Strengths:

Helps you get the brainstorming done in advance so you have a pool of stories to use in your essays.

You can then map the stories to the traits that each school is looking for in a very organized fashion, then you can pull those in for the essays.

Very structured notes for each essay by school.

Would make the product better:

Recommend to possibly add functionality or dates to each application by school meaning a planning tool for applicants that when they choose the schools they can also see application deadlines for those schools. This helps as applicants are applying to more schools every year 5+ so they can see the roadmap for the entire project of essay writing.

Secondly, some videos are not up to date or may require updates, for example the Foster video is using a website that is dated, not to say that the advice is irrelevant.

Lastly, I think you have this in beta, grammar errors or editing could possibly be automated in the tool....I am not sure if there are plug ins or what essay writing looks like 5 years from now so this forward is looking advice only for longer term.

Thank you.

I got Applicant Lab after I wrote the GMAT and started prepping for application season.

I would actually recommend that you get a subscription while you prepare for your GMAT, this way you can brainstorm your stories slowly in parallel, say a story a week and by the time you have your score you will have 12-16 stories to choose from.

This is a solid tool in the sense that you do the hard work upfront in terms of why MBA, why a particular school, why now? and these things are important for you to understand before you commit to applying.



Helps you get the brainstorming done in advance so you have a pool of stories to use in your essays.

You can then map the stories to the traits that each school is looking for in a very organized fashion, then you can pull those in for the essays.

Very structured notes for each essay by school.

Helps you get the brainstorming done in advance so you have a pool of stories to use in your essays.

You can then map the stories to the traits that each school is looking for in a very organized fashion, then you can pull those in for the essays.

Very structured notes for each essay by school.

Read More

I started using ApplicantLab in 2022 when I was barely three years into a career in an Oil and Gas service company. I had an engineering degree from a top engineering school, albeit a state school. Coming from an ORM, I only had a 720 GMAT, and I was very selective with my MBA schools - I applied to Kellogg, Tuck, Yale, and Duke and was ultimately rejected from waitlists at Tuck and Duke, and the feedback was very clearly the lower GMAT (from Tuck.)

Even though I didn't get an admit the first time, the process that I went through with ApplicantLab was super helpful in understanding what kind of skills that business schools are looking for. As a first-generation student working at a place without many MBAs, these nuanced insights were super helpful in my beginning to take on leadership roles at work.

I ultimately made the career switch to Climate Tech, which I wanted to do post-MBA, but I still felt the need for an MBA. So, I resubscribed to the service and got a TON out of it. I knew what I was talking about during interviews. Luqzan was super helpful with his essay reviews and resume reviews -- reading about my leadership skills from my resume and my previous application, he pushed me to explore new topics for my essays, which I ultimately think made a huge difference. Maria was always prompt and thoughtful in her email responses.

ApplicantLab played a big role in my getting Kellogg and Booth MBA admitted for the weekend program with considerable scholarships, which is rare for part-time programs. They played a big role in getting this kid from a small town in India to learn, lead, and network in the big leagues!!

Read More

I cannot express enough how incredible my experience was with ApplicantLab. From the very start, Maria went above and beyond in answering my questions. Her dedication and responsiveness made me feel supported and confident throughout the entire application process. The platform itself was fantastic – user-friendly, well-organized, and intuitive. It made the daunting application journey not only manageable but also very enjoyable. Investing in this service was hands down the best money I ever spent on my MBA application journey. It was truly my favorite part of the entire experience. The personalized support and the high-quality platform all contributed to getting into the school of my dreams! I highly recommend ApplicantLab to anyone embarking on their MBA application journey!!!

Read More

After writing the GRE, I thought I the most difficult part of the MBA Application process was over. However, upon starting the application process, I realized how lost I was, and how unprepared I was.

Luckily, discovering ApplicantLab early helped set me up on the right path. I love how it breaks the application process into bite-sized chunks, from research, to brainstorming, to the initial draft, to the final checks. ApplicantLab even provides details on how to contact students, and how to best use school websites to dig up interesting details. But perhaps what it does best is allow you to tell your best stories. Only after using ApplicantLab was I able to transform my essays from vapid word salads to deeply personal, unique, and powerful essays that showed why I wanted to get an MBA, and how I would use it to impart change in the world.

Even as an international student who is an overrepresented minority, I was able to obtain admission to a lower-ranked T-15 with a 120k scholarship and two T-20s with full scholarships. Quite frankly, due to my demographics, I had expected to not receive any money, and I am sure that my wonderful essays were instrumental in that.

All in all, Maria and her team at ApplicantLab have created a truly useful resource that can help you get into the school of your dreams!

Read More

I'm an international student and the MBA application process initially was a bit daunting, and seeing the admission consultant prices spooked me even more. I looked for alternate options and came across ApplicantLab. I was initially sceptical as I was scared this would not have personalized information, but after reading client testimonials, I decided to take the chance and boy, did it pay out!!!

I applied to 7 schools in total - Stanford, Kellogg, Booth, Yale, Fuqua, Darden and Stern - and got interview invites from all of them except Stanford. All the interview invites converted and I received $300K+ in scholarships!

