August Academy

I found out about August Academy through GMAT Club and Poets and Quants. Verified reviews listed on the portal encouraged me to approach Karthik. I was not sure of my chances of getting into a B school after +10 years of work experience, but a counseling appointment with Karthik really helped me narrow down my best options and get more clarity on my post-MBA goals. Preparing B-school applications is a rigorous and painstaking process and in the form of Karthik, I could not have asked for a better mentor in this journey. Right from the first day, he worked very closely with me through his Starter Files, helping me gain better knowledge of myself in terms of skillsets, strengths, weaknesses, etc. The process employed by him was so holistic and methodical that I didn't realize that parallelly he was preparing me for my interviews as well. Initially, I was skeptical whether I would be able to get the required level of cooperation/guidance via a phone call/week, but believe me, it is more than enough once he has already done those brainstorming sessions with you. Moreover, he was always available via calls/mail/Asana (a tool that he employs to track your application process) You might come across consultants who will offer to write your essays themselves, but let me be very honest in saying that it will not benefit you even a bit because you will not be building any writing skills of your own and you will be doubtful of your abilities at the end of the process. On the other hand, working with Karthik has really helped me broaden my skillset in terms of story-telling/writing/content relevance etc. He also encourages and guides you to do the research and networking for a B-school, meanwhile honing your networking skills for the B-school journey ahead. He doesn't place any limitations on the number of edits and he makes sure that the essays you put in your application are of the highest quality and relevance to that particular B-school. He is a master of what he does and has all the tools in his kitty to assist you with any kind of B-school application and its components be it video essays/written essays/scholarships essays/LORs etc. I will highly recommend any serious candidate to seek his guidance to put their best foot forward for their B-school applications. Under the able mentorship of Karthik, I have received admits from Fisher College of Business and WP Carey School of Business with a Full Scholarship and I am waiting for decisions from other schools as well.

Karthik is extremely professional with a deep expertise in the domain of end-to-end admission consulting across all top global b-schools. He understood that my goal was to get an admit in top European b-schools and always provided personal attention. Even though I approached him after Round-1 was over for most b-schools, he helped me in applying to 4 b-schools between Rounds 2 and 3 within very constrained timelines. He helped me in evaluating my profile, discovering my true post-MBA goals, shortlisting b-schools, tailoring every single essay prompt (including scholarship essays) and preparing for interviews. He clearly explained to me the risks, pros and cons of applying to all the shortlisted b-schools based on his years of experience of guiding students with diverse profiles and experiences. Last but not the least, instead of just correcting grammar or suggesting points from his end, he always pushed and guided me to think through my pointers for every essay. He pin-pointed the strengths and helped me realize what my essays may lack through simple examples, giving me a clear direction in which I was supposed to think. This ensured that my applications are 100% my original stories and perspectives (this is a very important criteria for every top b-school). After the application stage, I received interview calls from 2 top business schools - HEC Paris and ESADE. He scheduled mock interviews with me for each of the schools and made me realize my strengths as well as some critical areas of improvement. Additionally, since HEC Paris interviews need you to prepare and present a presentation as well, Karthik even helped me in cleaning up and tailoring the presentation which made it more crisp and interesting. The entire process from getting onboarded with Karthik to giving my final interviews took ~4 months. He constantly supported me throughout this journey. The results finally came. I received admits from both b-schools HEC Paris and ESADE. ESADE also gave me a ~15% scholarship on tuition fees. I was elated and called my parents and friends giving them the good news. I have decided to join HEC Paris for the September'23 intake because it was always one of my dream schools. I am very thankful to Karthik for his valuable support and guidance throughout this process and I could not have pulled this through in such a short timeline without his help!

When I started applying for MBA programs as an entrepreneur and someone at the age of 29, I was insecure about my MBA dreams. I researched extensively for the professional admissions consultant, including MCB, MBA and Beyond etc., and I am glad I worked with Karthik from August Academy. He is highly professional and will go the extra mile to help. One thing I realized was that he saw my success as his own and was always there to help me get the best go my profile. With his help and deep understanding of what colleges are looking for in my profile and truly personalizing my story with MBA programs, I was admitted to four of the five colleges I applied to him. I got more than 50% scholarship in the three colleges (SIMON, Gtech, and EMORY) while getting admitted to Cornell. I was waitlisted and rejected from Columbia. I am genuinely grateful to have worked with Karthik and would highly recommend him to anyone in the blink of an eyelid.

Karthik helped with bringing out my stories in an articulate manner. Once you sign up, you get access to plenty of resources in terms of videos, webinars and documents to help with each step of the application process. Karthik also uses a lot of tech during the process which really helps with the overall process and experience. Overall, I would highly recommend Karthik and August Academy for your MBA application process.

I worked closely with Karthik for getting into one of the top B-schools in Europe. It was a great experience, very systematic and disciplined, and I was able to manage the applications well along side a full time job. I also learnt a lot about myself in the process, as it helped me streamline my thought process and truly learn what my priorities were. Definitely recommend!