commitment.

I noticed she was a bit more serious during our free consultation. Maybe this was related to fact that I was a bit unclear about timelines, and she was unsure of my commitment. It didn’t affect me in any way, it’s great that she showed her warm and caring personality from the initial call until the end of the process.

1. Resumé Review:
Poonam’s Initial thoughts during our free consultation was that my resume was solid. So I certainly felt very confident about it. However, when we got into our resume consultation, we only realized how many ways we can improve it and show my professional accomplishment and a bit of my character. She made sure to highlight accomplishments/impact very clearly and concisely. We consolidated descriptions of CV into bullets but also included details that show my interests, extracurricular activities that I never included in the past. When I look at my CV today, it shows who I am as a professional and person and that was never the case until our review. She helped me to rewrite bullets in a clear manner that was applied consistently with the STAR method. Her suggestions on the font size, details to include, and little things such as appropriate margin made a difference to make my final CV perfect.

2. Essay help:
The start of essay work was the brainstorming questionnaire you have designed. It is a perfect starting point of reflection for MBA applicants that made me reflect on my life decisions and what has influenced me to pursue different personal and professional choices. I feel like I came out knowing myself better after finalizing the questionnaire with clarity about my current and desired state, personally and professionally.

The brainstorming questionnaire was just the beginning of the journey we embarked with the EMBA application for INSEAD & IMD. The initial essay consultation was really helpful in understanding my strength and where to focus. I may have lost focus if it was not for Poonam’s advice and persistence to push for better content. Our conversations were deep, and she made me feel comfortable speaking about things I don’t usually tend to open up. She has a gift for understanding people and bringing the best out of them!

She also has a gift for creating the right essay structure to capture the reader’s attention . Sometimes I remembered having the right story, but only after her suggestions about structure/organization, the essay really came to life. She is a master of structure and editing. I always asked her how she succeeded in using so few words while maintaining the content. Can you please share this secret with me?  Just kidding.

3. LOR Guidance/Review:

Poonam made great suggestions to incorporate examples by all of my recommenders, and only then I felt that LORs started to come to life. Also, my recommenders were very positive about content recommendations and editing.

4. Turnarounds (Response time) meeting Strict Deadlines:
She answered all my questions in a clear and timely manner. She was always on time with agreed deadlines- ahead of time on our INSEAD & IMD application that we both worked with a lot of heart and dedication to submitting nearly a week ahead of time. I am delighted to inform you that I have received admission offers from both INSEAD’s and IMD’s EMBA programs. Keep up your great work, and thank you for this journey! You are really doing an outstanding job in editing and preparing MBA applicants. If I hear of anyone applying for MBA/EMBA, you certainly have my recommendation.

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I had the pleasure to work with Poonam for a period of 2 years. First, in 2021, when I was applying for the MBA program at McGill and Concordia, the two best business schools in Canada. Second, in 2022, when I applied to several MBA programs in California (UC Los Angeles [UCLA], UC San Diego [UCSD], and UC Irvine).
Getting accepted to these top schools was a challenge for me as my GMAT score was lower than the average score requirement for all schools (My GMAT Score 610/800).

Given the situation, my only chance to succeed was to ensure all other aspects of my application were world class. To achieve that, I decided to seek the support of an MBA consultant. As I was looking for a consultant online, I came across Poonam’s profile, and given the positive feedback online about her, I took a chance and partnered with her on this journey. Now, I can easily say that I was LUCKY to have come across her profile!
I worked with Poonam in 2021 on the MBA application at McGill, Canada and received my letter of admission from McGill! I received admission offer from both - McGill and Concordia , but my student visa to Canada was rejected, so I shifted my focus to business schools in the USA.
In 2022, I worked with Poonam on the applications of several schools based in California (mentioned above), among which was UCLA - the school of my dreams! When I first considered UCLA, I was almost convinced that I would never be accepted as my GMAT was way below the school average
(school GMAT average is 710 , and my GMAT score was 610). I believed I had no chance of being accepted.
Despite that, Poonam inspired me to look at the strength of my application on a holistic level and motivated me enough e to take a chance with UCLA. For 3 weeks, I worked with her on polishing my essay story and CV. Her guidance helped me highlight my strengths and organize my essays in a structured and simple, yet a sophisticated manner.
She also suggested that I write an optional essay clarifying the reason behind my low GMAT score. My reason was that I have test anxiety.
With Poonam’s support, I demonstrated my quantitative skills by highlighting the quantitative nature of my work and my involvement in analytically driven projects. After having gone through 3-4 rounds of feedback, I was able to craft an excellent application .
And guess what! I GOT INTO UCLA WITH A 610 GMAT SCORE!!
What I thought was impossible came true with Poonam’s support! I am forever grateful to her. ( I also received admission offers from UCSD and UC Irvine.)
I advise every student facing similar challenges to work with Poonam. Without her I would have never made it to UCLA! Her passion and urge to help students get to their dream school is what makes her exceptional. She will surely help you reach your goals despite the odds!

