[iyer]

Friends,

I'm writing this post cautioning you all against taking the 'ACS' program of Princeton Review in India. In India, Princeton is franchised by Manya Group and they run a program called ACS for consultancy into B Schools. It's money down the drain if you take this up. Please pass this message to any inadvertent victim too.

1. Princeton/Manya is expected to work through your profile and suggest you B Schools that will suit you. At the outset itself they set expectations that you will have to think, write and submit, absorb all couriering charges etc etc. which is not that bad if you hear their story further.

2. While P/M claim that they wont do the writing for you, I thought 'Wow, what ethics! Exactly what I want because the Adcom should know me as Iam'. Only to be fooled. The ACS team does NOTHING. They make you work for them.

3. They send a drab, skeletal form which you have to fill up saying your profile, interests and possible GMAT score. Now comes the fun. All that your 'counselor' does is to feed your own data into the Princeton B School selector tool which is available freely at their website if you register. Ha Ha! They do NOT do anything extra to help you think and write about yourself.

4. They will ask you what 'would' be your GMAT score. If you say 700, they will feed the data mining tool with that data and send you about 20 schools that suit you. Ofcourse they have researched and thought out for you endlessly :-) Later if the GMAT score is lesser, say 600, and you have very less time for admissions, they will not bend their back towards readjusting your profile and finding the best schools for you.

5. To my surprise I found that while Princeton - Manya had ruled out the top 20 schools for me based on the standard profile they asked, the top schools did respond to me with interviews. Voila! So here it is in steps: While Princeton tells you that you dont have a chance of making it to those schools (Princeton is afraid they will have to rework on the schools if you dont get into their selected list of schools - why take the pains, just provide safe schools and complete the deal'), do exactly this. You write your own essays and write about your passions and dreams in a very earnest way. Keep them ready. Ask your recommenders to write a free format personal recommendation.They will make the B Schools call you for interviews. Princeton is very out dated in their understanding of environments.

6. The next ethical surprise - Princeton rep asked me if my recommender will not mind them 'editing' the recommendations! I got a shock. How on earth will my reputed recommenders agree to this? WHen I asked my counsellor she said that most recommenders don't know the format and they are helping! Gosh! Most recommenders do know the format and even if they don't, what matters is a sincere assessment to the Adcom. I guess with many fraudulent cases asking for editing help, Princeton has readjusted itself to the customer demands!

7. Even better is this one - Other than what results the Princeton query tool throws back, the counsellors have no idea about new programmes introduced in top schools. They really don't. If you want to test it out, do it. Read a programme from a Dean's blog or interview and ask ACS counsellor about it. 'Sir, may be it is there Sir, but we will go with Dream, ..., Safe institutions' for you from our research database. What database? I would like to audit it.

8. Last but not the least! You will not get a refund from Princeton even if you got in a better school out of your own efforts. They have no customer win-back schemes where you say 'Show me a better service and I will refund your money or will pay the difference'. No - I would love to find out if their profits are good because I doubt it. They cling on to the victims like me and will not refund money. They will defend and close the book keeping!

Please forward this message to all MBA aspirants so that nobody falls a victim to Princeton ACS- it is a Farce!

[Calendar]

Hey Iyer,

It was yesterday itself when I had started a thread asking which is a better counsellor TPR or ******** in bangalore. Thank god that I saw your kind thread here and thats narrows down my confusion. When I had visited TPR, the institute looked ostensibly 'sarkaari' to me.
Now last two options reside for me ******** or self-RnD. Do you have any clues about ******** ?
I saw some threads in which some B-school alums were advising to do admission research yourself( as you are the best judge of yourself !).
What do you say from your experience ?

Reply would be great!
Regards,
Raghav

[red_hauster]

Originally Posted by iyer

Friends,

....

Please forward this message to all MBA aspirants so that nobody falls a victim to Princeton ACS- it is a Farce!

Hi Iyer, Went thru your post and found it worth. Well,I'd like to know if at all you went for any kind of coaching inst in Bangalore as I am very keen to join one or is it worth joining. Pls update me where GMAT coaching is being carried on, except IMS or TIME.. Would surely appreciate your effort.Thanks & RegardsVandan

[maverick30]

Hi Iyer,

Thanks a lot for this valuable information. I am a MBA aspirant looking for a US MBA.

I am right now in looking for options for professional help in assisting me in the same. I saw from your thread that you have already gone through this process.

I would really appreciate your valuable advice on this and I want to discuss with you in detail as your guidance will be of great help.

I would appreciate if you can contact me on my personal id:<snipped>

Will really be looking forward to your reply.

Byeee
Raj

[maddy_kaps]

Hi Iyer

I am also in a dilemma about the institute for my GMAT preparation and further application counselling. I heard from some of my friends that Jamboori is good. I would appreciate if you have some good information to share.

Thanks

[takeongmat]

Hi Iyer,

Thanks to u for very useful information...Yesterday, i went to PR bangalore center and the picture they showed me was like I almost decided to enroll immediately.

Actually I am looking for GMAT Admission consulting. I heard that Jamboori is good.
I would appreciate your advice on this.

Thanks

[abhinay.gawali]

Hi guys, i thaught PR is the only good institute for GMAT. I dont want to get into time as they have hiped alot and not concentrating on quality. wht abt IMS. i really dont understand wher to join for GMAT training and consulting. please help me guys.

[vapour001]

Dear fellows,

Indeed it would be good to share the pros and cons of the coaching institutes for GMAT . I would need all to give their views on IMS / TPR etc and lets reach a consensus

Thanks

[amitkamit]

Hi Guys,

My advice....Do not join any consulting service....be it PR or ******** etc...
If u r a big dumbo u might just benefit from it otherwise they r total crap....
So ask yourself the question....Are you a dumbo who cannot manage anything without their SO called help?
Believe me...they will not tell u anything u cannot search on some forum...best is to catch a friend who is already doing MBA abroad....he will be of great help and will have the latest updates as well....

[Calendar]

Hey puys,
I had long ago written a reply to this thread asking how good some counseling institute is.
Later I decided to do the RnD myself and write my essays myself and get them reviewed from my friends.
I found this to be somewhat difficult for first college but soon got the knack of it. There was huge material available on internet and the forums. I also found that no one could have have written the essays better than myself.
So from my experience, I would recommend to do the whole work yourself. It'll prepare you well for the interview also unless you are completely dumb or lazy.
BTW, I have recently received an admit and many mother results are awaited.
Best of luck.
Cheers
Calendar