INDIAN STUDENT'S CHANCES

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I am an Indian student in grade 12 following the CBSE curriculum. I wanted 2 know my chances at these colleges
1. MIT
2. Stanford
3. Yale
4. Princeton
5. Caltech
6. Carnegie Mellon
7. GeorgiaTech
8. UCB
9. UCLA
10. Duke University
(These r my dream colleges, my reach & safety colleges r different)</p>

<p>My SAT I score is 2250, SAT II Maths Level 2 - 800, Phy & Chem - 780 each
Im going to try to improve them in the coming tests
My 10th % is 93.2% (ICSE)
11th % is 88 % (CBSE)
12th midterms - 94 (Had early midterms in my school but looking to improve in the Prep exams & send in those scores to colleges)
I'm currently interning at a software company.
Im planning to take CIE A-Level Exams in Eng Lit, Phy, Chem, Further Maths, Bio, Psychology & Maths (not sure coz Im attempting Further Maths 2) as a private candidate. My teachers say I have the potential of getting A* or at least an A in all of them. So while commenting please assume that I may get these scores in A-levels.
I didn't take any APs coz I hadn't planned of applying to US Universities at the time the exams were conducted
My ECs are not so good. I play the guitar and tennis but these are just leisure activities for me rather than competitive ones (read: I haven't participated in any of these competitions). I do write stories & run blogs on science & tech and fashion (Its in a starting phase so no followers there).
Pls tell me what r my chances of getting into these colleges!</p>

2

<p>Not all of these colleges are need-blind. How much are your parents willing to contribute per year for you to attend these schools. Also, your lack of ECs is not helping you at all. You are competing against other more qualified and well-rounded internationals for slots in some of the highest ranked schools in the US. What separates you from your competitors? “The potential of getting A” is not the same as receiving all As. </p>

3

<p>Your grades are nice. Standardized test scores are great. But there is nothing that sets you apart from the loads of people that will be applying from India.
The Indians who get accepted at these colleges generally have excellent ECs.</p>

<p>Also assuming that since you require aid, your chances at all colleges except YP & M reduce drastically.</p>

<p>Unless you do something extraordinary that sets you apart from everyone else in the coming months and write excellent essays, I am sorry to say this but you do not stand a chance at the top schools. </p>

<p>If you do not require aid, you might be in at the UCs and GA Tech if you can do some good ECs that show your passion.</p>

<p>As for Caltech and CMU, you have a small chance of getting in.</p>

<p>I would suggest you to add a few colleges to your list</p>

4

<p>@CrazyScientist: Are you an Indian from bharat, or an Indian from abroad? If you are an Indian abroad and then applying for US schools this might give you a leg up (esp if you were from the UK, since very few UK students apply to US schools). If you are an Indian from India then I agree with the other posters, you have an uphill struggle.</p>

<p>The main issue I see you for is that you have high test scores and grades, but very little else. Unidimensionality. Unless there is some personality that bleeds through your essays/recommendations, I think most AdComs will yawn when they see your application.</p>

<p>Just being honest. Take some time to figure out what sets you apart from the rest of the people applying and highlight it.</p>

<p>Last thing: DON’T RETAKE the SATI or SAT2. Your scores are high enough. Taking them again makes you seem like a worried nit.</p>

5

<p>If you need financial aid, you can cross off UCLA/UCB. The UC’s give little to no financial aid to internationals. They expect full pay.</p>

6

<p>Yale is the only school on here that has need blind admissions for international student and meets full need. Aside from Yale, ideally, you are gonna have to be full pay for the rest of these schools. A lot of int’l students look at the COA for American students, but you can’t really. The price of traveling internationally is much higher, so expect to pay around $70,000 yearly. And make sure your parents are aware of that number as well. I have seen several international students on a another college forum apply as full pay, and be able to pay for the first year of school, but then drop out because they didn’t really consider the impact it would have on their family. Generally, to be comfortably full pay at these schools, you’re household income needs to be around $250,000+</p>

7

<p>Thanks guys for the help but can u recommend any ECs that I can take up in the coming months? My school is a strictly academic one with no facility at all for sports or music or any EC at all. So it would be really helpful if u could tell what ECs will suit me and make my profile stronger</p>

8

<p>We can’t tell you what ECs to get involved in. You should pick ECs that you are interested in and passionate about. You shouldn’t join clubs/activities just for the sake of joining them. You know yourself better than we know you, so you should know what types of activities you like. </p>

