DESCRIPTION

‘‘One must be confident of getting accepted when applying again in the future’‘

INDIANS DON’T WANT TO DEFER STUDIES ABROAD BY A YEAR

The Covid-19 pandemic has compelled students applying for colleges abroad to make tough choices and rethink their plans, as choosing to defer a year comes with multiple concerns. Speaking to The Sunday Guardian, Vibha Kagzi, Founder and CEO of ReachIvy.com, said that one must be very confident of getting accepted when applying again in the
future. She said, “It can be a risky move as a golden chance, such as this one, may not come twice.” Moreover, some colleges have confirmed that if a student who has been granted a scholarship decides to defer, they will not forward their scholarship along with their admission.

ReachIvy.com has also revealed that over 80% of their admitted students have decided not to opt for deferral. And those who have decided to defer, it is due to personal circumstances and the duration of the degree they wish to pursue. “We are seeing a higher deferral rate in the case of short-term courses or one-year programmes. Students opt to start their
programmes online in case of longer duration ones, knowing they still get an on-campus experience,” Vibha Kagzi told The Sunday Guardian.

For Indian students, the most obvious concerns involve juggling various time zones as classes move online and losing out on the “campus experience”. Besides this, the online classes miss out on providing a robust peer-to-peer interaction and utilising various academic resources and facilities which are an indispensable part of their study.
Despite this, students are thinking of their degree as a long-term investment. They are looking to be accepted into the work market as professionals with prestigious credentials.
“Several sectors are booming, for example, edtech, pharmacy, pharma, high technology, apps, e-Commerce, etc. Zoom rose by 273%, Amazon by 49% and PayPal by 66%t, for instance. Growth in these sectors compensates the lack of growth in other sectors,” said Vibha Kagzi.

She added, “Universities have made massive technological progress since March and have completely tailor-made their classes to suit online platforms, in their best attempt to ensure a seamless transition to online learning plus blended models. For example, The University of Cambridge is prepared to welcome as many students as possible to Cambridge for the start of the next academic year and is committed to continuing to deliver high-quality education and rich student experience. Several other universities across the USA, UK, Canada, Singapore and Europe have made arrangements to open up campuses and are welcoming students on campus, while observing social distancing norms and taking all safety precautions.”
Also, this phase has been a high time for consultancy on overseas education. Instead of soaring low demand, student enquiries and enrolments are on the rise due to limited job opportunities in the market, almost no promotions, layoffs and wage cuts. “We have seen a surge in applications due to economic situations and job market conditions, which might result in a more competitive application pool,” Vibha Kagzi told The Sunday Guardian.

ABOUT THE COMPANY

ReachIvy is a premium education and career advisory that helps aspiring students get accepted into top tier educational institutions globally. We have successful admits at MIT, Columbia, Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, London School of Economics, University of Michigan, Oxford, University of Chicago amongst others.

Vibha Kagzi, Founder and CEO, ReachIvy, holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, and a Bachelor of Science from Carnegie Mellon University. She has also pursued courses at the University of California, Berkeley, the London School of Economics and the Indian School of Business.

Our global team of counsellors have also acquired their degrees from premier institutes and are passionate about sharing their experiences with students worldwide.