My Essay Review Admission Consultant Reviews
Reviews from company website
21 positive reviews
Reviews from Beat the GMAT forums
1 positive reviews
Reviews from company website
For almost every single essay, especially the Emory’s leadership/contributions essay, Poonam continuously pushed me for content, examples, and helped me rework the whole entire thing. Your help was absolutely essential in helping me answer the correct questions, making sure the essays are the best they can be, and I feel that you were able to help me set myself apart from other candidates.
Every time I sent a draft of a new essay, I looked forward to your first read-through and edit to show me a better way to approach the question. More than once, I ended up rewriting the essay entirely in order to better tell a story. More importantly, she helped me understand how to properly construct an essay to help highlight my best qualities to the Ad Com. I was very impressed when you were able to trim all of the Emory essays down to word limit, especially the leadership/contributions essay. She trimmed it down from 500 something words to 300 while keeping almost all of the content that we had. Her editing was excellent in all the areas: word choice and punctuation. All the sentences were short and concise. She fixed a lot of my grammatical mistakes, even the minor ones that I did not realize were wrong. She got back within 24 to 48 hours, for every single one of your edits/critiques. We did 7 essays together, 3 – 4 edits for most of the essays, and I don’t think you missed any of the turnaround times including weekends.
Thank you so much for working with me and helping me with all the admission essays. Without her help I would have done a horrible job with pretty much all of them. I highly recommend her to anyone who is looking to apply to business schools and will be sure to refer her to any of my friends who are looking to enter MBA programs.
-Helen (2014 applicant, accepted by both Emory and Georgia Tech with scholarship)
Your suggestions helped me choose the right stories and helped me not only to clarify my stories, but also to write them in an appealing manner. I am very satisfied with the final structure of my essays.
Your guidelines helped me write my essays in a chronological order and the final content is easy to understand and follow. Also, I was very happy with your editing. With the help of your editing, I was able to adjust all the content that I wanted to write in the essay in the allotted word limit. The sentence structure, word choice, punctuation, and grammar were spot on. Lastly, the turnaround time was exactly as indicated on your website (24-48 hours).
-Krishna (2014 applicant, accepted into Kellogg)
I was very happy with Poonam’s service. The service suited me well, because she truly stuck to the task of editing the essays and not rewriting it, which many of the other competing essay editing services do.
Poonam’s suggestions and comments played a very important role in shaping my essays. I was not conscious that I was not communicating certain qualities through the essays until I got her feedback. Her editing definitely helped improve the flow of the essays.
The structure and framework was well defined and easy to follow. She is skilled at pruning the essays to the allowed word-limit; she proved that in many of my essays. The key is to be able to trim the words without losing the message, which was achieved. The edited content was grammatically accurate, the choice of words was apt, and the sentence structure was simplified to keep the flow and make it more readable. The turnaround time was very good. Most of the edits were turned around in less than 24 hours.
Keeping the content original and just refining the structure and grammar helps to keep the identity of the essay.
-Sriram (2014 applicant, accepted into both Kellogg and Booth)
First of all, Poonam is a wonderful coach. She started by putting a lot of effort into digging out my best stories in order to get a good selection for typical themes (leadership, setback, goals, etc.). The editing process is pretty structured: she uses the first couple of edits to get the right content (without concerning with word count) and the last couple of edits to make the essays comply with the word count limits
The one-hour initial call was really helpful in identifying my best stories and reasons for applying to MBA. After that, the sample essays were essential to get me into the right “mood” (especially on Emory’s cultural shock essay). Although my recommenders kept making the same mistakes over and over, you kept reviewing the LORs to get them as best as possible. The concrete suggestions (e.g. sense of humor in Kellogg’s LORs) were essential to guide my recommenders.
I can’t thank you enough for all the effort you put in editing my essays. When everything seemed lost (such as a word count twice of the limit), your edits kept me focused in what was essential and what was fluff. You’ve operated some miracles in word count trimming.
Sometimes you’ve made some changes in the sentence order in paragraphs that enhanced the “readability” a lot. It’s my understanding that most of your word count miracles were due to changes in word choice to keep the meaning while reducing word counts (and it worked!). Well, I don’t know how I got a V41 in GMAT with my punctuation skills, but you certainly helped me with punctuation. Part of my application strategy was to get my essays perfect in grammar (due to low AWA score) and I feel that your edits helped me in achieving that.
