STEP 1: RESEARCH on and SHORTLIST your list of US Universities for your selected area of interest/major
Our help: We will help you shortlist the right US Universities based on your interest area, career plan, short and long-term goals, current academic background and scores, budget, anticipated SAT or ACT scores and more. We provide a list of AMBITIOUS, MODERATE and SAFE Universities for you to select from and help you finalize the last list of 8 (sometimes 10) US Universities. Tip: Select your Universities based on your major. Most students tend to select Universities simply based on US University rankings. So while NYU, Harvard, UPenn, MIT and such Universities are great at whatever they teach, there are also Colleges like Harvey Mudd College, Pomona College, Middlesbury College and such top Colleges that are great study places
STEP 2: BOOK TEST DATES for your SAT, SAT II and TOEFL or IELTS. Generally, students do the research on schools after knowing their SAT score. We recommend you do it the other way round. Ideally, your SAT or ACT preparation should go alongside your University shortlisting. Learn it all here about SAT, SAT II, TOEFL and IELTS
Our help: We coach you for these tests. We help you finalize the right test dates and register for the same. We help you with shortlisting the right US Colleges concurrently. Tip: Validity of SAT test or ACT test is 5 years. Its best to prepare for SAT or ACT during your holidays after 10th std. or as soon as you finish your 11th std.
IBDP students must definitely avoid doing SAT during year 2 of studies since everything will then fall around November ie. application deadlines for US application, extended essay submission deadline, pre-term examinations, preparation for the final examinations
STEP 3: POPULATE the admission requirements including essay questions (or SOP requirement) for each University and COLLECT admission documents that include sealed transcript (from School or Junior College – as many copies as the number of Universities you are applying to), recommendation letters (check STEP 4 below), CV (updated), passport copy (scan – front and last page), marksheets (all since grade 9 – scan them, may be required at a later date), financial documents (balance certificate, bank statement, fixed deposit copy, affidavit of support or financial declaration form provided by the University), community service letters, etc. Ensure that you have clearly understood the application deadlinefor each University and whether you are going to use the Early Decision (ED) Plan, Early Action (EA) Plan, or the Regular Decision (RD) Plan. To know more about ED, EA, RD, refer to our Bachelors in USA section. Check out the full list of documents required for applying to US Universities
Our help: We will populate the requirement for each University that you are applying to and will submit it to you in the form of a grid for easy viewing with options to keep updating the file. We will help you decide whether you should opt for ED, EA or RD for each University. Information we provide to you includes Undergraduate Admission Link, Online Application Link, Deadlines, No. of LORs needed, SAT Codes, Address to post any document, Essay questions for all your selected US Universities, SOP requirements (if any) (each University will want to see some specific information in your SOP), and anything that we feel will be very useful to you – saving your time and energy (so that you could concentrate more on your main admission process and School/College education). We will check all the documents you are collecting or answer any queries that you keep having during the process. We will provide the requisite formats / samples of CV, SOP, essays, LORs, etc. We will discuss on how much finance needs to be shown to the Universities.
Your School counsellor or (Junior) College counsellor upload / update your School reports, predicted grades, recommendation, etc. You must however ensure that you are well within deadlines and you leave enough time for your school counsellor to finish the process
STEP 4: Begin ONLINE or PAPER Applications for each University. REGISTER your referees online and/or collect the recommendation letters (on the letter headed paper of the Company / Institution). Most US Universities prefer the online method of submitting recommendations. You will need to register each referee (using their company / institutional email – no yahoo, gmail or outlook) and your referees will receive an email with instructions to submit the recommendation letter online. Through your online application portal, you will be able to see if your referee has ‘started’ with the recommendation submission or has ‘completed’ the recommendation letter submission process.
