Students Success Stories - MBAkarma

My journey from reluctance to apply for IIM -A to get an admit in PGPX was indeed a roller-coaster ride. I thank Varun for helping me build my self-confidence and guiding me all through the process.

He has been a great mentor for me as well. I fully recommend him for any MBA aspirant …!!

-Srinath Bhargav
Sr. Business Technology Consultant

The tough part of securing a seat in an esteemed B-School is not the exam, but what comes after that. It’s a dedicated and sincere task of churning out the best things out of yourself and penning it down in 500 words. Varun helped me greatly in penning down my qualities, strengths, aspirations in a manner that are bound to catch attention. His consistent guidance and “happy to help anytime” attitude helped me to get into ISB, my dream B-School.

-Savyasachi Pandit
Mechanical Design Engineer

I got to know about Varun when I was searching for an MBA coach. Before signing up Varun I spoke to at-least 15 others and many with big names in the industry, however, none was as honest and clear as I found Varun to be. He makes you think about your life goals and tries to bring clarity into your thoughts. With Varun, I was able to figure out my short as well as long term goals and a path to achieve them. He made the whole process of MBA applications easy and the best part about him was that you could call him anytime. I used to call him multiple times in a day and every-time he would respond professionally, unlike most other consultants who restrict the number of communications with them and this was a big deal maker for me. With the help of Varun I got an admit to IIM-C with a GMAT 640 . I recommend Varun to anybody who is looking for not just a mba counselor but a great life coach.

-Harshit Maloo
Senior Software Engineer at Micro Focus

When I started working towards a career switch I had lots of anxiety and nervousness as I was coming from a military background and trying to enter a B school. To be honest at the beginning I had no idea what a B school is and was completely lost. Post my GMAT I started scouting for a consultant who can help me with the entire process. I got to know about MBA karma and Varun through the GMAT club, right from the first interaction that I had with Varun he always had the clarity and surety about what he was doing and how the entire ecosystem actually worked. What I liked the most about Varun was his honesty, he told the facts as they were and helped me in getting a realistic understanding of where I am going wrong. Varun is like your best buddy whom you can call at any point of time and ask any query, even the most mundane of them. He would always listen to me patiently, understand the scenario and then give a very thoughtful and logical solution. His grasp and understanding of the processes that go into a selection to a B school is excellent, and with the clarity of mind and excellent communication skills he manages to convey the message in a manner that makes it amply clear to everyone. Varun has a very structured approach towards both writing the applications and preparing for the interview. He always started with the macro picture and slowly moved towards the micro issues. His questionnaires are brilliant, they help a person to think, analyze, and realize more about oneself, further helping in gaining clarity about oneself. This exercise in itself lends a lot of clarity to every applicant and helps in understanding one’s own strengths and weaknesses. I am highly grateful to Varun for helping me get an admission into IIM C, without his guidance it would have been much more difficult for me to crack it. I would highly recommend everyone to utilize Varun’s services, they not only help you in preparing for a B school admit but also help you realize as to who you are.

-Sharath Menon
Executive at Indian Army

Self worked as a Ship Navigation Officer. I have over 9 years of Work experience working onboard ships. I was fortunate to have a faster than average career growth and gained a lot of international exposure through my job. I required an MBA from ISB to provide me intensive exposure to all the major business functional areas to enable my corporate foray – from strategy and production to operations and organizational behavior. I wanted to couple the industry experience I have gained over the years with the necessary qualification to help myself gain entry into the corporate scenario. I knew that I did not have super good GMAT score, but, I always knew that my uncommon background with a handful of Leadership experience and International exposure would be my forte and thus need an expert who could be my guiding light that is when I found Varun from MBAKarma I read his posts on GmatClub Forum and his blogs on MBAKarma website and also asked one of my friend with who was happy with Varun efforts. This inspired me to knock on Varun’s door. He gave me an introduction into the application process and a few insights on what my strong points are and how I should be projecting that to my advantage. More than anything, when most of the consultants were charging a fortune to review the essays, Varun was charging a very nominal fee. After the brainstorming session, most of our interaction was through email & phone. Varun was very frank in his opinions and this was what helped in raising the bar in my essays. I put on my thinking cap and wanted to give it the best shot I can.With Varun, it is a lot of hard work, he helps you create an unbeatable story but totally through your efforts and through your story. Once I was done with my first college’s essay, I could see the difference between my rough draft and the finalized essay. This was a huge step up. Finally pressed submitted button and undoubtedly within few days received Interview shortlist from ISB. The process followed in essays was repeated in the mock interview also. Varun intrigued me to introspect my strength, weakness, short and long term goals and advised me to be honest. The mocks were like shot in the arm and gave me the adrenaline rush and confidence to face interviewers. The range of questions I practiced with the Varun in mocks was wide and generally, all questions that were asked in the interview were well thought and practiced. Finally, results were out and I got portal update stating offered admission it was like a dream come true. It was my hard work my perseverance but the guiding light was Varun.

