Accepted to Chicago Booth's full time MBA program with $40K scholarship. Thanks, Poonam!I signed up with MER to receive guidance on my application for three schools. Since I was short on time when I first contacted MER, the 1-hr Zoom session for me was perhaps not as much about understanding my profile but more about reviewing my Resume and Essays for one of the Schools. I was satisfied with my experience and got some really helpful insights. However, I would have liked to have contacted her earlier and benefitted from her expertise in extracting the most effective stories from my life.
Poonam’s Resume Review service is what I consider most useful for me personally. She spent a lot of time during our 1-hour Zoom call helping me make my Resume elements sharper. There was a considerable difference between my pre-and post-MER Resumes. I feel the improved resume really made me a more confident applicant not just at the application stage but also during my interviews. Considering that I did not have much time for LoR review, I could just take one set of edits from her. If I had more time, I could have effectively leveraged her services for this application component, too.
I do not think we had much time for Poonam to understand my profile and harness that to position my stories. So, we focused more on how to better the stories/drafts I had already considered/ presented. Poonam is excellent at seeing the bigger picture and really distilling the key takeaways from an applicant’s story/ essay. This allows her to see the value of each paragraph/line and make effective improvements in the structure/ organization to present a coherent narrative. Poonam’s razor-sharp focus on cutting any clutter to show only the most impactful elements of the essay allows the essay writer to think and write freely and present the best drafts without worrying about the word limit.
MER’s turnarounds were as promised and very predictable. This was extremely important for me as I was running on a tight schedule. I really appreciate Poonam’s going beyond your call of duty on multiple occasions and reviewing two essays instead of one on a single day or working on a weekend to help me meet an impending deadline. I really enjoyed working with Poonam, found her services extremely helpful for my application, and would enthusiastically like to recommend her services to prospective applicants.
It gives me immense pleasure to inform you that I have been admitted to the Chicago Booth Class of 2023. I have also been offered a scholarship of $40,000 spread over two years. I can't thank her enough for the value that she added to my application and for her exceptionally useful guidance.
I signed up with MER to receive guidance on my application for three schools. Since I was short on time when I first contacted MER, the 1-hr Zoom session for me was perhaps not as much about understanding my profile......
Shekhar Iyer - 2021, accepted into Chicago Booth with 40K Scholarship
Happy to be accepted into M7 Program- MIT, Thanks PoonamI signed up for MER because I needed advice in choosing the right stories to tell, how to tell and make them connect properly. In the first counseling session, we discussed my background and accomplishments, which helped me a lot to improve the essay. She understood my story well and helped me effectively position them. I liked how she structured one essay to the other one and helped me align them to the LOR to make sure the complete picture looked fine. I think a proper organization is Poonam’s strongest point! She was a great help in organizing details to make the story flow better, especially because my essays were huge, and I had difficulty in putting everything together to fit on the word count. Her editing skills are excellent, and the final versions were perfect in content, organization, and grammar.
Her guidance on the LOR was excellent. My recommenders also commented that her feedback was constructive to help them improve the LORs. I did not raise many questions other than the comments on the word files; all my questions were replied satisfactorily. Everything worked fine, including turnarounds, as we agreed before starting our work. I liked the result, and I feel that my application would be definitely much weaker without her help. I am happy to be accepted into the full-time MBA program of M7 program– MIT. Overall, I enjoyed working with Poonam, and I would like to recommend MER services to prospective applicants.
Click here for Eduardo’s Interview with Poonam.
I signed up for MER because I needed advice in choosing the right stories to tell, how to tell and make them connect properly. In the first counseling session, we discussed my background and accomplishments, which helped me a lot......
Eduardo- 2019 applicant got admitted to MIT.
Accepted by Kellogg full time MBA Program. Thanks, MERI signed up with MER after reading excellent reviews of MER on the GMAT Club. MER was also recommended by e-GMAT. In the skype sessions, Poonam Ma’am discussed my profile, goals, and prospects at length. I got a lot of handholding during tumultuous times as I did not have much exposure in the application process. She made untiring efforts to finalize my resume in a way that spoke about my achievements and caliber. Also, Poonam ma’am displayed a lot of patience with up to 6 edits on my resume.
