<p>maybe its just our jeans… (pun intended 
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<p>Umm I feel that’s more to do with the excellent university-level education here in the US than the high school… The best combo, in my mind, is to go to an Indian high school ( such as CBSE,etc ) and then come to a US university… It’s the best of both worlds! The high schools here, for the most part, are not very academically challenging (unless you are in the IB program or are taking a lot of AP classes which come close to the rigor of the courses taken at Indian schools)</p>
<p>I think Indian school is amazing. I did my 6th to 10th there and now I am doing the IBDP so I think I got the best of both worlds. People constantly belittle the Indian system by saying it is “rote learning”. That can be true, but people forget how much you can learn even in the process of “rote learning”. I did ICSE and found that although some of it was just mugging, a lot of it was understanding as well. It’s almost impossible to get a good grade if you just rote-learn and reproduce. There MUST be processing for you to be able to do well in the exams. You learn how to deal with large portions to study, how to compartmentalize learning to better understand the material. I found my ICSE challenging and very satisfying. OMG I’m sounding crazy now but I loved ICSE. I miss it soo much! Hahah yes I’m a nerd. And I don’t at all regret my years in India, those years helped me grow SO much as a person and helped me strengthen my ties with my family.</p>
<p>@ Pune queen. Entirely self taught. got a 2240, which is not bad, so can be done. rekon if I re wrote could get near to 2400, so can be done. Esp considering i didnt do too much ork first time round</p>
<p>Some good advice already on this thread. As far as competitiveness, getting in as an internatonal is generally considered to be harder. Not because of the statistics (that’s like comparing statistics of early and regular decision and saying early you have a better shot, which is not really true) but because of the self selecting applicant pool. Only the best students from abroad apply to American schools - American applicants can very often just check another box on the Common Ap and send in the application fee. Done. Plus, American schools are not need-blind for international students, like @gary7 said, and in light of how much money the Ivies have lost in their endowments after the financial crisis, it is only going to be worse.</p>
<p>@kushalk is very accurate in his assesment of the differences between the two systems. India has become a leader in education with engineering precisly because hard sciences lend themselves to rote learning. Do you wonder why there are almost no liberal arts schools here worth noting? Even one of the best, St. Stephan’s in Delhi, is FAR behind its American counterparts. I’d know, I went to Brown and St. Stephans. Granted, in High School you need to swallow a lot of facts, but the best High Schools in the US are modeled more like Liberal Arts colleges: it is very much participatory learning. You site IB as a way to moderate this, but consider the fact that many educators in the US attack the IB and AP systems as rote teaching to meet the standards of a test. So what you consider to be a step towards the American system is considered by many in America to be a step AWAY. Much of this, however, depends on the teacher. There is no doubt that a successful application MUST have APs or IBs if they are available at your school.</p>
<p>You asked about Gary’s SATs. The best advice for doing well on the SATs is to keep taking them. It is the most boring 4 hours of your life, but like any standard test (APs included) there is a “groove” to them that, if you understand it, will make you do better. Taking them multiple times will also tell you were your weaknesses are and not what part of the test you zoned out on on a particular day. Even better is that colleges allow you to mix your best scores on multiple tests, meaning that, to give an example, your verbal from November, your Math from January, and your Writing from April can all be combined to make your best score possible. More tests means better chances for a high combination.</p>
<p>Just a honest opinion after reading this thread. One thing came into my mind which would be that one significant advantage that international student brings into the college is diversity. Every college strives for diversity, therefore international students are at a integral part of any college. Although, getting in might be harder as intl but don’t always think you are all at amiss.</p>
<p>dibbasatya is definitely right, but this varies considerably across regions of the US and what schools you apply to. The Ivies and other top tier schools already have pretty good diversity, so the sell isn’t as good. But take Mountain Schools and your odds really improve. I write more at length about that here ([Don’t</a> overlook them | Mountain Schools | Forum - IvyWallah](<a href=“http://ivywallah.com/forum/mountain-schools/dont-overlook-them/#p2]Don’t”>http://ivywallah.com/forum/mountain-schools/dont-overlook-them/#p2))</p>
<p>Hey guys,
I am an Indian guy studying in an Indian school (ICSE) in Dubai. Just wanted to show you guys this article, hope it clarifies most of the issues pertaining specifically to admissions for asian students in general.
[Do</a> colleges redline Asian-Americans? - The Boston Globe](<a href=“http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2010/02/08/do_colleges_redline_asian_americans/]Do”>http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2010/02/08/do_colleges_redline_asian_americans/)
Cheers</p>