Hello everyone, I am a High School graduate from India and looking to apply for undergraduate admission in engineering in the top(MIT, Harvard, Caltech, Princeton, etc.)US universities, I know that extracurriculars are a big part of college admissions in the US so, I’ve worked on them since 10th grade. My achievements mostly include winning the competitions related to science and engineering(STEM fields as Americans call it) and have represented at the nationals.
Now, to be honest, I wasn’t expecting to apply with these achievements as they pale in comparison to other applicants that got in. An International Olympiad medal is almost a must when you are an international student applying to universities such as MIT for any of the STEM field. but recently, I got the mother of all extracurricular achievement of mine till date, that is, I won an International Hackathon(online) organized by Harvard University, now because it was international, there were engineers, startups and far more experienced people competing, yet I won and was the only high school student.
I achieved all I did while living in a small remote town in India with an annual income of my family being less than 5 Lakh INR (less than 7,300 USD a year), the struggles that I’ve been through will be considered torture if you compare it with the standard of living in the US(When I got Jaundice, I had to transfer to cheaper school to keep up with the medical expense, I also had hard time explaining the meaning of letter of recommendation to my teachers in school). But I had a lust for engineering and technology that is never ending and helped me to not only survive through this but kept me going and so I achieved what I did. Because of my financial situation, I cannot afford to go anywhere else than a need-blind or need-based university.
Considering all that, if I score ~1500 in SAT and ~750 in subject tests, do I have any chances of getting in for Undergrad in Universities such as MIT? I also have a good academic record(~90 aggregate in high school).
It’s worth a try, but be realistic about your chances. MIT, for example, is hard enough at 6.7% acceptance last year. For international students it was 2.4%.
Thank you, this kind of answer I was looking for! As I’ve lived my entire life in a corner of the world, I lacked the perspective for where would I stand compared to competition as the selection processes are really subjective.
Agree, it is fine to give it a try but know that the odds are extremely low for international students. I’d strongly suggest that you pursue options in your home country as well.
“An International Olympiad medal is almost a must when you are an international student applying to universities such as MIT for any of the STEM field”
This is patently false. Look at the number of freshman international students at a school like MIT. Then consider the fact that not every top international STEM student will go to MIT: there are many other schools both in the US and abroad they will go to. You will see the discrepancy in the numbers.
The problem is that many international STEM applicants have little to no idea of what top US colleges are looking for.
If what you say about yourself is true, then you should be pretty okay academically. The main thing you need to focus on is presenting your unconventional story in an interesting and compelling way that shows self-awareness.
Let me know if you would like me to expand upon anything I said.
You hope to get into the most difficult universities in the world, from a country, whose applicants are in the thousands, if not more, to those specific schools. So your chances are limited by your home competition.
You also hope to be fully funded for your education. That makes your application status even more dire with less chances of admission. Contrary to what people believe, there is a finite number of funds available to support everyone who needs financial aid. Large numbers of US students cannot afford to attend top universities.
Students and their parents use multiple resources to attempt to pay for a university education. Students often go to their local community colleges and transfer to in-state universities. Top colleges and universities are expensive.
Funding sources sometimes come from federal or state grants. If you aren’t a citizen, you aren’t eligible for that kind of funding. Just giving you information about how you will be impacted.
You don’t have SAT scores yet, so before you apply to these schools, you should see where your scores place you. Since you are on a limited budget, you don’t want to waste fees on schools where your chances would be extremely limited.
You have an excellent chance. You’ve beaten the odds, and the odds aren’t even worth beating because far lesser students have gotten in, so why not you. Good luck. and apply everywhere you like. Financial aid will come if the colleges feel like they want you, if not, their loss, not yours.
@TheSATTeacher Thank you for the clarification, I was feeling a bit down as I only have one gold medal and that too just for a School Rank 1 in Math Olympiad in 10th grade.
If you could, please explain more about: “Presenting your unconventional story in an interesting and compelling way that shows self-awareness.” As I have lived in one corner of the world for my entire life and lack perspective on quite a lot of things, so if you could give me any tips for how should I present my story of struggles and determination for engineering in the application, I’d really appreciate it.
@tanishq, yes, need blind and need based, if they want you, but you also need to pay fees to send your scores to all of those schools. That doesn’t mean you will get in nor get a waiver. Most seats at those schools fill up with domestic students. You have to be the best student in your country to even get noticed. Single digit admissions for international students. FWIW: most students applying to Harvard get scores over 1500.
@Tanishq Right. I don’t really know how you should tell your story–that is for you to figure out. You know your story better than anyone else. What I can say is that it is important to show some amount of thoughtfulness and perspective. It is hard to really specify what these things mean in a short space. I guess the basic criterion for thoughtfulness it this: you will appear thoughtful if your writing evidences that you have spent plenty of time thinking about your life, actions, accomplishments, motivations, emotions, etc, i.e. that you are sufficiently reflective about these things. Your writing should give voice to your inner mental life.
It is probably easiest to get a feel for such things from the writings of others. It is probably easiest to get an idea from unthoughtful pieces of writing, but there aren’t so many bad pieces that are well known that I can point to. The whole waking up at 5 am in the morning, training hard, eventually achieving goal narrative is one that generally shows a lack of thoughtfulness/simple-mindedness. For examples of thoughtful writing, you can turn to literature. The writer most known for opening up his inner life in our time is probably Karl Ove Knausgaard. His My Struggle series is a good place to look. You don’t want to be as confessional as he is, or over-share as much as he does, but his writing is a good example of what it looks like to convey thoughtfulness. Orwell also wrote some good essays from the first person perspective. There are really plenty of examples in literature. If you have any other q’s let me know.
The fact you won the hackathon is bound to catch the attention of Adcons at the schools you mention. Admissions at MIT is not just need blind but it also meets need 100%. Certainly worth applying.
@TheSATTeacher I have no words to thank you for the insight you gave in. I understood what you are trying to say with regards to the storytelling part, thank you.
