www.Madhavidesai.com "We Build Futures"

	Education World ( August 2001 )	Business India ( May 29 - June 11, 2000 )
	India Today ( March 15, 1999 )	New Woman ( March, 1999 )
	Young Times ( February 2, 1999 )	Business India ( September 23, 1996 )
	Femina ( June 23, 1996 )	Bombay Times ( September26, 1995 )
	Femina ( September 8, 1994 )	Metropolis ( April 24-25, 1993 )
		Madhavi Desai Consulting was formerly called Universal Consulting, hence the reference in some of the following articles

“THE NEWLY EMERGENT TRIBE OF EDUCATION CONSULTANTS”
The rising cost of quality education and multiplying career choices available to the young has induced a growing number of middle class parents to avail the services of education consultants to ensure that their children get the best possible scholastic and career counseling advice. Dilip Thakore reports

'………..One such consultant who has built herself a good reputation for offering quality advice to students headed West, especially to the US, is Mumbai-based Madhavi Desai promoter-director of Madhavi Desai Consulting Pvt. Ltd. Since the company which employs 15 advisers/consultants was promoted in 1989, it has facilitated the admission of over 6000 students into American universities and provides higher education advice to parents and students (mainly non-resident Indians) in over 20 countries via its interactive website (madhavidesai.com).

"Contrary to popular perception, admission into universities abroad is a long and paper-intensive process with a lead time of 12-15 months and involves an expenditure of at least $1,000 (Rs. 47000). Applicants who don't know where to apply, about administration and visa procedures could end up spending time and money with little to show for it. Therefore a growing number of parents are willing to pay our consultancy fees ranging from Rs. 4,000-14,500 for advice on the universities, which are likely to accept their children, paperwork and procedural advice. We get to know each applicant and match him/her with institutions likely to accept them given their academic and extracurricular profiles. We also offer advice on students loans, scholarships and offer step-by-step advice relating to application procedures," says Desai.

Unsurprisingly Desai doesn't offer counsel relating to admission in to domestic universities and institutions on higher education. "In sharp contrast with universities abroad, especially in the US, the procedures and processes for admission into Indian institutions are chaotic and disorganized. On the one occasion I attempted to get some information for a NRI client from an Indian university. I got differing advice from three officials I rang up. Therefore instead of diversifying into offering consultancy services relating to the domestic market, we intend to mine 40 Indian cities from which we draw our clientele more intensively. There is a growing awareness across the country that the cost-benefit ratio of quality education is excellent," says Desai.

But while old guard educationists are unlikely to roll out the red carpet for the new tribe of consultants which has sprung up within the education sector because their arrival on the scene is further evidence of the "commercialisation of education", the upside of the education consultancy revolution is that members of this tribe have developed diverse skill sets with which they are enriching the learning process in differing and innovative ways……….'

Anyone who reads the Mid-Day and Bombay Times must be familiar with Madhavi Desai’s Study Abroad column. Now, in keeping with the times, her education consultancy Universal Consulting, started a decade ago, is all set to go online at www.madhavidesai.com. But that’s not all. From a plain vanilla service set up to help students applying to US colleges, Desai has emerged as a para-educationist: she’s been asked to an advisor to Indian schools in the Middle East.

“With the Internet we thought that business was going to die,” she says. But that obviously hasn’t happened. In fact, information overload due to the Net has created a lot of confusion and Desai is now approached by students who have surfed the Net for some 200 hours or so and yet don’t know which college to apply to. “ Because of hyper-information and how to percolate it down to what they need,” she adds. An investment of Rs. 10 lakh has been made for the dot.com.

Leveraging the Internet was a logical progression. In a little over two years, she says, “about 20 percent of our revenues come only from out-of-town children on the Internet.” Since the advent of the Internet and e-mail in 1995-96 the business has grown by 55 per cent, she adds. Via e-mail, Universal does the entire application process, instructions, advice, et al. In fact, students from 39 Indian cities have never visited Desai but go by her reputation. As everything is handled by phone and e-mail, the same office is able to handle larger volumes. One obvious advantage of going on-line is the reach it provides.

