ApplicantLab

Webinar:
How to
save thousands
on Admissions Consulting

Maria Wich-Vila
Harvard Business School ‘05
hello@applicantlab.com
Agenda
• Introduction to ApplicantLab (~15 minutes)
• Founder bio
• Brief overview
• Schools included
• Accolades / Reviews

• Admissions Consulting (~1 hr+)

• What do Admissions Consultants do?
• Why are their fees so (justifiably) high?
• Is there a way to significantly cut this cost?
• Successful case studies
• Your access to a free trial
ApplicantLab founder

Maria Wich-Vila MBA, 2005

Key pieces of an application?

MBA
Application
 Reccs

Resume

GMAT
GPA Leadership
Career
Vision
MBA
Application
Why
Essays MBA?

Interview

Why
Short this
Answers school?
ApplicantLab ensures optimized app
ApplicantLab is specialized
Advice in the Lab is customized for each school:

Which specific “brand

traits” to highlight for
each school

How to approach each

essay question

Top schools’
admissions forms and
recommendation forms
ApplicantLab is specialized

- Bullet-point steps for those who

are “In a hurry?”

- Deeper-dives via video(s)

 Over 50 programs covered

Babson George Washington IMD MIT Sloan UMichigan Ross

Booth Georgetown McDonough Imperial (London) NUS UNC Chapel Hill
Cambridge Judge Georgia Tech Scheller Indiana Kelley NYU USC Marshall
CEIBS Haas INSEAD Oxford Said UT McCombs
CM Tepper Harvard ISB Penn St. Smeal UVa Darden
Columbia HEC Ivey (Ontario) Rotman Vanderbilt Owen
Cornell HKUST Kellogg Schulich Washington Foster
Dartmouth Tuck Hult LBS SMU Cox Wharton
Duke Fuqua IE McGill Deshautels Stanford Wisconsin
Emory Goizueta IESE Michigan Eli Broad Temple Fox Yale
Minnesota Carlson UCLA Anderson

* Some schools had multiple programs covered, e.g. MiM; Part-Time; Executive; 1-year; “Sloan Fellows” etc.
ApplicantLab wins awards
ApplicantLab WORKS

Verified GMATClub reviews: https://gmatclub.com/reviews/applicantlab-345345684

 Reccs

Resume

GMAT
GPA Leadership
Career
Vision
MBA
Application
Why
Essays MBA?

Interview

Why
Short this
Answers school?
 Reccs

Resume

GMAT
GPA

Essays

Interview

Short
Answers
How important is each piece?

GMAT 20% Interview 21%

GPA 18%

Qualitative
Resume 15%
elements =
59%

Essays 11% vs.

GMAT alone =
20%
Reccs 8%

Short
Answers 3%
 Yikes!

Freaking out?

“If those qualitative parts of the application are

SO IMPORTANT,
maybe I should hire an
admissions consultant to help me!”
How much does good consulting cost?

Other AIGAC-certified admissions consultants charge, on average:

• $300 / hour
• ~$4,000 for a 1-school package
• ~$9,000 for a 5-school package
How much does good consulting cost?

“But…I found someone that’s way cheaper!”

- You get what you pay for

- Ask:
- Did this person attend a top MBA?
- An amateur may have been accepted DESPITE their essay!
- Have they worked with dozens, hundreds of clients?
- Years of experience
- Breadth of perspective
 Why is it so expensive?

Are these fees justified?

YES
Yikes! Do you need to hire a consultant, then?
Cost structure

In-person “hand holding” (phone time) is expensive:

- You need to compensate people for their time

- Many of the core consultants have top-tier MBAs…
- …and they (rightfully) expect certain compensation
- “Opportunity cost”
Cost structure

Advertising costs

Salespeople FT Consultants PT Consultants Editors

Operations / Administration
 Cost structure

From a job-posting in my alumni job bank:

“You went to a top MBA program: just sound

authoritative and he’ll think you’re great.”
Many many hours of phone time

“Personal” time
is not the same as
“Personalized” time

Lots of “broken record” advice-giving

 So is it worth it?
The answer is:
A Definite “Maybe”

YES! Maybe not?

- “D.I.Y.” essays never as strong - It’s not magic nor rocket science

- Common blunders - If someone is:

- Motivated
- Marketing exercise for a very unique - Self-starter
customer - Bright

- NOT same as job-hunt! …You can be TAUGHT how to do this!

What do Admissions Consultants help with?

Any moment that

makes someone stop and say:
“Wait…WHAT?!?”
What do Admissions Consultants help with?

What we all wish would happen:

What do Admissions Consultants help with?

What really happens:

What if your file is the only thing

standing in between them and the weekend?
What do Admissions Consultants help with?

When the Career Vision / “Why MBA?” reason feels like:

What do Admissions Consultants help with?

“Kitchen sink” resume

(IT BACKFIRES)
What do Admissions Consultants help with?

Which would you rather read?

Especially if it’s full of

TECHNICAL
JARGON!
What do Admissions Consultants help with?

If the essays & recommendations Instead of like:

make you look like:
What do Admissions Consultants help with?

- Strategy
- Career Vision
- Why MBA?
- Resume
- Essays
- Recommendations
- Interviews
What’s a better alternative?
Three ways to save money

ApplicantLab ApplicantLab ApplicantLab

+ + +
Friend My editors 3rd party consultant

- Include grammar- - Benefit: - Use outside firm for

checker tool - They can see all of “polish package” / a-la-
your previous work carte hourly editing
- “Check-list” you can in the Lab:
share with a friend: - Buy “1-school package”
- “Is the story from other firm; use
- “Am I hitting the gelling?” ApplicantLab for your
right notes?” other schools
 Performance delivered…
Rohit Bansal

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rohit-bansal-15a6a788?ppe=1

While saving money …

https://gmatclub.com/reviews/comments/applicantlab-
- 6-school package at other firms: $10,000
on-demand-admissions-guidance-tool-345353458

- Actual price paid:

- “I had previously wasted thousands” $299 for ApplicantLab
- This year: interview invites 5/6 schools $1,700 additional editing
including NUS, Kelley, Tepper, Kellogg = less than $2,000 total

Accepted to Kellogg
Performance delivered… Harvard admit
Shelby Colby

https://www.linkedin.com/in/shelby-sutton-colby-52775023
While saving money ...

- 2-school package at other firms: $6,000

https://gmatclub.com/reviews/comments/applicantlab-
on-demand-admissions-guidance-tool-345353380
- Actual price paid:
$299 for ApplicantLab

- Applied to HBS and MIT

(1/20th the cost )

Accepted to BOTH
Harvard and MIT SLOAN
Now it’s your turn…

• E-GMAT has negotiated a 14 day FREE trial

• Create a free account at ApplicantLab.com

• Click through the screen to the upgrade page

Now it’s your turn…

• Click on “Have a promo code?” in the payment box

• Enter EGMAT317 in the promo code box:

EGMAT317
Now it’s your turn…

• Go through these modules:

Now it’s your turn…

Other companies’
Free VS.
“Consultation”

Compare the value and the amount of information you get

for the same amount of time
Thank you!

Maria Wich-Vila

hello@applicantlab.com