I do not understand why some people have paranoia when it comes to agents helping students with the admission processes. there is nothing wrong in using educational agencies..of course if your 'pocket can afford it'. Agencies are in every country & assist students all over the world to different universities of the world. their product is their service. they sell their service to interested applicants. some of the reliable ones also monitor the applicants file very closely at the ministry.
The problem is that most agencies in Romania are not legitimate except a few. Some of them are not registered with the Romanian Government or 'accredited' by the university.A few agencies are registered and accredited though and it is hard sometimes for a prospective medical student to know which one is reliable and trustworthy. I used agency (study med abroad) which is registered by the Romanian Government to get into Romanian medical school and they were quite helpful from the start til finish (till i started classes) whereas some of my fellow classmates have bad experiences with some agencies (e.g most of the agencies did not deliver what they promise and do not help the student or even meet them at the airport!). Students should not also forget that they can apply on their own if they want to.
when I weighed difficulty i had to go through of applying on my own versus if i can afford to pay an agency, I opted for the latter...I was not ready to thread on grounds i know nothing about...I was not ready to go through much headaches (especially after being rejected at 3 universities in the UK despite excellent results, voluntary services, etc)...
Although I have seen people who applied on their own (i applied on behalf of a friend last year in order to bypass agencies) and obtain the acceptance letters..some of these people have friends in Romania..some of them are seasoned travelers (flying to and fro at different times)...I was not ready to go through such headaches..the agency in my case was very helpful and served as my correspondence' sort of. Why would I risk my educational (medical) career on a small error in application or on a missing document for example (yes..i was contacted by the agency to prepare my documents in a more proper way and send some additional documents to them), also...Once your documents are submitted to the Ministry you have very little chance of tracing the progress of your application or let alone getting confirmation that the file was received except if you travel there and submit your documents! Why would I risk my application on lack of accountability for my file? And what about if you travel there and submit them, try follow it up on telephone for example...try call the person who received the documents or the officials at the ministry, and see if they pick up the phone at all or if they have an idea what you are talking about..not really! i was also thinking about how I would have handled the 'courier of my acceptance letter' when it was issued (yes, was couriered to me not standard post) or how would i know that I had some missing/improperly prepared documents...
You can also answer these questions... Do you really think a secretary speaking in broken English is going to give you satisfactory answers to your 13 questions? Or how about advising you on how to apply for your temporary visa permit and how much money to budget for an apartment? or link you to a local agent to find an apartment accommodation for you? Some universities e.g Cluj-Napoca who do still accept applications directly will review your file and make a decision on whether they want you as a student, with no clearly defined criteria. Why put your application through an additional layer of screening? or sometimes one does not even know the process...a good educational agency will be honest with you and let you know the specifications of each university and let you avoid unnecessary bureaucracies.
Finally, ever wondered how long it will take to complete your application and receive the acceptance letter? Think about postal services, internal delays and rectifying any issues. Imagine trying to find out why your application was rejected from a giant machine like a Ministry of Education! Or why the missing document that you clearly remember submitting disappeared. It could take a really long time. Have you got lots of time to spare on unnecessary inconveniences?
Of course, it is advisable for students on a very tight budget to apply on their own and see if they are successful or not..why not take a chance? also if a student applied earlier, let say between march/April-May, all these inconveniences may be resolved (however the student must be very 'serious/insist' to resolve any issues arising with their application with the university or Romanian ministry of education) before the school resumes in October..but for me..it would have just been too much headache and a nightmare..and of course...I was able to afford it