There is a set of questions nobody answers in a prospectus. How long the visa actually took. Whether the deposit for a room was refundable. What the first seminar felt like when you had never been asked to argue with a reading before. The people on this page have answers to those, because they were in your position not long ago.
Who they are
Eleven people, Indian students who came to the UK to study, spread across eleven different UK universities. That is as specific as this page gets about where any of them are, and the reason is in what we publish about them, and why.
They are also the people who run outreach for Global Projects Help, which is why one of them may have messaged you on Instagram before you ever saw this page. We would rather tell you that up front: they are part of this business, not strangers who happen to be in the UK. It does not mean you will be sold anything for asking a question, and nothing is charged for talking to them.
They are not academic mentors. Nobody on this page will read your work, comment on a draft, teach you a method, or tell you how a UK dissertation is marked. That is a different team, with named subject expertise, and it is a paid service — see the mentor network. What the student team can give you is first-hand experience of arriving in the UK and getting through a first term, which no mentor can give you and which is free to ask about.
Message the team
Message whoever you like. If you are not sure who to start with, start with Mia — she leads the team and will point you at whoever is best placed to answer. Every button below opens the person's own Instagram in a new tab.
Mia
Lead · first point of contact
Mia Choudhary leads the student team and reads first enquiries. She moved from India to the UK to study, so the application, the paperwork, the flight and the first week are all things she has been through rather than read about. She is not an academic mentor and does not give academic feedback — if what you need is subject help, she will put you in front of a mentor instead.
If you would rather not use Instagram. WhatsApp and email reach Mia directly and are the right route for anything you would rather not send to a social account. Enquiries are covered Monday to Saturday, 9am to 10pm GMT. The rest of the team are students with their own deadlines, so give them a few days before assuming you have been ignored.
02
Madhavi
@ma_ddy_26_
03
Pranali
@pranali_in_uk
04
Arnav
@_arnav_2_6_
05
Prachi
@prachiofficial_38
06
Omi
@its_omii1802
07
Shreya
@its_shreyauk
08
Sani
@_be_with_sani
09
Avni
@_avni_in_uk
10
Panu
@itspanuofficial19
11
Praj
@pra_in_uk
Nine of the eleven are listed by Instagram handle rather than by name. That is deliberate: we hold a handle for them, and a handle is something they chose and published themselves. A first name we had worked out for ourselves would be a guess, and we would rather show you the fact than the guess. Names go in as each person confirms one.
What to ask a student, what to ask a mentor
The two things are easy to mix up, and asking the wrong side wastes your time. The split is simple: the student team answer from their own experience of arriving and settling; a mentor answers about the academic work itself.
Ask someone on the student team
- How long the visa and CAS actually took, and what they wish they had started earlier
- What the first fortnight felt like, honestly
- How they found a room, opened a bank account and got a UK phone number
- What they packed and then never used
- What it is like speaking up in a UK seminar for the first time
- Whether the money went further or less far than they had budgeted
- How they met people outside their own course
- What they would do differently if they were arriving again in September
Ask a mentor
- Whether your research design actually answers your research question
- How a UK dissertation is structured, and what markers reward
- What a viva is, and the questions examiners ask
- Whether your literature review synthesises or only summarises
- How to read a similarity report and repair your citation habits
- What your department's rules permit, and how to declare support
Everything in the left-hand column is one person's experience, not advice, and two people on this team may well tell you different things. Everything in the right-hand column belongs to the mentor network, which is a paid service priced per word in pounds sterling.
How to send a first message
A good first message is three lines long. These are students, not a support desk, and a short specific question gets a far better answer than “hi, can you help me”.
- Say where you are in the process. Applying, holding an offer, waiting on a CAS, or arriving in September. It changes the whole answer.
- Ask one or two specific things. “How long did your visa take from the appointment?” beats “tell me about the visa”.
- Say if you want to speak rather than type. A ten-minute voice note or call is often easier for both of you than a long thread.
Give it a few days. Everyone on this page has their own deadlines, and nobody is sitting on their phone waiting for enquiries. If you get no reply at all, message Mia on WhatsApp or email mia@globalprojectshelp.com and she will find someone.
What they will not do
Worth reading before you message, so that nobody has an awkward conversation. The student team will not:
- Touch your academic work. No reading drafts, no comments on a chapter, no help with coursework, an essay, a dissertation or a thesis. Not as a favour, and not for a fee. Academic work goes to a mentor, on the terms set out in our academic integrity policy.