The Lab helped me across the process - some specific examples below:
•⁠ ⁠I loved how the Lab split the entire process into different modules and summarized it all into to-do lists. From initial identification of profile strengths & weaknesses, building career vision and brainstorming stories to writing the essays, LORs and resumes, the advice given is super helpful and gives the best structure to the whole process.

•⁠ ⁠The interview prep module is also amazing with school-specific advice and detailed videos for even the 1-minute video interviews that you would have to do for some schools

•⁠ ⁠The BEST thing about this is the team - my initial misconception that you might not have personalised advice was broken during the first review I had with Austin. She helped me perfect my initial story and gave me ideas on what I could do better and how I can show my story in the best way possible. I had my interview prep and school review with Ken and he gave me some great pointers on how I can make my essays better and how I can tell my stories better in my interviews. And Maria is always super responsive and gets back within a few hours, always positive and encouraging!

I would highly recommend the tool as you go through your application process, as an individual tool or complementary to other services that you are availing. The tool and the team behind it will have your back :)

Read More

After checking out a few reviews, I tried ApplicantLab and it was the best decision. After multiple GMAT attempts and being stuck at a lower than average score for my target schools and coming from an ORM, I wanted to strengthen the other aspects of my application and ApplicantLab did exactly that!!

Applicant Lab portal provides all the resources we need and allows us to create our own narrative using those resources!! It allowed me to keep my originality intact whilst adhering to what schools are looking for.

Apart from the 1-year Lab subscription, I also took a Sanity Check since I wanted expert advice on whether my essays are conveying what I intend to convey. Carin did my sanity checks and I cannot recommend her enough!! She has been absolutely clear in her communication and critical when she needed to be. I felt that Carin wanted me to succeed and the kind of criticism she gave was absolutely needed for me to present my best self in front of the admissions teams across business schools.

Speaking about Applicant Lab, Maria has done a great job in distilling all the advice in bite-sized pieces that don’t overwhelm you. My advice would be to sign up well in advance so that you can follow through with all the advice at the intended pace. But you can also jump through modules as I did.

Out of the 4 schools I applied to (2 M7 and 2 T15), I got interview calls from 2 schools (1 M7 and 1 T15) and then got waitlisted at both schools. I reached out to Maria for advice at that time and several other times in my application journey. Maria always responds back quickly with all the necessary info and a ton of positive attitude. She has a great sense of humor which comes through in her messages also. I got off the waitlist at both the schools and will be headed to what has been my dream school all along, Chicago Booth!!

To conclude, Applicant Lab is a DIY tool with all kinds of resources at your disposal. Those resources are more than sufficient for the application, trust me!! (Resources for Resume/Essays/Video essays/Recommendation letters/Scholarships/Waitlist etc). But it is upto us to make the best use of it.

Thank you Applicant Lab!! Thank you Maria and Carin!!

Read More

As an international applicant, the MBA application process felt daunting and confusing to me. I initially engaged a consultant (hourly services), but when a friend from Stanford told me about ApplicantLab later on, I signed up immediately.

I used ApplicantLab’s processes and was admitted to Stanford (my dream school), Berekely, Wharton and MIT, and also received $50k+ in fellowship awards.

Here’s how ApplicantLab helped me:
• Modularized the ENTIRE MBA application process into bite-sized chunks from start to finish. Every single piece of information is essentially codified into digestible blocks e.g. setting your strategy, why MBA, brainstorming essays, recommendations, short-answer questions, interviews etc. The Lab also has a to-do list for you to keep track for your application process, which helped me stay organized
• Packed with Information. Each module is jam-packed with so much valuable information, either through text or videos. If you’re in a hurry, there are TLDR sections where you read the important points and move on, saving you precious time
• School-specific advice. This is GOLD. ApplicantLab provided really specific advice for each school, including the schools’ brand, traits they’re looking for (e.g. leadership/innovation) and essay advice. This helped me to craft my essay to fit the school’s profile
• Brainstorming exercises. Introspection and self-reflection do not come naturally to me, so the brainstorming prompts and questions from ApplicantLab helped me to think of my personal story and weave it into my application so that my authenticity can be felt
• Customized help. I signed up for ApplicantLab’s value-added services and worked with Luqzan for my essays. I am forever grateful to Luqzan for pushing me on my essays to dig deeper and refine my stories to answer the question (especially for Stanford and Harvard essays!). The process is also extremely convenient, and because the feedback was given in a video format, I could replay the video multiple times over to internalize the feedback

Overall, ApplicantLab gives you way more bang for your buck – I was paying more per hour for a consultant than what I paid ApplicantLab. You really do get a wealth of information and customized support from the team. Also, I love the story and mission of ApplicantLab – I believe access to information should be democratized to level the playing field, so thank you Maria and team for creating ApplicantLab!

