Why You Should Say No to Overseas Education Consultants

Overseas education consultants would have you believe they have your best interests at heart. That isn’t always true. Nearly 1.25 million Indian students were pursuing higher education abroad as of January 2025, according to India’s Ministry of External Affairs. A large share of India’s foreign education aspirants still rely on overseas education consultants, and that reliance carries real risk.

The overseas education sector has its share of fake study-abroad agents and consultants. Telling the fraudsters from the genuine ones is a real challenge on its own. To make matters more complicated, even genuine overseas education consultants often have their own agendas.

Study abroad consultants frequently have a financial interest in placing students at the institutions they’re in business with. If your academic goals don’t line up with those business interests, trusting them with your future can turn out to be a costly mistake.

This article covers:

• How overseas education consultants operate and make money
• The risks of trusting study abroad consultants with your academic future
• Whether it’s realistic to handle your university applications yourself
• What to use instead of a commission-driven consultant

How overseas education consultants operate

Overseas education consultants act as a link between students and overseas colleges or universities. Most study abroad consultants provide placement services for multiple overseas institutions, and the countries they cover may or may not include the destinations that best fit a given student, such as Canada, the USA, or the UK.

Here’s a list of services typically offered by overseas education consultants:

• Student counseling and guidance
• Course selection
• Country selection
• Student profile evaluation
• College or university selection
• Help with documentation, such as arranging supporting documents and transcripts
• College or university application
• Preparation for college or university interviews
• Visa filing
• Visa interview preparation
• Help with education loans

Some study abroad consultants also offer services such as currency exchange and arranging accommodation. International education consultants typically generate income through these channels:

1. Commission from foreign colleges and universities

Many overseas education consultants earn commissions from universities and institutions they work with. Where this applies, consultants typically have formal contracts with foreign educational institutes, with the exact payment terms, such as timing and conditions, varying by agreement.

The commission a consultant receives varies with the country, university, course, and its duration. Where a consultant receives commissions from partner institutions, there can be a potential conflict of interest when recommending among those institutions.

2. Paid counseling and learning packages

Study abroad consultants often charge for counseling students about study destinations, courses, and application procedures. Larger consultants sometimes don’t charge a counseling fee for students applying to commission-paying colleges and universities.

Some consultancies may charge students a counseling or service fee while also receiving commissions from partner institutions. Selling additional learning courses is another common tactic, including:

• IELTS test preparation for countries that require English language proficiency
• DELF/DALF (French proficiency certification) preparation courses
• SAT exam preparation
• GMAT exam preparation

3. Commission from document translation companies

Some universities and immigration authorities require documents to be translated into an accepted language. Overseas education consultants often have arrangements with translation companies that handle this work and refer students to their preferred partner.

Some consultants may refer students to third-party translation providers. If you’re referred to a specific provider, it’s reasonable to ask whether the consultant has any financial relationship with that provider before you commit to using it.

4. Other paid add-on services

Some consultants also charge for additional services, such as visa-extension assistance, accommodation, insurance, or other application-related support. These vary widely by consultant and aren’t a universal part of the business model.

The risks of trusting overseas education consultants

Overseas education consultants are businesses, and some generate revenue through commissions from partner institutions. Where that’s the case, a consultant’s incentive can be to enroll students in the colleges they’re affiliated with, which can work out in a student’s favor, but it doesn’t always.

Here are some ways a study abroad consultant’s incentives can work against a student’s academic future and career:

• The consultant doesn’t cover the countries that offer the best learning facilities and career prospects for that student’s field.
• The consultant isn’t affiliated with strong universities in the student’s area of interest.
• The colleges the consultant is affiliated with don’t offer the best-fit courses for the student’s chosen field.

Overseas educational institutes are known for specialized and off-beat courses, such as artificial intelligence, automation, and brewing and distillation programs, that have few or no parallels elsewhere. A commission-driven consultant is less likely to point students toward these, since they tend to recommend a standard list of popular courses instead.

Trusting a commission-driven consultant can end up limiting your academic and career choices, since your specific interests may get overlooked in favor of whichever country, college, and course pays the highest commission.

Is it realistic for students to handle the application process themselves?

It’s possible to handle the process of applying to a foreign university on your own. It does, however, require significant research, focus, and diligence. You’ll need to research different countries, colleges, and courses, track application deadlines, and prepare all documents yourself, on top of your regular studies.

Visa approval rates are another factor worth understanding before you plan your timeline. Recent reporting on US student-visa data indicates that scrutiny of F-1 applications has increased in recent years, particularly for applicants from several major source countries including India. Read more on ICEF Monitor. That means applications generally need to be more carefully prepared now than in past years, not less. For exact, current refusal-rate figures, check official US Department of State data or your visa officer’s guidance rather than relying on any single secondary source.

Given that increased scrutiny, it’s worth seeking reliable help to plan your application, rather than assuming a commission-driven consultant has your specific case in mind.

GradRight’s university selection and comparison tools help you compare universities and courses based on your own profile, preferences, and available data, alongside expert guidance through each step of the application process.

What using GradRight alongside a consultant, or instead of one, looks like

• University and course comparisons based on your profile and preferences, covering international CS, STEM, MBA, and other programs, so you aren’t limited to a consultant’s specific partner list.
• Access to input from current students and alumni at the universities you’re considering, so you can ask questions about a program’s curriculum and outcomes directly.
• Participation in study-abroad events where universities’ own representatives answer questions directly.

Consultants can be useful, but it’s important to understand how they are compensated and whether their recommendations cover enough options. Comparing universities independently can help you make a more informed decision. GradRight’s university selection tool is one way to compare options before committing to any single consultant’s recommendation.

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