Hey there guys,
I’m a student from India (Mumbai ) aspiring to get into the top colleges in usa for engineering.
I have international projects in hand. I’ve worked a lot in the field of engineering and I have really good SAT scores too. Only thing is my HSC (maharashtra state board) marks aren’t quite good. Would these marks affect my chances of getting into these top universities ?
Can you please specify what credentials(GPA, test scores, extracurricular etc) you have other than saying “very good SAT” score?
Also, please don’t write a thread title with all capital letters.
How much can you pay per year?
Does prestige matter(for job prospective in India or what)?
Does environment(city, suburban, rural) matter?
OP, can you answer Paul’s questions?
As to your HSC scores: are they predicted scores? Actual scores? Did you take O’Levels or IGCSE’s? How do you rank compared to the rest of your year (all students in Class XI, for example), and how does your school rank in the province?
Do u need financial aid to attend?
If the answer is YES, then u need to be pragmatic and focus on picking schools where u are both likely to be admitted, AND where u are likely to receive FA. Simply focusing on “Top” schools is a recipe for ending up empty handed next May.
“Top” schools are already difficult for domestic students to be admitted into. They are even more difficult for intl students to be admitted into-- especially if u are from china or india, because there are SO MANY of your countrymen also applying. Your application will be compared to those of your countrymen.
@GMTplus7 while what you said is absolutely true,degrees from good-but-not-top tier school may look OP “less competitive” if he/she is going to get jobs in India, where prestige matters more than it does in USA.
OP, from zero to ten, how important is the prestige?
Does a degree from good-but-not-top-tier school look better than NO DEGREE at all? How does NO DEGREE rate prestige-wise?
But OP could just go schools in India if he thinks that “not so top” schools arent worthy. At least thats what I have seen; I have seen plenty of non citizen asian kids around me going back to their countries simply because they think the schools tonwhich they are accepted arent famous in their home countries(which I think is a stupid reason to go back…)
While I think any decent school in USA is capable of making students well prepared for jobs, we are talking about Asia…
I thought top universities in india were difficult to get into, no?
Oh…didnt think that way
Yeah, getting into Indian universities is even harder than American ones. To the OP: Are you a full-pay student?
Indian university may have special pathways for Indians living abroad. Those tend to be MUCH easier than the “regular” entrance exams/pathsways.
Not the case anymore…Indians who life abroad (known as PIOs, OCIs, NRIs) have to pay MUCH more to attend Indian universities these days. And admission to Indian colleges is VERY competative.
To the OP, yes, your grades matter. You are competing against the best of the best in American for very limited seats at the topmost schools. If you are willing to pay the full price (maybe $60,000 per year) then you may have a better chance than a kids who can’t pay it. You may want to set your sights a little broader - look at some of the bigger state universities or schools in less in demand locations (outside of California and the New England area).