I will provide a review on my experience with Several Admission Consultants (Omitting Names).
First, I will highlight the positive aspects of the consultants. Finally, Rather than pointing out or blaming, I will suggest some improvements where consultants could improve.
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Positive Points
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The End Product
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The Final Essay is meaningful, and conveys the point. There can be minor mistakes and repeated information, which the consultant may overlook, however this can be taken care by the applicant.
Nature of Communication
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They are superficially supportive, and share their knowledge of schools.
Knowledge about admissions
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An applicant can surely derive and understand what schools expect to read or what essays should convey after working, with the consultant, on atleast one or two schools. Few schools are more than enough, however it is upto the applicant to grasp this knowledge while working.
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Improvements
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Attitude
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This needs a major transition. Unless, all the founders and admission consultants, of admission companies, are sultans of brunei, i am not sure why their attitude towards clients remains callous. There is an instance when I enquired politely about the service charges of an consulting company. One of the founders questioned my capability to afford their services. I was not sure whether such attitude is sub-consciously restricted towards certain groups of people, but I would suggest that they focus on the question rather than whether I am the son of an industrialist or a street vendor.
Observation: All applicants are simply sales figures. I would suggest that a client should be more than a number. I know this because I serve clients (in a hitech field), and I always prioritize my clients demands regardless of the pressure I already have. Such personal approach and priority must be given by a consultant, in order for the client to truly rely on the consultant and recommend the consultant.
Timelines
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This needs improvement too. The suggested time of reply is normally two to three days, however there were several instances when I had to wait more than three days, excluding any emergency that the consultant had.
Additionally, the consulting company needs to have some kind of structure where they inform their clients about impending deadlines, twice or thrice if needed, for accepting new schools. So far there is none, and regardless of your camaraderie with the consultant, the consultant will simply shut the door on you, and that is highly unprofessional and speaks volumes about the nature of a person.
School Packages
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My advice to all applicants would be to first pick a single school and work with the consultant to learn their mode of work. If your’ truly bedazzled by the consultant or if Ratan Tata agrees to sponsor you then surely pay for a boat load of schools in advance.
I would counter any consultant's claim that packages help an applicant by suggesting that a consultant can meet the target and gain reputation by working with different applicants on individual schools and that there is no hard and fast rule that applicants essays are improved unless they pick a package.
I need to clarify that this post is not aganist any particular person or establishment. I am more than willing to share positive experiences, as I did in this post, and reviews that I may have in future. I hope applicants and consultants take this as an attempt for transition towards better policies.
In the end, I would say to any applicant, use your intelligence, which fetched you amazing laurels, talk to other applicants, and approach a consultant. Above all, have a control on your application, and make sure your consultant keeps up his end of the bargain.