Regarding timelines, you were more professional than I expected on following deadlines. This helped a lot, especially in crafting Emory’s essays in a couple of days. During the whole process you kept me very motivated, especially when I needed some wake-up calls.
Yes, Poonam, thank you (again) for all the support during this process. I couldn’t get there without your help. I feel that words aren’t enough to thank you for all your support. I can’t wait to join Cornell in fall, 2014.
-Carlos Jose (2014 applicant accepted by Emory, Ivy Richards and Cornell. (Adding to more than US$70k in scholarships); interviewed by Kellogg).
I applied to 3 schools and I have received admits from two- Cornell and Wisconsin with scholarship. Thank you for your dedication, time, and help. You helped me to believe that I can do it even with a low GMAT score. It was amazing to have someone who is more dedicated about my success than I was. Poonam, you’re the sweetest consultant I know.
I always feared to sign up with a consultant until I met you. In fact, I thought that I wouldn’t find someone who will understand me and help me the way you did. I truly valued each moment of working with you.
You’re a master story teller. Before I signed up for school review, I haven’t had any clue about how to deliver my story in the most compelling way. Your suggestion and guidelines on each essay’s first edit gave me enough information that helped me correct my mistakes and restructure my story.
Your structure for essays and recommendation letters were well defined and easy to follow. I think that you did a great job specifically with this part which on my hand helped me to write quickly my essays. I also noticed and appreciated your suggestion on recommendation letters. In fact, you nicely and smartly forced the recommenders to write a compelling recommendation by answering the questions asked instead of skimming through the questions.
I was particularly pleased that you always had trimmed my essays down to word-limit and still be able to picture the most important parts of my story. You helped me to understand that a long essay doesn’t always make a compelling essay. It’s all about structure and how to use words wisely. You chose the words concisely and smartly. Your use of grammar was impeccable. I had a friend read my essay and she hasn’t tell about any grammar mistake (she’s very good in English grammar).
I was especially impressed with your turn around. You’re the most dedicated person in turning around your edits and you have good time management skills. In fact, I am the bad one.
Thank you for your dedication, time, and help. You helped me to believe that I can do it even with a low GMAT score.
-(Fatima -2014 applicant, accepted into Cornell and Wisconsin with scholarship (2 years tuition, health insurance, and stipend)
I received interview call from each university I applied to!
As a candidate from an over represented pool (Indian, software engineer, male, low GPA, almost nil community service experience – you name it!) of MBA aspirants, I knew that my chances were pretty slim. The competition is intense and, considering a demanding job with 14 straight working hours for six days a week and very less time in hand (I started considering applying to B-schools late November), I soon realized that I would need someone who could guide me in the essays. I got to know about Poonam’s service through e-GMAT and decided to give it a shot. First I purchased a three-essay package, and was so impressed with her service that further purchased a three-school package.
And I think that that was the best decision I took during my application process!!
Poonam was everything I could ask for – genuinely interested in helping me get into the school of my dreams yet demanding in her guidance and feedback. She helped me through every step of the process – pushing me to stay on schedule, rigorously reviewing all of my written materials, and pepping me up whenever I used to get overwhelmed. She showed me how a minute update/ placement/ replacement of word could change the entire message in the essay (yes, in one essay just moving one ‘though’ from one part to another part added an extra ‘zing’ to that essay). She helped me to find my own words and craft a message that I truly felt was my own.
Moreover, Poonam was there every step of the way. For two essays I was running behind the schedule due to heavy workload at office and discovered that I was just few hours from the deadlines. I was amazed to find that she spent whole day working with me. I would like to quote her “I will work with you until you are all set to submit your application with a smile on your face.” This was extremely appreciated, especially since she sacrificed much of her time over the holidays. I received interview call from each university, except one reject (Harvard. and I solely believe that it is because I could not get the essays reviewed by her due to time constraint), I applied to: UCLA, DARDEN, BOOTH, TUCK. I am accepted by Darden on 50% scholarship and waitlisted by UCLA. I cannot ask for anything more! And I owe everything to her!!
