Roadway to High Achievers

Heading abroad for studies, why? The number of Indian students being
offered admissions in universities overseas have been increasing at a rate
of ~20% on a yearly basis, compared to a less than 10% growth for
students from other countries. Is it because education in universities
overseas is much more affordable for Indians? Doesn’t seem so for
majority.. OR Is it that Indian students find the overseas degree more
prestigious? May be.. OR Is it because the overseas programs offer better
facilities and a favorable culture of research? Definitelyyes..

Whatever might be the reason, the reality is that lucrativeness for studying
overseas is on a steady rise among Indian students and their families.
However, this upward trend presents a new set of challenges to students
about navigating the complexities of the application process, maximizing
affordability via financial aid,choosing an appropriate undergraduate school
and so on

The admissions process for overseas universities is uniquely complex, for

instance, universities in the US use a holistic application system, which
evaluates candidates across academics, test scores, extracurricular
activities, interviews and application essays compared to that of exam
dominated education system in our country. In case of undergraduate
schools in USA, a student with sub-optimal academic scores can have
significantly improved admission chances with a strong subjective profile.
Therefore, the final months before when the applications are due for Indian
students, it requires significant attention for boosting the non-academic
aspect of the profile

Additionally, graduation in US/ UK and other countries is expensive which

raises the affordability quotient for many families back home. Therefore, it
is imperative to identify universities which suits the pocket either in form of
lower costs or scholarship opportunities, which again demands for
significant assistance in shortlisting such schools/ colleges

The above mentioned factors such as increase in demand for students

looking to study abroad and a growing Indian economy and the challenges
in the form of complexities faced during the application process and lack of
awareness about financial options available, has led to rise of a new
industry : Overseas Consulting

Presently, there are well over a thousand individual consultants and several
hundred small businesses providing consulting services to students
intending to complete their graduation from universities outside India.
These groups began by offering SAT preparation and have expanded to
admissions advising and further extend to visa processing, loan
applications, etc. The concern is uneven quality of mentoring and
counselling provided to students

Most of these services are administered by individuals that have never

attended a US institution, they have little context and lack direct experience
with the US university system beyond what they have read online. This
significantly impedes their ability to develop subjective aspects of the
student’s profile. The school list lacks sophistication in understanding the
student’s background and career aspirations, and rarely provide accurate
portrayals of a student’s chance of acceptance across the portfolio of
schools. Another important component relates to admission essays which
require personal narration with strong self-reflection and displayed
personality, where many consultants spend very little time at working with
students and end up focusing largely on academics
Increasing number of students are looking to apply abroad for better
facilities and good career but are lacking adequate assistance to do so.
With increasing use of technology and availability of data, an ideal solution
for addressing above challenges for students is aright combination of
expert consultants, seamless technology and data driven decision making

 Expert Consultants: Who better to provide guidance than top

American undergraduate students. The benefit is that students can
access most talented admission experts before they move on to
successful careers at top employers and these experts can provide
unmatched perspective into admissions as they have themselves
undergone the process

 Seamless Technology: To monitor quality service in any field today, it

is essential to have a robust technology platform as the backbone of
your business. Wherein, the activities can be easily monitored, and
technology also provides ease of access at anytime and anywhere

 Data Driven Decision Making: In current scenario, the decisions on

university selection are driven by the individuals providing the
counselling and left to consultant’s perceptions and preferences. With
availability of data and advancement in analytics, this is the way
forward for making decisions on schools to apply to based on
student’s preferences and chancing algorithms suggesting the best fit
for every student

We have talented pool of students in our country and competition among

these students is intense to excel in their personal and professional lives.
All they need is quality counselling and mentoring support not leaving their
chances of getting into an ivy league college in the hands of some
overseas consultant but should be guided by technology enabled, data
driven handholding from experts

This will ensure that the talent achieves its potential