The Role of Admission Consultants in India

In current scenario with increasing number of Educational Institutions, the number of admission consultants is also growing. Most of the students and their parents prefer going for a professional help for proper guidance and information related to the admission. But before approaching any education counselor or consultancy for help it is better to start with your own research and at least to have a fair knowledge about your options available. It is better to know your academic capabilities and areas of interest. Make a list of your plus points so that it can help you in choosing a Right Career Path. It is a good idea to start gathering information about the future prospects of your interested areas to at least develop a general idea about the field. Next step is of discussing the budget with your parents that you can afford and whether you are in a need of education loan or not.

The reason behind writing this article is to spread awareness about the scam in the admission consultancy industry. There are many instances in India where many students and parents were cheated by fake consultants:

Recently in December 2016, Delhi police busted a racket that use to dupe MBBS Applicants for Admission in medical colleges of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan after the complaints made by many victims in the nearby area. Chhattisgarh police arrested a wanted 40-year-old man with the help of Delhi Crime Branch.
In November 2014, Rajesh Kumar Oberoi of Delhi filed a complaint against 3 people (Sunil Mehta, Subravir Chakravarty, and Rajendra Prasad) for fraud and cheating as they were at large and not reachable via mobile. Accused also threatened MBBS Applicant with dire consequences on filing a complaint against them.
MBA fake admission racket was arrested for charging INR 15 lakh from each student for promising to get admission in Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS) college and without entrance examination in May 2013.
Another case of MBBS dupe case was noticed in July 2013, when at least 8 people came forward to complain against Pramod Mandal of Sagar Education Solutions Pvt. Ltd in Belapur. He with his 2 accomplices did fraud of approximately INR 52 lakh in different states of India.
In November 2013, a 43-year-old fake admission consultant of Education Wise was arrested in Delhi for cheating more than 2 dozen MBBS Aspirants.

Many of them are still out there and cheating students and parents without being caught, so it better to aware and alert before falling into their alluring trap.

Who are Admission consultants?

An Educational Admission Consultant is an experienced professional and expert that provide expert advice and assist in making an educational decision for higher studies to the students and their parents. Admission consultancy helps in making an educational decision by giving advice and piece of information on various related issues such as tuition fees, admission forms, competitive examinations and related study materials, etc.

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Need of education consultants:
With growing trend of hiring admission consultants, it is quite hard to find an authentic consultancy that will truly focus on the personal benefit and growth of a student. With growing competition among admission consultancies, their focus of guiding students for the right career path has shifted to giving more admissions so that they can earn more profits.
But that does not mean all admission consultancy and counselors are there just to make money some of them are actually reliable and help you to solve your confusion. After all admission related procedure can be stressful and often confuse for you as well for your parents. Hence, a professional like education consultancy who is in this field since many years can be a boom for any applicant. Below is the list of tips that can help you in recognizing and short listing a good admission consultant as per your requirements.

Tips before choosing an education or admission consultant:

Authenticity: Look for certification and authentication.
Feedback: Try to talk to students who have taken that particular admission consultancy(s) service.
Potential of a consultancy: Background checking of the founder also helps in determining the capabilities of that particular admission consultancy.
Explore and research: Take the help of forums and search engines like Google to gather more information about an admission consultancy while short-listing.
Clarity: Do not hesitate while asking for the assistance that they can provide and up to what extent to avoid confusion.
Personal touch: It is necessary to find a consultant that fits your style and can understand the requirement.
Misguiding information: Many times consultancies tries to misguide you by luring with confusing facts for example if a particular admission consultancy has expertise in MBA field then that does not mean it will be good with MBBS field as well.
Market value: If any consultancy approaches you, you can any time ask for their brand value in the market and later you can check their credibility online.
Fake claims: Always remember no consultancy can guarantee admission in a particular college or institution and if they then leave the room immediately.
Hidden charges: 1st of all always remember all authentic admission consultancies are free of cost they do not charge for their services as they are being paid by the educational institutions on the basis of admission given. Do not get lured by the acclaimed guaranteed admission in the expense of extra payment because there is no such thing.
Location: Make sure the consultancy has a proper office in your city and you can reach them without any hassle. Always pay a visit to their office for understanding about the organization, their capabilities and helps you understand your consultant more.
Transparency: Do not hesitate in asking about their educational partners, authorized license number, etc.
Landline number: If a consultancy approaches you via phone do not forget to ask for landline number because it minimizes the chances being cheated.
Source of getting your information and number: You can always ask questions like-Where you got my number, how did you find it, etc.
The motive behind their services: You can also ask about the purpose and motive behind the services they are providing to students.
Crosscheck facts: Always crosscheck the information shared to you via any consultancy.
Always ask yourself the need of consultants: Before committing to any consultancy always evaluate and search for free references and options available online.
Licensed psychologist: To guide through as per the need of a particular student it is necessary to understand the psychology and state of mind of the applicant as well.
Never handover original documents to any consultancy.

Questions to ask from an admission counselor:

How can you add help me in adding value to my application form?
How are you different from other consultancies?
What are the criteria of short-listing colleges and with kind of clients you work with?
How do you guide students and what are your consulting methods?
Approximate time taken in the whole admission and related Counseling Procedure?
You can also ask for statistics related to students who were successfully placed in colleges by them.
You can also ask for study materials that can help you in getting admission entrance examination.
How much assistance can they provide in education loan?
Can they schedule a college visit for finalizing admission?
Which courses are better as per you interests and hobbies with their future scope?