Are Indians underrepresented at Liberal Arts Colleges? Do Indians have a decent chance of getting in? I want to major in math in a good liberal arts college. I am considering Middlebury and Reed. I plan to apply early to Middlebury. I also noticed that the number of applications to LACs has been decreasing and that the number of admits has been increasing. Does this mean LACs are becoming less selective?
Btw I’ve taken a gap year.
Here are my stats:
SAT I (breakdown): 1990 (CR:550 M:800 W:640) i know this is really bad but i will be retaking the new sat.
SAT II: 800 Math 2, 800 Math 1
Grades: Class 9 CGPA 10/10 in all subjects and overall
Class 10 CGPA 10/10 in all subjects and overall
Class 11 98.6%
Class 12 94.8%
I studied in the CBSE board in India. I was also the topper in every class.
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/40 I think
AP (place score in parenthesis):Calculus BC 5 AB subscore 5
I got to know about AP really late, so I could take only one with a week’s preparation.
Senior Year Course Load: Indian CBSE Board
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): None
[ b]Subjective:**
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Many, but nothing unique. I did almost everything i could. Debates,Singing,Dance and I won many prizes in some local quizzes and debates. I also play badminton and football at the school level.
Was a part of the Junior Red Cross at school.
I have won the district topper medals in some math and science olympiads.
Few more…
Job/Work Experience: None actually. Is this important? How do I improve this? Please let me know
Volunteer/Community service: I have done some volunteering at school and I plan to tutor students in math. I also plan to work with an NGO to help cancer patients.
Summer Activities:I will be attending summer school at Oxford University.
Essays: Good.
Teacher Recommendation: Great.
Counselor Rec: Good.
Applying for Financial Aid?: No
Intended Major: Mathematics with Statistics maybe?
Country (if international applicant): india
School Type: Private
Ethnicity: indian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket:>20,00,000(INR)
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None, I think
The top LACs are still extremely selective. Middlebury accepted just 16% of applicants last year. I"d suggest checking your data again.
As @urbanslaughter said, I think you are mis-estimating the selectivity.
Also, LACs are more likely to be interested in ‘fit’- how you, as an individual, will fit into their community. For example, afaik, Reed is known for attracting students who are interested in learning, not grades. As long as you are doing ‘satisfactory’ (a C grade or better) work, you do not automatically get your grades at the end of each term. Instead, you have meetings about how your work is progressing. You are coming from an intensely grade oriented system: will you be happy in a school where being too-interested in grades is not culturally ok- is even seen as a bad thing?
Also, LACs do not tend to go for strongly asymmetrical students. Both Reed and Middlebury have distribution requirements that require you to take quite a few humanities courses. Your humble-brag about your AP Calc scores, your very asymmetrical SAT scores, and your heavy math/science focus make me wonder if that is going to suit you?
Fwiw, the Oxford summer program will be seen as a fancy summer camp for a privileged kid, not as evidence of your academic merit. Not a reason not to do it- lots of students do courses like that and have a great time, even learn a lot.
What you are doing with your gap year will be interesting.
Not needing financial aid will be a huge boost for you compared to internationals needing aid, but it won’t overcome test scores significantly below a school’s low end. You can get a rough idea of your chances from your various choices’ Common Data Set section C9 for test scores and C11 for GPA of the last admitted freshman class. Compare yourself to the 25th and 75th percentiles for approximate reach/match/safety categories. Google finds the Common Data Set.
Indians are not underrepresented at any top American school.
But Indians not requesting FA probably are.
We are almost an Indian colony at the higher levels of education! Anecdotally, I don’t think Indians are underrepresented. But like they said, picking a need-aware school would be advantageous relative to a need-blind school.
Be sure that you know what you are getting into with LACs, especially Reed. You can be very STEM oriented but you will still be required to have a broad education. My son, who will be attending Reed this fall, has been plodding through the Iliad this summer, and will be required to take a very very intense humanities course his first year, required of all Freshman. There will be significant writing. Yet he is planning to major in either physics or math (or both). This is the kind of education he wanted, however. He was only interested in LACs because, even though he is a STEM kid, he also loves writing, political science, and general knowledge of the world.
LACs are about a broad education. Reed is a very very different kind of place, as well, with very intense students who are there to learn for the sake of learning.