So what is madhavidesai.com? Quite simply, a one-stop shop for education. The site will not only provide all the services that the brick-and-mortar operation already provides, like how to apply and where to apply, but atleast 80 per cent of the information from the site will be available for free. In other words, at madhavidesai.com all you ever wanted to know about applying abroad will be served up on a silver platter. However, for those who don’t want the entire gamut of services but would prefer to consult for specific services like recommendation samples or college selections, charges are structured accordingly.

It’s not only the application process that Desai is helping with; the idea is to provide added-value services that are required to support the application process as well. For instance, the company has just signed an exclusive arrangement with DHL under which the DHL Web site can be accessed through madhavidesai.com and all students couriering application packages to the US can do so at 30 per cent the cost of an international courier. In a similar manner, Desai is working on arrangements for student loan packages.

Anyway, why madhavidesai.com and not Universal Consulting, the firm’s name? “Universal Consulting is our firm’s name. But no one identifies us as Universal Consulting. When we answer the phone and say ‘Universal’, they ask for Madhavi Desai’s office,” says Desai. Even Ask Me telephone services get queries for Madhavi Desai and not Universal Consulting. What has happened is that when people read the Study Abroad column, with no sign of the firm’s name. Hence, the name has become an existing brand. In fact, Desai is now changing the name of her firm to Madhavi Desai Consulting Pvt. Ltd.

Today Universal is a well-established brick-and-mortar business. Desai started Universal Consulting in 1989 after her return from the US. She found people asking her three standard questions – how did you go, how did you apply, and how did you get a scholarship? Her advice helped many students succeed with their applications. It was at this time that she decided to professionalise and start a service. From 1989 till January 2000 Universal has assisted 4,200 students, comprising the entire gamut from undergraduates, engineers, master’s degree-holders, and PhDs. Depending on the service sought, there is a fractured fee for the 15-month application process and the numerous manhours that it requires. For a flat fee of Rs.13,500, Universal handles everything from “where do I begin” till the students get their visa, and the students have unlimited access to the company.

Further, in the last decade, Desai has spoken to 15,000 students in the form of seminars. In the last three years, seminar twice a year in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Muscat have become a common feature. In fact, the Indian school system in Muscat has approached Desai to be an external adviser on a permanent basis. Considering that she currently helps students in 19 countries, she’s sure come a long way.

With overseas colleges aggressively vying with each other, the number of students going abroad soars By Nandita Chowdhury

But there is no mad rush to get into the first college that offers admission. The student profile is changing with the market clearly becoming more discerning. By and large today’s students do their homework well, the most important reason for the exodus being the quality of education. While the number of pay-and- study students have increased - and may go to foreign shores to buy a lifestyle - others want to be a part of global set-up.

Ask Jyotsna Sharma, 17, who is off to Melbourne this year to study aeronautics. “ Professional training in India may be adequate but it does not meet world standards. So if you want a job abroad you need an international education.”

The other factor is the entry of multinationals into the country and the consequent premium on professionals with international exposure and education. Desai explains: “In India there is no compatibility between what is taught and what is needed in the workplace.”

As a result, students are fast packing their bags. Like Amar Yashlaha, 22, who decided that if his parents could afford it, he owned himself the experience of studying in the world- class university. This besides the fact that “ a degree from a reputed foreign university would certainly increase your chances of getting a better job and salary, not just in India but worldwide”.

However, what has acted as the main catalyst is a directive from RBI which now allows individuals to remit $ 30,000 (Rs 12.8 lakh) a year towards educational expenses abroad.

Of course, there are the grey areas. In Australia and Canada there is no official gradation of universities. No scholarships are granted in Australia and so far as eligibility and academic criteria are concerned, officials often look the other way. For students eager to study abroad, though, these are minor hurdles.

On the brink of the new millennium, it is time we stopped and examined carefully our job choices and thought of the interesting new prospects and the future trends for the women, in their respective careers. Corporate downsizing and the technological change have reinvigorated and refocused traditionally female jobs that rely on helping and teaching skills. In a remarkable breakthrough, women are storming strong male bastions. As women avail of the advantages of the information highway, network marketing, on - line teaching and perhaps part - time careers will lead women to the domain of self - actualisation, creative satisfaction and the security of a good bank balance.

