Must Recommend: The Red Pen

TLDR: I had a dream M7 school in my mind right from the beginning when I started my school research. I ended up getting admitted into that same school. It would be impossible to achieve that without The Red Pen team - Preeti, Natasha, Ritu, Prerna, Anju, and Kim.

I signed up with The Red Pen based on the recommendation of my friend who got into Wharton last year. I had made multiple switches in my career and was not strong on my extra-curriculars, but regardless had some good highlights in my story as well. Looking at the process, I was unsure about how to approach it and make sure everything was inch perfect. This is where the entire Red Pen team came in. They made me thoroughly analyze my life journey, helping me discover some unique experiences which were crucial in shaping my outlook in life.

Preeti and Natasha helped me write my thoughts into original essays, without ever asking me to follow any standard template. Natasha really helped in bringing out the best of content and Preeti was solid on pointing out any misdirection in my story. It often felt like I was working with two brilliant consultants at once and helped me gather multiple points of view in every interaction.

Ritu did a great job with my resume, making sure all the highlights are carefully captured without wasting too much space. With Preeti's guidance, my final resume was an optimal balance of professional excellence, academic highlights, and extra-curricular engagements.

Shoutout to Anju, who helped me with the letters of recommendations throughout the journey. One of things I was struggling with was the fact that my recommenders were related to me in similar functional roles and their content had a lot of intersection. Anju made sure that the LoRs were distinct and highlighted different aspects of my contributions.

Lastly, I got waitlisted in Round 1 from my dream school. This is one aspect where Anju really shined. She helped me navigate the waitlist by preparing multiple updates for the admissions committee, which resulted in my acceptance into my dream school.

I would also call out the contributions of Kim, who helped me identify areas of weakness in my interview skills, which reflected in my Round 2 performance.

All in all, I am very happy to have signed up with The Red Pen. They have a great team and make their best attempt to bring out the most unique and original story of a candidate, while ensuring that the story is something that would catch the AdCom's attention. Highly recommend to anyone who is starting off with their MBA prep. Cheers!