9

<p>If finances aren’t a problem, put berkeley on that list. It’s a very strong STEM school and will be slightly more lenient to your lack of EC’s. Other than that, UCB and Georgia tech are the only realistic ones on your list, with everything else being mid to high reach. Your grades and test scores (Talking SAT 1, your subject tests were great) are good, but not good enough to excuse not doing anything else. There are many international students from Eastern countries whos schools also do not facilitate EC’s; however, these students boast near perfect test scores and grades. Sorry if I’m being blunt- any less would be a disservice.
Chance me back if you want
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1671578-chance-an-unspectacular-asian.html#latest”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1671578-chance-an-unspectacular-asian.html#latest&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

10

<p>@AnnieBeats‌ I’m fairly sure that MIT is need-blind/meets full need of internationals and so might be Princeton.</p>

11

<p>@theanaconda You are right. I always remember Yale, Harvard, and Dartmouth, but forget the others</p>

<p>MIT
Harvard University
Princeton University
Yale University
Dartmouth College
Amherst College </p>

12

<p>Im planning on majoring in Software Engineering, so what ECs do you think will aid me more? For example one of my friends recommended me take up app developing or robotics.</p>

13

<p>And I ought to mention my 9th grade marks too. They are on the lower side - 79.8% owing to my grandfather’s demise just a few days before my exams started. Do you think this will have a huge negative impact on my application?</p>

14

Hey, please tell what chances do I have into to going into the top colleges in USA.
I am currently in 11th.

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): Composite Score-2050 Math-750 Critical Reading-650 Writing-650 (Writing again soon and expecting a better score)

ACT (breakdown): Not written yet but planning to

SAT II: Math-800 Chemistry-800 Physics-800

Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 10% of my class

Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):

grades in 9th - CGPA-9.4
grades in 10th - CGPA-9.8
grades in 11th - 86% (was concentrating on extracurriculars so my percentage dropped)
grades in 12th - 95% (aiming for)

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):

Music : Successfully completed all 8 grades of Keyboard with a distinction. I have participated in many competitions winning many accolades and also given many stage performances in school and outside. I also reproduce and compose music. I also have a channel on youtube. I have also been part of my school’s Brass Band for 4 years, me being the lead Saxophone player.

Computer and Technology : I have successfully completed courses on web development (PHP and MySQL), web designing(Adobe Dreamweaver, HTML, CSS), Adobe Flash, Adobe Photoshop and Animation (3ds Max) (All certified by the World Multimedia Association). I also learn several programming languages (Java, Javascript, C, C++) myself with books and the internet. I also edit video and music, having participated in several movie making competitions. I have also completed the course of learning the Python programming language from school which is part of the CBSE syllabus. I officially develop Android apps and have developed 5 so far.

Sports : I had learnt Karate till the black belt and won several accolades securing the 3rd position in a national level for a Karate competition. I am also a very ardent basketball player and often play cricket, squash and football too.

Puzzles : Speedcubing is also a very ardent hobby of mine. I can currently solve the 2x2, 3x3, 4x4 and the 5x5 Rubik’s Cubes. I have participated in several national competitions in Dubai and have come among the top 20. I often play chess too.

Art and Dance : Have participated in several art and dance competitions in senior school and have acquired certificates.

Other : I have participated in the F1 in Schools competition and have gone till the national level. (i have a certificate for that too)

Job/Work Experience: Web development, app development and video and audio editing.
Volunteer/Community service: None yet
Summer Activities:
Essays (rating 1-10, details): Not written yet
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Applied for Financial Aid?: Planning to
Intended Major:Computer Science
State :
Country:Indian living in Dubai

I am planning to apply to Stanford, MIT, Harvard, UC Berkeley, Caltech and Purdue.

15

@Deebthik, it’s rude to hijack someone else’s thread. Create your own chance me thread.

16

@tola2015‌ Oh sorry, I didn’t know that

17

In the USA most colleges don’t offer a “software engineering” degree. You will have to persue computer science, computer engineering, or electrical engineering. Out of these I would say computer science is the closest to “software engineering”. As far as safeties, consider applying to UCLA, UCB, UCSB, UT Austin. All of these are prestigious institutes where you should gain admission
Best of luck to you

18

@onlooker, the UC’s are not “safeties”. I don’t know why people think they’re easy to get into.

They have to post all “stats” which include athletes and partner low-income high school students.

The UC’s receive hundreds of thousands of applications from over-qualified and above-average students and are extremely rough to get into. Since many hopeful students live for the “California Dream”, the applications are numerous. They are also “STATE” schools which means there is no financial aid, at all, for out of state or international students.