Chance an Indian for colleges in America

Student Lounge International Students
1

I am an Indian in the CBSE syllabus (which is such a pain ):

9th grade - 9.4
10th grade - 9.8
11th grade - 73.2%
12th grade - 95% (predicted because my teachers and I are confident)

SAT 2 - 2400 (Math, physics and chem)
SAT 2 French - 750 (I wanted to take it because I thought it would differentiate me from an ordinary Indian nerd)
SAT 1 - 2350 (worked my ass off)

TOEFL - 115

Extracurriculars (All my hoped are on this):

Computer and technology:
– I develop apps for Android. Have developed 6 so far with two of them with more than 50,000 downloads each.
– I also develop and design websites. Have done like a couple of them so far.
– Have done courses in Adobe softwares, 3dsMax, PHP, MySQL, etc. in India and have been certified by the World Multimedia organisation.
– Part of the school tech magazine.
– I participated in the F1 in schools competition and won the national level competition.
– I am well-versed with more than 5 programming languages.
– I have also participated in several national programming and app development competitions.

Music:
– I play the guitar, drums, keyboard and saxophone.
– I have finished all 8 grades of keyboard with a distinction.
– I am part of my school’s brass band. Have been for 5 years.
– I compose and reproduce music. Have a channel on youtube and get about 50,000 per video.

Sports:
– I play football, cricket, basketball and squash. And I swim.
– I was part of my high school basketball team for 3 years.
– Have won several competitions.
– I also practice Yoga.

Others:
– I am part of various religious groups in my community.
– I am also an ardent speedcuber (for those of you who don’t know what that is, it is solving various Rubik’s cubes)

Basically, music and technology is my life, I can’t give up either of them.
I have it all planned out on how to write my essay and how to show my passion and stuff.

The main thing I’m worried about is my high school marks. I understand my 11th grade marks were terrible. What can I say…frankly, I didn’t study at all and I spent a lot of time on my Android game which I was working on then, I was basically overly ambitious that I lost my streak. But I have the confidence that if I had studied properly, I would have got 90%+ for sure but no use talking about that now. Please give me ideas on how to explain that to the admission officers.

Now I am going to study my ass of to get at least a 95% in my first term and half yearly exams in 12th so I can show an improvement in high school to the admission officers. I am planning on sending my applications after my half yearly exams.

Also if there is anything else I can do, please tell me. I’ll do anything it takes to get into a good college in America. My dream was Stanford but I don’t think it is possible now .

And please tell me is there any other tests which would increase my chances, tell me anything which would increase my chances.

I am going to send my applications in December 2015 after my half yearly exams.
And one more thing, my friends were telling me applying early increases my chances but is it the case because it wasn’t a rolling admission (except Purdue) so it doesn’t matter?

I wish to apply to these colleges:

  1. Purdue
  2. Columbia
  3. Cornell
  4. Carnegie Mellon
  5. Stanford
  6. MIT
  7. Harvard
  8. Caltech
  9. UCB
  10. Princeton
  11. GeorgiaTech
  12. UIUC

Thanks in advance for all the responses.

2

I will assume you are a full pay student.

The huge problem in your application is your 11th school grade, which is the most important grade with 10th grade’s grade.

Unless you have some legitimate reasons like illness, reasonable psychological distress, accidents, etc…which you didn’t, based on your other threads, you won’t get in top schools in the US. You chose to concentrate on your other projects, therefore resulting a serious drop in your school grade. That is inexcusable whatsoever. There are lots of people who excel in both school and ECs among applicants to top tier schools.
So, your chances at top schools are bleak. Purdue? Maybe…UIUC? If you are lucky…a state school would love to have some full freight student.
In case you don’t know, UC schools consider only 10th and 11th grade, and 12 th grade is used only for making sure you are not slacking.

Also, you have way too many reaches in your list. If you really want to go to colleges in US, you need more safeties/matches.

3

I do have ADD though. And many of my friends who are studying in the US day SAT is the most important not grades.

4

Well your friends are wrong. Grade is more important than SAT in the US. That is a thumb rule.
If you have ADD, how come it didn’t affect other years?

5

I’m not quite sure yet but I am starting to notice the symptoms one by one. But technically how can they compare grades in India with the US, getting good grades in India is evidently a lot harder than in the US.

6

Admissions committees are very familiar with the education system in India. Don’t forget, thousands of your countrymen and women apply to U.S. universities every year.

To be admitted into a top, elite college you have to be among the best students in your country, and everything in your application will be considered very carefully - from your SATs and grades, to your ECs. For the elite schools, your 11 grade marks will hurt you just because your competition will have great grades all 4 years. One quick note: you have a LOT of ECs; it seems too many, like you’re padding your resume. Stick to fewer but still meaningful activities where you excelled and did something unusually good.

How to explain your poor 11th grade results? Don’t lie or blame it entirely on ADD. Be honest: say you made mistakes - and learned from them, proof being your high 12th grade results. To many people, such a candid answer and your dramatic improvement the following year will be appealing.