As companies reorganise and expand globally, there are plenty of opportunities for Executive - search consultants, who can connect clients with candidates anywhere in the world. And as companies try to get top management, female search consultants who are plugged in to women’s networks will be in demand.

For those with the right connections, this is a good place to jump from management consulting, advertising, insurance and other fields. In these stressful times, family and marriage counselling centres are likely to mushroom and trained counsellors will find jobs easily. Since fitness will be an important priority, personal trainers will be an important priority, personal trainers will be busier than ever. Modeling and fashion designing will see success never experienced before.

Even in difficult, downsizing times, women are poised to win the race for good jobs like sprinters on the starting blocks. That’s because female professionals and managers are already in occupations that promise the most growth over the next 10 years - and, perhaps, as a result, they’re less likely to be laid off than men.

“ After completing my Master’s with a full scholarship from Purdue University - USA, in 1988, I had the honour of being invited by the Greenwood Press, New York, to publish my thesis in their textbook called. “ The Politics of Industrial Recruitment”. Upon my return to Mumbai in 1989, I observed that the number of students who desired to study overseas had increased tremendously. However the infrastructure and access to information to assist them had not developed in the same proportion. Looking at the obvious gap in the market for this non-traditional service, I established Universal Consulting, which offers a professional turn key service to help students go overseas for their education, maximising their prospects of financial aid and admissions to suitable universities. By the turn of the century, we will have been in practice for 10 years. The strength of our firm is 12 and we have individually assisted over 3000 thousand in the last nine years of operations. Students come from 25 cities across India and the NRI students take our help from UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Netherlands, Hongkong, Switzerland, USA, UK, Norway, Singapore and Wales. For the latter, we are in the process of setting up an Email- commerce web - site. As it stands today all our out of Mumbai assistance is channeled through the net. There is tremendous potential for student counselling as there are hundreds of students leaving our shores to study abroad and sad, but true, several do not enrol at academically reputed universities. The general awareness is poor and students assume that any institution overseas has to be good and much better than those in our country. The success and future of the student depends on management of tacit knowledge and leveraging heavily on internet technology to deliver the results that students are looking for.”

Bombay based education counsellors, Madhavi Desai And Iris Madeira were in Dubai for the talk show, EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES ABROAD, organised by Khaleej Times. They spoke in length on various people -much more than we had anticipated. As a result, all could not be accommodated. So, Rana Fazal met up with the two counsellors for the benefit of those who could not be present…….

Madhavi Desai : I was in Purdue University in the United states where I did my MS in industrial Sociology and Management in 1986-88. While there I came across many students who were paying fancy fees, but not necessary going to good colleges. Now , if one decides to go abroad for higher studies , it should be an extremely informed decision. Not only because some much money is involved, but because they want their college education to be the best. Back in Bombay, I was giving talk on the issues involved.

Iris Madeira: actually, three of my buddies and I wanted to study in the United States. This was in 1990,after we had done our BA. But at that time, the united states were in recession and many fields of humanities had been scrapped, so we decided not to go. We met Madhavi at one of her lectures and got this idea of providing help to student wanting to go abroad. Thus we created a profession, a niche that wasn’t there.

MD : It’s like a turnkey operation. We are with student right from the start till they get to the university . We maximize the chances of the student, in that, we make sure that there are no errors in the application, and we minimize the time taken in running around for an admission abroad. We advise students what to expect at the visa interview and help them prepare for this very crucial interview.

YT : Could you tell us when the student should start planning for an education abroad?

MD : If you want to join up for a bachelors degree, then you should start planning about one and a half years prior to the academic session. For instance , a student hoping to start in August or September 2000, (most colleges in UK and US begin their academic sessions in August and September) should register by March or April 1999. But for an MBA , the registration should be two years prior to the academic sessions.

YT : Okay so once a student has decided to go abroad and comes to you, what do you do?

MD : our job is to identify the university the student is most likely to go to. This is done on some educational qualifications and requirements. Once that is done we send off the literature which is delivered directly to the student where he or she may be. The student is then registered for the SAT exams (for bachelors) and a GRE for ( MS and MBA) the we assist in getting letters of recommendation, transcript ( which mean cumulative grade reports) help with essay questions that are extremely important in the application form and send of the forms. While we wait for the responses - if admissions will be granted whether or not the financial assistance - we help parent prepare for the visa documents. All previous record are filed and the student are prepared for the visa interview.