Ma’am spent a lot of time with me to better understand me as a professional and as a person. Her inputs regarding my drafts were insightful and crisp that focused on my goals and virtues. I am sure this helped Ad. Com to better value my candidature.
She was very particular about how cogent my essays were. The structure suggested by her made sure that there was a flow of information that displayed a timeline and chronology for better comprehension and understanding.
Poonam Ma’am understood the information handicap I was facing during the application process. Many times, upon finding me overwhelmed, she scheduled calls to help me better understand the situation and the demand of the school applications. She went out of the way to help me emphasize my candidature given that I have a very unconventional profile (doctor + civil servant). It was a challenging task to streamline my goals with my chosen path. Poonam Ma’am came to the rescue. She is a scholar herself. Her command over English in terms of grammar, punctuation, etc. is unparalleled. I was especially grateful to her to help me trim my responses to the prescribed word limit.
Promptness is a distinctive feature of MER. The commitments made at the time of starting the process were always adhered to. The turnaround time of MER is better than that of many other consultants.
Also, I had a very professional mock interview session with her. The insights provided at the end of the mock were beneficial. Many of the questions were in tune with my interview for Kellogg. I am happy to be accepted by an M7 program- Kellogg.
I have already recommended MER to 3 prospective candidates.
Click here to learn about Rohit's career goals, application journey, and much more.....
I signed up with MER after reading excellent reviews of MER on the GMAT Club. MER was also recommended by e-GMAT. In the skype sessions, Poonam Ma’am discussed my profile, goals, and prospects at length. I got a lot of......
Rohit- 2019 applicant, accepted into Full Time MBA program at Kellogg
“Accepted to the top 5 MBA programs including Harvard, HBS and Stanford! Thanks Poonam:)”I gave my GMAT in end June 2017 and started the application process in early July. The next step was choosing an admissions consultant, and this was not an easy process. I talked to some 5-6 consultants and was really disheartened when they didn't believe in my passion and dream of getting into HBS. They asked me to apply to more "safe" schools. When I had an introductory talk with Poonam, she sounded really encouraging and yet practical. And I knew that I found my companion for this journey.
The next few months were not easy, and I worked extremely hard to achieve my aim. At all times, Poonam worked equally hard right from reviewing my essays in time and putting extra time and effort whenever I got demanding.
I was keen on applying to HBS in Round 1, but Poonam suggested me to keep HBS for Round 2 to give enough time to my dream school. Now when I look back, I feel that this was the most valuable advice she gave me. It gave me enough time to work on my essays and be confident about my application.
Poonam's USP is that she is a convincing storyteller, and with her, I learned this art. Not only this, but she also gave me valuable advice for all parts of my application process, such as bringing more clarity on my goals, getting my recommendations in line with my qualities, identifying my failures, etc.
I will strongly recommend MER to all those who are struggling to find an encouraging consultant and are really passionate about their dream school!
Click here to learn about Mansi’s career goals, application journey, and much more.....
Click here to learn about Mansi's Harvard MBA experience.
I gave my GMAT in end June 2017 and started the application process in early July. The next step was choosing an admissions consultant, and this was not an easy process. I talked to some 5-6 consultants and was really......
Mansi- 2017 applicant, accepted by MBA program of all the 5 top schools -Wharton, Kellogg, INSEAD, Stanford, and Harvard.
“Accepted into full time MBA program at Oxford Said Business School”I would like to share my experience of working with Poonam Tandon (My Essay Review) as a part of my admission process. After I gave my GMAT, I opted for the 1-hour free consultation with Poonam. I was surprised to see how much knowledge I gained during my interaction with her during that one hour. She was very thorough in explaining the admission process, my chances of getting into various schools after evaluating my profile, and in-depth discussion on the essays, LOR, and resume.
I decided to choose the Essay Review for 2 essays for Oxford Said. The payment was pretty simple, and I did it through the website. She informed me promptly that she received the payment. She had already mentioned to me during the 1-hour consultation that she needs a draft version of my essays before she can start working on them. After I gave her a few options on the essay topics, she helped me to finalize a couple. So, I wrote two versions for each essay, and she was kind enough to review them and gave me feedback on which version works better. In her first review, she had indicated which portions of the essays need modifications. I made the changes accordingly, and we were done after her second review. The whole process took less than 2 weeks. She had been extremely professional, l, and every time I submitted a response, I heard back from her in less than 3 days. She never wrote my essays, but she empowered me to write better. I strongly recommend her.