Thank you Poonam. Without your help, I cannot imagine how I would have handled my job and stressful applications all at once. Anyone who is serious about applying to graduate business school should consider using Poonam’s service. Trust me: you’ll thank yourself for your decision.
-Abhishek Samanta (2012 R-2 applicant – Interviewed with Booth, Darden, and UCLA, waitlisted by UCLA and accepted by Darden on 50% scholarship)
I was interviewed by 3 out of 5 schools I applied to!
Poonam has provided extensive reviews on my essays, recommendations and resume. When I compared final version with the first draft of my essay, I was really surprised to see the sheer change in the story building. I liked her approach of review and suggestions. When I finished first college essays, looking at the quality of the final versions, I extended my contract for other 4 colleges as well. I got interview calls from Tippie, Mays, and Kelley and am accepted by Kelley on 70% scholarship, but this is all Poonam’s effort that made me think through about my past experiences and cultural backgrounds and to work hard to meet the deadlines of schools. Her turnaround time is the most outstanding part of the application package. Many a times, I forgot to send the drafts of the essays, but she always reminded me for the deadlines and sent feedback to me on or before the time.
Poonam has always provided the feedback to make the content story like. She always emphasized to bridge the gaps on the story and helped me think through my past experiences and cultural background. Her review comments on the recommendations were to the points and compelled my recommenders to think more about my work experience.
She always emphasized to make flow in the chronological order of the events and to build the essays story like. She always asked me to put the content relevant to the questions asked. Many a times, when I deviated from the main question, she asked me to focus on the specific details questions asked and provide relevant details after cutting fluff in the essay. Also, she helped me analyze my past experience and even the goals in the career, something that I never thought about seriously before and that is very important before applying to any B school. It was an excellent experience; she always asked me to put full story first without worrying about the word limit. Then she helped in trimming the essays and put only relevant and structured sentences in the essays. This really helped me building an efficient story in the end.
She always emphasized on precise sentences and made sure that story is not becoming monotonous. I generally use normal vocabulary in my writing; she made my stories great by adding good and more meaningful vocabulary in the story. She always made sure that my essays are grammatically correct and that there were no disconnected elements in the story.
Thanks Poonam for all your support in my applications! I would strongly recommend your application services to other applicants. I am sure that had I not availed your services, I would not have been able to apply to so many colleges in such a less time.
-Rajeev Kumar (2013 applicant, interviewed by Tippie, Mays & Kelley, and accepted by Tippie with 70% scholarship)
I want to thank you Poonam for helping me get into my dream school LBS!
You want to get admitted to your favorite business school? Then I urgently recommend to use Poonam’s services!! Do not risk to jeopardize your application success with poorly written essays. Poonam truly is an expert and can help you a lot to get access to your business school of your dreams! Her guidelines in choosing the right content/ stories for various essay questions, in restructuring and rephrasing sentences/ paragraphs, and in editing them for grammar and punctuation errors helped position my candidacy in the best light leading me on to the realization of my dreams. I want to thank you Poonam for helping me get into my dream school LBS! I am so grateful for your invaluable help!
-Alfons R. (Accepted into MiF, LBS)
I had only three weeks before the deadline; with your help, all the essays were edited and ready well before the deadline!
The structure you suggested helped me organize the information without using much jargon that would help anyone understand the essays very easily. Also, you effectively trimmed down all my essays. My goals essay was close to 800 words which was trimmed down to 600 words without compromising on the content.
Better choice of words and sentence structure was used that resulted in better clarity. In the editing process, I learned a lot about the sentence structure. Also, I received the critiques/ edits in less than 24 hour period. Thanks, Poonam for your help.
-Mohan (2012 Applicant – Chicago Booth)
Poonam is the director of your movie and knows each and every scene about the actor (the student in the case).
Even though I belong to the non-IT cluster of India and have a unique profile, I knew that my chances of getting an admit from a global B-school were slim because of my non-competitive GMAT score. The only way I could turn the tables around was to take expert guidance and write impactful essays.
