Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is Vinyans?
Vinyans is a online platform that connects a team of trained counsellors, who are students and alumni of some top universities of the world, to the prospective students of the world who intend to study abroad. The company was conceptualized in DFW, cofounded in Cambridge, and currently operates via our lead counsellor based in London, New York City, New Delhi, Madrid, Paris, Toronto, and Dublin, along with numerous third-party part-time mentors, who are recent alumni or current students at the reputed institutes. Vinyans is dedicated to helping students pursue international admissions at undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate levels with the best possible financial assistance. In ancient Sanskrit Vinyan ( ‘विनयन ‘ ) means Higher Education.
2. For which countries do Vinayan support admissions and counselling?
Currently, Vinyans support students for applications to colleges/universities based in the United States of America, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Austria, South Africa, UAE, India, Singapore, and China.
If you don’t see your target country, please contact us.
3. Do I need to pay Vinayan for the initial counselling session?
No, we provide free information sessions about college admissions and financial support.
4. Can I get dedicated in-person paid counselling/coaching/tutoring services from Vinayan?
Yes, but you will need to pay for these dedicated services separately when a student counsellor (s) studying abroad dedicates time to assist you. Vinyans will match you with the right group of mentors based on their availability and your university/program of interest.
5. How much does it cost to get dedicated services from Vinyans?
We provide individually tailored support to each prospective student which varies in cost based on the services provided and the number of universities. Please contact us to get an estimate of the cost from a student counsellor.
Please visit our pricing section. A generic package may look like - $1500 for 5 applications, $2000-2800 for 7-10 applications, & $2500-4000 for 10+ applications. The prices can even go up to $5000 depending on the range of services opted. However, for most students, it’s around $2000.
6. Does this cost include standardized tests, coaching, and college application fees?
No, this cost is only for counselling services which include beginning-to-end solutions for admissions.
7. Apart from counselling services, how much do the standardized tests, coaching/tutoring, and college application fee cost?
College application (per application): $0 - $100 (some applications like an MBA program may cost around $200 or more)
Standardised test (per test): $100-$250
Coaching/tutoring (per test): $100-$500
8. Do Vinyans help students with financial needs?
Yes, Vinayan provides financial aid by completely cutting down the profit margin of counselling services for meritorious students who are female, differentially abled, from performing arts and sports, with low family income, refugees, victims of other atrocities, and from marginalized groups categorized by their local government.
9. Am I guaranteed admission?
No, your admission is also dependent on your standardized test scores, past academic merit, profile (and its upgrade), recommendations etc. However, a critical factor is the choice of universities and the application strategy. Vinyans helps to research, guide, motivate and assist you throughout this rigorous process for better results. Vinyans aims to point you towards your best options and assist you in pursuing them and offer financial consultation with other value-added services after acceptance.
However, if you don’t get admission in the given cycle, Vinyans will assist you in applying in the next two admission cycles with more holistic improvement at each element. (for the same number of opted applications at no extra cost).
10. Am I guaranteed a scholarship and/or financial aid from the college/university?
Again - no. But Vinyans will help you make the right choices necessary to get your scholarship and/or financial aid. Vinayan also helps students to apply and secure scholarships from external national and international organizations.
11. How does the counseling work at Vinyans?
To keep the mentoring model strong, we connect every prospective student to a counsellor who is a student / recent alumni in the intended major and from the top target universities. A team of three to five dedicated counsellors collaborates to assist each prospective student.
For example, if you are a student from India who completed his undergrad in Computer Science and wants to study further in a top university in the US, Vinayns would onboard a lead counselor from MIT or Stanford to manage your holistic admission preparation and who would deploy separate mentors from other target universities to guide you for various tasks, for example - a mentor for your profile improvement advising, another tutoring mentor for your test-prep, another writing mentor for your documents review, another successful scholar for your scholarship applications, possibly a mentor from your home country for education loan applications and visa, etc.
11. Do Vinyans help students with their scholarships, loan, and visa applications?
Yes, Vinyans help you with several internal and external scholarship and financial aid applications, education loan applications, and visa applications. But it does not guarantee your funding or visa. The results are completely based on the evaluation by the financial and immigration offices. However, we have secured a 100% success rate during our testing and growth phase in both admissions and helping students meet their financial needs.
12. Do Vinyans help students with work opportunities while at college?
Yes, Vinyans provides work opportunities within itself by partnering with college administration and through independent internships and jobs. Keep a good eye on the process to become one of our counsellors later.
13. Do Vinyans have a physical location in my country?
Since the Covid-19 pandemic, Vinyans completely operates as an online service and has co-working centres in/near a few top universities around the world which are run by students and recent alumni. Our advisory parent Kastha operates from Boston, Massachusetts, USA. However, you can meet a Vinyans counsellor in person if you both happen to be in the same city/country.
14. When does the application process begin?
You can start your application process anytime throughout the year for one or more semester intakes. A typical admission process takes 2 to 3 months (if one is ready with test scores) to prepare all the items needed; although for better opportunities, we may recommend waiting until next semester intake/year. With test scores in preparation and simultaneous applications, it may take from 7-12 months. The earlier you start, the better the chances to get both an admission and scholarship without missing a deadline, and still spare enough time for financial, visa, travel, and housing arrangements.
15. How many colleges should/can I can apply to with Vinayan’s assistance?
You can typically apply to five, seven, and ten applications. It can also be increase based on the need of the student.