This article is part of the Business Insights Series, where we explore the strategies, realities, and roadblocks shaping business today. We spoke with Ankitashri Tripathi, co-founder of LLM Wizards.
LLM Wizards offers application advisory services to students and professionals seeking admission to top-tier universities across the UK, US, and other global destinations. Their mission is to provide personalised, high-quality mentorship that helps candidates not only meet admission requirements but also position themselves strategically within competitive academic and professional systems.
At the heart of our discussion is a question often left unanswered: what happens after acceptance? Ankitashri’s experience spans law, policy, and international education, and she brings sharp insight into the invisible barriers that many international students face.
This interview explores the real challenges students face. It looks at unpaid emotional labour in mentorship. It also touches on the stress of unclear visa policies. And it addresses the false belief that a prestigious degree guarantees employment. Together, these issues show how different systems intersect, and often fail to support real outcomes.
We talk through the mechanics of mentorship at LLM Wizards, the structure of application coaching, the reasoning behind selective admissions, and how the team balances premium and pro bono work. We also look at her new initiative in the UK, designed to train students for employment before graduation, a gap she argues is overlooked by most universities and commercial services.
This story focuses on structural imbalance. It looks at how people work within and around the systems already in place. Also, it explores how small changes, rather than headline innovation, can make space for new outcomes.
Higher education abroad is not a finish line
For international students, a postgraduate degree in the UK or US is often seen as a long-term investment. However, the link between education and employment is far from guaranteed. While some assume that a degree from a top institution is a passport to a secure career, the reality for many is far more uncertain. The job market is crowded, competitive, and unfamiliar. Visa conditions shift. Hiring practices are opaque. In this context, the challenge involves more than just securing employment. It includes understanding how the system works and making timely, informed decisions that shape outcomes.
“These degrees are fine,you graduate from top universities,but when you look at jurisdictions like the UK or the US, you spend so much money and still don’t have jobs afterward.“ Ankitashri said.
This gap between promise and outcome is what prompted her to develop a new business initiative. Focused initially on the UK, her project aims to prepare students for employment while they are still in university, not after. The logic is straightforward: if you wait until graduation to start planning your career, you’re already behind.
“They should be trained while they are still at university so that once they graduate, they are able to get jobs..“
The approach is meant to anticipate obstacles before they materialise. The program goes beyond traditional career coaching. It addresses structural gaps in a system that often assumes students can decode complexity on their own. Her program aims to embed practical skill-building, application development, and job market insight early into the academic journey, when students still have time to shape outcomes.
University services exist, but they often don’t meet the urgent, practical needs of international students. Many students are navigating unfamiliar systems under strict time limits and financial pressure, and the support available doesn’t always reflect that reality.
Research by the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) confirms this gap. Their 2021 report found that only around half (52%) think their institution is doing well at satisfying the careers support needs of international students. The research also revealed that careers support (82%) and employability skills (92%) were ‘important’ or ‘very important’ when choosing their university, yet institutions are falling short of these expectations.
Mentorship is not a done-for-you service
LLM Wizards, founded in 2019, was created to support students from smaller or non-premier universities who often lack institutional support when applying to top-tier international programmes. These are students with potential, but without the social capital or institutional frameworks that help others navigate the application process with ease. Since then, the consultancy has grown into a structured team with experienced consultants, a selective intake model, and a reputation for high standards and personalised attention.
“SOP(Statement of Purpose) is all about emotion, which operates on a deeper level of conversation,” she said. “So when we work on it, we get on calls with clients and ask:Why did you think like that? Why do you think you felt like this when you read this concept?“
The Statement of Purpose is not treated as a formality. It’s where identity, ambition, and academic positioning converge. That requires trust, and time. Ankitashri approaches the SOP process as a series of reflective conversations that help the student build the case for who they are becoming, rather than treating it as a service to be outsourced. The emotional depth is central to the process. It’s a necessary part of helping students engage with their own stories and ambitions.
However, this model often clashes with client expectations, especially when students or their families expect turnkey solutions. The industry is filled with agents who offer shortcuts. That sets the tone for misunderstanding, where high fees are assumed to cover not just support but deliverables.
“If students are confused or unhappy with something, you don’t want them working with that mindset. So I make it a point to sit with them, explain the concept, and resolve their issues. It’s a learning process. “
These conversations are part of the mentorship too. The process is slow, not by accident, but by design. Clients don’t always come to understand that. But by the end, they often leave with more than an offer letter, they leave with a clearer understanding of how to navigate their own stories in future systems that may not make space for them by default.
Working backwards from opportunity
Ankitashri noted that many students target prestigious universities not out of preference for prestige, but due to practical needs. In many cases, the name of the institution acts as a proxy for access to networks, visa options, and job opportunities. The educational value matters, but so does what the degree symbolises to employers and immigration systems.
