<p>^ Exactly!</p>
<p>I don’t whether any of the above were meant for me but that helped. I have a few family friends who have studied abroad, they said that it really doesn’t matter whether you write your essays for experience or make up some random event. It should just be well written. Someone in their circle managed to get in with a story of going to 1st day in school wearing a top instead of a shirt(I mean for a boy, of course). That is wild</p>
<p>In the words of Friedrich Nietzsche, “And those were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.”</p>
<p>The sure-shot formula to get into HYPSM is different for each individual and things like the board your school is affiliated to are very insignificant.</p>
<p>Hey everyone,</p>
<p>After reading everyone’s intricately detailed posts and information - a great number of my doubts have been murdered.</p>
<p>I’m a Grade 10 student studying at a CBSE school in the Middle East and I just wanted to ask a few things -</p>
<ol>
<li><p>While CBSE is world renown for the manufacture of engineers and doctors who succeed through mugging up EVERYTHING, and is clearly the last board to mould authors, poets and artists who have more unscientific inclinations - not every student in CBSE is the mindless drone that everyone thinks they are. I, for example, am a school topper - but I would throw my books away if it meant I could not enjoy my extracurriculars. My question here is whether American Universities will automatically classify me as a drone just because 99 out of every 100 CBSE students mug up everything…</p></li>
<li><p>I’m a nationally ranked debater, writer and orator. Being a school topper in English, and having studied it from ever since I have been at school - do I still need the TOEFL? Yale informed me that the TOEFL is not required if English is my first language and if I have studied more than 4 years of English - does this apply to other top colleges?</p></li>
<li><p>If in the application process, the adcoms were to come across a kid who has similar ECs to me, similar test scores and ,let’s say, the same nationality. The only difference would be that he/she is an IB/AP student. Who would the adcom pick?</p></li>
<li><p>I have the means to study at Qatar Academy, an IB World school - to obtain an IB Diploma - and it will be a mild burden on my parents’ pockets but they insist that if it’s the best way forward, they’d be happy to help. My only worry is that I’d be an alien there. I would be too new to become prominent in any club, too inexperienced to be a part of the student government and too new to continue pursuing my extracurriculars in full swing - debate team, gavels club, swimming team etc.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>But overall, if it’s actually true that adcoms are blind to whether you’re IB, CBSE,AP or ISC - then I think I’ll stick to CBSE and be the best student at my school and try to be the best in my country of residence - because I think that would help more than getting a IB Diploma that isn’t top notch due to my lack of experience in the IB system.</p>
<p>They would pick IB because they are more familiar with the IB grades and processes…</p>
<p>But isn’t that unfair? Picking someone who has more financial resources than me?</p>
<p>Yes it is unfair. </p>
<p>But the fact remains that International Students are not eligible for merit or need based scholarships or Financial Aid. There are very few universities that offer need based admissions. And these are super selective. Also logically, they would use US Taxpayer’s money to fund their own students rather than fund foreign students education.</p>
<p>Well, applying next year for Cornell,maybe 1 or 2 more Ivy League Universities and 2-3 other ones ( haven’t decided).
Planned Major-Chemistry/Material Science/Chemical Engineering
Require a lot of financial Aid ( Annual Income~20000 USD)
Currently studying in CBSE 11th. 10 CGPA in 10th. Good ECs ( Natl. Level quizzes, spell bee, music and Table Tennis)
Leadership Record- Nothing to be proud of.
Social Service- None.
Have got opinions that I need to show passion in my choice of a major.
- Any Idea how to go about this in India?
- How much should I ideally score in SAT?
- Please suggest some ’ international student-friendly’ universities for the same.</p>
<p>@hezekiel, create your own thread in the chance forum, you’ll get more answers there.</p>
<p>But…
- You’ll have to figure that out on your own… try by getting an internship at a chem lab etc
- For universities like those in the Ivy League and others good at Chemical Engineering, a 2100+ is ideal.
