Indian applying for HYP, Darmouth, Brown (with aid) and Williams! HELP NEEDED.

Chance Me / Match Me!
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<p>(I've also posted this over at <a href="http://www.internationalstudentsforum.com--%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.internationalstudentsforum.com--&lt;/a> I hope that isn't a problem?) ALSO: Should this be moved to the International Threads/ India subforum?</p>

<p>Okay, so here's the deal. I'm an Indian studying in 12th grade, non-US citizen, with a childhood dream of studying in an Ivy. Well now the time's come to prove my mettle, except that I come from a pretty small school where nobody's ever applied for an international college before (we don't even have a college counsellor!), and hence have no clue as to my standings, my chances, or even if I'm kidding myself by trying or not. I've talked to a few friends here and there, a cousin who got into Princeton last year and a few college counsellors who rate my chances as fairly okay, but what I've read online and around here and there only confuse me more. So here's a pretty brief round up of what my app will look like, could all the experienced folk here tell me if I have the slightest of a chance?</p>

<p>My folks aren't the most well off, so they've put their foot down on an american university unless I can get financial aid, which, I understand, is a herculean task. I'm going to try for the need-blind Unis, i.e. HYP, Darmouth and Williams, as well as Brown because I love their courses/ the college in general even though I understand they offer limited aid. While I understand this is aiming ridiculously high, I don't have any other options when it comes to studying abroad. </p>

<p>ACADEMICS: 90%+ in IXth and Xth grade including 91.4% in the All Indian Secondary School Examinations (with a 97% in Maths, 98% in Social Studies and 91% in English), 85% in XI grade (which is generally considered the toughest year: most people's grades drop about 5% then). I'm trying for a 95%+ this year in my XII grade examinations, and hopefully a 90%+ in my Midyear report (sent in February, right?). </p>

<p>Now, my only standard for measuring myself up against is the guy I know who got into Princeton, who said 90%+ in X and 80%+ in XI should do. Can anyone give me further info on this? Do my grades look adequate? The two pitfalls I see here are: a. My school is a pretty small one. Apart from my AISSE results, could the school evaluated ones be held suspect? and b. All the Unis say they encourage students to challenge themselves with the toughest courses. In India, we all study the same course till X grade after which we take either Commerce, Science or Humanities stream. While Science is traditionally considered the 'toughest', your decision is made based on what career you see for yourself in the future and as I don't really enjoy science or want to do engineering, I took the 'second toughest' stream i.e. commerce. Will this be held against me?</p>

<p>STANDARDIZED TESTING: Not taken yet. Have registered myself for the October SAT I and Maths I & II C and Literature in Novemember. In the practise tests I have taken from the Collegeboard book, my score range has come out to be 2000-2300. How accurate are these score ranges in predicting my actual score? And does 2000-2300 mean I'm reasonably good (2000) or very good (2300)? I have no clue about the SAT IIs, I'll start studying for them in October. I can handle Maths I with ease, though, though Maths II and Lit. look a bit challenging.
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EXTRA CURRICULAR:** Okay, my main weakness here is that I am very well rounded but with no clear 'spike' which I fear will harm me. Also, being from a small school and an international, will my extra-cs be taken as seriously? Nonetheless, here they are:
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SCHOOL LEVEL:* Junior Cabinet member in 8th grade, Cultural captain of the school (second most important position in senior student council after Head boy/girl)-- organized most of the school events, competitions, pioneered an inter school leadership summit that brought together best schools of Delhi to a common platform to discuss student governance, editor of 12th grade annual newsletter 'Embark', chief designer of all school certificates, pamphlets and the Embark cover this year as well. Also won the school's topmost awards including 'Shoba Bhavnani' (best contribution to intra school activities) and 'Dr. H.Sen Memorial' ('Best' Student of the School in class IX and XI).</p>

<p>MOVIE MAKING: Movie making is one of my passions. I've won two inter school competitions and my movies have also been showcased at the Worldkids International Film festival infront of a panel of esteemed bollywood filmmakers. I've also made a movie that was presented infront of an All Indian conference about Open Source Software organized by Sun Microsystems India. I've also won the Open Document Format Alliance competition (held by Sun microsys with over 110 schools participating) and the judges were impressed enough to allow me and my teammate to judge the junior round of that competition the next year, as well as winning a second time in the senior round. We travelled to Kolkutta specially to attend the conference. We also designed the certificates presented to the winners in the same competition.
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DEBATING/WRITING/SPEAKING:* I got second place (team of 2) in the Harvard Club of India (a club of Indian Harvard alumni) debate and I've won panel discussions/ economic competitons in several inter school competitons. I've also got Best Delegate in two all Indian Model United Nations and was appointed editor of the world press in yet another MUN. I've won an essay writing competition called the R. Gupta Memorial award. I've also been the Hindustan Times 'Spell Vocab' all delhi champion for two years in a row.</p>

