Chances for Elite & Ivy Schools?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey guys! I am planning to apply to colleges like Upenn, Princeton, Stanford, Cornell, CMU, USC, Columbia, Caltech etc. for Computer Sci/Engineering. Could you please let me know my chances for these (and similar) colleges? I am a US citizen, but I currently reside in India, so some parts of my resume may be confusing, but I’m more than willing to clarify any doubts. Also, I am open to suggestions for other colleges.

Sex: Male
Race: Indian (US Citizen)
Grade: 12th grade
Rank: 2 out of around 210
Will be applying for need-based financial aid.

EDUCATION & SCORES

SAT Superscore (2 attempts) : M:800, W:800, CR: 740 [2340/2400] [Highest Single sitting : 2320/2400]

IX grade:

Term I: 88.83% overall
Term II: 88.33% overall
Term III: 85.5% overall

X Grade:

ICSE Boards Final : 95.2% overall

XI Grade

Term I : 85.17% overall
Term II : 84.17% overall

[From my research, these pretty much translate to 4.0/4.0]

HONORS, AWARDS, AND PARTICIPATION

BASKETBALL

  • 2013-14: Intra School, Inter school & District level competitions. Team captain.
  • 2014-15: Intra School & Inter school competitions. Team captain. Reached Semi Final.
  • 2015-16: Inter school & District level competitions. Team captain. Secured Silver trophy in 2. Awarded Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the tournament.
  • 2016-17: Inter school & District level competitions. Team captain.
  • 2013-2015: Coach for younger teams (Boys and Girls teams)
  • 2013-2017: Part of community basketball club
  • (probably will play nationals this year)

OTHER SPORTS

  • Soccer, Handball, Rugby, Dodgeball, Squash, Table Tennis, Swimming, Cricket, High Jump, Long Jump, 100m sprint, 4x100m relay, Shot Put
  • 2016-17: Inter school Dodgeball competition. Team Captain. Secured Gold trophy.
  • Secured coveted “Games Badge” for excellence in sports throughout school career.

Model United Nation(MUN)

  • 2013-14: Intra School MUN. First position (Best Delegate). Inter School MUN. Mumbai MUN.
  • 2014-15: Intra School & Inter School MUN. Asst. Director of DISEC committee.
  • 2015-16: Annual World Summit (inter school MUN). Special mention. -Mumbai MUN. Awarded Best Delegate.
  • 2016-17: Annual World Summit. Vice Chairman- SAARC Futuristic committee.

LITERARY

  • 2014-15: Inter School Debate competition. Intra School Debate competition- Best speaker.
  • Intra School participation in Essay writing, Poetry writing, Spelling Bee (Semi Final),
  • 2015-16: Intra School Debate. Poetry selected in school yearbook. Member of school debate club.
  • Europe Meets India(EUMIND): Wrote articles and exchanged information on humanitarian and social problems with European counterparts.
  • 2016-17: Intra School Debate. Awarded second best speaker. Member of school debate club.

ACADEMICS

  • Awarded “General Proficiency” in grades IX and X for excellence and consistency in studies throughout school years.
  • Subject Excellence Prize/Trophy in Physics (Highest marks in all 3 terms)
  • Awarded Governor’s Gold medal for excellence in grade X Board exam.
  • Secured coveted “Scholars Badge” for excellence in academics throughout school career.

PERFORMING ARTS

  • 2013-14: Inter School competition. Awarded “Best Presentation” on Tobacco awareness.
  • Inter School One Act play.
  • Inter school competition: Secured second position in Movie making (30 mins long).
  • 2014-15: Inter school competition- Third place in music band.
  • 2015-16: Intra school fashion competition: Official compere.
  • Intra school acting competition.
  • Lead Guitarist in several school and community events.

LEADERSHIP

  • 2013-14: Captain of school Basketball team. Coached junior boys and girls teams
  • 2014-15: Captain of school Basketball team. Coached junior boys and girls teams. Appointed School House Captain (for - Grade I through XII students). Organized a myriad of school events. inter school MUN: Member, organizing committee
  • 2015-16: Appointed as Jamnabai Adolescent Mentor and organized several school events. Active member in organizing committee of Annual Interschool Cultural Fest
  • 2016-17: Appointed as Jamnabai Adolescent Mentor and organized several school events. Basketball Team Captain. Annual World Summit (MUN): Member, organizing committee

OTHER INTERESTS

  • 2015-16: Completed a workshop on “Design and fabrication of nano-quadrotor” (Drone)
  • 2014-15: Administrator of an online basketball analysis page with 30k likes
  • SELF STUDY/LEARNING

COMMUNITY SERVICE

  • Active member of the Children’s Movement for Civic Awareness (CMCA)
  • Participated in Young Environmentalists Program Trust initiative
  • Active participation as a teacher in the outreach education program for the underprivileged children in villages organized by “Jivanganga Vikas Trust”.
  • Participated in fund raising program for “Save the children” initiative organized by Cisco Systems
  • Organized “Dare to Care” week to raise awareness for accepting diversity & differences through films & live skits
  • Organized sports day for “Special Children” across the state
  • Participated in cleaning efforts of local lake
  • Promoted environment friendly festival celebrations through peaceful march

WORK EXPERIENCE

  • A1herbal.com, Philadelphia, USA

A1herbal is an online store for all-natural Ayurvedic herbal supplements, based in suburbs of Philadelphia, US. I worked during my summer breaks through years 2012-15, while I was in US.