-Arun Sharma
MBA Candidate | ex-Mariner |Operations & Supply Chain | T.S. Chanakya

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Thankyou Varun,

Appreciate everything you have done. I was initially a bit skeptical on using any MBA consultant’s service owing to a lot of negative responses that I have heard in the past, but my experience with your services has been nothing but brilliant.

Your prompt replies and a host of other qualities have been immensely helpful and I know I couldn’t have been shortlisted in any school with out your guidance.

Your services are a bang for buck too, when others happen to charge perhaps thrice or four times of what you do your services are very reasonable comparatively.

-Anant Dixit
Master Mariner

Discussions with Varun are always quite insightful and he bringsout hidden characteristics in profile.. he is one of the best MBAcoach.

-Akhil Sharma
MBA Candidate || IIM Ahmedabad || PGPX 2019-20 at IIM Ahmedabad

An average profile holder wanted to craft an eye catching and influential application. He strolled the internet and while going through the GMATCLUB, he found an expert named Varun Sharma. You can easily figure out how much talented this guy is from the way he delivers feedback to the people, “Fair” and “Terse”. I called him and discussed the procedure of delivering the essays. In the initial run, I was surprised when he mentioned in his contract agreement that the essays will be written by the applicant. I got confused but then looking at the timeline available, I decided to go for the shot. Varun delivered a brain storming sheet, which was very exhaustive (took 2 weeks to get it done) but effective one (effective in a way that it forced to bring out every kind of relevant story I had gone through my life). It took around 4 drafts to create an exceptional story. I even appreciate the commitment and dedication Varun showed since we prepared the 4 drafts within last days only. Finally, the essays were delivered right before time. The interview time begun. I was losing hopes day by day since I had received rejection from all top Indian B schools. However, one fine day I received a skype interview invite (I was in travelling mode) and truly was thrown into heaven. My interviews at other top B school were awesome. However, after facing back to back rejection, I felt like going for mock interviews to figure out my drawbacks. It goes without saying that I went for the same guy. To be very frank, I decided not to opt for Varun’s services since I found them very expensive. I contemplated the entire night thinking about the pros and cons of opting the service. After performing logical analysis, I decided to go for the service since time and an instrument to boost confidence were more important than money. Varun took my first mock, in which I failed miserably and felt like crying. The questions that he asked and the attitude he showed in the interview was apt. After the interview, Varun gave 2 hours of long and fair feedback, which in my life, I haven’t received. Then, Varun gave another brain storming sheet, which had around 100 interview relevant questions. It took 2 days to answer all and then Varun took 2nd mock which went out relatively well but still far away from the best shot. He took 3rd mock, which was better than the previous one but still lacking the lustre. With such preparation, I attended the real interview. The panel had 2 alumni and to my surprise they asked the questions which had similar answers to the questions Varun had asked during the interview. None of the questions were technical (this came as a surprise). All questions were encircling around team work and leadership skills. To the readers it seems such questions are better than the technical ones. But when such questions come to you on the interview day, you, without preparation, will either start framing or searching for the answers and such efforts reduces your confidence level

-Daivat Buch
Senior Executive and Process Engineer at Linde Engineering