MD: Phenomenal ! we expected about 100 student … we got around 300 per sessions and countless email. We need extra help to cope up with queries sent in by the student of the Gulf.

MD : Very pertinent question, though there was some amount of naivete, too regarding education in the United States. One has to realise that there are mediocre university and colleges there, too.

YT: You mentioned about essay questions in the application forms. Could you elaborate on this?

MD : There always essays to write in the form and they are vet complex issues. And for admissions, these could be the deciding factors, since almost everyone who’s applying has got good grades. The topics could be to write about an event which affected the way you look at society or about apiece of art or a book which has influenced your life or about a moment in your life which has changed you. Now these are topics that would ordinarily face a 16 years old.

YT: What would you advice? What co-curricular activities should student be involved in?

MD: Reading…lots of it! Basically the college authorities want student who’s aware of the world around him. So a student should not just concentrate on hi grades….but he should have the awareness of the world, the social issues of today. For instance, one college asked the student to write about a world economic event which might effect the country in the next five years, so student sin Asia are expected to know about the Asia meltdown. Hence the necessity of being well informed.

MD. Watch your grades. American universities evaluate grades four years prior to the enrollment. I’d ask the student to look at their Class 8 upwards.

MD: about Dh 60,000 per year for both master and bachelors degree. It costs roughly Dh 200 per lecture. That is why I would stress again that student should make a right choice where a foreign college is concerned.

YT: One last question. Is a degree from the US University better that that of say, UK or Australia?

MD : There are some top-notch colleges in Canada or UK or Australia no doubt. But I would say that a US degree is ticket to success, especially in the Asian context.

The idea of setting up an education-consulting firm occurred to Madhavi Desai when she was a student of industrial sociology in the US. “Many of my Indian friends were unhappy at their universities. I realised that people had no access to information and that there was a big market for guiding students who wanted to go overseas,” she says. So when Desai returned home in 1989 she started Universal Consulting out of a 200 sq ft office in Bombay. She never advertised, but word of her services quickly, and before she knew it, she had more students than she could ever cope with. Growth was the obvious solution: Universal Consulting now operates out of a more spacious office and has a staff of ten people. It is currently working with as many as two hundred students from 21 Indian cities and 7 foreign countries.

Today, however, Universal Consulting is but one of the numerous educational consulting firms that cater to the ever increasing number of students who wish to study abroad. While the quality of service each one offers varies drastically, they all promise to help students at each step of the complicated intimidating application and financial aid process, whether it be for undergraduate or graduate programmes. They begin by advertising students on the type of universities they ought to apply to, and then help them with their essays, recommendations, financial aid forms, and visa applications. All this for a fee of anywhere between Rs. 8,000 and Rs. 20,000.

“We help them brig out their personality in their essays. This isn’t easy since Indian educational system doesn’t encourage individuality,” says Desai. She also meets parents before taking on a student to understand “the totality of what they want” and sometimes “ to bring them in line with the aptitude of the kids.”

Throw a rock into any corner of the world and it will hit an Indian. Not fanciful thinking this - but the reality of how far Indians have gone over the globe. Increasingly, we are immigrating to foreign shores and settling down to better standards of living. And while that in itself could be a good thing, what is disheartening is how the best brains in the land don’t stay here very long.

Every year thousands of brilliant students leave India to seek their fortunes on foreign shores, never to return to their motherland as its citizen. The benefit of their brains goes to their new domiciles.

What does this mental exodus signify? That India doesn’t need bright minds in its research and development fields? That its needs for improved technological facilities are irrelevant to the young people who could bring them about? That it is not ironic that advanced technology created abroad by Indian genius has to be imported into India at great expense?

Why do so many of our countrymen leave their families, their friends, to search for greener pastures beyond our borders? Is it worth leaving you roots to opt for a life filled with occasional financial uncertainty and racial insecurity? Or is it because Indian genius is in danger of being underutilized in our country?

“ Whether the brain drain is justified depends upon the profession of choice. Research students in subjects like chemistry, biology and genetics have a greater scope in the west than in India, as do computer science and electrical engineering students, and, so, they are less likely to return on completing their education.