- Give immigration, legal, financial or medical advice. They can tell you what happened to them. That is not advice, and it is not a substitute for it — the official route is GOV.UK's student visa guidance, with free independent advice from UKCISA and from your university's international student team.
- Speak for a university. Nobody here can tell you whether you will be admitted, chase an application, or interpret a condition on your offer. Your admissions office can.
- Promise you anything. Not an outcome, not a grade, not a visa, not a room.
- Write your personal statement. This is not an admissions consultancy, and work you submit under your own name has to be your own.
They also cannot tell you what it is like at your particular university unless they happen to be at it, and we do not publish who is where. Ask Mia: if someone on the team is close to your situation she will say so, and if nobody is she will tell you that instead of improvising.
What we publish about them, and why
A first name and an Instagram handle. That is the whole of it, and the limit is deliberate.
These are students, not public-facing staff. They did not take on a job that makes them searchable, and a page like this one is indexed for years. So there are no surnames on this page beyond Mia's, which is already published on the mentor network page; no university names against any individual; no course titles, no cities and no photographs. We say collectively that the team are Indian students across eleven different UK universities, and we never attribute one of those universities to one of these people.
We also make no claim at all about anyone's qualifications or expertise, because nobody here is offering a professional service. They are offering their own experience of one particular move. If what you need is credentials — a named person with a doctorate in your field who has examined work at your level — that is the mentor network, where the credential is the point.
Anyone listed on this page can ask to be taken off it and will be removed, without having to give a reason. Email mia@globalprojectshelp.com. If you are a reader rather than a team member and you think something on this page is wrong, the same address is the right one.
Questions students ask
Are they academic mentors?
No. They are students who moved from India to the UK to study, and they answer questions about that. They do not read work, give academic feedback, or teach method. Academic work is the mentor network, which is a separate, paid service.
Are they connected to Global Projects Help?
Yes, and we would rather say so plainly than let you find out later. They run our outreach, which is why one of them may have messaged you on Instagram. In practice that means a conversation can turn into a mentoring enquiry if you want it to. It does not mean you have to buy anything, or that asking a question commits you to anything.
Does it cost anything to message them?
No. Nothing is charged and nothing is committed by sending a message. Mentoring, which is a different thing entirely, is priced per word in pounds sterling and is set out under mentorship services.
Why are nine of them shown as an Instagram handle instead of a name?
Because a handle is a fact and a name would have been a guess. We hold confirmed first names for two people on this page, so those two are named; for the rest we publish the handle they chose themselves and add the name when they confirm it. Guessing at somebody's name in public is not a small thing to get wrong.
Why no photographs, surnames or universities?
They are students rather than public-facing staff, and this page will be indexed for a long time. The team are Indian students across eleven different UK universities — that is said collectively and is as far as it goes. See what we publish about them, and why.
Can I speak to someone at the university I am going to?
Ask Mia. We do not publish who studies where, so this is not something you can work out from the page. She will tell you if someone on the team is close to your situation, and tell you if nobody is rather than matching you to the nearest available person.
Can they help with my visa, CAS or finances?
They can tell you what their own application and first few months were like, which is genuinely useful and is not advice. For the rules themselves use GOV.UK's student visa guidance, UKCISA for free independent advice, and your university's international student team for anything specific to your offer.
Will they look at my personal statement or my coursework?
No. Not drafts, not coursework, not a dissertation chapter. Work you submit under your own name has to be yours, which is the principle behind our academic integrity policy. If you want structured academic support, that is what a mentor is for.
Nobody has replied. What now?
Give it a few days first — everyone here has their own deadlines. Then message Mia on WhatsApp or email mia@globalprojectshelp.com, say who you tried, and she will find someone who can answer.
Ask the question you cannot find an answer to
Tell us where you are in the process — applying, holding an offer, waiting on a CAS, or arriving in September — and what you want to know. If it is about the move, someone on the student team will answer it. If it turns out to be about the academic work, you will be pointed at a mentor instead.
Where to go next
Student team · free to contact · mentoring priced in pounds sterling
Enquiries Mon–Sat 9–22 GMT · mia@globalprojectshelp.com · WhatsApp +44 7537 126 976