Megana Madhurakavi
Meet the counselor
Megana’s intro
I'm a Coca-Cola Scholar, so I spent months making every page of my application reflect who I actually am, not just what looked impressive. I study economics and computer science at Harvard, and I was choosing between that and Yale.
I help students find the through-line in their activities and write it so a reader sees the same person on every page. Most applicants list what they did and hope it adds up to something, but the difference between a file that works and one that doesn't is usually how you frame what you already have. I've seen students get into Berkeley and Cornell by reorganizing their activities section and rewriting their essays to sound like one student with one story, not ten different versions of themselves.
I cap my roster so I can give real notes on every draft, not just say "this is good" and move on. I read essays the way an admissions officer does: I'm looking for what makes you different, not what you think they want to hear. If you're interested, book me for free and I'll give you your child's read.
Common questions
Before you book
What does this cost?
We are flexible, and there is a plan here that fits your family. You see every price at the info session, before anything is agreed. What changes between plans is the kind of experience in the room: a current undergraduate at a school your student is applying to, someone who interviewed applicants for a university as an alumni volunteer, or a former admissions officer who read files and sat in committee. Every one of them is somebody we would put in front of our own family.
Do we need to know what we want before the info session?
No, and most families come before they have decided anything. That is the useful time to listen. Thirty minutes, no charge, and you leave knowing what we can do for your student.
How many students does one counselor take?
Few enough that the person you meet is the person who reads the drafts. Every counselor sets their own cap and prints it on their page, so you know exactly how much of their year you are getting. If your first choice is full we will introduce you to someone on the roster who suits your student just as well.
Our student is already a senior. Is it too late?
It is not too late. Several counselors here run compressed engagements and take seniors into the autumn, and there is usually more still open in a file than a family expects. Ask about your student in the small room and we will tell you what we can do with it.
Free info session
How the call is booked.
Megana reads your student’s file and builds the plan. The info session is 30 minutes on Google Meet and costs nothing.
Meet the counselorMegana reads what you tell us about your student before the call, so it starts there rather than at the beginning.
If something changes
The agreement is held by Aristo Scholars rather than by Megana personally. If Megana cannot finish the cycle we move your student to another counselor on this roster at the price you were already quoted, and everything written down so far moves with them.
Where Megana’s students got in.
Aristo Scholars is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by Harvard or any other institution named on this page. Megana Madhurakavi is an undergraduate at Harvard, speaking only as an individual, with no role in its admissions office and no influence over any admissions decision.