“ Then again, take a field like medicine, which has a pretty wide scope in India too. Various other factors play a key role in a student’s decision about returning to India. If a doctor has everything going for her here - family wealth, a substantial inheritance, etc - she would be more likely to return as she has all the necessary backing to set up her practice. The student whose capital is her brains would generally be the last one to return.

“ The trend of staying away will, however, soon reverse itself as more multinationals come into India. Business students - especially M.B.A.s - are the most likely to benefit and will probably return in droves. The west is now saturated, and it is a statistically proven fact that four out of every five small businesses there fail. And with so many opportunities opening up in India, returning would prove beneficial in the long run. Being a M.Sc. major in industrial sociology and management from Purdue University, Indiana, myself, I know I made the right decision in choosing to return. I’m stretched to my limits here, and I don’t feel I’ve missed out on any opportunities.

“ But if one thinks of returning, one must do so with the right attitude. A lot of ‘foreign returned’ people tend to grumble and grunt about crow shit on their car panes and cow dung on the roads. They have a lot of adjusting to do - the work environment being outstanding in the west - but as they have chosen to return, they should accept the Indian way of functioning”.

What Kind of a future does the Indian Education System offer to its students? Does the system merely aim at churning out students who appear to be high scorers-Thanks to coaching classes, tuitions and intensive cramming? or does it equip them to embark on a career and earn their own living? while some rue that system, quite divorced from the realities of the world outside is purely academically in its approach, others feel that it is as vocation oriented as any other education system in the world.

With plenty of entrepreneurial opportunities looming ahead, is our education system feeding the students with a syllabus that is irrelevant and percentage oriented?

Or does it prepare them to make the right career choices and help them attain financial

Independence? What kind of returns does the 15 years investment, to get a degree yield? More unemployed graduates in an already innundated milieu or professional who are Capable of shaping their own futures as well as that of the country.

Having taught undergraduates while doing my masters at Purdue University, I have seen that we learn only a quarter of what our western counterparts do. I don’t think the Indian System is geared towards any vocation. For instance, in the US, a B.B.A (Bachelor of Business Administration, equivalent to a four year B. Com degree), would land a student a job worth $ 2500, where she would even be able to buy herself a house. You definitely can’t do that here!

When an American arts student majors in sociology, she studies about the dying India tribe in Madhya Pradesh. Here we tend to skip a lot. What we learn in a bachelor’s degree in the course of three years, is taught in less than one semester there.

For us to be on par with them, we need to introduce a four - year bachelor programme Which is internationalized.

The Universal Consultant
(Madhavi Desai loves guiding students to foreign shores, find out Malathy G Iyer)

You are impressed . The specification for an appointment and directions to the universal consulting office in Worli bring forth a welcome answer from its owner Madhavi Desai : “let me fax you a route map.”

Even as you enter the education consultant’s office the next day pondering the benefits of the super information-highway, the sight of the couple of jeans -clad teenagers clicking away excitedly at an IBM computer affirms your observation. One is then not too surprised to find Bombay’s(India’s?) first professional educational consultant busy hunched over a lap-top in her room.

Madhavi, it would seem , believes that computers increase efficiency. “My husband and I used up all our money to buy an IBM while returning home from the US.” She reveals while permitting you a dekko at her firms presentation (designed after spending hundred man hours,” along with her husband and assistants) on the lap-top. In fact, it is mandatory for students to read the presentations (on the computer, of course) along with their parents before registering with Universal Consulting, which Madhavi started in 1989 to help students pursue higher education in the US (or the UK ,Canada or Australia).

On acceptance, the student (Madhavi adopts the first -come first serve policy rather than picking only meritorious students) has to log in to a computer his/her education particulars, preferences, etc-data that will help Madhavi shortlist about 10-12 suitable university colleges from 33,000 institutions in the US.

Over a year, Madhavi offers to select a suitable university and course for the students, all the while guiding them through the paper work-seeking recommendations, filing up forms and statement of purpose( she has an admissions hit ratio of hundred percent, with scholarship ratio of 95 percent for undergraduates and 55 percent for graduates.)