Click here for Arjun’s video interview with Poonam.
Click here to learn about Arjun’s career goals, application journey, and much more.....
I would like to share my experience of working with Poonam Tandon (My Essay Review) as a part of my admission process. After I gave my GMAT, I opted for the 1-hour free consultation with Poonam. I was surprised to......
Arjun Bardan- 2017 applicant; accepted into MBA program at Oxford Said Business School.
Pablo- Accepted into Ross full time MBA program with full scholarshipI totally recommend working with Poonam Tandon (myEssayReview). Though I first reached out only 72 hours before the deadline for the two essays and resume of one of my applications, she was 100% committed and helped me deliver great results.
My decision to work with Poonam was based on her uniquely strong background. She is a PhD in English Literature, who loves writing, and with proven track record reviewing successful essays and resumes for top-ranked business schools.
We communicated by skype and email, and I always received timely and clear answers that guided me to write more efficiently and effectively. Poonam and I discussed my personal and professional background and then she made sharp suggestions of the strongest topics to address the essay questions. As a result, I confidently chose my topics and focused on developing them. Also, Poonam gave me clear directions about format and structure, along with guidelines to ‘unleash’ my stories in a more compelling and thorough way. Finally, she edited my essays to trim them to the word limits and correct grammatical mistakes. One of the most challenging essays we worked on was the cover letter for MIT, with only 250 words.
Poonam also helped me build a strong resume. First, she provided me with a format that made me gain more space to focus on professional accomplishments. Then, she helped me strengthen every bullet point by choosing appropriate action verbs and focus on the outcomes. Finally, with the structure she suggested, I was able to better highlight other areas such as academic accomplishments and personal interests, making a well-rounded resume.
We worked fast, with turnarounds in less than 24 hours, so despite time constraints, we built strong essays and resume well before each deadline. I would like to mention here that New Year’s Eve was right in the middle of that short period of 72 hours before Ross's deadline. I couldn’t be more grateful to Poonam as she agreed to provide her strong support and advice and turned-around much faster than me. Also, I liked that she didn’t charge extra for rush service.
Overall, it was a pleasure to work with Poonam. She not only provided me with the best possible technical advice, but she also helped me boost my confidence at a point of weakness and tiredness. I had high expectations and the results were far better than expected.
Finally, I got admitted to Ross with a full scholarship. I would recommend the services of Poonam to everyone.
Click here for Pablo's application experience, challenges he faced during the application process, and much more....
Click here to see how a Ross MBA helped a Chilean to switch career.
Click here for Pablo's testimonial on LinkedIn.
I totally recommend working with Poonam Tandon (myEssayReview). Though I first reached out only 72 hours before the deadline for the two essays and resume of one of my applications, she was 100% committed and helped me deliver great results.......
Pablo- 2016 R 2 applicant; accepted into Ross with 100 % scholarship, interviewed by MIT
I received admits from Kellogg, Haas, Yale, and UCLA Anderson, with scholarships!Although I had already written most of the essays and was confident that they were good, I decided to sign up for a single essay review service so as to double-check the quality of my work. I signed up for myEssayReview because it was highly rated at GMAT Club, and because it offered very competitive pricing for a one essay review. After completing the review process with Poonam for this essay, I realized that she helped me to elevate the quality of my essay to an entirely new level! As a result, I decided to sign up for essay review to six schools I applied as well as résumé review. Here is my feedback on my experience of working with Poonam:
Understands you as a person: Poonam was interested in understanding my whole story as an applicant and as a person, though I had initially just signed up for a one essay review. In addition, I could also understand her background and method of working, which helped us to work productively while not losing sight of my goals and characteristics. She provided me valuable advice on my school selection, application strategy, time management, and even résumé improvements, all of which were not part of the scope of my original service hired.
Delivers a Clear Sentence Structure: Poonam demonstrated that my first drafts had stories with the unnatural flow and frequently lacked a clear link between the story and the point I was trying to make. Once we identified the point, then we discussed how each part of the example was supporting the point. This method was vital not only to stay focused on my key messages but also to trim side arguments and reach the tight word limits. Poonam used an effective and elegant word choice - not overly sophisticated vocabulary. As a non-native speaker, I found it so helpful because I wouldn´t be comfortable with words that I would never write in my essays.