I did my research and shortlisted 4 B-school admission consultants (including my Essay Review) in the initial round. Next, I spoke to all the consultants (or their representatives). After talking to the consultants, I ranked all the 4 consultants and finally decided to enrol with my Essay Review because of 3 reasons:
The fact that I would be working with the CEO of the company. Poonam (and not part-time writers or freelancers or representatives)
Competitive rates of my Essay Review compared to the other consultants
The “How I Work” operating model of Poonam (https://myessayreview.com/howiwork.php)
After my telephonic discussion with Poonam, I was convinced that I was making the right choice and decided to purchase a three-school package from myEssayReview. We started our journey with Manchester Business School. Poonam’s initial suggestions for the first essay were mind-blowing and set the ball rolling for all the remaining essays. These suggestions were simple, yet super-effective. They allowed me to channelize my thoughts in the right direction, select the best stories and showcase my candidacy in the best manner to the school.
Poonam provided her valuable insights on how to structure the essays. I loved the way she guided me on how to structure the essay 1, and I think this was very critical. She told me to segment the essay into multiple sub-segments and build a structure around each sub-segment keeping in mind that the question is answered holistically. This was a great advice, and I followed this advice diligently in all the essays. She guided me wonderfully on how to connect the dots for each essay, ensuring that the question is answered perfectly. In case of recommendation letters, I had the raw material, but her guidance helped in developing the final product. For example, she gave me very useful tips on how to shorten a sentence, and yet retaining the meaning of the sentence.
Poonam provided very good recommendations while choosing the Word choices. For example, where to use adjectives, where to use nouns, where to use phrases etc. Another example is when she recommended this to me over email- “Why not go for “After working with MBA’s from..” It will be simpler phrasing. I don’t think Along-side.” is hyphenated. The turn-around time of her edits was perfect and very similar to the timelines in which the fast-paced corporate world operates. All the critiques/edits and reedits were provided within 24 hours as promised on her website and as per our initial discussion (before the start of our assignment).
The overall experience was very good, and I would definitely recommend her services to potential B-school applicants. I am very impressed with the quality and professionalism of my Essay Review. It has a very lean and smart operating model. No fuss, no hierarchy. Poonam is the single point of contact and this makes a huge difference. She will guide you at each and every step. She is the director of your movie and knows each and every scene about the actor (the student in the case). She will ensure that the movie would entertain the audience (the B-school in this case) and would be a blockbuster. Thanks for all your help in making my essays appealing.
Yes, I have received an admit from Manchester Business School. So even if you have a not-so-great GMAT score, focus on your essays. Seek expert guidance from Poonam. Do yourself a favour – start now and connect with my Essay Review today!
-Akash (2013 R-2 applicant, accepted by Manchester Business School)
I applied to only one school (CMU), and I got in with a scholarship.
Poonam is very quick to understand out concerns and recommendations on how we want our essays to be and works on those lines.
I was very happy with the suggestions you had provided me to streamline my thought process, which helped me to come-up with a compelling story at the end. The best part was helping me to structure and organize my essay. Though I had put up an initial draft with my points, I couldn’t get a good compelling structure. You helped me to structure my essay in an attractive and crisp manner. Reducing the word counts and still able to showcase my positives and tell my story was challenging, but you made it really easy for me. Thanks Poonam for all help on this. This was definitely one of the challenging parts in my essay.
Your turn-around time was impressive, you got back to me within 24 hours, which helped me to complete essays quickly and leaving me lot of time to concentrate on other parts of applications. I am really impressed with the way you respond quickly. I would like to thank you again for all the help you had provided me to come up with a compelling and refined SOP.
I would recommend anyone who is looking for streamlining their initial draft and make their essay standout.
-Ashwin Peter (2013 applicant, GMAT: 610, accepted by CMU with $2K scholarship)
I got an interview call from IESE within a week :)
The guidelines were extremely helpful especially when choosing the stories for one of my essays where I had the option of choosing a college leadership experience or a professional experience. You clearly delineated how the professional experience would add more value to the application and also helped frame the flow of the essay which made the product/output much more relevant.
In all my essays, whether it be goals or accomplishment, your guidelines and step-by-step structured approach was extremely helpful. The detailed framework you provided me ensured that I just had to answer the questions in that format and my essay was almost 50% done. This was extremely beneficial and helped reduce the amount of time I had worked on these essays for other (earlier) schools by myself.
