Overseas studies with so many options can certainly be very confusing, tiring and tedious process, if not planned properly. “A journey of thousand miles start from the first step” and the first step in this direction is to start early in a planned manner. On the other hand, a well-planned approach with reference to international studies can result into much more time for researching, making well informed right decisions, saving lot of money with scholarships and most importantly securing student’s future. You get to choose the best between many possible options. It helps you bring in efficiencies in reference to all other post admission processes like accommodations, air tickets, VISA processing etc.

First and most essential requirement is the ‘Clarity of Mind’ – The clarity of mind means as a student or parent you should have absolute clarity with reference to the following –

1.     Purpose – Why you want to pursue overseas studies? 

2.     Course / Degree or Diploma - What do you want to study?

3.     College / University - Where do you want to study from?

4.     Country selection for overseas study - What is your expectation - a good paying job, permanent residency or come back to home country?

5.     Financial Bandwidth - What is your ability to fund your overseas studies?

6.     Educational Loan or Scholarships - What could be other possible funding options?

7.     Course benefits and university’s overall and course rank -Why should you choose particular course and university?

The absolute clarity on these 7 questions will help you in taking a right, well informed decision. This can be achieved through the professional help of a reliable, trusted consultant. At ‘Edustori LLP’ our results are testimony to the fact that we spend a lot of quality time in finding the clarity for all these 7 questions so that every individual is a happy individual and owns up his own decision-making process. Our dedicated research team helps individuals at every stage of this explorative journey. We are a call away for any kind of help /query. You can ask any question and resolve your queries by writing in to us at info@edustori.com  

Is there a right time to start the process?    

While there is no right time for starting study abroad process but starting early say from 9^th grade onwards is a decent idea. The clarity of the above mentioned 7 questions will help you know exactly when should you start.

If one is aspiring for admission into USA, Canada, UK, IVY League colleges or Top 50 Universities Globally, certainly 9^th onwards is the ideal time as you need to adequately build your profile (academic as well as non-academic) basis the university’s requirement for securing admission. Academic profile consists of your performance in class 10^th to class 12^th, research projects along with some of the international tests like SAT, AP etc. Non-academic profile consists of your exposure and proficiency in extra-curricular activities like sports, debates, other hobbies, creativity, leadership, social work and entrepreneurship ventures.

For other countries and universities, one may require a little lower preparation time wrt profile building and allied works. However, it is important to keep in mind that for undergraduate admission assistance one should not delay and certainly take professional help from 11^th grade itself.

Let me elaborate this with one student’s case.

Mr. Prashant Singh – father of Ananya Singh contacted me for counseling session for her daughter. Ananya was class 9^th student studying at one of the prestigious schools of Delhi. During the process we figured out that Ananya is very intelligent, smart and inquisitive student. We realized that she is quite passionate about space, space engineering since childhood times. While her overseas study admission intake is fall 2024, she took up our professional guidance services and has already been working on her profile since last 1.5 years. As she is only targeting top US universities hence, this journey of well curated profile building and extra efforts is one of the most essential requirements along with her regular school routine.

Know more details on www.edustori.com for profile building services.

Author : Amit Rathi (Director & Co-Founder Edustori).

Sales & General Management professional, Edtech entrepreneur with 25 years of rich General Management experience at P&L roles in the telecom and FMCG industries. Have worked at senior levels with large reputed Multinational organizations like Gillette India, Hutchison Essar, Vodafone India.