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. 

Timing Your College Applications

Originally published in The Hindustan Times Education Section

December 31^st has a special meaning to applicants planning to study in the US in 2014.  The general perception is that unless you are applying early decision, you submit your applications around December 31^st and then wait until the end of March to get your decision. Well, the reality is that there are a bunch submission opportunities before December 31^st that can yield good news long before March 2014.

Look Beyond University Rankings

Originally Published in Hindustan Times Education

A few weeks ago US News and World Report released their college rankings for 2014. Most of the media coverage of this dubious event has concluded that not much has changed, especially among the top 10 colleges. This is important to Indian students for whom US News is sometimes treated as a sacred text. Indian applicants focus is so narrowed on the top 10 (maybe 20) ranked colleges that its almost impossible to convince them to consider applying anywhere else. This is often blamed on a ‘status conscious’ or ‘brand obsessed’ perspective. While this tendency is exaggerated, I offer some reasons why even more supposed practical reasons for sticking with the top 20 are unfounded.

What to do after 10th?

Previously Published in the Hindustan Times Education Supplement

I realize September is not normally the time students think about plans after class 10 exams, but if you are considering studying abroad either in 11^th or after 12^th, there are some things you may need to plan for now. Once your 10^th exam results start to come in around next April, you will have a wide range of choices ahead of you. 

Extracurricular Activities

Previously Published in Hindustan Times Education Supplement

The application season is officially upon us. As students prepare – some late, some far ahead – most seem to worry about the extracurricular component of the application.

In my experience, extracurriculars are not something you can easily fabricate or embellish. And extracurriculars are not something that can overcome flaws in your academic or testing record. The only exception is if you are a recruitable athlete or musician, a rare situation for most Indian applicants. But even in the case of the amazing squash player who is recruited on an athletic scholarship to a top ranked college, his or her marks will also be very competitive.

Protecting Your Downside

Previously Published in Hindustan Times Education Supplement 

At the end of one of my earlier columns (May 15^th) I advised students to ‘select realistic back-up options.’  As I start preparing students for the upcoming application cycle, I find that this advice needs more detail. First of all the list of realistic options students have is almost always the same and secondly, it is rarely ever ‘realistic’. It seems like the colleges people choose as back-ups are the colleges where they have heard of other Indian students getting admission. I beseech all students who are applying this year to dig deeper into what is really important to you and apply only to colleges you want to attend. There are plenty of options.