Joe

I have already received interview calls from Cornell and Emory, and the overall quality of my application has improved dramatically. Thanks Poonam!

Poonam is great for people who have ideas about their essay and want to present the idea better. I think experience matters the most in B-school application, that’s why I came to Poonam to use her experience in helping me present my story more strongly.

I came to Poonam after I got the referral from a friend who got into Kellogg and that was about three weeks before the R2 deadline. Poonam was very accommodating even though she was very busy with her other clients at the time.

After a 30 minutes consultation over the phone, we got the ball rolling. First, Poonam imparted me the best structures for different essays, be it leadership or career goal. After we got the stories lines hammered out, we started working on refining and editing the essays. I like the way Poonam challenges me to get the essay in shape because everyone has a different story and Poonam stimulated me to bring the best side of the story instead of re-writing my stories in her way. That kept the originality of my stories so that they didn't sound like cookie cutters.

One problem I had with my essay was how to properly flow the story and make it more cohesive. Poonam helped me re-structure the essays by moving paragraphs and sentences into proper order. I have significantly over-run the word limits in all first drafts (60% - 120%), but the word limits only came into play after the story line was vetted by Poonam.

After that, she challenged me to take off things that aren’t closely relevant before she started further reducing the length. After her magical touch, my essays stand almost right on the word limits, without losing the strength. With a strong English Literature background, Poonam helped me carefully choose the words, especially verbs and adjectives that are more powerful in meaning to better deliver the stories. .

24 to 48 hours turnaround was the common ground that we both agreed before I started working. She sticks to this rule the whole time we worked together and when she has bandwidth, she got back to me sometimes in less than 24 hours. As everyone has the same deadlines from schools, I totally understand the 24–48 hours turnaround and her dedication to comply with this rule.

I have submitted my second application in this round and have got interview invites from both the schools. I am happy with the results because I feel that I have submitted an application of much better quality than the ones I did by myself in first rounds.

Poonam is great for people who have ideas about their essay and want to present the idea better. I think experience matters the most in B-school application, that’s why I came to Poonam to use her experience in helping me present......

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Joe- 2014 applicant, interviewed by Cornell , Emory, and INSEAD