How can I assure my place in a top college???

Applying to College
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<p>I am a 12th pass student from India and aspire about joining the top colleges. But like most of us, i do not have a lot of internships, or olympiads under my name. All i have are some certificated of national level participation from school and things like, I have been a member of the student council every year and always held a resposible position, etc. What are my chances of getting into a god college with financial aid?? ALso can somebody please give me some advice about how to make my resume more attractive to the admissions offices aorund the globe...?? PLease.... </p>

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As an international student, you need to acknowledge two important realities: (1) Your chances as an international student are not the same as those for US students. For example, while about 1660 students matriculate to Harvard every year, only about 190 of them (11%) are international students and only about 5 students are from India. (2) Most colleges do not give financial aid to international students, so you need to seek out those schools that do and cast as wide a net as possible: <a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/the-short-list-college/articles/2013/09/19/colleges-that-give-international-students-the-most-financial-aid”>http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/the-short-list-college/articles/2013/09/19/colleges-that-give-international-students-the-most-financial-aid&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>In short, you can’t do anything to assure your place at top colleges, especially as an international. The competition for internationals is even stiffer than for US applicants, and you will be directly compared to those students who HAVE gone to olympiads and have gotten internships. I don’t mean to discourage you, it’s just important that you have a reasonable understanding of your odds. I’m not certain how prestigious the certifications you have received are, if they are on a national scale than that will definitely help you, but you also say that they were given out by your school. If it’s just something within your school it’s still good, but will probably not impress as much. Do you have an interesting background? Any passions? If you can parlay those into activities that things that show initiative and affect your community, you will be a more competitive applicant. This also all assumes your test scores, grades, and course rigor is in order. </p>

<p>Also, as an international in need of aid, be aware your options in the US will be limited to the very few, very competitive schools that promise to meet aid for internationals, or schools where you qualify for substantial merit aid (these will likely not be what you consider top colleges, but I assure you they are still very respectable institutions you would do well at).</p>

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<p>thanks guys… DO you know any competitions or projects I could join?? I wish to do a science major in college. I didn’t have much opportunities to do stuff outside school here and I have few certificates from school as I mentioned earlier.
@butterfreesnd‌ : I have worked on a few of my passions. I play the guitar, and my teacher is a guinness world record holder and there are a few tapes of us playing together and a certificate from him and all. I play chess, and have participated in regional level chess competitions representing our school( again its a certificates from the school). I used to play Kabadi and cricket in school but our teacher never included me in team saying I had to go for chess as most of the times the dates of both competitions were the same. Will getting a letter from her stating the same help me?? I was the school sports captain last year. I have a few certificates of chess. Do you think all these will be any help at all?? </p>

<p>Please help me. What can I do??</p>

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<p>What do you mean by “good college”, and how much can your family afford to pay each year?</p>

<p>If you have excellent grades and test scores, check out this thread. Some of the scholarships are open to international applicants. <a href=“Automatic Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-p1.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Check the other threads in the financial aid forum as well. You may find other scholarship information that is useful for you.</p>

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<p>How about one of the many good colleges in India?</p>

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<p>The best colleges in India for Engineering are the IITs. But the sad thing is even though they are the top college in the country they don’t even come in the top 250 colleges ranking internationally. ALso I preffer to study abroad because its better exposure and infrastructure. </p>

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<p>If u require financial aid to attend college in the US then you’re first priority should be pragmatically focusing on schools where you can realistically get in AND get money, and less focus on “top”.</p>

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<p>@Hrithu Do you plan on bringing your career to the US? If not, then India should be fine for you. Do not look at International Rankings. </p>

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<p>@GMTplus : Could you please give me the names of some colleges that give grands to international students. because every college i looked at offers variety of scholorships but I’m not sure whether they will be given to international applicants…??</p>

<p>@Anniebeats : I plan on working in US or UK. Thats one one of the main reasons i started pursuing the colleges abroad.,</p>

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<p>Princeton, yale and harvard are need blind for internationals… getting in however is another story. I believe MIT, dartmouth and amherst are also need blind (all quite difficult to get into)</p>

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<p>Same results from 2 different websites:
<a href=“Need-blind admission - Wikipedia”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Need-blind_admission&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p><a href=“Schools Awarding International Financial Aid”>http://www.internationalstudent.com/schools_awarding_aid/&lt;/a&gt;

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<p>One of my friends got into 4 top places from your region. He’d 1950 SAT score and well NO medal. none. why did he get in? ask the admission officers.</p>

<p>it isn’t what you should do, it’s more about what you liked to do for most of your life. And at 12th grade I’m not sure if you can impress the admission officer with something other than national or international level recognition.</p>

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In the US, about zero.

You are sadly misinformed. The best IIT campuses are well regarded everywhere. The US News, which everyone on this forum bows down to, ranks IIT Bombay 36th</p>

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<p>An important question so we can start to determine if you have a reasonable chance at any of these highly competitive schools, or will be eligible for merit aid, what is your SAT/ACT score? GPA? Class Rank? Have you taken advanced classes? (AP, IB, IGCSE etc.)</p>

<p>A list of competitive merit scholarships, you will have to check individually to see if they apply to internationals: <a href=“Competitive Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;