Tarun Malarvasan
Book a free call with Tarun
Tarun’s intro
I won three ISEF Grand Awards and did research at Harvard, Carnegie Mellon, Wharton and the Wyss Institute, and I study computer engineering at Penn State. That run taught me how to land a lab position, turn a summer project into something competition-level, and build a portfolio that reads as coherent.
I bring that to the application work I do. Most applicants with strong stats lose ground on the essay because they write what they think admissions wants to hear. I don't hand you a formula. I ask questions until we find the thing your child actually cares about, then help them get it on the page in their own voice. The essay is where a file stops sounding like every other high scorer, and most families leave that part until it's too late to do anything but fix grammar.
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 hear your number on the first call, 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 call?
No, and most families book before they have decided anything. That is the useful time to talk. An hour, no charge, and you will come off the call 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. Tell us where your student is on the call and we will tell you what we can do with it.
Book a call
How the call is booked.
Tarun reads your student’s file and builds the plan. The call is an hour-long video call and costs nothing.
Book a free call with TarunTarun 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 The Scholar’s Bureau rather than by Tarun personally. If Tarun 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 Tarun’s students got in.
The Scholar’s Bureau is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by Penn State or any other institution named on this page. Tarun Malarvasan is an undergraduate at Penn State, speaking only as an individual, with no role in its admissions office and no influence over any admissions decision.