Alright so I am kashmir , India was thinking about applying to universities in US especially the ivy. After countless consultation and guidance , I wasn’t sure I would get into into any of the Ivy’s. So to be on the safer side I have decided to prepare for the state entrance and hopefully qualify for NITs . So upon countless hours of introspection I realised, I had a heavy heart about not giving my best to securing an admission into the Ivys. My school year end in October 2018 , in November 2018 we have state level board exams and then in April of the coming year (2019) we give the entrance. However I was thinking after I have given the entrance ,can I apply to ivys then ? or will they hold having a pseudo- gap year against me and reject me straight off . Will having this “EXTRA TIME” kind of bottleneck my application or weaken my chances of getting in.
In general a gap year will not harm your changes at universities in North America, including the Ivy League schools. However, if you take university or college courses during that gap year, then you might be considered a transfer student rather than a freshman applicant, which can hurt your chances. Also, it is best if you do something useful or interesting during the gap year. Studying for exams that are specific to the country that you are in should not be a problem, although you could check with admissions at schools in the US.
In general Harvard is very hard to get into, and particularly difficult for international students. You might ask yourself the question: Is it reasonably likely that you might be the one best student from India applying to Harvard this year? In fact they might take two or three, but if you have a chance to be the one best then you might have a chance to get in.
In June or July we have to take entrance on the NITs or else we are left out , but they do allow discharge whenever we want.
May I ask “Why Ivies” ?
There are many non-Ivy League colleges & universities in the US that offer as good or better education than any particular Ivy. For example, Caltech, MIT, University of Chicago, Duke, Northwestern University, Johns Hopkins University, Rice, Carnegie Mellon University, Williams College, Amherst College, Swarthmore College. Pomona College, Claremont McKenna College, and several others which offer an education equal to, or in specific majors better than, the Ivies.
You need to first determine your intended major area of study & then proceed to evaluate schools. Many universities have particular majors that outshine the Ivies. For example, with respect to International Business, the University of South Carolina is outstanding. Same goes for various programs at the Univ. of California at Berkeley, the University of Michigan & Georgia Tech.
Also, I doubt that many employers in India could even identify all eight Ivy League schools. My impression is that the best brand names world-wide are Harvard, MIT, West Point, the Naval Academy & Berkeley.
or in the US for that matter. 