Though my essays were always out-of-limit, you made sure to edit them down to the required word limit. You conversed with me multiple times to make sure that the essence of the ideas was intact and not hampered.
Turn-around-time for the edits was perfect and was much before 24 hours in most of the cases. You made sure that even if I sent it any time of her day she returned it with her edit within 24 hours. This was extremely helpful for me as I was tied down with other deadlines and interviews and had to start work on the essays only in the last week before the deadline.
-Saaim Khan (2013 R-2 Applicant Interviewed by IESE)
There are mostly three types of essay consultants…You had combined the best features of…
I had earlier talked and got feedbacks about a few essay consultants. There are mostly 3 types of essay consultants as what I have noted:
Consultants who charge hefty fees ($2000 and above) and cover whole essay package for a school. I have no idea how they work.
Consultants who just work on the content- They do not advise on what should go inside and how. They are helpful to check the grammar and making a good English presentation.
Consultants who comment on the content, but do not give an advice as what should exactly go in, citing specifics. They are helpful, but need a lot of introspection from the candidate.
You had combined the best features of 2 and 3 type consultants. You not only edit the essay content, but also first work with the candidate to come up with the best story. You never forced me on away, but had given your feedback, as what would be an appropriate option. After the first call, you advised as how to narrate the stories, and make an attractive presentation. You have helped to create the natural flow from one incident to other in the best possible way. You had been always cautious about the word limit, and for every edits, you mentioned the word count, which helped to keep a look. You had also removed un-necessary repetitions.
I would definitely recommend your service to my other friends as well.
-Debasish (2013 EMBA candidate, interviewed by HAAS)
Thank you for helping me secure 50% fellowship!
Poonam helped me differentiate my profile from that of a typical IT applicant. This helped me get admitted and secure a scholarship even though I applied in the last round.
-Nitya T (Accepted into UC Davis)
With your help, I got accepted into SCU. Your services were great!
Poonam first understood who I was, reviewed my drafts, provided guidance on who and what the readers would be looking for. With the information on my background, she was able to hone what strengths I should focus on. Poonam made sure I stuck to the question being asked and responded to that. She was able to draw out of me what where the important points to incorporate in the essay. Then, she told me what the outline should look like. She not only did an excellent job in making sure I adhered within the word limit, but also made sure all the key points were still there. She found grammar errors that I didn’t in writing my essays. I was under extreme turnaround times. Poonam clearly articulated when I was to send my essays, and when she would respond back to me.
I would highly recommend Poonam to work with you on developing your essays and editing.
-David Ortiz (Accepted into SCU)
Thank you, Poonam for the great service! I know I am a strong candidate for medical after working with you!
My situation was difficult as I had a character limit and not a word limit, however you were able to meet the character limit without losing any key ideas.
Your editing services were excellent in all areas i.e. sentence structure, word choice, style, punctuation and grammar. I absolutely loved how quick of a turnaround your edits were! While they were quick turnarounds, it was obvious you put a lot of time into each edit! Very impressive!
Thank you, Poonam for the great service!
-Siddhartha (Med. Student 2012)
Thanks so much for your personalized attention and going above and beyond!
Before I learned about Poonam’s services, I had already purchased services from a reputed admission company for my admission essays, hoping to get satisfactory service from them. I paid $550 for this service, as the service charges are $250 per hour ,and there is a minimum of two hours. I had to pay for each email and each question I asked them in order to clarify my doubts, but the feedback provided to me hardly helped me improve my essays. The most frustrating part of this experience was that in spite of spending a huge amount on this service, I did not receive any pointers /guidelines about the content of the essay.
Just then I learned about Poonam’s services through e-GMAT and contacted her. After a couple of email exchanges, I purchased one essay service and we began working. As I worked with her, I discovered that she does more than what is stipulated as a ‘process’ of her essay review service. For example, phone call to clients doesn’t figure in her review process, but she scheduled couple of meetings with me on phone to have a conversation regarding my past accomplishments and thus succeeded in getting some amazing stories out of me which I finally used in my essays. I especially liked the friendly relationship she established with me while we worked together. I felt comfortable working with her because I knew she cared and would continue with her edits and guidelines until we both were absolutely satisfied with the essay.
