Amina holds a Bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and currently works as a business analyst at McKinsey & Company. She has over 6 years of admissions counseling experience, taking applicants through the process from drafting a college list and writing the Common App essay and supplements to drafting extracurricular lists and preparing for interviews. Amina has also coached low-income first-generation students in Brooklyn, New York, through Princeton University's Brooklyn College Awareness Program. Students she has coached have been accepted into Harvard, Yale, Brown, Cambridge, Oxford, Duke, UCLA, and UPenn, among others.
Amina’s passion for coaching college applicants is driven by her own experience of applying to top U.S. universities as an international applicant. She was applying from Pakistan, did not have a lot of guidance initially, and felt quite lost. Ultimately, she decided to work with a college counseling firm who patiently helped her understand the process. The team ensured her genuine voice, passions, and interests shone through her application, and she was accepted to Princeton University through single-choice early action. Now, Amina wants to pay this forward. She believes many students with immense potential could use generous and competent coaches to help them realize their ambition of gaining admission into a top college, and she wishes to be that coach for them.
Amina believes her single greatest strength as a coach is her empathy. She realizes that college admissions can be an incredibly stressful experience, and it can feel like one's entire future hinges on a single decision. As a coach, she likes to remind students that there are more options than they realize. She also believes in gently nudging students rather than being harsh or critical. Amina works hard to give students a safe space to express themselves authentically. She gives detailed, actionable, and honest feedback and truly believes that applying to colleges can be enlightening and empowering. Amina would love to accompany students on this extremely rewarding college admissions journey. She knows how it feels and would love to give applicants the support they need to demonstrate their full potential in their applications!
Outside of coaching, Amina really likes spending time with her family and dog. She has lived in four countries and has friends scattered all over the globe, so she loves to catch up with them virtually. She has also recently fallen in love with reformer Pilates and has added that to her workout routine in addition to cycling and hiking. Lastly, Amina loves good food and good music!