How Many Colleges Should I Apply To?

A worried parent recently said to me – “The school is limiting the number of U.S. colleges to which my daughter can apply to ten.”  My response: “Ten?! That’s a lot of applications!”

Why College X?

Originally published in The Hindustan Times Education section

Many colleges abroad ask you to write an essay about why you want to attend their program. “Why Princeton” for example, is a particualry daunting one. These questions are also sometimes combined with questions about yourself, e.g. explain “why you have chosen Carnegie Mellon and your particular major(s), department(s) or program(s).” But all these types of questions require the same deep and insightful research on the part of the applicant.