- Finding a good university in an engineering major AND that gives good intl aid is difficult. Look into Amherst and Williams if you’re okay with taking a liberal arts degree and going to an engineering school after you graduate there. Also look into okay universities that you know you can get merit aid at. Apply there, and graduate. Once you do, you’ll have a lot more opportunities for graduate school. It is VERY difficult in general for an international student to get a lot of need based aid unless a school really really wants them.</p>
<p>Apologies people for reviving this ~6 month old thread people, but I really am royally screwed right now. I am in 10th grade CBSE in India(DelhiNCR). Pretty average in class (9.2 GPA), gunning for running a few clubs and heading the stucould council next year in my school. I am pretty active in ECs. I have done a certificated internship with an MNC(in java programming), and am a frequent debater. I do everything from robotics to political simulations, with no national awards, just regional ones(infrequent) . As such I have no specific passions OR interests. And CBSE I feel us not fit for me for 2 reasons-
1- I simply cannot do the insane amount of mugging
2- Subject preference is very limited. I wanna take specific subjects from both the streams</p>
<p>So I was looking to switch to IB or GCE A-Levels. My third option was to take a relatively easier commerce stream to score decent marks and just give AP Exams for subjects which I like after self study (which includes one of the sciences).
I have excellent command over English, but IB compels us to take 2 languages. And in 10th I have Sanskrit, which would further compel me to take Hindi in IB, which I really don’t wanna do. Plus the IB school is literally selling itself to me, so I’m a bity wary of their exxagerated x
Claims on how ONLY practical and hands on methods for teaching are used.
Going to the A-Levels section the thing which attracts me are less (3-4 vs 6 in IB) number of subjects we can take. Also quite a few A level courses have similar syllabus as AP Exams.
Moreover, after reading through the thread I found about AP courses. Is there any difference in credits achieved by taking the course AND giving the exam as opposed to just giving the exam.
I am pretty sure that I won’t be able to clear 60% of engeneering exams in India if I take PCM and won’t be able to get the required 95~100% required for admission to DU.
So I consider going to the States my first and only choice for undergrad. Also I was looking forward for a professional undergrad degree. So do some liberal arts degrees also cone under professional degrees? If so, then which ones? Also I was looking forward to a decent job after undergrad and not just a for-name degree. So could someone differentiate the degress and compare them to Indian ones for better understanding.
And though this keeps changing I have an above average interest in Com. Programming and Economics, average interest in stats, language(english),physics and geo politics and below average interest in Chem, Bio and most Math subjects.
Comparitevely, IB education would cost 3 times more that. CBSE and A-level would cost 1.5 times more than CBSE. Although it is not a an important factor but just another amongst many.
So could anyone guide me on what board should I go for in 11th grade.</p>
<p>@ConfusedLlama</p>
<p>Switch to the IB if you really want to go abroad. You said you’re not suited to a lot of memorization (like in CBSE’s), so the IB would fit pretty well imo</p>
<p>@02agarwalt
You’re doing a grave sin by reviving this old thread, you could’ve just PM-ed ConfusedLlama.</p>
<p>@ConfusedLlama
same as agarwalt, but you’re kinda excused as you’re new here. I read this post yesterday and found a urge to post as this dilemma is faced by most students all over the world, not to mention that your first post on CC was to revive an old thread which shows that you’re in desperate need of advice. You also need the advice quickly as the new session is about to begin. I’ll answer all of your questions one by one:
"As such I have no specific passions OR interests. And CBSE I feel us not fit for me for 2 reasons-
1- I simply cannot do the insane amount of mugging
2- Subject preference is very limited. I wanna take specific subjects from both the streams"
- First off, discard CBSE boards NOW! If you really hate cramming, CBSE is not for you. Also, CBSE has streams and not subjects, so you won’t be able to study those “exotic” mix of subjects as you want. If you choose Science stream, you’ll be able to study Economics, at the most from Commerce stream and if you end up choosing Commerce, you’ll only be able to study Math/Comp Sc from Science. I’m glad we got that cleared up, so the only question remains is IB or A Levels.
