Overseas education consultants: Do you need one?

Keystone

Indian student Arasan shares his experience in dealing with intermediaries to gain admission into universities abroad. 

The most common question I get asked about studying abroad is, “Should I approach an overseas education consultancy?”. I was also in a similar situation in India when I was planning to study abroad. I made a list of over 10 education consultancies in my city and went on a road trip knocking on every door.

My choice of institutions and countries were broad when I started. My only consideration was finding a “ranked programme”, by which I mean an academic programme that has made it into the top 20 in popular education or university rankings.

For more blog posts and information on studying in Switzerland visit our dedicated page Education Swiss Made. 

Education consultancies can help in certain ways, but they don’t work in all countries. They are most active when it comes to private universities in the UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, Poland and certain other European countries. I found that they work with only those universities that benefit monetarily from international students. Either the universities they deal with are private institutions with high tuition fees or public universities with higher fees for non-nationals or non-EU citizens.

When it comes to Switzerland, the education consultants only work with hotel management schools that charge exorbitantly high fees. I did not come across a consultancy that worked with Swiss public universities.

What is the advantage of using a consultant?

The consultants work directly with the universities. When you go through them, you need not make a regular application for admission and in most cases the application feess are waived. The consultants collect your transcripts and other documents and send them directly to their point of contact at the university. They are in direct contact with the admissions team and can get you an acceptance letter within three days. Personally, I was accepted for admission into two universities in Ireland, one in the UK, three in Poland and two in France. All via a single consultant within a period of 48 hours without having to pay any application fees.

How much should you pay them?

As far as I know, you should not be paying consultants a penny. These consultants make a commission for every student who pays the tuition fee to the university. The consultants themselves have confirmed this and there are many that offer their services at no cost to the students. There are also instances where these consultancies have ripped off the students of a huge sum of money.

When should you make use of one?

You can make use of an education consultancy if you plan to study in a university that works with consultancies. If you are applying for a popular program in a private university, then applying through a consultancy is far easier and beneficial than doing it on your own.

As explained above, using consultants comes with a range of pros and cons. The most important disadvantage is that they sell you the university that pays them the highest incentives. In most cases, they also give a false or unrealistic picture of part-time work and post-study job opportunities. Personally, I had a keen desire to study in a public institution. Hence, I did not accept any of the offers from such consultants. 

There are also few advantages. A friend of mine was able to get her tuition fees lowered in one case and another friend was able to get her tuition fees refunded after she decided not to move abroad that year. Consultancies also work with an extensive list of partners. They help you get preferred pricing for flight tickets, foreign exchange rates, insurance etc.