Indian post

International Students
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<p>I was filling out these two forms tonight, and have a few questions....</p>

<p>1) CoF - if there's no savings in the bank, I put in zero? Then I put some assured support in 8b. Is this right?</p>

<p>2) The tax form my dad gave me is only 1 page. Did you all send such a 1-page form as well or do I have the wrong form?</p>

<p>3) Because 8a will be blank, I don't need to attach bank statements or signatures?</p>

<p>4) 11 - government restrictions for release of funds - this will be YES or NO? I think there are no restrictions?</p>

<p>5) 12,14 - is it bad that I have no emergency source and only a modest amount (say, $1000) when I arrive? Cuz I seriously don't have any such emergency source...except a 9th grade classmate who moved to NYC....</p>

<p>6) 17 - amount of support for summer - I don't plan to stay there in summer so I leave it blank, right?</p>

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<p>1.) yes put 0 and show alternative funding
2.) my dad had a page long tax return. My mom on the other hand had a longer one
3.)No no bank statements required
4.) HDFC Bank said no restrictions so thats what i put
5.) I have no clue whether this is bad or good, but I would tend more towards 'bad' than towards 'good'. These people are all out to rob you.But if you dont have emegency sources then, you don't have 'em. period.
6.) There is a box saying "NO" for "do you plan to stay over the summer?" So the rest of the question is n/a.</p>

<p>Question: Do you plan to come home during the summer 9 months after you arrived in the first place?
This is Sucharita Aunty saying good night :p</p>

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<p>I have cousins who have been accepted to IITs who have much better boards and my cousin claims that there are kids smarter than them. Why do international students from India claiming to be poor and asking financial aid (even when their parents earn more than 10 lacks rupees which happen to be putting them in top 5%) and then they want to claim that they are the best what India has to offer even though their achievements in the board exam shows that there are far superior kids whose parents income level is below the so called elite kids. Interestingly I see many kids outperform most of the kids who are applying to USA. I find it very interesting that the colleges do not look at all the facts.</p>

<p>Do you think my cousins or my parents are not giving me right pictures? Do you think my facts are wrong?</p>

1664

<p>Wow you use very long sentences. If you could rephrase your post it will be a bit easier to understand. :)</p>

<p>On to your queries:

[quote]
even though their achievements in the board exam shows that there are far superior kids

[/quote]

1) Board results are not a good indicator of whether a student is good or bad. I can go on and on about this argument if you want to debate this (trust me, I've been associated with a movement to reform the education system in India).

[quote]
whose parents income level is below the so called elite kids.

[/quote]

2) You should not try to correlate income level with performance in board or other exams. Intuition says that rich kids ought to perform worse (more money, no need to study) but as many here will testify, rich kids do perform exceptionally well. On the other hand, poor kids may not always be brilliant. It's a mix really.

[quote]
Why do international students from India claiming to be poor and asking financial aid

[/quote]

3) There's no need to "claim" anything as the certification of finances and tax returns make everything clear. As far as being the "best India has to offer" that the admission committee decides.

[quote]
I have cousins who have been accepted to IITs who have much better boards and my cousin claims that there are kids smarter than them.

[/quote]

4) As I said, you cannot measure "smartness" or "brilliance" on a scale. It's so subjective. If however by smartness is = board results or IIT rank, then IITs are the best place for such students :p</p>

<p>And now from another of your previous posts:

[quote]
It seems odd that not many people are not opting for IITs or IIMs. In my time only the rich people came to USA, and all smart kids applied in IITs or IIMs.

[/quote]

Times have changed. Tides are turning. I do understand your achievements (getting into IIT and then the US), however, that is the old school way of thinking. There is no longer a need to be able to pay to study abroad. I didnt know about it last year and yes that is why I didn't apply and sat for IIT/AIEEE instead. But now there's financial aid, so the best colleges select the best students from India. And no, the top ranker at IIT is not the best student in India. He is typically what students in the US would call a "nerd." Someone who did nothing better but prepare for the IIT. STUDY STUDY AND MORE OF STUDY. Life is more than that. I have only an 88%/81% in my board exams, which is usually looked down upon. Neither did I clear the IIT entrance last year. But if you look at me as a whole, and the 18 years behind me, you'll see why I have intense faith in myself and expect to go to MIT and not IIT.</p>

<p>And tell me honestly, what's so great about IIT anyway? A recent ranking placed it between #400-500 in the world. And IIMs are #64 I think. I can talk about a lot of reasons for not wanting to go to IIT if you'd like.... but this post is getting too long...</p>

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<p>Oh and may I direct you to a weblog entry by Matt McGann (of MIT) who specifically talks about what MIT looks for:</p>

<p><a href="http://blogs.mit.edu/madmatt/posts/5434.aspx%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://blogs.mit.edu/madmatt/posts/5434.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>If you read that, you'll see that MIT looks for much more than what a typical JEE ranker has. IIT looks for one thing - brilliance in phy,chem and math. MIT (and all other high calibre schools) look for a lot of other things.</p>

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<p>nah mathmajor, your facts are not wrong. there are many kids smarter than us humble folk.</p>

<p>who claimed to be so smart here anyway? it's a great achievement to be able to get into IIT</p>

<p>i consider it a privilege to be able to even think of applying abroad. but my family income is sub 10 lakh for a fact, and i need the financial aid. not exactly poor in india, 'upper middle class' i believe, but a US education is very expensive.</p>

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<p>and umm, different people, different strokes. mathmajor you're obviously big into academic merit alone. that's okay. i wouldn't say we have the better perspective (different people, different strokes, after all), but a broader one, yeah.</p>

