- Harvard Business School; Princeton University
- HBS adcom: applicant outreach and application guidance
- Founder: HBS student newspaper-endorsed application software
Maria is a graduate of Harvard Business School (HBS) and Princeton University. At HBS, Maria worked with the HBS admissions office to conduct significant applicant outreach and guidance, such as organizing admissions events and serving as point person to address questions on application essays and interviews from prospective HBS applicants. These experiences have enabled Maria to become one of the world’s foremost admissions consulting experts since 2005. Maria is also the founder and creator of the ApplicantLab, an MBA application software that has been endorsed by HBS’s student newspaper, The Harbus, and selected by the SIIA as 1 of 10 innovative “Education Software Pioneers”.
Maria delivers value for applicants by combining her HBS adcom knowledge with her extensive background in writing, marketing and digital media. After writing and editing for The Harbus at HBS, Maria launched mobile campaigns for NBC, Univision and CNN, and later managed Viva Vision partnerships with Sports Illustrated, Star Wars and Disney while developing cutting edge mobile products. Through these ventures, Maria spent substantial time exploring businesses and cultures outside the US while living or working in China, Taiwan, India, Latin America and The Middle East. This global perspective has enabled Maria to gain a holistic, personal understanding of how to help international applicants pitch and market their profiles to top MBA programs.