Carin Nelson Reviews

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!!

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Three applications and three admits to LBS, IESE ($) and HEC!! ApplicantLab was instrumental in my success.

For context, I do not have a traditional background (art/animation) and did not have the highest GMAT score around. Applying to B schools seemed so daunting with my profile and experience. I knew I needed some help and advice to get through my applications and that's when I came across ApplicantLab on GMATClub! It was perfect for me, a tool for self-starters who want to work on a flexible schedule.

The tool's UI is excellent and really helps break down the stressful application process into smaller daily goals/targets.

Maria's videos on the site are brilliant! I was hooked from the first video, and I'm not kidding when I say I had an epiphany with regards to my career goals (and how to explain them to an admissions committee) from just watching a couple of videos! Maria has catered advice for every school and if the school hasn't already been talked about on the site, you can write to her and expect a speedy and extremely helpful reply with everything you need!!

What surprised me the most about Maria was how much she truly cared about my progress and how she kept in touch with me through the application process. A simple email to check in evolved into a long thread filled with valuable advice on various topics (how I could improve my LinkedIn profile, interview advice, advice on how to prepare a presentation for one of the other interviews). Her knowledge of various industries and the application process is unparalleled!

Once I went through the amazing advice on the site and had drafts of my cv and essays ready, I decided to add on services for a sanity check/CV review, essay review and interview prep.

My CV review and Interview Prep was with Luqzan (a HBS alum). Luqzan's advice allowed me to bring out the best of my experience in my CV and in my responses for the interviews. He helped me realize I was downplaying a lot of my strengths and that there were interesting points about myself and my profile that I was leaving out! Luqzan is so supportive and a real pleasure to work with. He took the time out of his busy schedule to provide me with all the feedback I needed!

I worked with Carin on my essays and sanity check. Carin is wonderful and an absolute delight to work with. Her feedback was concise, candid and so valuable. I was able craft the ideal narrative to showcase the best/right parts of my story and strengths in the essays with her advice. I also had a few laughs at her comments on my weaker essays - which is exactly what I think a person needs to make sure they're doing the right thing! Carin is down-to-earth, supportive and I can't recommend her enough!! (As with the entire ApplicantLab team!)

You can't go wrong signing up with ApplicantLab. They really do care about your results and how best to help you get there. Their price point levels the playing field and as long as you are ready to put in the work, you will get what you want!!

Thank you, Maria, Carin and Luqzan!!

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What a great product! I think any applicant needs it to succeed in their MBA journey. Like many, I believe conventional admission consultants are rip-offs...pay over $1k to get one or two applications wrapped up when you're often applying to more than four in any given round. ApplicantLab does a masterful job of giving you all the content you need to succeed in one place all at a very reasonable price point. The write-up on individual programs allowed me to tailor applications to show I truly familiarized myself with the program. In addition, that familiarization allowed me to hit the ground running for interview prep, so I could show interviewers that I did my work. Also, Carin's "down to earth" demeanor let me know that I was getting the real scoop on what these programs look for and how they differentiate from peer competitors. I would recommend this product to anybody who needs a little help in their application journey...don't waste your money on conventional admission consultants! This is what you need!

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Review product strengths text: - Very very cheap (as compared with other consultants) - Provides great structure for the application process - Provides a distillation of the "best-of" applicant advice

Review product recommendations text: - Stories module is sometimes confusing (it is unclear at what level a story should be, esp. when one specific story may have multiple parts) and it could be clearer on how to translate these into stories within the essays - More real sample essays, resumes, etc. could be helpful! - UX sometime confusing within the modules (advice is sometimes formatted differently)

Review text: Applicant Lab provides a fabulous service! for the cost of

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To put it plainly, working with Carin & the entire ApplicantLab team was absolutely fantastic. Not only do I recommend the service as a whole, but I especially recommend the additional consulting services with Carin!

I solicited Carin's feedback on essays for two schools - Kellogg and Booth - and received offers from both. In each case, she went above and beyond to give honest, actionable feedback that I was able to immediately apply…and, in the case of my Kellogg essays, undoubtedly meant the difference between receiving an offer and not!

Since I'd used Carin for my essay reviews in 2020, when I first applied to Kellogg, it was a no-brainer to solicit her feedback again when reapplying. I struggled with the essays this time around, and it showed. Carin demonstrated "tough love," and gave very candid feedback on my first drafts. The difference maker, however, was that she went BACK to the essays I'd sent her nearly TWO YEARS prior, and pointed out elements from those that I could re-incorporate and expound upon. She provided some rewriting recommendations, which helped me quickly identify the necessary edits, and gave some general feedback on how to make my "growth since first applying" really shine in my re-applicant essays (again, having looked at the materials I shared years prior). None of this was in the "job description," but showed how much she really cared about steering me in the right direction. Due wholly to her feedback, I was able to completely transform my essays, and receive the offer of admission I was hoping for. This is just one of the many examples I have of Carin going above-and-beyond to help out.

I have no doubts that Carin's candid feedback played a crucial role in my receiving these 2 M-7 offers. Though I know her sessions are a little more costly, I can wholeheartedly say it makes all the difference.