Effective Edits: Effective editing/trimming of essays is one of Poonam’s main strengths. I frequently sent her very large essays thinking, there is no way to achieve the allowed word-limit – but she consistently delivered on the word limit! In addition, I found helpful that she offered my choices on what contents to sacrifice or details to omit so that I was able to consciously evaluate the trade-offs and make choices that maintained the essence of my examples.
Results speak for themselves! In the end, I was interviewed to all of the six schools I applied, admitted to four of them (Kellogg, Berkeley-Haas, Yale SOM, and UCLA Anderson) and waitlisted at Stanford GSB. Plus, three of them offered me substantial scholarships! Kellogg-70K scholarship (Donald Jacobs scholarship), Yale SOM - 20k scholarship, UCLA Anderson -70k scholarship. Now I’m heading to Kellogg with a scholarship! I had never imagined I would be so successful. Without a doubt, Poonam has contributed substantially!
Beyond being admitted to my dream school with a scholarship, I gained a lot from working with Poonam. I improved my writing and critical thinking abilities, and also had a great time working with Poonam. Thank you, Poonam for your guidance.
Click here to learn about Eduardo’s career goals, application journey, and much more.....
Click here to learn about the key reason behind the success of Eduardo.
Click here for Eduardo's testimonial on LinkedIn.
Although I had already written most of the essays and was confident that they were good, I decided to sign up for a single essay review service so as to double-check the quality of my work. I signed up for......
Eduardo- 2016 applicant, interviewed by all 6 schools, waitlisted at Stanford GSB, and admitted to Kellogg, Yale, Haas, and UCLA Anderson with generous scholarships.
My essays demonstrated a solid mastery of intellectual writing and helped me secure $45,000 scholarship from Emory.I felt pretty confident in my overall ability as an MBA applicant, so I was not necessarily looking for a complete MBA consultant package. Instead, I searched mainly for a consultant that would help me ‘tell my story’ through my essays. Telling a story can be difficult, and it becomes incredibly more challenging when you only have 300 words to do so. After researching many other MBA consulting groups and their “a la carte” services, I decided to sign up for the free evaluation session with myEssayReview. Based on the research I had done, the evaluation session, and the reviews on GMAT Club, I knew that myEssayReview would be the resource I would need to succinctly tell my stories in as much detail as possible.
The 1-hour initial meeting that we had after Poonam did the first review of my resume and essays was VERY helpful. The questions that were asked about each essay helped me come up with a plan on how to tackle the first rewrite of each piece. When it would come time to work on the next essay, I would simply pull out the notes I had taken from our initial review and use them as guidelines to rebuild the essay. The initial review gave me the toolset and understanding I needed so that I never felt unprepared when I was doing my personal edits.
From Poonam’s feedback, I could understand how a reader (knowing nothing of the story I was trying to tell) would interpret the details and what questions they would ask. Those questions helped me eliminate unnecessary explanations while bolstering the areas in my story that not only drew the most attention, but also helped most to support the final conclusion. The guidelines she provided for the structure of my essays were very logical and, once followed, made my stories flow so much more clearly. I felt that my initial essays told a story adequately, but were difficult to follow and left readers asking a lot of questions. By reading through each detail carefully and showing me how it all pieced together, she was able to design a framework for each story that flowed naturally and was simply easier to read and understand.
Moreover, Poonam’s ability to trim my word count was very effective. In fact, I was very impressed at times when I would receive an edited draft back from her and see she had cut large groupings of words with no negative impact to the story! It’s amazing to me to see how many unnecessary words I would write simply because I thought that they were required, when in fact the entire idea could be replaced with 3-4 words and retain the overall impact of the detail.
I was very happy with Poonam’s stylistic design and word choice. I felt that the improvements she suggested made the story flow much more clearly, while showing the necessary writing finesse. Once completed, my essays demonstrated a solid mastery of intellectual writing that is necessary at the MBA education level. Also, turn-around was fantastic! I could always count on her timeliness, and I never felt rushed or worried that we wouldn’t have time to complete all of my essays. In fact, Poonam even notified me of her personal vacation scheduled close to Emory’s deadline and worked diligently to help me finish my application two weeks early! To the highest degree, she always gave me excellent feedback and helped me submit the absolute best work I could have submitted, which is exactly what I was looking for in our partnership.