  • Arogya Niketan, India

I have served in a health center catering mainly to the poor in a suburban town. This facility was founded by my grandfather, who is a Doctor, over 50 years ago to serve the villagers. I have visited this center once a month for past 4 years and helped out in the activities.

RECO LETTERS: Math, English, and (if needed) Chemistry.

Really sorry if it seems too long or redundant, I wasn’t sure what to leave out since they aren’t traditional activities most of the community is familiar with.

Thanks!! :slight_smile:

2

Forgot to mention, I will be giving the Math II and Physics subject tests, and if time permits, the Chemistry test.

3

ur just making us feel pretty down on ourselves. you know you have a considerably strong resume. you shouldn’t seriously have an issue getting into those colleges with the exceptions of maybe stanford and caltech

4

Will you be considered as an “International Student” or does your US citizenship mean you will be evaluated along with other students that live in the US? My guess is that you will be considered as an international student in which case you are competing with the many, many Indian students applying to top US colleges and competing for a limited number of spots. For your sake I hope your conversion of percentile scores to GPA is accurate

5

@elock13 sorry if it came across that way, but that was not my intent. The problem is that I’m not sure about the question posed by @Wje9164be. According to my research I shouldn’t be considered an international student because of citizenship, but my AGC still insists that the top schools will only take a select amount of schools from India ( eg, she says Stanford only takes one) which is why I’m not sure how my chances are at all really.
Plus I’ve read stories about the Indians who got into colleges like MIT and Stanford, and they are like prodigies, so I don’t know if I am aiming too high.

6

Plus, I’m not sure how great these “Indian” achievements are compared to the Americans taking APs, playing varsity, doing several internships and social service, etc.

7

You go to an Indian school, which means you are an International. If you attended a DoD school abroad or an embassy-run school, you would’ve been considered as a US applicant. You seem too well rounded. Pick a few things that relate to each other and build a story upon them.

8

You are right. How did India do in the Olympics with something like 1.3 billion people to draw from? But I am nitpicking as you have a great application on paper. I have no expertise on admission to top schools but I would guess that India produces more academics than Olympic gold medals. So you are in much stiffer competition in that respect. Perhaps being full pay, ED would help from what I have read.

9

You seem to have very impressive ECs, What is your unweighted GPA? If it is north of 3.9ish, then you are a very strong candidate for all the IVYs.

10

@hhjjlala @WISdad23 understood, but since I am considered a US Citizen for financial aid, shouldn’t I be considered one for admission?

Also, I’m considering ED at UPenn, but I’d also like to try my chances elsewhere. That’s why I want to know my chances in other top schools, because if they are slim, I might just do ED at UPenn.

11

@TimeUpJunior in India we don’t follow the GPA system but I heard the conversions are pretty lenient becuase of the difficulty of the course. According to the Indian grading system, I’ve gotten straight As in all subjects every year but I got a B+ in chemistry in the eleventh grade.
That’s why I think it should be over 3.9 unweighted

Do you think I could be in contention for Stanford, caltech, and MIT as well?
Thanks

12

You will be considered a US student from abroad. I don’t think they will lump you in the same category as non citizen Indians.

Is Dodge ball really an organized sport in India? It’s seen as a kids sport here in the US.

13

@sgopal2 yeah that’s what I thought… I guess that would increase my chances for some of these right
And hahaha not exactly an “organized sport” but there are competitions for a lot of sports, not all at levels higher than inter-highschool.

14

Hate to do this but…

Bump

15

I didn’t mean to come across that way as well. I meant it in a joking manner. But in all seriousness you have an application that might just be at the top of an admissions officer’s pile because you gave excellent ec and clearly great study habits to go along with it. Good luck

16

@elock13

Wow! Thanks!

17

Your list of ECs is way too long. Your scores and grades are fine, and will put you in contention for all of the top schools. But ECs is what will make or break you.

Leave dodgeball off of the list. Makes you look like a resume stuffer. Just list the top 5 ECs and try to weave together a cohesive story about yourself

18

@sgopal2 hmm okay… Do you think anything else is unnecessary? It’s hard to pick five becuase I’m not sure what’s up to the mark and what they want.

19

Which school would you apply to at Penn?

20

What they want is to identify the next nobel prize winner, academy award winner, Fields medal recipient, president or prime minister, Albert Einstein or Marie Curie. They want evidence that you will be a star one day. Get rid of all the excess garbage that detracts from your story.

What exactly is your story that you want to tell? Sounds like to me that you haven’t figured it out for yourself? I can’t tell you how to portray yourself, but it is only up to you.