Coursework
*CBSE affiliated, school doesn’t have AP or Hon. courses
Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry, English and Physical Education
AWARDS-
National Merit topper (0.1%) 10th boards- 100% in Mathematics and Social Sciences
National Education Scholarship Scheme for Army personnel (ESSA) Scholar
National Talent Search Examination Stage 1 Scholar (27/47000), Stage 2 qualifier
Northeastern India Zonal Regimental Scholarship holder
School Topper, Student of the Month, Meritorious student
Extracurriculars
Research paper on “How Indian youth is engaging in politics” written for the Indian School of Democracy and published in the International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Invention (IJHSSI)
Research on “Mass Media: Effect on political discourse and communication” written while an intern at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), published in the national journal Communication Today.
Intern at an Army base in Pune, India. Submitted a research report on " Whether privatization of defence industry in India is beneficial" to Army Headquarters.
Independent research on “Decentralisation and Panchayati Raj” near villages in New Delhi. On-site, worked with the Panchayat a lot with planning and campaigning.
National Cadet Corps (NCC)- Armed forces youth volunteering wing for community service. Cadet Sergeant Major (Highest rank and first female).
School Captain/ Head Girl
7)State level Basketball Player
Intern/ Content writer at the Hindustan Times (National newspaper), youth magazine Unscripted, the school magazine.
Volunteer tutor to underprivileged rural children. Helped enroll 20+ students in primary school in collab. with a local school.
10)Campaign Ambassador for #Aurora4SG movement in the Indian subcontinent.
DLF Volunteer- helped in spreading awareness and vaccination of construction workers.
Essays/LORs/Other
Excellent, ‘best student I have taught’, all good qualities mentioned. COVID-19- school started late, grandfather fell ill, all extenuating circumstances mentioned.
Cost Constraints / Budget
Family income below $60,000, will go on scholarships (fully funded).
Schools (List of colleges by your initial chance estimate; designate if applying ED/EA/RD; if a scholarship is necessary for affordability, indicate that you are aiming for a scholarship and use the scholarship chance to estimate it into the appropriate group below)
Match- UNC-Chapel Hill (EA)
USC (Scholarship deadline)
NYU Abu Dhabi (RD)
Boston University (RD)
Reach- Harvard College (REA)
ALL Ivy leagues (RD)
Stanford University (RD)
MIT (RD)
Or does it mean that you are requiring scholarships?
If you require funding, you need to know that you have less than 1% chance of admission. You are over-represented as a student from India. Also, the universities lost a lot of money over the pandemic, so their coffers and funding have tightened.
Targeting the Ivy leagues for admission, makes your chances even slimmer. Too many students and not enough seats. Plus, every Ivy is vastly different in everything-location, size, program, and “environment”. The schools decide who they want and it has a lot to do with fit. You have to be something to fit a need such that you have to “fit” the entering class. Maybe they need an oboist/cello, painter, gymnast, etc.
If you are already funded then you need to target schools that are within your scholarship budget, if that is your goal. Schools need and will take your money.
Edited to add: If you gain admission to a US university, you are expected to return to your country after graduation. Your visa covers you as a student. Once you are done, you return home. Your major is: Government, specialized concentration, economics. Is there a job, available in this major, when you return?
You are not a “match” for UNC-Chapel Hill. By law, Carolina has a limit of 18% for non-resident enrollment in each first-year application class. Further, over the past few years the number of OOS applicants have comprised about 2/3 of the total first-year applicants to Carolina; and the acceptance rate for those OOS applicants has been in the single digits, so as to maintain the 18% limit on OOS enrollees for each incoming first-year class. And of those accepted OOS applicants, a good number of them are legacy applicants (i.e., they had a parent who is a UNC-CH alum). Also, you are also very unlikely, as an OOS applicant, to get any financial aid or scholarships from UNC-CH, unless you can get one of the highly competitive Morehead-Cain or Robertson scholarships, which are done through private foundations.
As for BU and USC, you may want to look at the Common Data Set for each of those schools in Sections C9-C11 to see how you compare to matriculated students at each of those schools, and whether these schools might be a “match” for you.
How much annually do you think your family can spend on your education abroad? You might want to think about applying to some public universities in the U.S… Here are some that offer scholarships to international applicants:
Based on your interests, you may want to research schools with an available public policy concentration, which relies on the fields of political science, economics and philosophy for its foundation.
I don’t think you will be a match for USC scholarship either. There are many many qualified students both domestic and international applying for the scholarships you require.
Its tough applying from India, no doubt. But you’ve got some excellent marks. Being a topper in anything is an amazing accomplishment. You would undoubtedly fall within one of the top students from all of Punjab, so this puts you in a great position. But note that you’ll still be competing with hundreds, even thousands of students with similar stats/scores from India.
The top colleges accept students from India, but they number that are accepted are fairly small. Since your family income is low, you’ll need nearly a full scholarship to attend college in the US.
So I would suggest to apply as widely as possible. Preferably to colleges that might be willing to give you a scholarship, where your scores are higher than the 75th percentile. There are also some colleges that are looking for diversity (historically black colleges, religious colleges, and smaller liberal arts colleges). I urge you to widen your list considerably.