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I first got knowledge of MER’s service offerings after reading and watching Poonam’s compelling interview with Shailesh, one of her successful students. His story resonated with me, seeing as I intended to apply to the same school. Poonam’s great reviews on GMAT Club though convincing, the clincher was the confirmation of her great qualities and capabilities by Shailesh. The free consultation was very engaging and eye-opening. Poonam was able to critically assess my profile to determine my ‘fit’ and eligibility for my school of choice. I was very impressed by her thorough and deliberate approach. This set the tone for the work ahead.
1. Resumé Review:
With my initial resume being too long, the editing process to bring it within stipulated parameters was very enlightening, though cumbersome. I was introduced to the STAR method at our counseling session. This ensured better structure and organization. Poonam guided me on how to better
highlight my accomplishments and impact to guarantee a positive outcome.
2. Essay help:
Poonam’s guidance and instructions throughout the essay writing process were well thought out and tailored to my unique abilities. The counselling session to brainstorm ideas led to a better understanding of my profile and strategic positioning of my stories to create maximum impact. Poonam’s topnotch editing skills were used to improve sentence structure, correct grammar, and organize my stories for better narrative flow. It was interesting to see her trim my essays down to the required word limits, making them fit for purpose. Poonam was able to deal with all my questions and queries exhaustively, and on time too.
3. LOR Guidance/Review:
Poonam’s advice and suggestions went a long way in helping my recommenders put together compelling recommendations.
Poonam’s commitment and remarkable response time was a source of motivation. Her quick turnarounds encouraged me to press on even when I felt overwhelmed. I was surprised at the
amount of knowledge I gained within the short time of working with Poonam. Apart from achieving our aim of crafting very compelling essays, Poonam’s customized approach provided
an enabling environment that impacted me positively. I gained new knowledge that helped improve my writing and research skills. Also, Poonam’s genuine concern for the success of her clients through her words and actions distinguishes her from other consultants. Consequently, I am happy to say that I have been accepted into INSEAD’s GEMBA program. I would highly recommend MER’s services to prospective applicants any day.

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I have worked in the banking industry for 10 years. In my profession, I predominantly worked on excel models and PowerPoint presentations. So I knew that I was out of practice when it came to essays. When I contacted Poonam, I had already started my MBA application journey and written draft essays. However, I knew that I could get my ideas across better and wanted help with that. I did a lot of research online and based on reviews, MER sounded like the best possible fit for my needs.

Free consultation: I decided to sign up with MER after having a Zoom call with Poonam. She came across as well experienced and took the time to understand my background and goals. Poonam provided me with a clear understanding of her approach and methods and suggested services that would best suit my needs.
For me this was key; I was not looking for someone to just edit my grammar or writing style, but someone who could help me express my ideas as clearly as possible. Based on our initial call, I was comfortable that Poonam would be able to do this well.

Counseling Session on Zoom:
Prior to the Zoom session, I had sent Poonam the first drafts of my essays and Resume. She went through each document thoroughly and provided me with nuanced feedback. I appreciated how candid she was. Some of the questions she raised helped me see my essays with new eyes and changed how I approached them for the better.

Resumé Review: Poonam did an excellent job of reviewing my resume. Having been in the corporate world for a long time, working in various roles, it is easy to forget or underplay some of your accomplishments. She asked probing questions around some past accomplishments and suggested ways to present them appropriately. The final version of the resume she helped me craft paints an accurate picture of my experiences and accomplishments.