Typically, you will be looking at the following methods of freshmen applications to US Universities:
- COMMON APPLICATION through which you can apply to over 500 US Universities. Some names include: New York University (NYU), University of Southern California (USC), Boston University (BU), University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) and many more
- UC APPLICATION throughwhich you can apply to all Universities under the University of California umbrella which include UC Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, UC Davis, UC Irvine and more
- UTEXAS through which you can apply to mostly all popular Universities in Texas including University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), Texas A&M University and others
- DIRECT standalone applications where you will apply separately and not through any Common App System to Universities like University of Wisconsin Madison, Indiana University Bloomington and many more
- PAPER applications where some US Universities prefer that you apply in the paper form. For mostly all pathway programs, you will be using paper application method
Our help: You can see above that the process is tedious. Our application grid, timelines that we prepare for you all help you in ensuring that you are not missing on any deadlines. We assist you in filling the application forms correctly. We discuss on who should be the right referee based on your profile, work undertaken at your organization (s), etc. We edit any content that you wish us to look at. We check your forms thoroughly and explain the plan of action that you need to follow for each University application submission
STEP 5: WRITE your ESSAYSand/or PERSONAL STATEMENT (or STATEMENT OF PURPOSE). Each University may ask you to write either an SOP or up to 3-4 essays (topical). Thus, if you are applying to 8 US Universities you may end up customizing about 18 to 24 essay statements. Essay writing will be the longest process. Top US Universities are very keen on knowing YOU well and the better the content of essays, the better are your chances of admissions to your dream US University for pursuing your undergraduate study in the US
Our Help: We do limitless iterations to your Essays, Statement of Purpose (SOP), Personal Statement, Academic Statement. Every statement is checked, reviewed, edited, or suggested content is discussed. We help you customize it for each University. We keep brainstorming with you. Ask any of our students and they will say we help you bring out crisp and the finest essays. US essay editing is a two way process. You keep sending us the essays and we keep reviewing them critically. We come with ideas and guide you through the process of creating them. We also help you with your scholarship essay and application!
STEP 6: Check andSUBMITeach application before the deadline. Your referees should also submit their recommendations before the application deadline. REPORT your SAT and ACT scores online through the testing agencies. Your selected US University should receive the online score report before the application deadline. POST your transcript and other necessary documents to the right address (some Universities do not require anything to be couriered to them until they have made a decision)
Our Help: We check your application, find errors (if any) and help you correct them and suggest you on the next steps after the submissions. We help you report your scores online. We check your documents before they are dispatched to the University
STEP 7: FOLLOW UP with the Universities and ensure that they have received your documents and that nothing is missing. SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION – some US Universities need you to finish a separate scholarship application; so keep an eye on it and keep searching for opportunities
Our Help: At this stage, it is important to keep an eye on your emails and application portals as sometimes you may be missing some information. We help you solve any issues that come up. We help you with any scholarship or funding applications at this stage. We keep sharing any useful information or opportunities that come up
STEP 8: INTERVIEWS. This is your final step before receiving an acceptance or rejection. Many top US Universities require you to attend an interview over skype orthrough a telephone call, or sometimes in-country personal interviews conducted by their Alumni. In general, these interviews can be conducted by the admissions committee or can be informal alumni interviews
Our Help: Our students keep reaching this stage. We have a list of questions that students are being asked from a large no. of popular US Universities. We offer you mock rounds and provide some great interview tips. We help you raise the bar! We correct you, we inspire you, we prepare you!
STEP 9
STEP 10: PAY the required deposit as required by the University
Our Help: We will help you make this crucial decision and also guide you on the financial matters, including how to transfer the deposit and getting you a confirmation from the University
STEP 11: I20. Finish the I20 request form and send it to the University (online or by post). If you have finalized on joining a University that did not request for your financial documents during the application stage will ask you to send them these documents now
Our Help: We help you with guiding you on filling the form correctly
STEP 12: VISA. Pay the SEVIS fee. Prepare your financial documents for the F1 visa application. Book a student visa appointment and apply for the visa. An interview by the US embassy is compulsory. Prepare well
Our Help: We will help you finalize your financial documents, check if they are in order and guide you in filling the F1 visa form and taking the US student visa appointment. We conduct mock visa interview sessions and thoroughly prepare you for the visa application and interview
Step 13: BOOK accommodation, flight tickets, buy forex, do your travel insurance, do the required vaccinations (your university will have sent you this information about the required vaccinations)
Our Help: We guide you as much as possible with all of the above
STEP 14: FLY. Once you receive the visa, celebrate, buy your stuff, pack your bags, and fly
Our Help: We will provide a pre-departure brief (eg. what to carry when you are going, about life in the USA, etc.), help you connect with other students going to the USA. Enough! We can’t fly for you. But what we can surely do is – stay connected!
Once you reach safely, do drop us a line of text or email. We’d love to hear from you!
