Reviews about Paradise and university admissions

Olga and Andrey Movchan
Olga is a Gestalt therapist, Andrey is a financier, investment consultant
London, United Kingdom

Our son Lev and we still love the school you found for us in London! We are very happy. Thank you once again. It seems we have got what we wanted! Both of our girls have been offered places on postgraduate courses at UCL (University College London). The eldest starts next Monday and the youngest in the autumn. So, thank you very much once again! We have once again seen how effective your company is.

Elena Matveenkova
Paradise client
Krasnoyarsk, Russia
instagram.com/elena.matveenko.792

I am very pleased with how Ksenia Starostina and her assistants helped my daughters, Kira and Zlata, who are students at the British school King William's College, get into universities in the UK. The girls studied the IB programme and, as expected, got high scores: 38 and 41. However, we thought it was a good idea to maximise their chances of success and not just rely on the school's help. And we didn't regret it! One of our daughters even received a scholarship, which is rare in British universities!

Firstly, my daughters noted that starting work on their personal essays in the summer before their final year of the IB programme helped them to familiarise themselves with the format and content of the essays, write them quickly and submit their applications to universities quite early, when all their classmates were still trying to figure out what it was all about and what it was all about.

Natalia Belevskaya
Manager at Zorg Biogaz AG
Zurich, Switzerland

We would like to express our sincere gratitude and appreciation to Paradise for assisting our son in the university admission process. From the very beginning of our cooperation, we encountered an attentive and clear approach to the matter. Your company demonstrated not only professionalism and expertise in selecting programmes and preparing all the necessary documents, but also provided significant support to us and our child on any issues.

Thanks to your efforts, the admission process went smoothly and without unnecessary stress. Your advice and recommendations were extremely helpful and relevant, which allowed us to avoid mistakes. We highly appreciate your professionalism and ability to liaise with the necessary institutions and organisations, which undoubtedly played a key role in the successful admission. Thank you for your hard work, kindness and exceptional care. 

Natalia's son was admitted to Edinburgh to study International Business.

Elena Teplova and her daughter Lisa Antonova
Paradise clients
Moscow, Russia

Dear team, I would like to thank you all for your excellent work and support during the past academic year. I don't think I would have been able to get into Leeds University, and especially get a visa (it has been approved!), without your help. Thank you so much, Ksenia, for not giving up on me in the summer of 2021 and taking me under your wing, even though I contacted you at the last minute. After spending a year with the team, I realised what professionalism, efficiency and 24/7 support mean.

I would also like to highlight the work of Anna and Ekaterina. Anna, thank you for helping me set up a bank account and for your endless search for tutors, especially for maths. I have never met such a wonderful teacher as Veronika. I cannot express in words how much she helped and supported me. If it weren't for her, I would have failed maths.p>

Ekaterina, I will never forget how we all worked together to get into university. I think they will remember us for a long time, especially Leeds! I am now analysing the whole situation and realise that if we hadn't written and called them every day, I wouldn't have been given a CAS before 31 October, and everything would have been very sad. Of course, there were many other moments when the whole team did a great job. Without all of you, I definitely wouldn't have made it!!!

In September 2022, Lisa started studying at the University of Leeds, which is part of the Russell Group.

Lyudmila Tuchkova
Designer, participant in the London Design Biennale 2021, founder and CEO of Debut Ballet Studio
Zvenigorod, Russia
lutuchkova@gmail.com

I have already received offers from four universities in London and will study architecture at the Royal College of Art. Thank you to Paradise and Ksenia for their help in preparing my portfolio and application documents. This is an important step for me – the opportunity to work at an international level on global projects. I am convinced that nothing is impossible, we create all limitations ourselves. I am happy that we met and thank you for the productive cooperation. It is amazing that sometimes when it seems that something is going wrong, in fact, everything is going as it should, and often the result is better than we imagined. Thank you very much for your work and support over the past year. This result would not have been possible without your help!