Essay Help: I appreciated how Poonam took the time to analyze the essay prompts and how I responded to them. From a content perspective, she identified relevant additional angles that I could bring into my essays. Through her suggestions, I was able to craft short and concise essays that communicated multiple ideas clearly. I definitely feel that the final drafts of my essays are more ‘ideas rich’ than the initial versions. In one of my essays, I had to analyze an idea from multiple angles, and I found organizing my thoughts extremely challenging. Poonam recommended a structure that allowed me to better present the idea, its benefits, and considerations for its implementation in a logical manner. I really appreciated her support with writing a convincing conclusion that tied everything together. She always provided clear answers to my queries via email and within the comments section of my essay documents.

Editing Skills: Poonam is a true expert. Seeing how she can seamlessly bring multiple sentences together concisely has been a great learning experience for me. Through her editing, I could cut out unnecessary verbiage and present concise essays that clearly articulated my ideas.

Response Time: Her turnaround time was excellent, especially when we were working with an 8-hour time zone difference. In our initial conversation we had discussed timelines and Poonam had made great suggestions. She reverted on my drafts within 24-48 hours, and we met the final deadline comfortably.

It was great working with Poonam. She is candid, friendly, and helpful. I enjoyed working with her and learnt a lot about how to bring ideas across succinctly, I will definitely be applying some of these skills to other areas of my life. I applied to only one school-Warwick, and I have received admission offer with a 25% scholarship

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While searching for a consultant for the MBA application, I occasionally saw an article about tips for writing a good essay. The detailed information and guidance within the article attracted me to view the MER webpage. When I read the positive feedback from students, I scheduled a call to understand more about MER. After the introductory zoom call with Poonam of MER, my heart told me that MER is the one that I want to take for my MBA application process.

School selection is a process of figuring out which school will help me achieve my career goal. I enjoyed the school selection process with Poonam, as our discussions clarified my logic for selecting my target programs.

The counseling session on zoom is one of the parts I enjoyed the most in the application process. It's a process of learning. We brainstormed to make each resume point short and robust. The resume-building process gave me a deep understanding of my past achievements. I took her suggestions to build each bullet with the STAR method. For essays, I still remember the confusion when I prepared my first drafts essays for Haas. I had 100 ideas but could not decide where to start and end. Our discussion provided me with directions

I appreciate the questionnaire of 25 questions that she made me fill out to brainstorm ideas before starting the application. It provided me with a lot of materials we later used in essays. Also, the questionnaire helped me find the right story that fits the essay topic (especially for Stanford), which I didn't realize before. Her guidance helped my essay flow more smoothly and led me to do self-reflection sincerely. The self-reflection she encouraged me to do also helped me a lot when I prepared 2nd round school essays. Poonam significantly helped me highlight my strengths in my resume, essay, and interview. She helped me show my best aspect to the admission committee and suggested many stories I had ignored earlier. Her editing was excellent, especially when we needed to meet the word limits.

Poonam always answered my questions and provided practical advice. Her guidance was not limited to the professional level; she also helped with emotions. I truly appreciate her encouragement and moral support after my Round 1 failure, which led to my success in Round 2.

For LoR, my recommender initially didn't follow the proper format . Poonam’s guidance and feedback were beneficial. Also, I faced a peculiar situation regarding my recommenders, as both my recommenders quit PwC in late November 2022. Poonam helped me draft an optional essay explaining why taking my LORs from them was crucial. This was indeed helpful. Poonam's response time is within 24 to 48 hours, and she was very particular about following the timelines. But I couldn’t follow it well and shared some draft essays late. So sorry for the inconvenience.

The interview was my weakness in my application process, and I wasn't well prepared for Round 1. However, the interview tips, mock interview session, and her detailed feedback on the mock interview greatly helped me prepare for 2nd school's interview. Following her advice, I practiced more, felt more confident and kept getting better in my subsequent interviews.

I am happy to say that I have been accepted into Kellogg, Anderson (with 120 K scholarship, and UC Davis (70 k scholarship). Also, I was interviewed by CBS and Haas and waitlisted by Chicago Booth. I am excited to join Anderson in Fall. I would not have been able to achieve this without Poonam's help. Thank you, Poonam. I am 100% sure I will recommend MER to my friends who want to apply for the MBA program.

