<p>Hi everyone. I am a student from India, and wish to pursue Undergrad studies in US, Canada, or Singapore. Due to absence of proper guidance (my school is a public one, and the teachers more or less want the students to get admitted into local Uni) I am not able to gather much info on which university should I go to, what are the requirements, etc. I actually liked McGill, Upenn, NUS the most. However, I have understood (the hard way) that what institutions say on their websites is not always...correct. In any case, I wish to pursue Financial Economics or English literature. I scored 90.2% in my 10th Boards, and can achieve AT LEAST an 80% in XII. I am a Commerce student. I have given my SATs, and have scored a 1910 (Writing: 580 with 8 on essay, Maths-680, CR- 650...Shameful for some1 who aims for degree in English, I know). I will be giving my SAT II in December.</p>
<p>I have lived half my life in a small, nearly non existent town, and then when I came out of that place, I landed myself into a school with no scope for anything extra-curricular. Thus, my list for extra curricular activities is not very impressive. And due to my dad's constant moving, I never got to learn anything fully; I am more like Jack of all, master of none case. I trained myself in Tae-kwon-do for about 2 years, Classical Indian music for a year and half, Bharatnatyam for one year. I used to learn these in a private art and music institute, and participated in events organized by the same. I never managed to complete my studies due to some personal reasons, and soon moved to another city. I had my X this time, so I didn't go for many extra-curricular. I did however, tutor some Middle school students, for about six months or so. Lastly, I have been Class Rep plenty of times, and am Holding the position of Editor of school MAGAZINE. I have been helping teachers informally, and participating at small, 'comes with season' kind of events as well. Also, I have been a part of my current school's NGO supportive club, and have visited the SOS group.</p>
<p>Please help me!! Tell me where I stand...and do I have a chance for the Univerities I mentioned earlier? Thanks!!</p>
<p>With those scores and little EC’s, very low chance at all three.
Think about lower tier schools.
I’m an Indian student too and I know how very tough the competition can get from here.</p>
<p>The thing is, I wanted to go to Upenn mainly because it has a high acceptance rate, and really good Financial aid facility. McGill was the one I liked more. I myself knew that my chances are cut short for these two colleges, making it there is like living a dream. However, NUS is a different story. It is not just ideal for me, but economically feasible too. Being a child of a single parent (My dad passed away when I was in IX, so we moved from city that time as well…)</p>
<p>Thank you pixie…I had always known that with my qualifications, McGill and UPenn are really not within my reach. However, NUS is a different story. For me, that particular University isn’t just ideal, but economically feasible as well. My father passed away when I was in IX; I think I forgot to mention that I have not finished IX, I was given a promotion on basis of my aggregate of previous exams. We had moved to other city with my grandparents that year, and then moved again when mum got opportunity. I will repeat, consistent moving is the reason why I never got a chance on ECs; imagine, changing schools 8 bloody times during the 12 years of your school life…its not a particularly good experience…</p>
<p>Well, I will just narrow down my list of ‘need to now’…What do I need to do so I can get in NUS? Please recommend me the colleges which go along with my profile. Thank you…</p>
<p>Let me put it this way so you could understand ur situation a bit easier. . .you have better chances of hooking up with Aishwarya Rai from your little town than getting financial aid from UPenn especially with that score.</p>
<p>Penn is one of the stingy schools for financial aid.</p>
<p>lol…First, I am not interested in hooking up with Aishwarya Rai, seeing that I am 100% Heterosexual, thank you very much. Then, I am not in a little town anymore…Thank god to that. Let’s just say that I made a leap from a small city to a Metro…I am in new Delhi atm :)</p>
<p>and as I said, I need to know exactly What do I need to get into colleges like Upenn, Mcgill, and most importantly, NUS…</p>
<p>Oh…I forgot to tell before, I have also been attached to a spiritual mission, and have helped out at one of its ashrams when I was in class X plenty of times. I used to spend my Sundays there, about 8 hours everyday, managing small children, helping with the food preparation, stuff like that. Does that count up to something in the list of my ECs?</p>