Olga Butler
Paradise client
Walton-on-Thames, United Kingdom

How to jump on the fast-moving train of summer internships and valuable work experience? Now I can say - write to Ksenia at Paradise. Almost a month of research work in a biology professor's team can be said to have ‘made’ my daughter's CV.

When talking about personal statements, which sometimes account for a good 40% of your success in getting into university, people often forget to mention that it's not just about the right structure and beautiful writing. The main thing is CONTENT. And in order to fill it with content, you need to start working on it three years in advance. It's no secret that any ‘work experience’ will not embellish your personal statement. Top British universities are not interested in how many elderly ladies you helped cross the road or what wonderful experience you gained working as a shop assistant during the summer if you are applying to study evolutionary biology.

Even the most beautiful, profound, and richly accomplished personal statement, like a diamond, needs professional polishing. No one will write it for you, but polishing it to a shine, removing all the rough edges, making every facet sparkle, and bringing it to perfection is exactly what Ksenia and her team will do. I haven't met anyone better yet.

What's more, they can also increase its value, for example, by finding an amazing internship with a professor at a British university at the very last minute, for a whole month, and even writing a research paper!

In February last year, feverishly searching all kinds of websites and going through all our contacts, we discovered to our despair that time had run out. Everything that was even remotely decent had been booked and sorted out six months ago, if not earlier. I am very grateful to Natalia Shtain, founder of Paradise, for Ksenia Starostina, and to Ksenia for her professionalism and talent in achieving the impossible.

With our next offspring, we wisely tried not to repeat the same mistakes and started working well in advance, which I recommend to everyone. We received a WELL-THOUGHT-OUT PLAN with all possible options, from the necessary books to participation in research. And this despite the fact that the summer of 2020 was not the easiest in terms of organising anything due to COVID-19.

My three girls got into exactly where they wanted to go, Imperial College and UCL. Grades are undoubtedly important, but it is the Personal Statement that can give you wings or easily level out your achievements. This year, our third daughter received an offer from UCL just two weeks after submitting her application, which is a record!

Summary: don't leave it until the last minute. Especially with the changes coming in 2024, you need to be fully prepared. Start early and your child will have a much better chance of achieving their dreams.

Summary: I highly recommend Ksenia and Paradise. Five stars out of five. You should go for it! :)

Mila Gulyakova
Paradise client
Vienna, Austria

I would like to thank Ksenia and the Paradise team for their help, support, kindness, warmth and incredible humanity. You are undoubtedly the best. When you work with the best team, the best experts and simply people with big hearts. I bow low to you for your work. My son, who is studying at the Sankt Gilgen school on your recommendation (Austria) is already grown up and will be applying to university in a year. And I already know which support team we will be working with. That's why I'm calm, because I know that my son and I are in the best hands. The career testing carried out by Ksenia's team proved to be extremely useful, and my son now has a clear understanding of the direction he wants to take. We wish them all the best. p>

Paradise client
Krasnoyarsk, Russia
Pavel300@inbox.ru

We have been friends with Paradise since 1996, and last used their services when choosing a school for our son Denis in Spain. We chose the Sotogrande International School. Time flew by, and now it's time for Denis to prepare for university. He chose to study computer science. By chance, we crossed paths with Paradise again just as they were offering a new service: admission to universities around the world, including the most prestigious and top-ranked institutions. Ksenia, a company specialist in London, made a very good impression on us. Her professionalism and knowledge of the nuances and, it seems, all the pitfalls won us over. With her help, we received offers from all the English universities we wanted, as well as from the University of Colorado and even Penn State University, which was extremely difficult but made possible thanks to a well-written application.

In general, it is a very good university — it is called the Public Ivy League (a public university that is as good as the famous Ivy League universities). One of the universities, the famous University of Toronto, even offered Denis a scholarship. I can confidently recommend Ksenia and Paradise to all applicants. You will be in good hands.