Poonam was a pleasure to work with, and I loved discussing my stories with her! I didn’t feel like she was simply there to help me do my work and then move on. Rather, she took an interest in my stories and asked genuine questions about me and my life, which, in turn, helped me write even better and in more detail. I would GLADLY recommend Poonam to friends and colleagues, as well as anyone who is looking for the perfect resource to help them get the most out of their MBA essays. In fact, I’ve already passed on her contact information to someone I met at a networking event.
Poonam helped me turn my ideas into wonderful short stories that obviously appealed to the Ad Com immensely. I am admitted to Emory for both the 1-year and 2-year programs with generous merit-based scholarship: $45,000 if I choose the 1-year program and $60,000 if I choose the 2-year program. My main choice is the 1-year program as my background and post-MBA goals fit well into that program's rigor and accelerated curriculum, and I believe getting back into the workforce quicker is most ideal.
Poonam was an incredible resource, and I am so thankful for her personal hard work and dedication to my MBA dreams.
I felt pretty confident in my overall ability as an MBA applicant, so I was not necessarily looking for a complete MBA consultant package. Instead, I searched mainly for a consultant that would help me ‘tell my story’ through my......
Ryan Brown- 2015 applicant, accepted by Emory in 1-year and 2-year with scholarship..
"Authentic Guidance"After reading Poonam’s profile and testimonials, I was sure that Poonam would guide me to retain a personal touch in the essays and help portray ‘me’. I did not feel that MER is very commercially focused, rather a service that ensures proper guidance and genuine support during the tedious yet thrilling application process. I got a clear understanding of the work function methodology of MER that helped us set proper expectations, areas of improvement, understanding the application from the viewpoint of ad-com. The most exciting part was connecting the dots to build a story flow.
Poonam had a very good understanding of my profile; this was evident from her suggestions during the editing process. She asked questions whenever she felt something was vague. Her manner of editing the stories while adhering to the key components in the challenging word limit keeps the message intact. The structure was logical and helped me understand the flow. Actually, Poonam’s suggestion for organizing the essays helped me learn this technique which I have started applying to my professional work emails – the lengthy ones. I remember during ISB essay editing process, she separated paragraphs and that made the essay more comprehensible. For all essays, the sentence structure was crisp and punctuations positioning were sensible.
Poonam is very prompt in answering any queries and followed up if I missed any of the ongoing points of suggestion/discussion during the editing process. Poonam was very professional in turnarounds. She sent all edits within 2 days’ period as promised.
I am happy to say that I have received an admit offer from McCombs, and I have accepted it. Yes, I would definitely recommend MER to any of my friends looking for an admission consultant to help with their MS/MBA application process.
After reading Poonam’s profile and testimonials, I was sure that Poonam would guide me to retain a personal touch in the essays and help portray ‘me’. I did not feel that MER is very commercially focused, rather a service that......
- Surbhi- 2018 applicant- accepted into McCombs and waitlisted by ISB
"Got into Tuck. Thank you so much for your support!"I signed up for the MER for Poonam’s great reviews and extremely helpful demeanor. The one -hour counseling session that she provides is just excellent and extremely helpful. Poonam was very good in understanding my profile and helped position my stories in the best possible way. She was probably most helpful in organizing the details and helped me envision how the structure would come along. She has excellent editing skills. While working with her, I had tons of questions throughout the process and she was very prompt in providing prompt and precise answers. The turnaround time was always within 48 hours as stipulated on her website. I had an absolutely wonderful time working with her; she provided me with encouragement and structure. Thank you, Poonam, for helping and supporting me.
Got into Tuck I'm so happy :). Thank you so much for helping and supporting me.
I would (and have), without any doubt, give her reference to my friends and others.
I signed up for the MER for Poonam’s great reviews and extremely helpful demeanor. The one -hour counseling session that she provides is just excellent and extremely helpful. Poonam was very good in understanding my profile and helped position my......
- Aarti- 2018 applicant- accepted into Tuck full time MBA program
