Rajkamal Rao heads Rao Advisors LLC, a Texas firm to counsel students about all things college: readiness, financial planning, selection, strategy, and admissions. The firm has helped hundreds of student clients win admission to top colleges and universities including such reputed institutions as the University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth, Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, Duke, University of Illinois-Urbana, Texas A & M, University of Utah, University of Minnesota, U-Mass (Amherst), USC, North Carolina State University, Arizona State and Virginia Tech. Click here for public reviews of the firm. Mr. Rao is an expert on higher education. He is an active public speaker conducting awareness seminars on higher education and student camps hosted by cities such as Southlake, Frisco, and Plano. His higher education webinars are regularly broadcast live to engineering colleges in India. His course, "School to College", an innovative ½ credit elective for high school students, launched in the State of Washington on the Red Comet online platform in 2018. He has written a book on college selection - College Selection the Smart Way. Mr. Rao excels in educating families about the many changes that are occurring in the nation's higher education scene including addressing topics such as: What are acceptance rates and yields? What are recent trends in college admissions? What makes a student profile? What factors are important in college admissions decisions? Why is high school course planning critical? How can we rethink extracurricular activities? How can families make college more affordable? What should families know about financial aid? Mr. Rao serves as an international op-ed columnist for The Hindu BusinessLine, India's second-largest financial newspaper, which, in a YouTube video ad labeled him as “one of the country’s top experts.” [00:40]. Click here for an archive of his opinion pieces. He also writes a weekly column, "World View", for the paper's portal for business school students. Mr. Rao is also a frequent guest on ET Now, India's largest business TV network, during the Primetime Show "India Development Debate." He is frequently quoted in the press on matters related to his areas of expertise. Mr. Rao has a Masters in Mechanical Engineering degree from Villanova University (1990), and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University (1996). In 2007, he completed a Certificate Course in Executive Education at the Yale School of Management. He lives with his wife and son, in Bedford, TX. He may be contacted at rajkamal.rao@raoadvisors.com.