USA Admission Counseling
In case you’re confused about your studies in USA, we can help you solve the problem. Once we meet you, and your parents or spouse, we ask you questions to get a clearer idea of your preferences, restrictions, and goals. This will allow us to make a range of suggestions with regard to locations and universities. With more discussions we’ll help you pick between them and narrow it down to the right selection of safe, moderate and ambitions options. We will make your process of studying in USA hassle-free.- Experience
- Personal Attention
- Connections with Universities
- Total Solution for Studying Abroad
- Satisfaction Guaranteed
We are experts at what we do. Since 2002 we have helped 1000s of students (personally). As one of the leading overseas education consultants in Mumbai, the collective experience of our team of experts go beyond a 100 years. Many of us have studied abroad and know exactly what your requirements will be, what kind of universities should be best suited for your future, what you need to do to get there.
We are extremely personal. Students ask us 1000s of questions and we enjoy replying to these. You will have one dedicated team member who you will be able to contact throughout the service. We don’t count the number of hours spent on you. We don’t shed away responsibilities. We work on your side and have just one thing in mind—to get you your best in your career.
We enjoy when you get scholarships or you save money. Over 70% of our applicants will earn some form of scholarship / financial aid / bursary.
We keep in touch with Universities. We keep in touch with our past students. We know exactly what a University will require or we can identify it very (very) easily. We help you build your profile, craft a great resume, and statement of purpose (SOP)/essays and bring out the best in you while presenting you to a University. Chances of your admissions evidently rise because we are around.
We help you right from start to end in the process ie. from selecting the right course and university list, documentation preparation, filling out and checking of forms, applying to universities, to securing admission offers, helping you finalize the best choice of university, visa guidance (including documentation, mock interview rounds, application), accommodation booking and much more. Hey! IELTS coaching is also available at our centre. We are brilliant with our essay editing services (remember – you will have to end up writing 18 to 24 essays when you apply to 8 to 10 Universities). We are simply there for everything! #enoughsaid
Mostly all of our students are through word of mouth. You will ENJOY your process and will not have to think how ordinary a question is while you ask us. We reply. We ensure that you remain satisfied. Nearly all our students would give us a 100/100 for our services.
Wall of Fame
We are proud that we could help our students get into some of the top universities in USA
I learned about ILW since many of my extended family members were using their service. I must say that I have never met the team and everything was done online over emails, phone, chat. Distance between Gujarat and Mumbai was never a problem. The team was prompt in replying. They are best education consultants for USA. I was applying for both Masters and PhD, and I secured full funding.
The way they had shortlisted the universities was brilliant. Right from essay editing to help with interview prep, it was a superb experience. Thanks to the team at ILW Education that I am studying in the US.
Highly recommended (5 stars!!)
It had a wonderful experience getting support from ILW. I was confused on what to do after my 12th but I came across Vishal sir who helped me with good suggestions. I had a great experience with my counselor (Rupali) throughout the whole process. There are quite helpful and know what they are doing. I would recommend my friends too. Thank you 😊
I would thanks ILW for all their efforts and hard work for getting my admission and visa done for USA, and I am grateful to them to successfully getting me admitted to one of the best University In USA. They are good with visas and the kind of confidence they gave me and supported me with the entire process.
I have used ILW Education team’s help for about 2 years. They were really confident in helping me get an admission at New York University. It was my dream school. They guided me with the course and career choice. I knew them through my brother who also went abroad to study through them. They are really good education counsellors and I recommend ILW Education Consultants to all who wish to study at top universities
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These guys are top counsellors. My brother had gone to them and he did well. I applied to 3 countries and had a lot of dilemma. I finally accepted joining UCLA. I recommend them for anyone who wishes to study in USA, UK or other countries. Go to them for one counselling session atleast and you will have most of doubts solved. They will help you plan the career in the best way. Thanks ILW!
UT Austin was my dream school and I got through it. I came to know about ILW at School as many students at JNS were using their counselling. They are very personal in their approach. The team at ILW made it all possible. Exceptional help with essays. A special thanks to Vishal Sir and Neha Mam. At the time of writing this testimonial, I am still in touch with them for queries while studying here. I am enjoying my undergrad studies in the US.
Our Credentials
a few things, a little bragging
99%
Admission Success
99%
Visa Success
70%
Over 70% students secure some scholarship / funding
19+
19+ years of experience in placing students worldwide