Master’s and Ph.D.

The plan

Going overseas for a master’s or Ph.D. degree can open up hidden doors, yet the return depends on the investment.  The months fly by and before you know you’re back in the job market trying to explain why you deserve a better job or a higher salary. Taking a year or two off of work to get another degree is not only disruptive to employment, career and family life, but also expensive. We take all of these factors into account in providing you advice on graduate education strategies. Upon completing their graduate studies our clients have taken up high-level posts within the Indonesian government, the World Bank, leading public policy institutes in Indonesia and the United States, and multinational companies whose brands are instantly recognized the world over. Our clients include Fulbright, Chevening and LPPD scholarship grantees, as well as men and women whose graduate education has been sponsored by their employer as part of a corporate scholarship program.  

The options

The global education market is highly segmented, providing a broad array of options to international students. There are more types of institutions offering more types of degrees through more channels than ever before. At the same time, education has become more individualized, so every program typically offers a  range of alternative pathways for arriving at graduation. In some markets however, universities sometimes create opportunities for international students without actually having any special preparation to meet the unique needs and interests of this market segment. Instead, these recruitment efforts are intended mostly as a means of securing additional revenue for existing programs. If you examine the program carefully you may end up with a educational product designed for someone else.  

Individualized fit

Why do you want to go to study food science at Stanford? If you can’t answer the question, then you can’t go. Because that’s the admissions committee will ask for your thoughts on the matter when you apply. At the same time, if you do have an answer, then that’s your ticket and boarding pass. In the Western scholarship tradition, the ideal choice of education is one that satisfies the intellectual interests as well as the career inclinations of the individual scholar. No examination or authority can provide the answer. Thus, introspection and inquiry are in order, before making a decision. Cost is certainly part of the equation. We have recent experience with the LPDP, Fulbright, Chevening, Erasmus and other high-profile scholarship programs. However, as scholarship hunters are aware, this is just the tip of the iceberg. There are tens of thousands opportunities available at any given time, depending on where you want to go and what you want to do there. All of our consultants are former scholarship recipients. While, this may not be the easiest way to pay for an education, it does work. Once you receive the scholarship, a whole new set of considerations open up, in connection with the specific terms of the offer. We help you research and apply for scholarships, evaluate the offers you receive, and manage some of the duties associated with being an awardee. Competing for scholarships and competing for admissions are part of the same process: Determining what you want, ascertaining what you have to contribute, and being able to gracefully articulate all of it to the committee.

Custom product

We advise Indonesia-based individuals, families and institutions on university selection, admissions process, scholarships, immigration and related matters. We provide our services on a consulting basis. Unlike agents, we really have no preference where you study. We just want want to help you find the program that’s right for you. We help our clients identify institutions, degree types and graduate programs that are relevant, recognized and in line with scholarship requirements and other outside constraints. We also provide coaching to help ensure a strong, smooth career transition.  

Skilled advisors

Our advisors work hard to stay on top of trends, opportunities and strategies in global education. Many of them also have prior consulting experience with global or regional firms, including PricewaterhouseCoopers, Edelman, and West Ed. Most graduate study candidates find it challenging to articulate for the admissions committee how the degree program they’re interested in relates both to their prior academic and professional background as well as their career plans after graduation. But typically this is what the admissions committee would like to hear about. And that’s why we employ professional communicators with training in ethnographic methods and extensive experience in cross-cultural business communications to help you tell the story. Small investments in research and networking can yield big results.  But higher education advising is ultimately a creative process. While the target schools are creating new majors and launching new research centers and experiential learning programs, the applicants are changing, too. We believe that through diligence, you can find the right fit. If you do, your investment in a master’s or Ph.D. is more likely to pay off.