NEERAJ MANDHANA
CAREER & COLLEGE COUNSELING
My team and I work exclusively with high school students as they ask fundamentally important questions about their education, career paths and the impact they wish to leave on society. Our goal is to mentor them in discovering answers that make them feel happy, challenged and successful.
What should you study?
Using a battery of sophisticated personality, interest and natural talent tests, we help students
discover their true nature. We help them choose high school subjects, college majors, fields of specializations and career roles that would be a good fit to them, and not just a fad.
Where should you study?
When choosing colleges, our emphasis is not just on admissions, but also on college success. Building on our holistic understanding of the student and the family, we help you discover colleges that are a good fit for you. In line with Csikszentmihalyi’s flow theory, we will pair you with colleges that offer you the ideal balance of comfort and challenge. Our deep understanding of colleges around the world is based on visits, continuous student feedback and thorough research.
How can you get into college?
Over the years, we’ve had phenomenal success with helping students get into the college of their dreams. What’s our secret? Start early, know yourself, chase excellence and know why you’re applying to that college. In the race of college admissions, we will help you put your best foot forward.
How to fund your college education?
An global undergraduate education doesn't have to be an expensive affair. Every year our students get millions of dollars worth of scholarship and financial aid from leading colleges around the world. With the right financial planning, smart scholarship search, a review of personal financials, we will help you manage the bill.
How to make the most of your undergraduate years?
Our students graduate college with a strong resume and lifelong memories. That's because we make a personalized college plan for each student before they depart home. Approaching college with a clear game plan helps them capitalize on the myriad array of opportunities they are presented with at University.
Every summer, our rising seniors and NM Squad descend upon a luxurious holiday destination near Mumbai for a few days. We go Off The Grid (OTG).
There, we meditate, make new friends, sing songs, battle each other in push-up challenges, research colleges, and write essays. It’s the perfect amalgamation of work and play. OTG is a safe space to express your story, and put your best foot forward in the application process. Students return back home empowered, not only to take on their college applications, but also the final year of high school.
PS: OTG has a strong culture of traditions - one of them is that you’ll get thrown into the pool at the least expected of times – beware!
PS: When is OTG 23? June second half in Alibaug.
ABOUT
As someone who cares deeply about education and career guidance, I have been actively mentoring both individual students and educational institutions since 2010. Students seek me for my resourceful insights into college admissions and career planning. High schools seek me to structure their counseling departments and college admission officers seek my insights into the education landscape in India.
In 2011, I became the first Indian counselor to attend the prestigious Harvard Summer Institute on College Admissions. In 2014, my family established The Next Genius Foundation, a charitable trust that offers full undergraduate scholarships at select US colleges to inspired Grade 12 students from South Asia. In 2020, I established Next Genius Webinars, an online undertaking that connects students with leading educational experts from around the world in a free and equitable manner. In 2022, a group of fellow counselors and I established All India Independent Education Consultants, an association that aims to professionalize the IEC trade in India.
Every year, attending the world’s leading educational conferences helps me keep up to date with the latest trends in global higher ed. I am a proud alumnus of UCLA and the University of Cambridge.
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Rahil Bathwal
Caltech, CA
Neeraj Sir's approachability and availability played a significant role in my whole experience and made my dream of studying at Caltech possible. He put in a lot of effort in not only understanding what I was looking for in a college but also in understanding my personality and which colleges would fit in with that. I would definitely recommend Neeraj Sir to any student.
Krish Desai
Yale, CT
Working with Neeraj Sir has been an absolute delight. He has been a mentor to me for the last 4 years and I have valued every single interaction we’ve had. I got into Cambridge University and Yale, and today I attend Yale with a 100% scholarship. I highly recommend him to all of you!
Shubhangi Dutta
Stanford, CA
Neeraj Sir helped me discover myself and build a strong profile, starting Grade 8. My parents and I really appreciated his knowledge of colleges abroad and the entire admissions process. A very big thank you to him for helping me get into Stanford!
APPOINTMENT
Hello Neeraj, my daughter is currently in Grade 10 and we would like to seek your counsel for her career and college planning. How can I schedule a meeting with you?
Thanks!
Thanks for reaching out to me. Kindly fill this form so I can get to know a little more about
her. My assistant will also call you back and issue the earliest possible appointment.
Also, if you have any specific questions or concerns, feel free to call me anytime.
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