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 the 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 were 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 could improve it and show my professional accomplishments and a bit of my character. She made sure to highlight accomplishments/impacts very clearly and concisely. We consolidated descriptions of my 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 an MBA/EMBA, you certainly have my recommendation.
Rafal Ogrodnik,
