Hyderabad, 12 Nov 2019: Young students who are at the crossroads of life and unsure about the future course of action, now have a beacon of hope to light up their path to a promising future.
Gradvine is an online platform that helps students with current, accurate and unbiased advice for Career Guidance, Profile Building and Masters’ Applications. Founded by alumni from Carnegie Mellon University and Dartmouth College (an Ivy League University), Gradvine’s single point agenda is to ensure students don’t fall prey to counselors who not only offer biased advice but are ill-informed about the current global scenario.
Gradvine was founded by Sreekar Reddy and Suraj Peri, graduates from some of the finest universities in the USA. It was their personal experience that led to the setting up of Gradvine.
According to Suraj, “After our Engineering, we were keen on making it to top universities abroad and so we approached several consultancies in the city. They either had no knowledge or had hidden agendas. They discouraged us from applying to these universities saying we had no chance and pushed us to apply to universities they had a tie-up with instead. We had no option but to complete the process on our own. I got into Carnegie Mellon and Sreekar was accepted into Dartmouth with a fellowship! Had we listened to the consultants, we may have never applied. This experience gave birth to the idea of Gradvine. It inspired us to come back from the US, with the sole purpose of transforming the way career guidance is done in India. Our aim is to ensure students move away from the ill-informed opinions &advice of uncles, aunts & consultancies, and have access to a solid network of established individuals who have been there & done that.”
Gradvine assists candidates in figuring out the career path best suited for them, before shortlisting universities that offer great future prospects. It is then that Gradvine’s unique advantage kicks in.
Gradvine has a network of brilliant Mentors - over 450 students and professionals at the finest universities and companies, from fields as diverse as Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Economics, Physics, Business Management and Data Science. A candidate who aspires to gain admission to a particular institute is connected to a Mentor who is already pursuing the same degree at that university or has recently graduated from there. The Mentor lends complete support and the right guidance in crafting technically correct Statements of Purpose, preparing application essays, advising on internships/projects to opt for, career scope of the chosen field and much more. Thus, paving the way for the candidate into his or her dream university.
In a short span of 4 years, Gradvine has grown to be one of the leading players in India, with an unmatched success record. It has placed over 3000 students in 130 universities in 16 countries and sent students to 48 of the top 50 global universities including Stanford, Harvard, Carnegie Mellon, University of Pennsylvania, UCLA, New York University, University of Toronto, ISB, among several others. Significantly, students from 15 different countries have availed Gradvine’s services to carve a bright future for themselves.
MoUs have been signed with top institutes in Hyderabad, like CBIT, designating Gradvine as their guidance partner, due the unique advantage its model brings to students. Gradvine also conducts campus sessions at leading institutes such as BITS Hyderabad, VNR VignanJyothi and Vasavi College of Engineering.
Gradvine has now extended its services to students of 9th& 10th classes. These students are given access to Mentors from top-notch universities and companies, for genuine advice and better understanding of the course and career they want to pursue. They are also provided with the opportunity to take up real world projects to acquaint them with the practical realities of various subjects.
Gradvine is a bootstrapped startup, started initially with the funding received by Sreekar when he was recognised as a Conrades Distinguished Fellow at Dartmouth College. Its remarkably successful track-record has ensured a positive cashflow, with the operations & expansion totally fuelled by the revenues generated.