I am an Indian student, studying in Class 11th currently. I want to do a double major, Engineering and Business.
What do u guys think, according to my profile, can i get into uPenn or Harvard or similar?
MY PROFILE-
SAT- 1310 (Current, didn’t study at all though), 1450 (Future)
Class 11th half yearlies- 84.8% (Not good, ik, but these exams were very rigorous)
Class 10th- 10 CGPA (Duhhh)
Class 12th (Est.)- 85% in Half yearlies, and 90%+ in boards
For my extracurriculars-
Founder and President of Technology Club in my School. We created a 3D printer under 5k from scrap among other things.
Participated in German Exchange Programme with Europaschule Köln on the topic Ecotopia: Future Visions
Marketing and Organisational Head of Entrepreneurial Club in my school, basically we sell stuff and earn profits.
Giving Guitar Grade 3 Trinity Exam, got merit in grade 1 rockschool exam
Taught Underprivileged Children about Technology for about 3 months. This was by Learntoday Group.
I have learnt C and C++ from aptech
Team leader at Project Citizen. It was an nationwide competition where u had to pick up a social issue and make it better. We met with the DCP Traffic (East) and many other important people. Organised awareness campaigns and made future laws to make our cause better
Team Leader at Wharton Investment Competition
Participant of RMO, NSO, IMO, IEO
I play basketball. Came Second in Sandeep Batavia Inter School Basketball Tournament held at DPS, Sharjah, UAE
Co-Founder of Human Rights Club in my School
I might also get into Student Council next year, maybe a President, or at least a VP
I did 2 Online Internships as well.
@procastinator21 - may not be what you expected to hear, but please see below FWIW.
International admits to these schools are VERY limited. From what I see on http://www.hio.harvard.edu/statistics - H has a total of 22 students from India (all years combined), which means about 5 students are admitted every year. If you are one of the top 5 students applying to H from India in your class, you will be in. Also to note is that several monetarily rich students (like the business tycoon families etc) apply to these schools from countries like India.
IMHO - your 13xx or 14xx SATs and 90% in 12th grade etc - may not make you the top 5 in your country.
Having said that - there are several other schools in the US which would love to take you and you will fit in extremely well in some of those. Suggest you use tools such as the Supermatch tool to find a suitable school. Good luck.
Thanks for your reply. I just wanted an opinion. Also, i still have 1 year. Could i make up for my low academics with my extracurriculars? And if you think so, what could i do?
Extracurriculars will not make up for low academics — for the schools you mentioned, you need to have high test scores and a high gpa, or your chances are very slim.
@VenomBuds
My gpa is okay, as 60% and above in Indian CBSE board are counted as 4.0 unweighted, or on some scales 80% is 3.0 and 90% is a 4.0, and i am pretty sure i can get 90% in my 12th. As far as the test scores go, I can improve, but can’t be so sure about it. On diagnostic even got me a 1560, but on the other hand another one got me a mere 1230. So, i am not so sure about that yet.
Anyway, all i am saying is, there is no harm to try right? I just want to give it my best shot.
@snarlatron
Of course, i am not limiting myself to only these universities. As I said earlier, I only want to give it my best shot. I have a lot more universities in mind, such as-
UC Berkley
UCLA
USC
GeorgiaTech
Duke
Brown
Carnegie Mellon
John Hopkins
NYU
Rice
UIUC
and many more…
But i guess these are equally as hard to get into. That is why mentioned only my top 2 choices.
Many of the schools on your list, including Harvard, are ultra-high reaches for all US students, and even greater reaches for an international student from India – no matter what their stats. That’s because most US colleges have “soft caps” on international students, students from India, or both. For example, Harvard limits the number of international students to about 10% to 11% of an incoming class, or about 160 to 190 students. And as @MedSciBud pointed out, Harvard admits, on average, only about 6 students per year from India. I imagine the numbers at Duke, Brown, Johns Hopkins, Rice, and Carnegie Mellon are going to be similar.