Popular Posts

By Rajkamal Rao

Popular Posts

 

For your convenience, here's a running list of our most popular blog posts and published newspaper articles.

Section A. For 8th - 10th graders

1. Common questions which confront high school families
2. Define your brand & decide your career
   
3. How does block class scheduling work?
4. Preparing teenage children for summer
5. How important is the STAAR test? 
6. How do you prepare for AP Physics? 
7. Have you fine-tuned your teenager's high school course roadmap?
   
   
   
   
8. Why Advanced Placement (AP) Courses Are So Important 
9. Is taking a dual credit course a good idea? 
10. How to improve the strength of high school curriculum
11. What colleges look for in high school students
12. Is getting into TAMS a good idea?
13. All about grades and weighted grades
14. Frisco ISD changes Course Grade Weights
15. Is Coppell ISD, beginning with the Class of 2025, hurting students with its class rank policy? 
16. Is an International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma a good choice?
17. Does a "good" school district mean your high school student will be successful?
18. How to interpret PSAT-11 scores for National Merit Scholarships
19. How Important Are Extracurricular Activities For High School Students?
20. Signing Up As a Volunteer With the North Texas Red Cross
21. How Many Extracurricular Activities Are Good For a High School Student?
22. College Planning Checklist for Student-Athletes (from the College Board)
23. Should High School Students Audit a Class?
24. Summer acceleration for Math courses
    
25. Exciting summer programs for High School students
    
26. Tips for after-school academic support
27. Time Management Tips: Clunking and Interleaving


28. About us
29. Rajkamal Rao Bio
30. Rajkamal Rao Articles Archive

Section B. For 11th - 12th graders
(Please also review Section A above)

1. Common questions which confront high school families
2. How do you prepare for the SAT/ACT?
3. Rao Advisors Test Prep
4. Rao Advisors Test Prep - Trifecta (SAT/ACT/PSAT-11) Services 
5. Rao Advisors Test Prep: Tutoring Service 
6. Rao Advisors Test Prep Launch Video
7. Test Prep Shopping Cart 
8. How many times should you take the SAT/ACT?
9. Our partnership with Achievable for ACT prep
   
10. How to interpret PSAT-11 scores for National Merit Scholarships
11. How generous are NMS awards? 
    
12. NY Times article (Jan 28, 2026) about cheating on the online SAT  
13. Are Medical School Early Assurance Programs (EAP) a good idea?
14. The GRE reigns supreme
15. In Texas, you now have to file the FAFSA to graduate from high school 
16. Core Idea 2: Graduate from a 2-year college with an Associates Degree 
17. Core Idea 3: F-1 Students! Take advantage of the One Year OPT Visa 
18. Core Idea 4: Transfer to a 4-Year College 
19. It's getting harder to get into colleges using ED/EA 
20. Beginning Fall 2021, expect three major college admissions changes 
21. Asian American students should hide their race on the Common App 
    
22. UT Austin dramatically relaxes essay requirements after Fall 2025   
23. So, you applied to UT Austin. What next?
24. About the new Undergrad Degree in Informatics at UT Austin  
25. Statistics and Data Science Majors 
26. Understanding the College Pricing Ladder
27. How useful is the Net Price Estimator?
28. Introduction to college 529 plans  
29. Harvard-Stanford-Duke-Georgetown-Penn - Information Session
30. Brown-Chicago-Columbia-Cornell-Rice - Information Session
31. How do you prepare for AP Physics? 
32. Why Advanced Placement (AP) Courses Are So Important 
33. Is taking a dual credit course a good idea? 
34. How to improve the strength of high school curriculum
35. What colleges look for in high school students
36. Is an International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma a good choice?
37. College Planning Checklist for Student-Athletes (from the College Board)
38. How important are college rankings? 
39. A Primer on College Essays
    
    
    
    
    
40. How do you send transcripts to colleges?
41. How do you send recommendation letters to colleges?
42. 2019-20 Automatic Admission - Texas Colleges and Universities 
43. SAT Subject Tests vs. AP Exams: Which are better?
44. How H-1B parents with children on H-4 visas should plan for college admissions
    
45. UT Austin: Campus Visit Observations
    
46. Stanford University: Campus Visit Observations 
47. Texas A&M: Campus Visit Observations
48. Should You Consider Texas A&M's PSA Option?  
49. Exciting Summer Programs for High School Students
50. Rice University: Campus Visit Observations
51. Tips for after-school academic support 
52. Texas Public University System 
53. #MeToo Tips For College Bound Families 
54. Try Khan Academy's Dialogues Program to Practice Engaging in Difficult Conversations 
55. Texas A&M Essays 
56. How to write a winning Statement of Purpose (for the newspaper article version, see below) 
57. How we help you fill out the Common App
    
58. Is Coppell ISD, beginning with the Class of 2025, hurting students with its class rank policy?  
    
59. A letter to the parents of the Class of 2026 
    


60. In Texas, Computer Science credits can be used to fulfill foreign language (LOTE) graduation requirements
61. Frisco ISD offers grade opt-out policy for 11th and 12th graders pursuing athletics and the arts 
62. AP Computer Science A: Check out Purdue's archived course for free on the EdX platform
    
63. About us
64. How we can help high school seniors get into choice colleges
    
    
    
    
65. Rajkamal Rao Bio
66. Rajkamal Rao Articles Archive

 

Section C. Rajkamal Rao's published articles about education
(For a full list of his columns and TV appearances, click here).

1. The Lone Star Lights The Way On College Admissions 
2. Tear down this tuition wall - a piece about out-of-state tuitions 
3. The SAT takes sides against meritocracy
4. US college admissions continue to become more subjective
5. The GRE reigns supreme 
6. Indian students in the US caught in a legal battle 
7. What would we do without editors?  
8. A corruption scandal shakes American college admissions 
9. More American colleges go test-optional 
10. How to write a winning statement of purpose 
11. Studying abroad is now more business and less education 
12. Look before you post on social media 
13. When top institutions misuse their brands to make money 
14. US: The go-to place for an MS/MBA 
    
15. US: The go-to place for an MS/MBA (.pdf download version) 
    
16. MBA courses in the US must reprogram to stay relevant 
17. Dangers of reckless online behavior 
18. The epidemic of self-written recommendation letters 
19. Ban commission-based student recruiting 
20. Banking on student loans in India
21. Acing that application essay 
22. How about a career in consulting? 
23. Viewing the world from a Piper  

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