<p>honestly, as an indian, you’re gonna need alot more to stand out than that. indians are overrepresented at most top schools for one, and even then majority of them have pretty good scores (near perfect SAT I (>2300 + 800x3 for subject tests)</p>
<p>and i agree with b@r!um; penn is stingy with aid. where did you get the impression that they have a high acceptance rate ? (they don’t)</p>
<p>Penn enrolls over 1,000 international undergraduate students, but only about 250 of them are receiving financial aid. That is less generous than some small colleges. Mount Holyoke is only a quarter of the size of Penn, but they are giving significant financial aid to 410 international students.</p>
<p>I see…seems like I got a hell lot of things wrong about Penn…</p>
<p>But it doesn’t change the fact that I need guidance, does it? I don’t think that ECs like mine will be much good for an Ivy, considering that I have not got my name on a newspaper or something due to that. I need to know what I can do now, to get into a good college, and if possible at all, into an Ivy like Upenn, or Uni like McGill and NUS…(NUS is my priority!!!)</p>
<p>I would say definitely highlight the ashram thing in your application, it seems to sound great. 8 hrs is no joke. This can count as community service. Wow, then you must have a lot of hours under your belt. Do not forget to highlight this in your app.</p>
<p>Now, onto NUS. NUS admission is decided by Class 12 board result and the cut off for Science stream was a 94%. Yes, that high. Commerce cut off as you know goes higher than the science. So I would say negligible chance there too, unless you really buck up and perform wonders.</p>
<p>I would say unless you look at lower schools, you’re going to be facing rejection everywhere. BUS, Mc Gill and Penn are all crapshoots for you and the competition from India, specifically Delhi is ruthless. I don’t mean to discourage you, but this is the hard truth. For those schools, you have 2300+, class toppers, very good many EC’s with awards competing. Try for smaller LAC’s and state universities. A lot of them are pretty good, just not well known around here. Try for schools like Hamilton college, Lafayette, State University of New York (the SUNYs) and such schools. If you don’t need aid then you have a wider variety of potential schools waiting out there.
Go to US news rankings and check out for schools with 40%+ acceptance rate. Make a list. Go to collegeboard and use their college finder for checking out the SAT scores median. This way, you can make a list of match and safeties. I would say only apply to one/two super reach- say penn and NUS.</p>
<p>A lot of schools only look at the CR and Math scores and ignore writing. Your math and CR scores are above the middle 50% for a lot of schools and even above the 75% for many schools, so try to look for schools that don’t want WR.
Also check out SAT optional schools like **Sarah Lawrence<a href=“has%20an%20amazing%20writing%20program%20plus%20good%20aid”>/b</a>. Sarah lawrence in fact should be your target school. It’s a great school with great weather.</p>
<p>Check out Scripps, Smith, Mount Holyoke, Barnard, Colby… these are a few schools coming to my mind.</p>
There’s nothing you can do now. EC’s cannot be developed in the last few months of pplcation process as that looks like resume padding. Just focus on making your application look well presented and make sure your essays are good.
There are a lot of good schools out there waiting if you’ll stop looking at just the Ivies.</p>
<p>Umm…pixie, Thanks again. Could you please help a little more? I need to know how to find the Uni which doesn’t require Wr in SAT…I think I will try out other universities, but I need financial aid, so I want to know which Uni have that services. Pleaaase? Thanks! ^_^</p>
<p>Okay I am now considering these colleges…tell me my chances there…ok?</p>
<p>Sarah Lawrence
Hamilton college
Lafayette
Mount Holyoke
Colby
Louisiana State University
NSU</p>
<p>I also want to know some more Uni who has good financial aid… I will not submit the present SAT scores in NUS…guess I will try to score good in my 12th. If I work harder now, may be I will score a 90%…with my lower-than-average Maths, it is a just a dream, a dream worth try for :P</p>
<p>But still, help me enlist some similar college. My main focus is Economics and/Or English. No other options for me. And with my mum’s income, I will need help in financial area, be it need-based grant, or work and study kind of support. Please suggest me some Univs which fit this criteria as well.</p>
:)</p>