While the entire admissions procedure (right up to lectures on visa procedures) takes one year from the date of registration with Universal consulting , for best results Madhavi recommends that the top MBA school applicants and those seeking entry into undergraduate courses to enroll two years in advance.

Madhavi admits she was considered as a “odd ball” for venturing into education consultancy , but she has the right reasons.” When I was pursuing a post graduate degree in industrial sociology management at Purdue university in Indiana, I was often asked by the staff to verify the claims made in the admission material sent by Indian students. I then realised how ill-equipped our students were to present our cases to the universities,” says the former full scholarship student.

“As for myself, I spent a year in the US during my high school days as a rotary student. This helped me source a suitable course for my self but many don’t get this opportunity. Even at the USEFI, student have access to thick guide books but no expertise is offered. Youngsters and their parents often fail to probe the possibility of aid or the suitability of a particular course or college to the student.,” she feels

At this point, the interview is interrupted by an anxious parent on the telephone whose son had been in the top university for barely two days before wanting out. “There are many things to consider before the ranking of the university. The composition of the campus is a major consideration,” points out Madhavi after fixing a telephonic conversation with her former student.

For a lady who has helped 648 students , it is surprising that universal Consulting shins advertising. “ We depend only on the word-of- mouth publicity. Because I believe that in any professional consulting services, it is not ethical to advertise,” Madhavi say, adding that her only media exposure was weekly advisory column in the city eveninger. In spite of a low profile, Universal consulting has students approaching it from far-off Ranchi, Bhilai, Shimla, Cochin, Durg as well as Delhi, Nagpur, Pune Ahmedabad , and Anand. Ann as technology bridges distances, Madhavi also counsels students from Dubai and Kuwait albeit only by courier mail.

Excepting her first child in the first week of November, Madhavi’s maternity leave isn’t gonna be a typical one. She plans to keep abreast of each students progress and keep editing their SOP via telephone and email. An advice: never barge into Universal consulting without an appointment and for queries about charges and other details, call 494 6482

School For Counsel

(Amita Sarwal Profiles Madhavi Desai, who helps students study abroad.)

Come September and the country is witness to an exodus of students winging their way toward the West for higher education. Not many are able to make it though, owing to lack of advice and knowledge.

As the demand grows, so do the number of people who step in to guide and counsel the youngsters to select the right ‘schools’. These are in form of foreign bodies helping prospective students study at a school of their choice. In addition, visiting professors come in, soft selling their schools, armed with flash movies of campuses that bowl young minds over.

Yet another genre has also come in. Counsellors. Whether they are qualifies for the job or not is another matter. Most of them , professing to be authorities on the subjects, haven’t studied there or attained first hand experience of education and living abroad. These fly-by night operators, having latched on to what they know is a lucrative profession have given other professional student counsellers a dubious reputation.

“ Yes, that’s the sad part. These people even guaranteeing admission, and the disillusioned student come to us , hoping we will help them out of the mess they are in,” says Madhavi Desai, who heads her own consultancy firm.

Madhavi,30, has been in the business for over two years now. She realised the need for the service while doing her masters degree in industrial sociology and management from the Purdue University, Indiana. “ Whenever I would come home for a vacation, friends and students here would ask me to help them fill out forms and suggest colleges to them. While at Purdue I had a full scholarship, in lieu of which I taught criminal sociology and sociology of law to undergraduates there. Simultaneously, I worked on my thesis on -‘ Japanese Automobile Market in the USA,’ which was very big at that time. It has since been published in a text book now used for reference in schools there,” she recalls.

She advised her first student six years ago, while still at Purdue. “ He was an NRI and is about to complete his masters today. That got me thinking: if he need help, I am certain there will be plenty of students who would be in need of counselling. I set up an office at Shivsagar Estate ,Worli. As a consultant, I have to have this body of knowledge based on my experience in the states to help me in my job,” she says.

She has witnessed a trend wherein parents pay huge sums of money just to get an ‘American degree’ for their wards. She feels that most of these students could have spent their time at better colleges. “ There are approximately 3,300 schools for the bachelors studies and over 1,500 for the master’s and PHD’s. Where does one begin? How can one sit here and know which is the right one ? So one cant blame them for selecting a wrong one. When I decided to go in consultancy in right earnest, I knew there would be no shortcuts. I then subscribed to the manuals of about 900 universities for undergraduates and fed the data into my computer. One must realise that there is a lot of community colleges and regionally accredited colleges some of which are equivalent to our typing schools. These should be avoided,” she reveals.