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I signed up for MER (myEssayReview) for help and guidance with my application essays for the Haas EWMBA program after a lot of research. Three of the many reasons why I signed up:
a. "myEssayReview" website – The website is very well structured and provides a lot of detailed information regarding MER services. Listing out the expectations and operating procedure in advance helped build the required confidence. The website also houses insightful blogs (on several topics such as Essay, MBA Admissions etc.) and samples (Essays, Resume) which I found immensely helpful in drafting my essays. I also used one of the blogs to draft my MBA resume from scratch.
b. Testimonials – It was encouraging to see testimonials from candidates who were accepted into the program that I was targeting. I also had positive reviews from someone who I personally know.
c. Proven track record – Success stories for over a decade

Personal Experience:
In the introductory Zoom call, Poonam took time to go over my personal and professional background in detail. We also went over the essay prompts to identify the right structure, approach, and discuss timelines. After my first drafts were ready, Poonam scheduled a Zoom call to discuss her review of my drafts and help me critically analyze them. This session was very insightful since I realized how far I was off from the essay prompts and what I needed to do to close the gap. I also liked that we worked off of ideas that I had already brainstormed for one of the essays. Important advice related to content – “Show not tell”, “identity essay is about you” helped me draft the essays better in the later revisions.

Poonam provided me with great input and feedback in each of her review, which helped me put together a compelling narrative. I was very happy with how the two essays shaped out in the end. The time spent initially on developing a structure and strategy, and her excellent editing skills helped maintain essential details even after we trimmed down a lot of details from the essay in the later revisions to meet the word limit. The comments section in the document helped a lot.

Lastly, it was nice that Poonam always kept me posted on when she would get back with her review. She followed the 24-48 Hours response time as promised on her website. I am very happy to say that I have received acceptance from the EWMBA program of Berkeley Haas.

I would definitely recommend MER services to prospective applicants.

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While researching for consultants in the previous application cycle, I got to know about Poonam, I saw one of her videos with one candidate whom she helped to get into Harvard. I really liked the way she discussed how they went about doing things and Poonam’s process made sense to me.

I got on a call with Poonam pretty early in March. We had a discussion, and she was able to help me with my doubts mainly about my comparatively less work experience. What struck me was that she was more concerned with clearing my doubts and getting to know my profile rather than convincing me to take her up as a consultant.

In our 2.2.5 hour long counseling session, we went in depth about my first drafts, the right stories, and the process of how she works. Poonam helped me make my resume more B-school- appropriate. Also, she gave me pointers about my accomplishments that I shared with her in the questionnaire. A majority of our time went into the initial questionnaire and Poonam made sure that I gave it the importance it needed. Surprisingly, the questionnaire not only focused on my academic/professional achievements but also my personal traits, which proved crucial in the long run as we were able to leverage such traits for a couple of essays.

Out of all the areas, I think organizing my stories in a coherent essay was the area in which poonam helped me the most. With her help, I was able to flesh out proper essays which didn’t seem like a collection of random stories put together. I can’t thank poonam enough for her editing skills. She played a very critical part in helping me meet the word limits of the essays without compromising on the stories I wanted to tell mostly. This gave me the confidence to present my stories knowing that poonam will be able to trim it down to meet the word limits.

Regarding LORs, she helped my recommenders use more concise language and overall structured the points shared by them to be more in line with our stories, highlighting my achievements.

Poonam was always available to answer any questions I had, and she did in fact quickly respond to my queries about the essays, stories and general admission process. She was absolutely fantastic with her response time. Since I started the process a bit late, we only had 1.5 months to cover 5 b-schools. But I was able to complete all of them properly with time to spare. This wouldn’t have been possible without Poonam’s help as she instantly responded to all my drafts and queries well within 24 hours.

One thing which I loved about our time together and one of the main reasons why I wanted to work with Poonam was the genuine attention she gave to my applications. It didn’t feel like I was just another client whose applications she just wanted to get over with. She was always straightforward, and she let me know when my drafts weren’t up to the mark. I have received admission offers from ISB and McDonough. Also, I was interviewed by Tuck and Foster , and waitlisted by Tepper. I will be joining McDonough in Fall. I will definitely recommend her to other applicants.

