College admissions can be nerve-wracking experiences at the best of times. When Kavitta B Bedi’s daughter faced the arduous college admissions process in 2019, she realised there must be a better way for students to demonstrate who they really are beyond school marks, test scores, college essays and application forms.
Bedi teamed up with Katherine Ernst Mehta and started Xtraview, a digital startup where a team of experts from varied fields, interview student applicants in an unscripted and unbiased virtual setting.
These interviews can then be used to bolster traditional paper applications to colleges and other institutions. “Our aim is to help students speak, showcase and succeed. We want to empower them by highlighting the different aspects of their personalities. Our platform gives every student an equal, unbiased opportunity to seize their dreams,” the duo says emphatically.
Ernst Mehta educationist and the founder of Edvanta Consulting (a student consulting platform)—works with international high school students across India, Singapore, Indonesia and the UK to help them navigate the US undergraduate admission process, and gain admission to colleges they are most fitted to. Bedi has worked in the space of children’s entertainment for years as founder and CEO of JBC Inc (Just Because It’s Children)—a platform that brings child-friendly Broadway theatricals to India. Their professional expertise combined with their personal life experiences led to Xtraview.
Explaining the process and importance of the platform, the duo says, “An unscripted recording of interviews enables students to showcase their communication and critical thinking skills, as the interviews are conducted extempore. This highlights the ‘X factor’ often needed to clinch the seat. Academic committees and admission officers receive distinctive insight into every child’s personality, giving them an equal and unbiased opportunity in the playing field.
The efficiency and transparency of an interview are beneficial for institutions and organisations as well, allowing them to effectively assess skills that truly matter.” Recently, Xtraview partnered with The Big Red Group to provide two deserving students from amongst 100 leading schools across India, the chance to earn a full scholarship for the ‘2021 Harvard Youth Lead the Change’ (YLC) conference. This seven-day programme has been created by a team of professors from Harvard Business School, Harvard Law School and the Harvard School of Education.
It aims to hone the leadership skills of students by encouraging them to develop tangible solutions for global problems. After the programme ends, students continue to receive one-on-one mentorship from Harvard trainers for the next 12 months. We all know that playing up on our strengths and standing apart from our peers has become an essential life-skill. The fact that there are professionals to handhold and guide us through the process makes all the difference.
what’s on offer
Xtraview’s bouquet of services includes Interview and Elevator Pitch training workshops for high school students, or people preparing to enter the workforce
In order to ensure an unbiased application procedure, the team designs each interview with different questions. They also ask for live writing samples to present a true picture of the candidate’s writing skills, at no extra cost.
The team also offers an XtraPrep Digital Interaction Workshop designed to prepare students from Classes VIII-XII to succeed in their digital interviews and interactions later on
Interested students can book an interview slot as per their convenience for a sum of Rs 3,999
Xtraview has also partnered with The Big Red Group to provide two deserving students the chance to earn a full scholarship for the 2021 Harvard YLC conference.