Read More

Trying out ApplicantLab was the best chance that I took. I had just sat my first GMAT and was looking for guidance on how to tackle the whole application process. Coming from India, all those highly rated consultants who I felt would be the best for me, were priced completely out of my reach. To add to the cost was the fact that these consultants work in packages of 3 or 5 or more schools. This felt like a limiting factor. What if I wanted to apply to more schools? What if I changed my mind and wanted to apply to some other school than what we would decide initially? Do not misunderstand me. I come from a non-traditional background, and at that time, I also felt that I would be best served in a 1-1 model working with a consultant. But I also felt like that would hamper my originality.

In my research phase, I spoke with a lot of students and someone fleetingly mentioned Applicant Lab. It was after this that I tried the trial version and I was hooked! Applicant Lab felt like the perfect blend of the guidance I needed while keeping my originality intact and being able to tell my story in my way.

Another big factor was I wanted to be sure of the person I would be working with. I saw many of Maria’s videos on YouTube, and what struck me was how genuine she seemed, a good person, someone trustworthy, and I liked her sense of humor too!

Apart from the 1-year Lab subscription, I also took a Sanity Check since I was in a huge mess regarding my story. I am not exaggerating, Maria hand-held me throughout the process, helping me narrow down my choices and making me realize the holes in my initial story. I cannot thank her enough. There are almost 50 emails back and forth between Maria and me, and not once did I feel unwelcome. Maria will be your cheerleader in your journey.

Speaking about Applicant Lab, Maria has done a great job in distilling all the advice in bite-sized pieces that don’t overwhelm you. My advice would be to sign up well in advance so that you can follow through with all the advice at the intended pace. But you can also jump through modules as I did.

Coming from a non-traditional background, I was struggling with my resume. The way Maria has set up the Resume module - getting into the nitty-gritty is so good! The school-specific advice was a goldmine for me. I cannot speak highly enough of the value of this module especially.
Applicant Lab has some advice for every facet a candidate might need help with. Right from helping guide how to reach out to students and looking for potential companies to target, to giving tips on trying to re-negotiate scholarships, Applicant Lab has it all.

Another aspect of Applicant Lab that I liked is that it does not have any ‘sample’ essays or guides. There are excerpts only where Maria would just give you a flavor of the essence of how to go about telling your story, and that’s all. You have to think for yourself. And that’s the best part! You sharing your thoughts in your own words.

After I got my interview calls, I was worried about how to go about preparing for them. But Maria has covered interviewing ‘in detail’ within Applicant Lab. Just to give you an example, she even tells you how to position your camera and where to look, and a very funny, but extremely handy trick to use in training yourself to look at the camera when speaking!

I applied to 6 schools in R1 and interviewed at 5 of them. I got significant scholarships at 4 schools, and none of this would have been possible without Maria and Applicant Lab.

While concluding, I would like to point out that Applicant Lab is like a DIY admissions consultant. What I mean is, there will be no one pushing you and prodding you to get up and make the effort. You will need to be able to hold yourself accountable. And if you are someone like that, there is no better tool for you out there than Applicant Lab. This will be the best $300 you will spend.

Read More

To give an overview of my profile and application journey, I applied to 3 M7, 2 T15, and 1 T20 schools. I have below average GMAT and GPA for all of them except 1 T20 school. I knew that I had to craft excellent applications and show the schools that I deeply researched them to stand a chance. And I did that with amazing resources at ApplicantLab. I went 5/6 on interviews and was accepted to Stern and UNC Kenan-Flagler ($$$$). At the start, ApplicantLab does a great job of establishing the right foundation(crafting your vision, why MBA, leadership stories, and resume) – I highly recommend the add-on service Sanity-Check-, which you build upon in later stages(essays and interviews) of your application. After that, Essay Advice and Interview Prep modules give you all you need to know to write killer essays and put your best foot forward during interviews.  Maria and her team are super responsive and they really care about the applicant’s success. I used all of their add-on services (sanity check, resume and essay review/polishing, interview prep), which I benefited a lot. In one instance, when I was running out of time to have an essay polishing service for one school before the deadline, Maria advised me to not take the risk and proceed without a polishing service, even though the advice was not in their best interest monetarily. I think this applicant-centric viewpoint and exceptionally detailed information make them the best consulting service out there.  To anyone interested in add-on services, I worked with Luqzan for my sanity check, essay/resume reviews, and interview prep. His help and the care he took were incredible throughout my application process. Wishing everyone the best of luck!

Read More

I would say the comprehensiveness and affordability of this platform are its two golden features!
I had chosen the following top 5 schools to apply to, HBS, GSB, MIT, CBS, and Booth. For these schools, at least, the material that Maria covers in the lab is very comprehensive. I also check it a few more schools like Wharton and Oxford and the contents seemed equally thorough.
TBH, I did not go through the modules step by step, but I meticulously studied all the advice and material provided. I believe between ApplicantLab and the publicly available info online, 85% of the applicants have all they'll ever need to apply. Trust me on this! I am not coming from a typical "feeder" background, nonetheless I could find the guidance I needed in the lab.

The price difference between the lab and the typical admissions consultant made me highly skeptical in the beginning. When I saw Maria's videos on YouTube before signing up, I did not sense greed or deception. Hence, I trusted my judgment and here I am with three admissions from GSB, CBS, and Booth!

Read More