Evi Lloyd
Paradise client
Tallinn, Estonia

We are grateful to Ksenia Starostina and her team! Thank you for your expert support — our son Vadim received a lot of advice from experts in relevant subject areas while working on his UCAS application and personal statement, preparing for the ESAT and interviews. This support helped him to form his “own self” : to set priorities when choosing a course and university, to structure his interests and achievements, and to express them in a way that truly reflects his personality and highlights the aspects that universities pay particular attention to.

Vadim had long been aiming for a technical specialisation, and his current specialisation is electronics engineering, which he chose because of its practical approach combining physics and computer science. By the time he started studying in the UK, he had already developed key qualities such as an inquisitive mind, analytical thinking, a love of reading, independent work and the ability to argue his point. These skills became an important foundation for his further preparation for university.

The National Mathematics and Science Collegeprovided many opportunities to participate in various STEM programmes, competitions and research projects in collaboration with universities. This helped to deepen my knowledge and develop my professional interests. In addition, attending open days at universities such as Warwick, Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial played a key role in understanding the importance of writing a personal statement for the application process.

Summer programmes such as Imperial Global Summer School and Immerse Education at Cambridge also greatly enriched the experience, allowing me to get a feel for the atmosphere of the educational institutions, talk to teachers and students, and discuss approaches to preparing and submitting applications while working on the concept and wording.

The support provided by Ksenia Starostina and her team during the university admission process was invaluable. She provided individual consultations, helping me plan my actions and resolve issues related not only to the application process.These included: organising a conversation with an academic postdoc from a top university to discuss the difference between career paths in industry and academia, monitoring deadlines, and responding promptly to any questions and concerns. We sincerely thank you for your contribution to this result!

Evi's son was admitted to Cambridge University to study Engineering, with an A* in four subjects.
He graduated from the National Mathematics and Science College

Irina Savochkina
Paradise client
Saint Petersburg, Russia

As a mother, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all of you for all your help and for the journey you have taken with us. Thank you for fighting for our son until the very end and not letting us fall into despair. We are very happy to have met and worked with a team of professionals like you: highly educated, knowledgeable and simply wonderful people, where everyone clearly fulfils their duties and quickly and promptly gets involved in the process, depending on the circumstances. We wish you all the best and look forward to new meetings, projects and achievements with our daughter. And of course, we will always recommend you to all our friends.

Irina's son graduated from King William's College on the Isle of Man.

Irina Tsybikova
Paradise client
Krasnoyarsk, Russia
irina_0920@mail.ru

Ksenia is our compass! There are so many nuances and pitfalls when applying to university that it is impossible not only to warn about them, but even to know about them. It's just precision work. She gives clear instructions, an action plan and the necessary preparatory work.

Tatyana Ruzankina
Paradise customer
Moscow, Russia

I would like to thank Ksenia for her consultation. She answered all my questions in great detail and in a structured manner! I was very satisfied, so I plan to start working with Paradise and Ksenia in the autumn to prepare for university admission.

Maria Pavlova
Paradise client
Moscow, Russia

Ksenia is a wonderful specialist and really helped my son Artem set the right course. Thanks to our cooperation, my son has new goals. To our surprise, he quickly decided on a career path based on the results of the professional testing. Once the goals and objectives were set, all that remained was to find a good tool to achieve them. Ksenia gave Artem IELTS. He had never prepared for it before and was seeing it for the first time. He scored 3.5 on the writing section and 6.5 on the listening section. He has a year to prepare properly.

Irina Bergman
Paradise client
United Kingdom

I spoke with Ksenia on the phone. I really enjoyed the conversation; she seems very professional. I look forward to receiving information about your services and prices. Thank you very much!

Paradise client
Perm, Russia

Ksenia, I would like to express my sincere gratitude for your help in choosing universities and for all the hard work you have done! It is a pleasure to work with you, as you are a true professional!!! Thank you very much, and good luck in your noble work!!!

Lydia was admitted to The University of the West of England (UWE Bristol) to study Business and Law.