Looking to study abroad? Collegify can help you decide
When Adarsh Khandelwal and Rohan Ganeriwala, met at St Xavier's College in Calcutta, it was the time of thumping heart beats with soaring board results and high cut-offs at most of the well renowned colleges in India. The struggle of students to get admissions in colleges of their choice abroad or choosing different lines and the helplessness due to low percentages inspired this duo to set up an educational consultancy. The key focus was offering honest, genuine and well-researched information to parents and students who are looking at an option of studying abroad. They initially started as “Roads” where classroom preparation for the SAT, GRE and GMAT was offered to students in Calcutta. The huge success of Roads led to consulting and finally gave birth to... Collegify! www.collegify.com is a global venture that guides aspiring students to apply to top academic institutions abroad, in pursuit of undergraduate or postgraduate studies. Collegify motivates students to strive towards excellence and make them college ready through a mentoring process.
A team of experienced passionate mentors who have graduated from leading international universities, guides students at Undergraduate & Post Graduate levels, MBA, University trips etc. The team studies the overall portfolio of the student, not necessarily a particular skill set but their merit and what they bring to the table holistically. Special emphasis is given to their academic records and other factors like passion, motivation and confidence in ones abilities. “The team also works on specific projects with students which allows them to portray leadership skills outside the perimeter of a classroom. We've worked with students who have scored far lesser than others in their board examinations, but the work that they have done outside the classroom has been phenomenal. Each student is met a couple of times at least before he or she is registered for the consulting services” says Adarsh.
“The registration process is very straightforward and we like to keep it that way! We believe in getting done with the formalities and getting started! The process of registration begins with the student meeting the mentor team as it’s important for both to be comfortable with and like each other. Post the interaction the services to be provided to the student are discussed with the student and his/her parents. The entire process in simple steps is available on the website - www.collegify.com as well” says Rohan.
The mentor team holds several workshops for the students to help them interact better by way of writing, group discussions on current affairs or mock interviews. To make students responsible towards their own environment, be well versed with history and grow a sense of accountability, the team takes the students to tours of heritage sites, art museums, plays... etc.
Since this is a result-driven industry, the services provided to the students are completely based on scientific processes. So they go right from assessing the eligibility, interest and potential of the student for the selected college/ Univ. or purpose, financial capability, building resumes, aptitude analysis, framing personal statements, lengthy college essays and supplements, effective recommendations, resume building, college short listing and interview preparation and many more. A student is hand holded by collegify and its mentor team from the time he/she signs up, till the point the student doesn't get accepted in any of the colleges. Most of the students stay associated with the team and come back and do their interns. The fee charged from the students differs from consultation to the final call. Though convenient installments have been designed for the students to pay their fees. Payments can be made by cheque, cash, credit card or wire transfer.
Collegify offices are located in Calcutta, New Delhi, Bangalore, Jaipur and Singapore. The primary reason behind opening offices in these locations was to address the rising educational need of the students to study abroad. These cities needed a fresh outlook and perspective and that is what Collegify.com is attempting to give.“Over the years our students have gained admission to the very best universities, which even they thought was beyond their reach. Till date we've placed nearly 600+ students in 2 years. Our MBA admissions' consulting has helped many applicants gain admission to top schools like HBS, Wharton, INSEAD, HEC Paris, LBS, IIM Ahmedabad amongst others” says Adarsh. For MS and PhD programs students have got admissions in various institutions such as MIT, Cornell, Carnegie-Mellon, NYU and UC Berkeley in the US, Oxford, LSE, Imperial College and Warwick in the UK, NUS and NTU in Singapore amongst others.
We're often asked about competition and what or how you feel about it? To be honest, we're an organization that looks more at ourselves than others around us. We're more about introspection and constantly strive to improve our standards and raise the bar! We are not sponsored by any educational institute or government body.
Our team of mentors are achievers from different walks of lives, all of whom have a degree from a highly ranked university from the US, UK or Singapore. They've worked abroad and are leaders. What they bring to the table is experience, which is passed on to students who respect and appreciate firsthand accounts. A few of the key mentors are Arjun Puri, Shivangi Bajoria, Arijit Sen and many more.
“We have nearly 20,000 likes on our Facebook! And we believe, this is a wonderful platform for us to share information with students, at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. To market our services, we are looking at blogging more effectively apart, we work in conjunction with schools and colleges when they're hosting important student festivals. We've also hosted several top universities and worked with them, during their visits to India. Also, there are adverts around city centers” says Rohan.
As a long-term vision, the company is looking at expanding to other cities and working towards creating newer technologies that will assist and ease the application process for the students. There's a lot on the horizon for Collegify and we're sure the public will get to see the developments over the next couple of years!