I was so happy with her services that soon after we finished working on one essay, I purchased another essay package from her, and a couple of days later, also availed her resume service. I must say I have had an excellent experience with Poonam’s services, and I would recommend her to all those applicants who dream to have their personality shine through their essays and resumes.
-Aigerim Nurova – (Accepted into West Virginia University)
I was accepted within weeks of submitting my application!
Poonam is a master storyteller. I had changed 3 jobs within 5 years, and I was concerned how the Adcom would view it. Poonam turned it around and portrayed it as my strength, highlighting it as evidence of continuous career progression.
-Richa Priya (Accepted into W.P. Carey)
Thanks for helping me make my essay more interesting and candid!
Poonam gave me an excellent feedback with regard to all aspects of essay writing. One can actually see a drastic improvement in the final essay from the first draft. Poonam has always answered all my questions and doubts I had asked along with my drafts.
-Dr. Richa Singh (2012 Applicant)
Thanks for guiding me to select appropriate stories to showcase my candidacy!!
Poonam’s excellent guidance, her critical and effective comments helped me choose the right content/ stories that added immense value to my essays. Her editing helped make my writing more precise and sweet flowing, while her speedy responses allowed me to finish my essays satisfactorily, well before the deadline. Many many thanks!
-Sergei (2012 Darden Applicant)
Thank you for your valuable contribution in helping me submit an effective essay package on time.
I’m extremely happy with Poonam’s edits and her detailed comments/ guidelines that helped me in distinguishing myself. I especially liked the framework she provided me for gathering/ organizing my ideas for essays. She was extremely prompt in turning around edits (within 3-4 hours) which helped me submit my application on time even though I had started working on my essays a couple of days before the deadline.
-Thomas (2012 Cornell applicant)
Reviews from Beat the GMAT forums
Username: wanttorock
Total messages by user: 5
Posted on: Mar 30, 2013
Even though I belong to the non-IT cluster of India and have a unique profile, I knew that my chances of getting an admit from a global B-school were slim because of my non-competitive GMAT score. The only way I could turn the tables around was to take expert guidance and write impactful essays.
I did my research and shortlisted 4 B-school admission consultants (including my Essay Review) in the initial round. Next, I spoke to all the consultants (or their representatives). After talking to the consultants, I ranked all the 4 consultants and finally decided to enrol with my Essay Review because of 3 reasons:
– The fact that I would be working with the CEO of the company – Poonam (and not part-time writers or freelancers or representatives)
– Competitive rates of my Essay Review compared to the other consultants
– The “How I Work” operating model of Poonam (https://myessayreview.com/howiwork.php)
After my telephonic discussion with Poonam, I was convinced that I was making the right choice and decided to purchase a three-essay package from my Essay Review.
We started our journey with Manchester Business School. Poonam’s initial suggestions for the first essay were mind-blowing and set the ball rolling for all the remaining essays. These suggestions were simple, yet super-effective. They allowed me to channelize my thoughts in the right direction, select the best stories and showcase my candidacy in the best manner to the school.
Most importantly, Poonam provided very valuable insights on how to structure the essays. I loved the way she guided me on how to structure essays to develop a coherent structure. For example, she suggested that I should segment the essay into multiple sub-segments and build a structure around each sub-segment keeping in mind that the question is answered holistically. This was a great advice and I followed this advice diligently in all the essays.
The turn-around time of the edits was perfect and very similar to the timelines in which the fast-paced corporate world operates. All the critiques/edits and reedits were provided within 24 hours as promised on the website and as per our initial discussion (before the start of our assignment).
I was very impressed with the quality and professionalism of my Essay Review. It has a very lean and smart operating model. No fuss, no hierarchy. Poonam is the single point of contact and this makes a huge difference. She will guide you at each and every step. She is the director of your movie and knows each and every scene about the actor (the student in the case). She will ensure that the movie would entertain the audience (the B-school in this case) and would be a blockbuster.
The overall experience with my Essay Review was very good and I would definitely recommend its essay editing services to potential B-school applicants.
Yes, I have received an admit from Manchester Business School. So even if you have a not-so-great GMAT score, focus on your essays. How can you do that? Seek expert guidance from Poonam. Do yourself a favour – start now and connect with my Essay Review today!