Studying abroad: the whole decision, in one call

This is the whole study-abroad decision in one hour, instead of three separate conversations.

WHERE YOU ACTUALLY STAND. We go through your academics, work experience, test scores and story, and I tell you plainly where you are genuinely competitive, where you are stretching, and where you are about to waste an application fee.

WHICH COUNTRY MAKES SENSE. Germany or France? UK or Canada? Most people pick a country from what a cousin did and what an agent is paid to sell. We work through total cost including living, whether your profile is competitive there, what the post-study work rights genuinely are rather than what the brochure implies, and what people from your background realistically earn after graduating.

THE SHORTLIST. Built from graduate outcomes - what people who finished that exact programme are doing two years later, and how many of them were Indian - not from rankings.

WHETHER IT PAYS BACK. Studying abroad is a 40 to 60 lakh rupee decision. We run the real numbers: total cost, realistic post-tax starting salary in that country, how long repayment actually takes, and what the visa situation does to all of it.

WHY ME. Six business schools offered me a scholarship - LBS, LSE, Imperial, ESSEC, EDHEC and ESCP. I chose ESSEC Paris, ranked #2 in the world for Master in Management, on a 50% scholarship with a GMAT of 730. I turned it into a job in Europe and a French work visa, and I still live in Paris. Seven students have since got into business schools abroad with my help. No university pays me a referral fee, so I have no reason to push you anywhere.

YOU LEAVE WITH a tiered school shortlist with the reasoning behind every name, one or two countries worth applying to, and an honest answer on whether the plan pays back. If it does not, I will tell you that.