Nikita Daga
Book a free call with Nikita
Nikita’s intro
I work as a software engineer in San Francisco and graduated from Duke with a degree in Computer Science and Statistics. In the past four years, I've worked with 650 students on their college applications.
What I do is simple: I read what a student sends me, find the experience that matters, and show them how to turn it into something admissions officers remember. Most students bury their best material in the middle of a draft or never mention it at all because they don't realize it's what makes them different. I pull that out and help them build the essay around it. I also look at their extracurriculars and tell them which ones to emphasize and which ones are taking up space without adding anything to the file. The students I've worked with have gotten into Stanford, Duke, Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, UCLA and UPenn.
When I applied, I got into Duke, Rice, UCLA, Boston University, Emory, UCSD and UWash. I liked hearing how other people thought about their applications, so I started doing this work while I was still in school and kept doing it after I graduated. I can give you 12 hours a week. If you're interested, book me for free and I'll give you your child's read.
Common questions
Before you book
What does this cost?
We are flexible, and there is a plan here that fits your family. You hear your number on the first call, before anything is agreed. What changes between plans is the kind of experience in the room: a current undergraduate at a school your student is applying to, someone who interviewed applicants for a university as an alumni volunteer, or a former admissions officer who read files and sat in committee. Every one of them is somebody we would put in front of our own family.
Do we need to know what we want before the call?
No, and most families book before they have decided anything. That is the useful time to talk. An hour, no charge, and you will come off the call knowing what we can do for your student.
How many students does one counselor take?
Few enough that the person you meet is the person who reads the drafts. Every counselor sets their own cap and prints it on their page, so you know exactly how much of their year you are getting. If your first choice is full we will introduce you to someone on the roster who suits your student just as well.
Our student is already a senior. Is it too late?
It is not too late. Several counselors here run compressed engagements and take seniors into the autumn, and there is usually more still open in a file than a family expects. Tell us where your student is on the call and we will tell you what we can do with it.
Book a call
How the call is booked.
Nikita reads your student’s file and builds the plan. The call is an hour-long video call and costs nothing.
Book a free call with NikitaNikita reads what you tell us about your student before the call, so it starts there rather than at the beginning.
If something changes
The agreement is held by Aristo Scholars rather than by Nikita personally. If Nikita cannot finish the cycle we move your student to another counselor on this roster at the price you were already quoted, and everything written down so far moves with them.
Where Nikita’s students got in.
Aristo Scholars is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by Duke or any other institution named on this page. Nikita Daga is an undergraduate at Duke, speaking only as an individual, with no role in its admissions office and no influence over any admissions decision.