Chances for an indian student at MIT

I always wanted to go there

@jainul98 Just to clarify: Is your budget of $55k for the whole degree or is it $55k per year?

@outlooker okay

@outlooker is colleges.about.com authentic to look for sat/act scores?

@outlooker per year

You can just look at colleges’ websites…

@paul2752 okay

You can definitely afford most American Universities. You just have to concentrate on getting in. You have a slight change at getting into UCB, and a strong chance at UCLA. Also consider schools like JHU, Purdue, Rice as backups in case you don’t get into your top choices.

@outlooker okay thanks
can you review my uuniversity list?

The universitites where I am gonna apply are
UCB
UCLA
UCSD
UW,SEATTLE
UIUC
PURDUE
PENN STATE

With an 1820 on the SAT and a 27 on the ACT, you won’t be competitive for the California schools.

@outlooker I might think of applying to stanford and princeton as reach because my academic index is 225

@jainul98 Can you retake your standardized tests? You should aim for a 33+ on the ACT or a 2250+ on the SAT

OP says:

Common Data Set says:

putting OP much closer to the 25 percentile than the 75 percentile. 75 percentile is SAT 2190; ACT 32. 7,136 men were accepted of 40,631 who applied (<20%). Princeton and Stanford are not easy to get into, either. See post #51!

Per CDS, 25 percentile at UC Berkeley is SAT composite of 1840 (you have 1820); ACT composite of 28 (you have 27):

http://opa.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/uc_berkeley_cds_2014-15_april.pdf

Cornell M + CR = 1320 (25 percentile) 1520 for 75 percentile; ACT 30 for 25 percentile

https://dpb.cornell.edu/documents/1000554.pdf

Princeton & Stanford? don’t even ask (look them up yourself).

You are looking at universities where your chances are not so great, especially if you are not a varsity athlete.

Plus I dont understand why you pine for UC schools who dont give any FA to Out os state students

@paul2752 So where shall i go?

You need to retake the SAT and score well. For top private schools, an SAT Subject NOT in the sciences would be appreciated.
UCLA and UCB will have caps on OOS/internationals next year, so forget about them.
If you can afford UCs, look into UCSB, UCD, UCSC.
Because you’re full-pay, you may include USC as a reach, but only if your SAT score goes dramatically up.
UMN Twin Cities, Purdue, Virginia Tech may be within reach for you. Ucincinnati, with its co-op program, and UMass Amherst (with a higher SAT score, your ECs and Subject tests would help you get into CommonWealth Honors).
Are you a boy or a girl? Being a girl would open more possibilities.

@paul2752 OP is a full pay student so the UCs shouldn’t be an issue financially.

Absolutely zero chance for MIT with those scores. You need to be looking at a school that takes 50% or more of their applicants, not a school that takes 5%.

@soze who knows, he might get in.

As has already been established, OP has the option of sending only the TOEFL instead of SAT/ACT, which (as has also already been established) might be the smart thing to do.