Great experience - more than your typical MBA Coach

I’ve been very fortunate to have worked with Menlo Coaching : David, Alice and team!
As a male Indian tech applicant with a < 700 score, I knew that I was in a very competitive pool of applicants. With Menlo’s help I was able to secure admission into a top 15 school in the US (with significant scholarship) and a top school in Europe, and I’m super happy with the result!

The fact that Menlo choses to work with only a limited no of students per round, maximizes their value add and personalized attention to help you succeed. In our 30min introductory call itself, I realized that David and team really care for you and want you to succeed in getting an admit and not just help you apply to schools.

Firstly, I was very impressed by Menlo’s extremely structured approach - The process is divided into modules and each module (in the form of videos) highlights what you need to do, what mistakes candidates usually make and what are the important actionable takeaways that you need to focus on. It removes the pressure and the anxiety that you feel as an applicant and helps you focus on important things at the right time - from networking events to resume building and perfecting your essays. You won’t have to think much - just follow the steps and you’ll get there!
They also do a brilliant job of pairing you in groups with other applicants with similar backgrounds - so you feel you aren’t alone and makes the whole process fun !

Second, David’s insights into how the admissions process works, and how your profile would be evaluated (depending on nationality, industry background etc) w.r.t your applicant pool was very valuable in deciding what schools I wanted to apply this time (unlike last time where I got 0 interviews despite using a coach). He helped me introspect about my life in way that enabled me to identify and creatively write about my life experiences. It’s easy to not think of such life experiences as true differentiators or “something worthy of writing about in an MBA essay” but this is where David’s creativity comes to the rescue - crafting a compelling story in a *genuine* and simple way which makes the Adcom member reading your application remember you. This is super important - It helps you stand out!

Regarding my resume and essays - I’ve had a lot of anxiety in the past - filled with tech jargons and not having enough examples to quantify my progress (unlike someone coming from a finance/consulting background). My resume has transformed now ! We went through ~ 6 to 7 revisions to discuss each and every line/word to perfect it - convey a result in each bullet in a simple way which makes it easy to understand.
For the essays, David’s help was phenomenal. He really helped me refine my career goals so that it follows a compelling and logical story. He even shared industry trends/ links with me to help me identify trends to speak about in my goals essay. This is the level of personalized attention he gives ! The fact that David has a tech+ business background is a great advantage you have as a tech applicant - he gets the industry, he gets the jargon and then refines it in a simple way that anyone can understand! His turn around time on the essay revisions was super quick (within a day for every draft) and yes, he won’t stop until he feels he has produced the best version! If you have writing anxiety, again..dont worry! Just follow David’s advice, do the work and you’ll churn out great essays!
I completed all my essays 10 days before the Rd1 deadlines !

Finally, menlo’s support for interview prep is top notch! They partner you with a communication coach with whom you can have multiple sessions and get feedback on the way you speak, your body language etc. Super helpful tips which are applicable otherwise to your career.
David and I spent multiple sessions brainstorming how to present my stories in my interviews. I did ~ 4 mock interview sessions and had more than 1 example for each question. The practice sessions were a great confidence booster going into the interviews - no pressure since we had already practiced almost all the questions :)

@All - the investment with Menlo Coaching is worth it! You want to get into an MBA program and you will, and in the process you’ll gain a lot of useful insights and takeaways which are going to help you in your career as well! so dont think twice - these folks are the best out there!

Thank you again David, Alice and Team!