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I wanted to apply for MS programs in the US for which I wanted MER’s help in reviewing my essays, as it is one of the best admissions consultants in the country.
In my initial call, Ms. Poonam asked me about my interest in various schools where I wanted to apply, and based on my existing profile/resume, shared honest feedback. She highlighted my strengths and my weaknesses in a very
constructive manner which helped me choose schools and programs wisely.
Over the essay discussion zoom call, Ms. Poonam took a keen interest in knowing my story and guided me on how I can write it better for a greater impact. After her guidance in the zoom session, I was able to write my essay in a more structured manner and effectively narrate my stories and experiences.
Writing several pages is easy but compressing it within the given word limit whilst keeping the essence of the story intact was the biggest challenge I faced.
But Ms. Poonam helped me a great deal in this by suggesting ways through which I can tell my story in a more concise form without reducing the impact.
Ms. Poonam was very prompt in answering all my queries and helped me throughout my journey by being very encouraging and showing confidence in me.
Ms. Poonam is ‘true to her words’. Whatever deadline she had set after discussing with me, she made sure to help me finalize my essays at least a day or two before that. I would suggest MER to other prospective applicants as Ms. Poonam is very talented, responsible, and a wonderful human being, who helps bring out the best in you. By the end of my essay-writing journey, I was amazed to see how well I could write and learned so much about myself. All this became possible as Ms. Poonam asked the right questions, pushed me to think harder, and showed tremendous confidence in my abilities.

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Reasons to sign up for MER services:
1.The feedback I read on MER services and especially the personalized touch by Mrs Poonam made me opt for MER services. This is an edge that you get from MER over the rest.
2.Another main reason was that she had already worked with successful applicants for the university I was applying for.
3. Morever, the possibility to choose the type of services that you want to purchase out of a plethora of services rather than having only one option of buying a school package makes MER distinct.

Initial Call:
During the initial call, Mrs Poonam guided me in the right direction over how to best tackle my essay as well as the resumé. She explained to me what the essay prompt was asking for and sh also asked me questions in order to familiarize herself with my professional background. This helped in building up my confidence to write the essays and resumé and not feeling lost.

Counseling Session to discuss resume and essays :
During the counselling session, Mrs Poonam made sure that I understood what her comments from her editing process meant and brought me back on track if ever I diverted from the essay prompt. I really appreciate the fact that she took all the time that was required to answer all my questions that I had and go through both the essays and resumé line by line during the meeting without having a hard ending time.

Poonam tries to understand the applicant’s profile and provides guidance on how best to incorporate some specifics in the essay and resumé during both the initial and couselling sessions. She ensures that the story flows throughout the essay. Also, the comment section whereby we both interact regarding some points does help a lot there.

Answering queries:
Mrs Poonam is very quick at responding to queries by email and she does so even after her working hours. You would never have to wait for a reply from her.

Turnarounds (Response time):
I was very impressed by the turnaround time and Mrs Poonam is known to abide by her committed assignment timeline. But at the same time she is equally comprehensive should you have any problem in abiding by the agreed timeline.

I really enjoyed working with Poonam and she has impressed me on a lot of fronts but the main one is that she sticks by her words. She is very conscious of the timing of an assignment. Yes I will definitely recommend your services to prospective applicants provided the latter are serious in their applications and are able to cope with deadlines as I wouldn’t want them to be a pain for her by not being respectful of her time. I am happy to say that I have been accepted to my target school – Manchester Global Part time MBA program.

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I came across MER during a Google search and then read about it on GMAT club.
Positive reviews enticed me to leverage MER. I moved pretty quickly through the
first two drafts and the Zoom session happened after draft 2. It helped in several
ways – to identify key areas that need to be improved, zero-in on specific
paragraphs that need edit, etc. Poonam was pointed in her feedback during the
session which suited my style of working.
Poonam spent time going through my profile which helped both of us focus on
specific areas only. My first draft contained the stories that I wanted to include in
the essays. They were not well organized, were verbose and needed better
organization. Poonam was very good at ensuring that all the required corrections
were made to the essays.
Editing was one area that made a tremendous difference. My essays were well over
the limit on number of words. Poonam’s work made the magic. Besides correcting
punctuation and structuring sentences, she was able to make the stories concise and
to-the-point.
Poonam was prompt in responses and answers to queries. As promised in the
Agreement, Poonam was always on time. I am a stickler when it comes to
timelines because of work schedule. So her timely responses helped both of us
move forward quickly.
I am accepted into LBS Sloan Master’s program in Strategy and Leadership.
I would definitely recommend MER to prospective applicants.

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