Decoding the College Admissions Celebrity: Viral Doshi's Impact

I can't say exactly where I was when I first heard of Viral Doshi the consultant cum college admissions guru with the unassuming professorial look, but what I derived from the conversation I was having with my colleagues in college admissions, he was someone who held a key, or at least perceived key in Ivy League and highly selective admissions. For the well-connected Indian parents who can schedule a meeting with the in-demand consultant, who reportedly has offices in Mumbai, Delhi, Dubai, Singapore, London and New York, his years long guidance of their child is worth the cost to gain advantage in the arms-race that is college admissions profile building.

Of course, those of us who have worked in admissions for some time, understand acutely there is no secret handshake or code to break with college admissions, holistic admissions provides that no one factor will guarantee admissions to selective US higher education institutions.

Now I am not sure what Mr Doshi tells his clients, besides the same conversation that we all hold with prospective students who hope to be admitted to our universities, and I am not so interested in what he has to say, but what does pique my curiosity is how a figure could rise to such reverence and respect, celebrity, in a field that should be as anodyne as accountancy. Reasonable analysis suggests this popularity may be more due to the status symbol education has become in India, as well as the rest of the world for that matter rather, than any concrete direction he provides to his clients.

But perhaps I am asking the wrong question, perhaps his fame is not surprising, we all want the insider that can provide an edge in whatever endeavor we are taking on. Especially in education, as parent's endless measuring of themselves via their children, though not new to the world of helicopter patenting, is becoming endemic in university admissions.

However there lies within the human need for information and connection – what we provide on both sides of the desk, those who work in university admissions and those who advise the high school students as independent educational consultants.

I do not doubt Mr. Doshi's advice, of which I am sure is sincere, and success, which has been well documented over his decades in the business. Though I do wonder whether the mystique around his knowledge is owed more to his latter-day renown, rather than actual results. Nevertheless, a visionary trendsetter now Mr Doshi finds himself one of thousands of IEC's across the country. And as a university representative working in the international recruitment industry with over a decade of experience I do welcome the proliferation of independent educational guides and I see our partnership as crucial. Not necessarily with the eminent, but with those hard-working independents that strive to provide the positive reinforcement and good advice that can our students rely on to achieve their goals. This does not find its birth in mystique but in individual hard sought connection and that is why I appreciate the AIIEC initiative and applaud the efforts to bring everyone under the big tent that this organization strives to build.

Honest communication is the tenant of success in a field such as ours where good faith sharing of knowledge is critical, this is obvious, but too often this becomes a catchphrase with little behind the words. My interactions with the AIIEC and all independents represented, exemplifies honesty in communication, I have no problem sharing information with any of the independents I work with India. Veracity through communal trust and networking is essential in the due-diligence of building an organization like AIIEC.

My work has evolved, coming to incorporate more independents in India, not simply because of the proliferation of them, or in the increasing quality of independents, but because now there is a group I can connect with, under one organizational banner that signifies integrity. One that I trust, built on relationships with individuals that I have met, and some whom I have not met, but know via the network of confidence that AIIEC embodies. I look forward to growth going forward.

The only question that remains is how best to deploy this web of support, how can we support each other in finding best fit, in not being engrossed by the tractor beam that is 'top 10 US universities.' Of course, these are the conversations that have been going for years and will perhaps be another article for this publication. But what remains fascinating and important and what I hope I have conveyed in this short dialogue is how exciting it is too be aware of a new organization that strives to bring the disparate and often unverified network of independents together. Perhaps Mr Doshi, while torpedoing the lock on Ivy League Admissions, has still left room to be innovative in this field.