Madhavi’s method of functioning involves a preliminary meeting for an hour or more with the student to enable her to find out what he is interested in or has the aptitude for. “ It is a one -to-one sessions as it can work only that way. Mostly, they are very enthusiastic and want to enroll immediately. But I send them home, tell them to discuss it with their parents and come back again with atleast one of them. By then , I too can gauge their level of earnestness,” she stresses. It is after this initial meeting that Madhavi gets to understand from the parents the amount of money they are willing to spend.

“This is the time I open their eyes to other fields. For example, I’ve had students hell-bent on a medical school and not being able to make it by just a whisker. They are shattered . I tell them of the vast range of allied subjects for which they might even get scholarships such as bio-tech research or genetic engineering. They realise they have the options open before them,” she reasons.

Pre-applications letters are mailed out to about 50 schools catering to persons area of interest. It takes a month before the universities starts responding, sending a complete application package. “ that’s when I warn kids that these are glorified marketing tools sent to them. Some of them, with these alluring catalogues, basically think they are already on the flight to USA,” she smiles.

Speaking of scholarships, she says, “ At the end of the day, call them what you like, they are basically sugar coated or gift wrapped discounts that the university offers to draw you in. A lot of people are not aware, but the reason is basically this. At the moment due to recession enrollment in the universities has declined. When a local resident of, say, Texas state, paying a tuition fee of about $5,000 goes to study in New York state, he pays out of station tuition fees, which can be anywhere from $18 to $ 20,000. So he chooses to study in his own state.”

The student going from India has to pay this OST too. Seeing how the current recessionary trend has made it hard for the students to go to colleges, they are now looking for students elsewhere. The United States has targeted India along with Japan, Taiwan, and Philippines as markets to bring in standard from, which could be the reason for the influx of foreign students , and in the bargain they are filling their coffers. Numerous local colleges call Madhavi to speak to their students. She also does a popular fortnightly column titled “US Calling” for a popular eveninger. She has worked out a survival guide for the student applying for the 'British Airways’ ‘ wings of success’ scholarship. The last giving basic information on how to register, where to get one’s insurance from and the like.

“I find there is such a tide. Everyone carries a Baron’s around, appears for SAT whether s/he want to go abroad or not. I won’t encourage this as I look for the strong committed student. I have an incredible relationship with these youngsters but my other love is working with graduate students. They are more mature, serious and willing to further their knowledge. The universities there are looking for calibre and brains as much as they need funding, so when I come across such a student I try and swing maximum funding from them,” she says.

Madhavi states that students are often confused whether to join an Ivy League college or a smaller equally competitive state college. “ I have cases with parallel admissions into one Ivy with a tab of $25,000 to $30,000 and a smaller school at $15,000 to $20,000. Taking into account the calibre of the latter, I advise to opt for it. Especially for the first two years as I know what goes into teaching undergraduate. It is English 1-0-1,Maths 1-0-1, basic levels of the courses. After that if they are so hot to trot, I advise them to build the scholarship money within that university or get fantastic grades and transfer into a Ivy league with a funding. Many of my students have done that and the parents are grateful to me for the money saved. I concede that there is a certain aura about the Ivy league. You might walk and talk smarter if you are at Harvard. That is a little “jacket” you wear in comparisons to the state university. And why not? But I tell them, go out and earn it. The bottomline to keep in mind is the money your parents are spending,” she points out.

Madhavi starts her day at nine in the morning and if she gets home by 8 p.m., she is happy. The morning is spent answering mail, planning and administrative chores. She spend all afternoon meeting students. In all, she spends over 80 hours with each clients spread over a year or more. “ I have built up such a rapport with most of them that they keep in touch with me even now,” she enthuses.

My husband did his MS in immunology and genetics at Purdue. Then he did his MBA. He is now in the cooperate sector here and I’m an entrepreneur , having started my own consultancy. We are both very happy to be back,” she proclaims.