“If I’m going to a university abroad, I’m spending a significant amount as an international student. So if I have to take a loan or mortgage my house, it must be for a top-tier university,otherwise, it isn’t worth it. “
In this framing, the decision to study abroad is less about exploration and more about survival strategy. The costs, financial, emotional, and logistical, are high, and the stakes are uneven. A student might be investing years of savings or mortgaging family assets based on the assumed return of a better future. But prestige is not a guarantee. A top-tier name on a CV may open doors, but it does not eliminate the need for planning, experience, or ongoing support.
To manage this complexity, Ankitashri has introduced a three-tier system for university selection: ambitious, compatible, and backup. The purpose is to ground aspirations in strategy and ensure they are approached with clarity. Each tier serves a different role. Ambitious applications aim high, compatible ones provide a strong likelihood of admission, and backups act as safety nets. The framework is a way of making the unpredictable more manageable, by distributing risk and encouraging focus before commitments are made.
There are rules, and then there is timing
Immigration processes and employment regulations add complexity to post-graduation planning. In the UK, students can apply for a graduate visa allowing them to remain and work for 18–24 months. While this window offers a chance to gain work experience, it comes with its own limitations: short timelines, shifting policies, and employer hesitation around visa sponsorship.
After graduation, you can apply for a Graduate Visa (also called the PSW), which allows you to work in the UK for 24 months (currently 18 months). You don’t need a Skilled Worker visa during this period, and it gives you the foundation to begin your career in the UK.
The opportunity exists, but it’s poorly communicated. Most students only find out what they’re eligible for after graduating. In many cases, the support systems they rely on: career services, international student offices, are built for general guidance, not for navigating policy nuances or strategically planning around visa structures.
“The primary objective of universities is teaching, not career services. Skill assessment and guidance cannot be their main priority.”“
That mismatch creates a planning gap during the most crucial time. Students with the right information could use the graduate visa period to secure employment, gain local experience, and transition to longer-term residency routes like the Skilled Worker visa. But those who miss that window may find themselves forced to return home, regardless of qualifications.
Ankitashri’s upcoming company is designed to work within that window, offering structure where universities often cannot. The focus extends beyond writing CVs or polishing cover letters. It includes teaching students how to interpret job market signals, how to communicate in contextually appropriate ways, and how to translate their academic profile into something employers in the UK will actually understand and value.
When mentoring is access
While LLM Wizards operates on a premium model, Ankitashri also handles a category of pro bono cases. These are not exceptions but a conscious part of her model, built around recognising systemic inequalities in who gets access to opportunity. The typical pro bono candidate is highly qualified, often already accepted into a top-tier institution, but held back by financial constraints. In some instances, the only thing separating them from a life-altering opportunity is a missing scholarship or an unapproved loan.
“One of the students I worked with had secured an offer for public policy at Cambridge, but she only had around £15–20k available to cover the costs. Cases like this affect me deeply as a working professional,” she said.
Her response to such cases is direct and personal. The pro bono category is separate from the core LLM Wizards operation, and she manages it herself without delegating to the wider team. This approach is not designed for scale. It is a deliberate choice to keep the work personal and manageable. She treats this work as part of her broader responsibility. It extends beyond consultancy into her active involvement in shaping policy and systems.
“There is a separate category for that as well. The pro bono category.“
Beyond reviewing documents, she often advocates for students, writing letters to ministries, contacting international organisations, and trying to unlock institutional pathways that might make attendance possible. This dual role, professional consultant and policy advocate, adds another layer to her work. Her work goes beyond helping students access education. It confronts gaps in the system and uses the resources available to create openings where none existed.
Closing thoughts and next steps
The experience of international students stretches far beyond the moment of admission. It starts months earlier, with planning, emotional labour, and decision-making that often happens without full visibility of the consequences. These decisions have ripple effects: financial commitments that last years, visa timelines that cut short opportunities, and systems that expect fluency in rules never explicitly taught.
Timing, mentorship, and access to informal networks all influence the likelihood of success. The processes may appear meritocratic, but they often rely on tacit knowledge, how to frame an SOP, when to apply for a visa, which internships convert to jobs. This knowledge is rarely written down, and almost never evenly distributed.
The work Ankitashri is doing makes some of that knowledge visible. Her mentorship and employment-readiness initiatives give structure to a journey that otherwise requires students to make high-stakes choices with limited support. Her work acknowledges the system’s unfairness and builds scaffolding to help students survive it.
The impact of such structured support is significant. Research shows that students who feel their courses have not covered employability skills are twice as likely to say that, in hindsight, they would pick a different institution to do the same course (18% versus 8%). This emphasises the importance of proactive career preparation and the value of services like those Ankitashri provides.
If your business also operates in complex or high-stakes environments, where timing, clarity, and access make the difference. Serenichron can help you design systems that guide clients through uncertainty with confidence.
About the Author
Vlad writes about automation, operations, and the little tweaks that make a big difference in how businesses run. A former game designer turned founder, he now helps teams fix broken workflows and spot the revenue leaks hiding in plain sight.
About Serenichron
Helping businesses grow by simplifying strategy, streamlining systems, and making tech actually work for people. We bring clarity to chaos with practical tools, honest guidance, and just enough curiosity to question the default way of doing things.