In this post, we will talk about the need for a consultancy while applying for universities abroad. We will try to debunk some myths, weigh the pros and cons of enrolling with a consultancy and in the process, we hope that you all will gain a clearer picture.
To all those aspirants who want to study abroad, we know the idea of consultancy services sounds desirable. These companies make several claims like getting you into the best college possible, be there with you at every step of the way, help you with your student loans and so much more.
We want you to get the best, of course, but please understand that not every offer is as good as it sounds. After all, the real product is not always identical to the marketed product. Let's go through some myths and reality of their claims one by one:
First Claim: Help you grab the best possible university
We would like to say that this is not entirely true. Just like every company, any consultancy service aims to satisfy its customers. It is not their aim to satisfy you in the best possible manner. They just want you to get into a college. Now you have to decide if that college is best for you. They will provide you with a huge list of colleges and you will think to yourself, "Wow! I do have a chance if I am eligible for these many universities."
We would recommend you to do your research beforehand and then move forward with the applications. We understand that shortlisting a college is a huge task and that route is filled with confusion. The easiest approach is to study your GRE or GMAT score and then shortlist those colleges that have a similar cut-off. All the colleges above this cut-off will then become your ambitious universities and below cut-off will become your safe universities. But keep in mind that to do this, you will have to make a huge spreadsheet maintaining data of colleges. We think that you will have at least 25 colleges in this spreadsheet before deciding your final 10!
Second Claim: Help you write your SOPs and LORs
According to us that's a huge myth and is a very misleading sentence. As soon as you sign up with a consultancy service, they will assign you a consultant. These consultants usually manage at least 5 individuals and help them with their applications. The consultant assigned to you will not write your SOP or LOR with you, rather they will give you a list of instructions and will provide you with some links. You will then be restricted in this box of instructions which is not a great place to be.
Let us share our own experience here: We signed up with a consultancy for Saurabh's applications. At that time, Harshil did not have a plan for masters. Now Saurabh first wrote a really good draft of his SOPs and LORs. Here is the feedback that we received:
First, they said that the SOP was long. The SOP he wrote was of around 1200 words and they wanted to bring it under 1000 words and wanted to fit the whole thing in one page. Now we understand that one should be as precise as possible while documenting these things but there are some things which just can't be edited out. So we somehow brought it down to 1100 words.
The consultant lady came back to us saying that it's still too long and took it upon herself to shorten the SOP and oh my God the disaster that she did! She straight-out removed sentences from every paragraph without even reading the document. She brought it down to 1000 words but, the SOP stopped making sense. We cannot even elaborate on the grammatical mistakes that popped up everywhere after her editing. But something that we would like to elaborate is: it is sometimes ok if your SOP has 100 words above the word limit. Just don't overdo it. It doesn't matter if it is more than one pages or has more than 1000 words unless every word in the SOP make sense and every paragraph within it has a well-defined role. So if you do get a consultant and he or she puts these restrictions on you then push back as much as you can.
Now let's talk about the LORs. Saurabh has five years of industry experience, so no doubt he had excellent references in his kitty. He produced two letters of references each written by very senior officials of his company. The consultant insisted that she will write his LORs and he should not worry about it. That was the first red flag. How can she write his LORs if she hasn't even seen him let alone work with him? The second red flag was when she actually gave us the LOR saying that this is the final document which will be a part of his application. It felt like a robot has written that document. She used words like hard-working, excellent, brilliant in different ways without providing any specific instances where Saurabh has actually showcased these skills. It was a huge letdown.
By the time we were done with the process of SOP and LOR, we were so frustrated that we dropped the whole thing. We redid all the documents by ourselves and applied to the colleges.
Third Claim: Help you with your student loans
Never have we ever seen a consultancy who will help you with your student loans. You will have to go to the bank by yourself and fight the battle. You will have to apply for the loan, roam around the bank at least twice a week, convince everyone in the bank that you deserve this loan. All that the consultancy will do is become an alarm. Every day the consultant will text you to check if you are still on track and if you are close to a deadline. Even though this sounds like a good thing, trust us it gets annoying and frustrating. Because all of a sudden you become answerable to those people whom you paid so much money to help you!
Fourth Claim: Help you with your visa process
No! Just no! Guys, once you get your admit, take a big chart paper, write down all the necessary dates for your admission process like dates to submit your visa application, dates to submit your visa documents and financial proofs, and dates to books a visa interview. That's all you need and that's all a consultant will do for you. They will become a dormant deadline reminder once you receive the admit. Once you fly abroad, they will just increase the number of satisfied customers and that will be it. Your phone can do this for you if you know how to use a to-do app or your calendar.
So now the question is, why do I need a consultancy?
Well, not everything is all bad. There are some positives attached to every possible situation. Here we have another list wherein we talk about some good things about a consultancy and some tips on how to get the best out of it:
If you are completely new to the idea of studying abroad then consultancy should be the best place to get yourself acquainted.
If you struggle with the English language and really need help expressing yourself through your SOPs then once again, you will find that support in a consultant.
If you are unaware of the visa rules of the foreign country you want to study in then once again, the consultancy will guide you with reliable and correct information.
If you are not well organized and are confused by all the research that one has to do for studying abroad then enrol with a consultancy. They will act as reminders and get you through all your tasks before the deadline is over.
Never approach a consultancy that has a huge clientele. What we want to say is, in big consultancies, you will not receive tailored support. You will be just another customer for them. Of course, on the bright side, the support of big consultancies will have promising reviews. In this case, what you can do is, you can take personal reviews from their previous customers and get an idea of what you will be getting into.
Try private consultants. These are usually small groups of people very talented and versed in the rules of foreign university admissions.
We hope that the video today will help you make an informed decision. If you agree with us then like this post and share it with your friends.Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel!