But was I always like this? The answer is a big ‘No’. Let me take you down my memory lane. It all began back when I was in school. One of the most prestigious schools in Delhi – Springdales Public School. I was getting the best education so I began dreaming of continuing with this trend in my life. I graduated from Delhi University and that was one more dream come true. Now the stage was set for the final destination. I wanted to pursue my post-graduation in the USA, a dream that people aspire towards even today, and I am talking about the nineties.

Then came the shocker! Simply put, I couldn’t afford it. Although my father was employed with ‘The Times of India’, in no way could he afford the expense of my education there. Then, miraculously, a distant relative, living in the US, visited India and offered to help me out. He offered to fund my education by extending a loan to me that I could pay back after the completion of my studies. It seemed my dream was back on track.

I began researching the universities and finally selected one. I began preparing for the eligibility exams and cleared them too. Thereafter, I applied for admission to the university of my choice and soon received my admission confirmation letter. I was on cloud nine! Only one hurdle was yet to be overcome. That was the VISA. To my utter disappointment, I was refused a Visa on the grounds that my parents were not financially sound. My world came crashing down and I was left inconsolable and embarrassed. It was like I had lost the will to live.

My family, especially my father, was a pillar of strength during that time. He helped me recover and I continued my teaching journey, here in Delhi. A couple of years down that road and I could observe that students were very vulnerable when it came to career choices. They were young, energetic and had big dreams but no concrete road map to achieve them. I have always believed that I was blessed in that my students trusted me completely and shared their problems with me. I always did my best to help them. Soon, I was more of a career coach to them than just a teacher. This was like my second beginning. A Career Coach. I was selected by a leading career counselling company as their Associate Counsellor for Delhi NCR region. I was trained and given full support by their team. I was helping students understand their core competencies and weaknesses. I guided them at polishing their strengths and working on their weaknesses. As a result, my students had clarity about their careers and could put their best foot forward.

I was mentoring them for availing study abroad opportunities. However, these were mainly high-ticket consultations. Students from affluent families were approaching me for it. I had always been known as a good strategist so I was doing this successfully.

Even so, there was another awakening awaiting me. There were a few students who wished to go abroad for higher studies and belonged to middle class background. They had dreams but no path to achieve them. It was like I was revisiting my own past. As time passed, I could see it was a prevalent trend and was able to relate to it.

As you all know, admissions have always been very difficult in India. The percentages are too high. We all know universities like Delhi University have near 100% eligibility criteria. On the other hand, there is a gap of demand and supply. The seats in the colleges are just not enough to accommodate all students. Students have opportunities abroad but they don’t know how to avail them. Some students do try to make use of the Internet but it’s not enough. Sometimes they end up in the wrong hands. There are a lot of misconceptions and misinformation about the complete and correct procedure. Consequently, they lose out on big opportunities and chances of having happy careers.

Over the years, I had exposed myself to all the processes and procedures. I had this belief that I could mentor them and help them realise their dream. Just this thought gave me so much satisfaction that I set out and formed ‘Study Abroad Academy’. Since then, I have groomed thousands of students to realise their dream by helping them get admission in various universities around the world. It’s like payback time. I will not let anyone fail in his or her endeavour just because of lack of proper guidance and information.

With over 30 years of my experience with teaching  and more than 10 years of experience counselling, I know I can get them placed in the best universities worldwide and give them happy careers.