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I started applying for MBA's around two years ago and used both ApplicantLab and another very popular/well known MBA consulting service for the first year of applications and only used ApplicantLab for the second year (in which I was successful in getting a place). Here are my comments:
- The consultant I was working with (Carin Nelson) was very supportive and every piece of feedback she gave was very specific to me and my application. She was very responsive whenever I had ANY questions about anything which was very useful during stressful times.
- My mock interview with Carin was also the most effective/useful $500ish that I have ever spent with respect to MBA applications. During that 2 hour interview + feedback session I had with her, I learnt more about how to speak in interviews and how to present myself to interviewers than I had ever done during the 2 years that I had worked towards getting accepted into a top MBA programme.
- The other consulting service gave me a fish and ApplicantLab taught me how to fish. I guess my phrasing is cheesy but the way in which ApplicantLab is structured helped me learn how to take ownership of my application and gave me the skills required to present myself in the best way possible. The other consulting service polished my application and story, but I didn't come out that experience feeling as if I could tackle another MBA application-type situation if I was forced to face it once again.
- ApplicantLab's fees for the 1 year membership was less than half of the price charged by the other consulting service for an hour of their time

One caveat I really do have to mention is that with ApplicantLab, you need to have at least some sort of clarity on where you want to apply and what you want to do with your MBA. Perhaps other consultants might be able to help with that but I wouldn't know as I approached the other service after I had figured out my MBA story.

Overall, I think the title of this review summarises my impression of ApplicantLab really well: great support, great value and great advice.

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Applying to MBAs can feel like a second job at times with tons of ambiguity to navigate, but ApplicantLab takes so much of the stress away by bringing loads of transparency and structure to the process. I love how easy the platform is to use, and how it empowered me to approach my applications confidently at my own pace through its wealth of content, advice, and exercises to support every imaginable step and question you would encounter while applying.

I also engaged Carin and Maria's services for personalized essay feedback and interview prep - they are both amazing advisors who provided super honest and actionable feedback in a really personable way. My story definitely came out a lot stronger after their help.

For the price ApplicantLab is charging vs. other consultants, this really is a no brainer - I cannot recommend them enough.

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I found ApplicantLab's services to be incredibly useful. As a career switcher from the public policy sector, I was unsure about how to optimally convey my past experience and need for an MBA to admissions committees. I used ApplicantLab's branding module and resume review services to construct an effective personal brand and "Why MBA?" story that helped me stand out from the pack. I also found ApplicantLab's school-specific essay advice to be very effective in tailoring my supplemental essays. The money that I spent on ApplicantLab has easily paid for itself in multiple acceptance and scholarship offers. I would highly recommend ApplicantLab to any MBA applicant, but especially self-directed career switchers who are curious about how to effectively communicate their "story" throughout the admissions process.

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Applying to 3 schools at once with only 2 months to prepare and using GMAT waiver, I was very insecure with my application hence looking for the most efficient tool / resources to help me with my application process. I was suggested to try Applicantlab by a friend and it was hands down one of the best advices ever.

The materials available in the dashboard are very structured and comprehensive. The contents are easy to comprehend and I found the videos to be very fun to watch. The framework and brainstorming questions are really useful to help applicants build the overall MBA stories and motivation that are crucial for essays and even interviews later on.

On top of the dashboard, I used the additional services such as resume review (by one of the alumni -- Luqzan), essay review and mock interview (both by Carin). Not only did they give super constructive inputs, they were also very friendly and responsive to answer any questions we had.

Thanks to Applicantlab, I got admitted to all the 3 schools I applied to (MIT Sloan, Ross, and Darden) and all with scholarships (1 full ride). I'd highly recommend Applicantlab to any MBA applicants who are looking for inexpensive resources with high quality.

Kudos to the team!

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Having done consultations with almost every admissions consultant out there (and after even paying a hefty sum for one!) I finally found ApplicantLab. I found their information and advice to be by far the most helpful of any pricey consultant that I spoke to. Their user interface is incredibly easy to use, and they were an invaluable help to me as I researched schools, refined my story and resume, and drafted essays. I was incredibly delighted by my outcomes (admits to Stern, Haas, LBS, Kellogg, Yale, Tuck, UCLA and McCombs—as well as generous scholarships from many of them and one full ride!) and I couldn’t have done it without ApplicantLab and Carin.

The self-introspection and questions they ask about your experience and interests really allow you to identify what is unique about your story and uncover ways to tell that story in a way that is compelling to the admissions committee. I also found that their information and advice on essays was incredibly well-researched and supported, rather than just based on one consultant’s opinion or anecdotal experience. The informational videos and write-ups for how to outline essays really streamlined the process for me, and I’m sure were the reason I was able to get admits at 8 schools!
In addition to all the information on ApplicantLab’s service, the Sanity Checks and Strategic Essay Reviews I booked with Carin really helped me polish my story and make my essays shine. I found that her advice on one of my essays was often applicable to several of them, and she really helped me showcase my strengths and personality to the admissions committee. I honestly couldn’t have done it without her!


I also think that ApplicantLab’s process for reviewing a user’s resume and career vision for the Sanity check most closely aligns with the experience of the admissions committee—brief and to the point! The fact that they are able to review more applicant’s stories than an hourly admissions consultant gives them a better perspective as well, which also came through during the strategic essay reviews.

Overall, it was money extremely well-spent, and I couldn’t be happier with my outcomes!

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