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<p>Yeah astrix I totally agree. And as things stand at this point of time, you might as well resign yourself to having no life at all in Plus 2 if you want to make it through the IIT entrance.
Mathmajor, the reason that i would prefer to be in a good college in the US rather than an IIT can be summed up in one word-flexibility :) (Not that I have the foggiest chance of making it through the screening but frankly, i don't care)</p>

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<p>There are many americans who are a lot smarter than Iitians . Take my word. WHen i came here i was with the conviction that I would be more intelligent than most of the smart kids here. But that was not true. Though i was smarter than most of the kids, there was a significant minority which i simply couldnt compete against for 4/5 months.(being in an extra advanced class didnt help) Even now i admit there are 5 people in my school alone which are plain out smarter than me. Knowing more doesn't make you smarter. Sure there are people here who study all the time just to get into college ( there is one such kind in our school though hes asian, hah). </p>

<p>Anyway i am not discrediting the geniuses in IIT or anything. But the educational system in India encourages people who have done nothing in their lives but study to succeed. but that is not enough . You will find exceptions but thats what they are, exceptions. You need some extracurricular activities too ( and no computer games and staying at home doesnt count). Getting an idea of the outside world staying at home isnt going to help. I say be like the US why not have atleast 25 elite universities instead of having 10-12?</p>

<p>well those were my random thoughts. thats enough :)</p>

<p>wait, smarter people apply to IIT and IIMs? maybe smarter because they know they cant compete against the people here. All tht ******** abt financial aid is just an dexcuse. Well not really. If you have done exceptionally well in school then you will get your chance. ill end now i am sleepy</p>

<p>sorry for the long post guys, hey merc maybe we should meet in the future as in how to change the educational system in India :D</p>

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<p>But I guess its just the approach of the person that counts. For example, my parents refused to put me in an indian ed. systems because they didnt find any scope whatsoever for creativity and movement of the mind in other directions apart from memorizing a textbook and vomitting it on a test, only to forget it for the rest of one's life. Mind u, both are IIT bombay grads and PhDs. Mathmajor - its just sad to think that IITians are the brainiacs of the world, and have the ultimate holistic approach to life. It's damn good for those who can memorize, but there are so many better places than that. ie. MIT. its a combo of IIT and creativity. The States offers 1. Name 2. flexibility 3. opportunity to succeed by NOT becoming a nerd. I am certain there are more successful people from MIT, HYP than IIT. And hey - it is a fact that the upper middle class kids seem relatively smarter than the lower class people because of the availibility of good ed. Not saying that economically lower families cant have smart kids. Of course they can, but the trend is reverse. To go to IIT, as my dad, who ironically IS one of those "nerds" who passed the JEE, is to be a horse with blinkers - unable to appreciate the abundant fun in life, and the amount of knowledge you can gain from experience.
As far as I see, the IB program is the best type of sys. I can see. Its got a balanced schedule, time for research, study, EC s, community service, sports, everything to make the school grad balanced. An IB student would most probably not stand a chance at JEE, but would at IIT.</p>

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<p>i mean MIT. ...</p>

<p>anyway...I need some advice on my fin aid app to princeton. Should I apply at all for fin. aid? its not that i desperately need it, but i can prove that i require 10-15K aid when I fill out the form. Do you guys think I stand a better chance if i dont apply? I really need some feedback...this can alter my whole app, my acceptance/rejection...</p>

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<p>
[quote]
It's damn good for those who can memorize,

[/quote]

Here I disagree with you SP, IIT is not about memorizing (that will be the board exams). IIT is about solving problems (but darn difficult ones!)</p>

<p>
[quote]
To go to IIT, as my dad, who ironically IS one of those "nerds" who passed the JEE, is to be a horse with blinkers - unable to appreciate the abundant fun in life, and the amount of knowledge you can gain from experience.

[/quote]

Brilliantly said!!

[quote]
I need some advice on my fin aid app to princeton. Should I apply at all for fin. aid?

[/quote]

At Princeton, applying for aid will not in any way alter your chances (unlike Stanford, e.g.). So by all reasons, apply! If they find any need, they'll award you some aid package, else not. But admission decision will not be affected.</p>

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<p>hmm. On the pton board I got the opposite info...im just concerned, because otherwise, why do they ask for the fin. aid. apps by Feb 1? isnt it because they want to know if ur applyin for fin. aid before they review ur app?</p>

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<p>The princeton forumers gave you the wrong info?? See, pton says it won't affect you. There will always be skeptics who will say this is all bull.... but trust pton.</p>

<p>As for asking for the forms by feb 1, if you read their page carefully, thats the deadline you have to follow if you want your finaid decision along with your admission decision<a href="which%20will%20help%20you%20in%20making%20a%20college%20choice">/u</a>.</p>

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<p>I heard its dif. for int'ls because how else will they get money for the year?</p>

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<p>They claim they don't distinguish between US and intl applicants....</p>

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<p>suyash: ANYONE from Jamshedpur here??</p>

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<p>Did anyone take the IOI zonal paper today??</p>

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<p>
[quote]
Here I disagree with you SP, IIT is not about memorizing (that will be the board exams). IIT is about solving problems (but darn difficult ones!)

[/quote]

And here I disagree with you!!</p>

<p>IMO the more facts you know = Better JEE results</p>

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<p>i got made the mr. thing at the farewell today :) :) hehe. another thing to tell them, tho dunno how i'm going to put it :p</p>

<p>what's with jamshedpur?</p>

<p>oh and merc i don't feel like opening PM's right now but they edited out his stuff too? so all's well. i'll prolly be getting the tos viol too one of these days :-/</p>