<p>OTHER NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS: I've got an all Indian ranking of 1500 something in the National Science talent search examination in the 10th grade. I've represented my school in the JENESYS Indo-Japan Exchange programme where around 180 students from university and school level (I was one of the 20 from school level) are sponsored by the Government of India to undergo a two week cultural exchange programme in Japan-- I consider this my strongest EC yet. In addition, I've won several other essay, multimedia and speech competitions at Inter school level. I was also nominated as a Times of India junior reporter for a year. I've also anchored a few episodes of a TV programme on Lok Sabha TV (government sponsored news channel) and appeared on a few odd debates on NDTV and Lok Sabha TV as well. A second prize from the Arab embasssy for my artwork is another thing I would like to mention.</p>

<p>I've participated in a few odd social events such as teach India and a few volunteering missions, though I'm not particularly strong in the social work aspect of my app.</p>

<p>As for teacher recommendations, that is the one part of my application I can safely be assured will be glowing. My principal often calls me and a few of my friends, the current student council members, the best batch of students she's ever had and we have worked with her in organizing so many events that she knows us thoroughly and will personally fill in where the counsellor is supposed to fill in. All my teachers find me bright, confident and talented, and I'm very close to the two who I'll be asking to pen my rec. </p>

<p>I'm honestly sorry if this is long and rambling, but I'd also like to know if any of the above should be cut out as excessive/unnecessary from my App. And I'd love an honest appraisal of my chances, financial aid, small school, international candidate, academics, all considered. Cheers!</p>

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<p>This is way too long to read. We have no basis to chance you. ( solid GPA, SAT, SAT II’s…)</p>

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<p>I’m not sure how to convert my percentage to GPA, though.</p>

<p>Also, though I would understand if it’s not possible, I was mostly looking for an evaluation of my academics and my extra curriculars seeing that I have no SAT scores to present right now. Studying for my board finals and preparing my apps and my SAT at the same time is an incredibly stressful procedure, so what I’d like to know is whether my other qualifications even put me in the category of Ivy hopefuls (as I have no idea coming from where I do) and whether putting my 100% into studying for the SATs and writing my essays is worth it, or whether it would be of no use considering my ECs/ academics are too weak to support even strong scores and essays.</p>

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<p>yeah, you look like you have some solid yet diverse ECs. the competition is very high becUse most people who apply to ivies, especially international, are national scholars and have gone to the international competitions. basically, they represent the best of india or their respective countires. but most of them go for core subjects such as eng or math/sci. since you are trying for a different line, you might have a chance. definitely try. and good luck :)</p>

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<p>I’m of Indian origin, but live in the US and have American citizenship, so your situation interested me. My uncle did all his further education here and my dad came from Mumbai to do his Master’s (on full FA) – neither went back to live in India. </p>

<p>Your EC’s and scores are good but not amazing, and the schools you’re looking at are never a sure thing for anyone and are especially hard for internationals. That said, don’t let that defer you from applying, especially if it’s always been a dream for you. If your school doesn’t have adequate support and resources for students applying to international universities, the adcoms won’t hold it against you. Rather, I think they’ll be impressed by your own initiative. </p>

<p>My main worry for you is that many of the international applicants (especially for undergrad) are truly spectacular in some way – you have a strong app and show great motivation, but there’s really nothing that stands out. Your grades are great, but pretty average in the applicant pools for elite schools (and the drop in class 11 is not good. I’m not up to scratch as far as the Indian grading system goes, but an 85% overall is roughly equivalent to a 3.0 GPA in American terms. An average admitted student’s GPA at H is ~3.75.)</p>

<p>Williams and Brown are great schools to aim for, but as you pointed out yourself, aid (even for American citizens) is hard to come by even for American nationals (I’m not polished up on the specifics of these two, but Williams is a LAC; generally difficult to get good packages). As an international, you’d be last in line. HYP are more likely to give generous packages because of their giant endowments, but obviously admission there is harder. I just tell you this because it would suck to be in a position where you got into a school and couldn’t go because of financial concerns. </p>

<p>All in all, though, I think you look pretty good, all circumstances considered. Some of your EC’s are particularly impressive (the Japan trip being the best, in my opinion.)</p>

<p>Here are a few things I’d leave out, though. They’re minor and not really necessary. A good rule to follow is to only include if it happened between grades 9-12 and/or it was a prize/ranking you got at the state or national level. School and inter-school competitions aren’t really important.</p>

<p>-Junior Cabinet member in 8th grade
-I got second place (team of 2) in the Harvard Club of India (a club of Indian Harvard alumni) debate
-I’ve won an essay writing competition called the R. Gupta Memorial award
-I’ve got an all Indian ranking of 1500 something in the National Science talent search examination in the 10th grade. (Unless this is top 50 nationally, it’s not impressive.)
-In addition, I’ve won several other essay, multimedia and speech competitions at Inter school level. (Again, this is important only if it’s at the state or national level.)
-A second prize from the Arab embasssy for my artwork is another thing I would like to mention.</p>

<p>This was longer than I intended it to be, but I hope it helps. If you have any other questions that you think I might be able to answer, PM me. Best of luck to you! :)</p>