Top Summer Programs to Enhance Your College Application
(Applications Still Open for 2026) Summary Summer programs offer high school students the opportunity to explore academic interests, gain advanced subject exposure, and experience college-level rigor outside the classroom. However, not all summer programs carry equal weight in the admissions process. Highly selective programs are particularly valued because they: Identify top academic talent through competitive […]
How Language Shapes Thought
Imagine sunlight glinting upon a Grecian sea or the vivid hues of Santorini’s rooftops. In English, we would describe both as “blue.” But to Greek speakers, the darker shade is “ble” and the lighter one “ghalazio.” When linguist and researcher, Panos Athanasopoulos, showed native Anglophones and Grecophones squares of light and dark blue, they found […]
Water: The Nectar of the Gods
“Do you ever feel like you’re getting sick, and then you have a glass of water and you’re like, ‘oh, that’s why people drink that.” -Dina Hashem, circa 2019 While our merry, blue planet has turned dystopian, somewhere in a typical urban Indian household, a parent is scolding their kid for not drinking enough water. Is […]
Sweat Your Lockdown Blues Away
The only thing missing from your mother’s morning mantra is a gruelling workout routine. We all have been lectured about (and sneakily ignored) the benefits of exercise. However, the quarantine blues and loss of long walks at school have made us question our long-held tiff with working out. After the WHO’s guidelines to stay physically active during […]
On Seeing
“The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled” -John Berger, Ways of Seeing In the opening sentences of his 1972 book, Berger differentiates the act of seeing from the process of knowing. He says, “Each evening we see the sun set. We know that the earth is turning away from it. Yet the knowledge, the […]
Block. Creative Block.
Here’s your lucky Slytherin-green fountain pen. There’s your favorite Hunger Games planner. On top of both is an inch of dust because you’re experiencing the worst creative block ever. The odds are clearly not in your favor. This time of the year is for ideating exciting new projects and essays, for fortifying your profile in preparation for […]
Everyday Sociology
A prominent lesson that stays with me after five years of university education in sociology is the everydayness of it. As an undergrad, I was introduced to multiple topics of social importance that could enrich a sociologist’s arsenal of knowledge. Social theories pushed a student to look deeper into Indian social institutions, their functioning and dynamics that […]
Surviving and Thriving with Parents during a Pandemic: A Mini Guide
I have to confess, this is borderline clickbait since I usually have NO idea of how to avoid fights with my parents, let alone advise you on yours. Today, however, we’re discussing a very specific category of arguments—the ones that have arisen during the course of this year’s collective, prolonged grounding, which seem strangely worse […]
The Language of Anthropology
“Anthropology is that which makes the unfamiliar familiar and the familiar unfamiliar”- is how my professor would define it. These words resonate with my understanding and experience of our socio-cultural worlds. Anthropology is a language that renders alien cultures understandable and one’s own societies mysterious. Although I have acquired myriad complexities from anthropology, I have […]
The Wisdom and War of College Interviews
Under the soft light of her desk, Padma sits with her pen between her teeth, flipping thoughtlessly through her ancient Greek history textbook. There’s an exam coming up, but she just can’t seem to focus her bleary eyes on the Acropolis. Her mind is far too preoccupied. Tomorrow, she has an interview with an alumnus […]