First of all, do thorough research on your own. If you are highly confident of going through the entire application process of studying abroad go ahead. But professional help can take you much ahead than you can go on your own as there are many high-ranking universities you might not even know about where you can actually get admitted or you might be oblivious to the existence of certain scholarships and financial aids which can reduce your expenses drastically. But how to choose the right person to help you in this process? This can be highly tricky with the crazy number of agents out there in the market. Beware of “Agents” as they are actually agents of colleges and universities to enroll students, and for each student enrolled they receive a commission from the college/university. Because of these partnerships, such agents will give you a limited list of their partner colleges or universities to choose from. Usually, the top-ranking universities do not work with agents, so you will never be given these universities as options because there is no commission to gain for the agent. A naïve student or parents will never know about the existence of other universities. Even if the student possesses an exceptional profile, he will miss out his chance to be an alumnus of a premier institution. Furthermore, the wide range of scholarships and financial aids are not available in most of these colleges and universities, so you will miss out on cutting down your expenses and the chance to be a part of crème-de-la crème of the academic world. The application process for the best institution is highly rigorous. They ask you to write intensive essays presenting your life story, and you must select a counselor who has thorough experience of doing the same. Otherwise, despite your good grades you might miss your chance of getting admitted to your dream university.
1. AGENT/APPLICATION COUNSELOR - So, while selecting your application counselor, verify whether the counselor works as an agent of universities. If he does, make sure that the list of universities he works with is of high-ranking institutions or at least contains your targeted institutions. Otherwise, you will be wasting your time and money at a below average college.
2. PAST RESULTS - Secondly, check the past results delivered by the application counselor and ask for testimonials from his previous clients. The past results delivered will suggest the likely standard of service you will be receiving for your applications.
3. RESEARCH ON YOUR OWN – You must do some research of universities and courses abroad on your own before you go to an application counselor, so that you can ask for clarifications wherever you find something fishy and to be clear of any misleading statements or promises. This research will help you stay confident that your application is progressing in the right direction.
4. FEES – With the influx of agents in the market, many of them are offering admission services for free, but no one works for free, right? If their services are free, they are getting commission from universities for your admission. So clearly the range of universities presented to you will be limited to their partnership. If your goal is to study in the top institutions, select a high-quality application counselor who gives unbiased counseling and has already helped students get admitted in premier universities.
5. GUARANTEES – The moment any agent gives you a guarantee of admission to a certain university or a guarantee of visa approval, beware and rethink. There is never a guarantee of admissions or visas. The decision of admissions rests in the hands of the admission committee of the university and the approval of visas is at the disposal of the visa officers. So, the offer of such guarantees by agents is a sham.
Our application counselors at Caddmus have helped students get admissions in top-tier universities with multiple scholarships as high as 30,000 US Dollars per year per student. Our students and their parents have been kind to share feedback of our services which can be seen on our social media pages –
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