Before I go on to answer that, let’s just clear some of you misc questions first.</p>
<p>"My third option was to take a relatively easier commerce stream to score decent marks and just give AP Exams for subjects which I like after self study (which includes one of the sciences)"
- I’m afraid that you’re simply mistaken here, Commerce stream is not easy especially not for you if you hate cramming, 'casue it requires more cramming than the science stream, also there’s a great probability that you’ll end up hating some subjects in commerce stream too. For you, CBSE is just isn’t an option!
^ As i said above, please discard CBSE now, it’d just not suit you.</p>
<p>"Moreover, after reading through the thread I found about AP courses. Is there any difference in credits achieved by taking the course AND giving the exam as opposed to just giving the exam."
- There’s no difference between credits because it’s the exam that earns you credit, not the course. So a kid who took the course and not the exam will get no credits, it’ll also hurt his rep among adcoms. The only benefit of taking a course is that it’ll prepare you well for the exams (that too depends on who’s teaching it). In short, you can take AP exams by self preparation or informal ways of preparation (like online course, private tutor) and take the exams to earn credit, credit policies differ from school to school but check first, most of the times a score of 4 will get you a credit. Ivies and certain “bigger schools” look for 5, and some of them don’t even grant credit for APs.</p>
<p>"Also I was looking forward for a professional undergrad degree. So do some liberal arts degrees also cone under professional degrees? If so, then which ones? Also I was looking forward to a decent job after undergrad and not just a for-name degree. So could someone differentiate the degrees and compare them to Indian ones for better understanding."
- I’d really not recommend going for a professional degree just after secondary school, but more on that later. Liberal Arts Colleges are what they are, they don’t offer professional degrees, just two types of degrees : BA and BS, which stands for Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Sciences, the subject which you major in will dictate which degree you get, for e.g. If you major in History, you’ll get a BA, and If you major in Physics, you’ll get a BS. Some subjects fall in both categories like Economics, Comp Sc. etc. If you major in Economics, you can get a BA or a BS but it’ll depend on the school you’re going to (whether it offers a BA or a BS in that subject or both) OR on your personal preferences, i.e. at the time of declaring your major, you’ll also have to declare whether you’ll get a BA or a BS for such subjects.
a side note: Professionals degrees in US are generally at post graduate level (Law, Business, Medicine) except certain few exceptions (like Engineering). LACs prepare you well for professional careers due to their unique distribution requirements and broad views. However, they don’t offer professional degrees at undergraduate level (some of them do that at post graduate level, e.g. U of Richmond is a LAC but it has a Business School as well as a Law School). But that’s nothing to get disappointed about, most LACs have ties with National Universities and offer joint degrees in conjunction with them, a prime example would be a 3-2 engineering program in which you spend 3 yrs at a LAC studying various subjects that you fancy and 2 yrs at a NU specializing in the chosen profession. Again, more on this later. Now, it’s time for the showdown,</p>
<p>A Levels vs IB Diploma
I’ll just list down the pros and cons of each and you can decide your yourself.
IB (pros)
- No need to take APs in subjects which you’re studying for IB diploma, because colleges will grant credit for both except that credit granting policy is less stringent for IB Diploma students.
- the most reputed school leaving exam, almost anyone will know what an IB Diploma is, you’ll get lost of respect
- the syllabus is exceptional, very all round preparation for college
- some entrance exams in India are exempted for IB Diploma students (for e.g. Symbiosis doesn’t require IB students to take SET for admissions in Symbiosis) </p>
<p>IB (cons)
- most reputed no doubt, but not the most hardest, if you’re looking for a challenge go for A levels.
- Indian schools are poor at teaching the syllabus (it’s still new here), so you’ll have to work your own a** off if you want to score good in the IB Diploma, NOT recommended if you’re NOT planning to go to US or Switzerland for your hihg schooling.