Also, keep in mind that there are many very good schools in the U.S., not just the ones you listed. As a full pay international student (can your family afford $50,000+ per year??) with your stats you will get into many of them. But schools like Columbia, Stanford, MIT – they’re a “reach” for everyone.

So be smart in your applications - don’t just try for elite schools. Look for public universities that love full pay students. I would add University of Michigan, University of Virginia, University of California/Irvine or Santa Barbara to your list.

7

Ok cool, thanks a lot :smiley:

8

Hello @VarunSharma, I am an Indian student who applied to US and UK universities for last year. I have also received my decisions. I agree with @katliamom . The grades are way more important than the SAT-1 score. Since you already have a great SAT score, I suggest you work hard on your school subjects. Good Luck!

9

Just to confirm: Are your parents able (and willing) to pay the full cost of college. At some privates this can be $240,000 not including transportation etc.

Your GPA equivalent will be an issue at super selective schools like Stanford, MIT and the Ivy League. Go ahead and apply if you like, but be aware that you are competing in a highly accomplished pool of international applicants.

My advice would be to add some more schools in the medium selectivity range. In addition to the ones suggested by @katliamom, you could look at Rochester, Miami, Boston College.

You might also look at some small liberal arts colleges that get fewer South Asian applicants, but still offer outstanding academics, like Williams, Grinnell, Wesleyan.

I think that it would be best if one of your recommenders addressed your 11th grade grades, one who could attest to your upward trend.

By “applying early” your friends may be referring to early decision which means applications are due in November, and results are given in December. ED is a good strategy for full pay students, but not in your case if you need to show your half yearly grades.

Music can be an excellent EC at many colleges. You might consider submitting a music performance supplement with your application, even if you don’t intend to major in music. This is especially helpful at smaller colleges.

10

Your 11th grade marks will be read in the Indian context, where those are consistently 15-20 points below the other years’ marks for some reason.

DON’T. That’s the worse you could do.

The 750 in French is really nice and will set you apart - good thinking on that.
Since you’re into music, include a music supplement in your application and apply to schools where that would matter (Luther, Pacific Lutheran, Concordia,Lawrence, and of course St Olaf). Other famous colleges where music matters include Yale and Williams.
I would include a few more colleges where acceptances aren’t a crapshoot, namely UMass Amherst, Pitt, UMN Twin Cities, UWisconsin, UAlabama Honors… I would also include more LACs, depending on what you want to study. Lawrence and St Olaf would seem obvious based on your interests.

Did you indicate what major you’re going for?

Why Stanford, CalTech, and UCB, but not HarveyMudd, UCLA, and UCSD?

Your list is too reach heavy. Right now, you have Purdue as a safety, and it’s such a cliché for an Indian student that I think you just added it on because you know you can’t just have reaches. Georgia Tech is your only match, UIUC could be too, depending on major. Acceptance rates make all other schools on your list automatic reaches for everyone.
You need to have colleges with 40%+ acceptance rates or where your stats make you an automatic admit (2) and colleges with 25-40% acceptance rates (2-5).

11

Agree with suggestions from MYOS1634, momrath & Katliamom.

Being admitted to universities located close to Silicon Valley in California will provide you easy access for paid summer internships which can finance some portions of your undergraduate education, and gain invaluable experience and contacts. You need to dig deeper to assess whether the universities can help a student on F1 student visa apply for on-campus interviews for IT internships. Some colleges may have restrictions

If you suspect that you have ADD, please get it diagnosed by top notch doctors in your geographical area - confirm if it is ADHD or ADD-Inattentive, and get appropriate treatment.

One of the important considerations in selecting universities is: how much money will your parents be willing to provide you for 4 years of college. That will determine which universities you should focus your attention - whether you should apply to ones that are slightly less selective, but may provide better scholarships.

Since China is economically and technologically leaping ahead, you may consider gaining admission in the Joint Institute of Shanghai Jiao Tong University & Univ. of Michigan (Ann Arbor).
http://en.sjtu.edu.cn/admission/joint-institute
http://umji.sjtu.edu.cn/prospective-students/international-admission/undergraduate/

Students from India may not be familiar with the concepts of Liberal Arts education. Liberal Arts Colleges (LAC) provide a good foundation for inquiry based education. Based on your outstanding entrepreneurial accomplishments & great SAT scores, many LACs may offer you scholarships. Others on this forum may provide you good options. You may want to consider the case where you can combine Liberal Arts with engineering/computer science at Columbia university in New York City. Students who fulfill certain requirements at partner universities are guaranteed admission at Columbia.
http://undergrad.admissions.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/combined_plan_affiliates_2014.2015.pdf
http://undergrad.admissions.columbia.edu/apply/combined-plan
This does require close coordination in order to ensure not only admission but also scholarships at both the institutions.

Also National University of Singapore/Yale program might be an attractive option.
http://admissions.yale-nus.edu.sg/

Good luck.