- the syllabus is exceptional, all round preparation for college, but some students see this as very restrictive as they have almost no flexibility in choosing subjects and are forced to study what they don’t want, it’s just like a “classier” version of 10th ICSE/CBSE, only difference is it has international recognition
- due to the breadth and the fact that you’ll have to study what you don’t like, you’ll feel sad and suicidal most of the times. No time for fun, or anything else etc. very heavy course-load.</p>
<p>A Levels (pros)
- It is the biggest, baddest, meanest and classiest school leaving exam in the world, prepare for the world to grovel at your feet when they hear that you’re a Cambridge student (Note: I’m not talking about GCE A Levels, but International A Levels. GCE A Levels are only available in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, UK in short. International A Levels are available outside of UK, which are a tougher version of GCE A Levels)
- Your school leaving certificate/high school diploma will have “University Of Cambridge” written all over it. (should you choose, there are 2 boards that offer International A Levels, One is CIE, other is EdExcel, CIE stands for Cambridge International Exams)
- adcoms will look at you very favorably as they know that you’re a scholar. A Levels don’t have breadth but they sure have the most depth, which is what required to study at college.
- most flexible, you are not limited to take only 3 subjects, you can take as many as you want and from as many streams as you want. However, the normal course-load is 3 because of its incredible depth, but those limit are for mere mortals, if you’re willing to put in the work, you can certainly handle more than 3 (I took 9).
- cheaper than most of other fancy exams (if cost is an issue)
- you’ll love what you study because you’ll only be studying what you LOVE, no compulsory subject requirements, however, Cambridge has a special AICE diploma program which can be earned by anyone taking 5 A Levels in 5 different streams. But it’s not compulsory, some people go for the diploma, some don’t
- Should you score good in the A Levels, you’ll get a Cambridge certificate of merit, a cold hard proff of your academic prowess.
- I can almost go on blabbering, but I’ll stop here with a last point - **You’ll truly be a scholar<a href=“in%20the%20conventional%20sense”>/b</a> because you’ll study few, but you’ll study that in extreme depth.</p>
<p>A Levels (cons)
Note that A Levels don’t have any cons but only one, and that too applies to mere mortals, and not others who are extremely dedicated, hardworking or simply brilliant.
- students who have not yet decided what would they like to do in the future can have trouble in choosing subjects because if they choose wrong ones, they’ll have to continue in that stream. This, however, can easily be avoided by self analysis and careful selection of subjects that’ll have more scope in the long run.</p>
<p>Hope I was helpful,
A last note, there may be typos or spelling errors, please excuse me and please don’t post anything on this thread again. You’re welcome toi PM me if you want more information about anything. :-)</p>
<p>Hello everyone.
I am just about to finsih my Grade XII from a CBSE school and have gotten admission in UIUC, UCLA, UCSD and Purdue for Electrical Engineering. (Waiting for the other results)
I was wondering if taking the AP tests this May would help me in my college, especially with the credits. Will a high score in my APs enable me to skip the basic courses in college and thus help in completing college in less than 4 years? I would really appreciate if anyone could give me any info on this matter as I am not much aware of the “credit” scene in USA.</p>
<p>yes you will get credits for taking APs</p>
<p>Hi
I am studying in CBSE 11th right now and i got admission in a very good international boarding school in India. It follows American Curriculum. I don’t know if I should continue studying in CBSE or I should join the boarding school. And I also have plans to continue my college education in USA. Please help me.</p>
As a student currently taking the CBSE education but wish to study in American colleges(in 2 more years), what classes or streams(of CBSE) would the American administration consider as AP classes?
How exactly does not taking the full IBDP course work? Can you pick and choose tour subjects as you like, even from the core subjects?
Does anybody know about the state boards in india? I am from telangana state( the newly formed state). Is it enough for AP BC and AP phy c?