<p>This is advice from a Cornell student to an applicant (goluhaque/darkdown). Read before posting paranoid threads.</p>
<p>Hello! I'll get straight down to business. First of all, I'll need to know your ICSE marks in detailed in addition to everything you sent me. The ICSE is a key aspect of your application, and is used by American colleges to compare you to your peers. I scanned through your resume and your scores, and everything looks pretty good. Now because I've gone through the stage you're going through now, I'm gonna list some key facts you need to know as you head into your application process. Read them carefully. I'll forewarn you though, you're not going to like many of them and are probably going to think they dont apply to you. While I can't help that, I strongly discourage it. Here we go.
1. The MIT Disillusionment
Six Indians got into MIT this year. All six were participants of International Olympiads. I went through your resume, and I know, and hope you do too, that the Cyber Olympiad and Science Olympiad aren't official Olympiads. I have had the privilege of personally knowing three of them - Aakanksha Sharda, Keshav Dhandhania and Akashnil Dutta. Aakanksha learn French during her ICSE and got a 98, was the only Indian female to ever make it to the International Physics Olympiad and one of the only Indians to go to the International Linguistics Olympiad. She came 17th in the IIT. Keshav Dhandhania made it to the International Informatics Olympiad a few times and the International Mathematics Olympiad. Akashnil Dutta has been making it to the International Mathematics Olympiad ever since he was in class 10. The point I'm trying to make is that MIT looks at its international applicants a little differently then other colleges. All the admits are geniuses and true to the word. These applicants don't care about the admissions process or which college they get into because they know they're the best. I know you, like me, are smart. But we're not at that level yet. Thousands of people try to make MIT and get rejected every year. While I'm not discouraging you from trying, because it involves a separate application, I strongly urge you to not take on the additional burden and stick to the other colleges. Take it from me: you won't make MIT.</p>
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<li><p>The Financial Aid/Scholarship Dilemma
First of all, top US colleges dont offer scholarships to Internationals. Financial Aid may often be christened as 'scholarships', but they are fully need-based. In lay man's terms, if your tax returns document shows that you are incapable of paying the full tuition, then you are eligible for aid. I don't know whether or not you plan on asking your colleges for financial aid or not, but this plays the biggest factor in the admissions process outright. If you're not, I ensure you that you'll make at least two Ivy League colleges. I ensure it. If you are, it makes things a whole lot more difficult, and unimaginable so. You'll have to make double the effort to fine tune your application. Forewarning: Colleges say they are need-blind and give scholarships to everyone they find suitable. I'll be straightforward. That is not true. Colleges will take a worse applicant who is paying them some $60,000 a year over someone who needs financial aid.</p></li>
<li><p>"I have a good SAT score so I'll make it" Nope.
SAT scores are an eligibility criteria. Simply put, good colleges look at your SAT score: If they find it above or in a certain range, they put it in a pile labelled "consider" and another labelled "straight reject". This key mark, for Ivy League colleges, is above 2200-2250. They also look for an above 700 in all sub-sections. If you meet this criteria, and you do, you should get past the first stage of admissions. Also, an 800 in any subsection is a bonus. However, an 800 in Math for an Indian is child's play and you know it. An 800 in CR or Writing helps, but you need not worry about that. SAT IIs are a way of comparing your school coursework with everybody else's. Simply put, if one student gets 90s in school and in the low 600s in his SAT IIs and another gets 60s in school but an 800 in all his SAT IIs, they'll know who's the better applicant. For an Indian, however, straight 800s look good. With some focus, it's easily achievable. SAT scores make up about 10% of your application</p></li>
<li><p>Extracurricular activities - Having a 10-page resume doesn't make you cool
When we say we're applying abroad, everybody asks us about our extracurriculars. We can say that we play 7-8 sports in school to keep our classmates impressed, but you need to be a little bit more logical here. Imagine you're a rich college, who gets 35000+ applications every year regardless of what they do. Now some boy in India who wants to major in CS who says he's a part of his intraschool cricket and football team. Do you really think they care? They don't. You need to fine tune your resume and add focus. All your computer activities are brilliant. Keep them. For the rest of it, don't add things like was a part of the "English Speaking Club". To them, it looks like what is called Resume building - you dont have many activities so you're putting every little thing you do on your resume. Exercise discretion. Put things worth knowing on your resume. On the flip side, I know extremely stupid who lied about the level of Table Tennis they played (they said they played for India) and made it to Harvard primarily because of the same. So Extracurriculars are about 20% of your application, but that can vary.</p></li>
<li><p>Applying is a Business, and you CAN cheat
People will tell you time and again that admissions counselors will see through your application if you lie to them. That's not true. I know many individuals who made places like Stanford by lying their hearts out on their application. But I dont recommend lying. I never did it, and karma will bite you back. However, a key aspect to the application process is selling yourself. You need to make yourself look good on paper, so other people - people like me, who dont know you will be impressed. You can never do too much of this, but you must exercise caution. Exaggerate but exaggerate wisely. There's a fine line between being impressive and being arrogant. Tread too far, and they'll know. Learn how to sell yourself, it's a skill which will not merely get you into college; it'll get you a job. There's a sycophantic aspect to the college application process as well. Every college looks for different things. A few common ones are - Harvard looks for leadership qualities and Penn looks for business savvy applicants. ALL colleges look for demonstrated interested. Spend a LOT of time on researching every one of the 10 or so colleges you should be looking to apply to. Know everything. What courses you'll take, whether the college has any special events coming up, what professors are good, what professors are bad, and everything in between. Know it all, and use it in your essays. And cheat. If you want to get into Harvard, tell them how amazing a leader you are and be convincing. Dont tell them youre a sit-at-home computer nerd, because they dont like it.</p></li>
<li><p>ESSAYS, ESSAYS, ESSAYS
Essays are the most important part of your application. Period. Why do unexpected college acceptances happen? It's because weaker applicant do their essays brilliantly to attempt to make up for the rest of their application, and strong applicants act arrogant or overconfident and slack on their essays. This is safely 50% of your application. Most colleges need two essays: The CommonApp essay and the Supplementary essay. Now remember this carefully - this essay is NOT your ICSE or SAT essay. Big words and complicated sentences do NOT help in the least. It's all about content. ALL of it. I know an Indian student who made Stanford, who could barely string English sentences together. He made it because his essay reflected authenticity. He seemed like the poor Indian applicant who was intelligent. That's how he made it. Make your essay unique. Make it awesome. Make it memorable. Tweak your writing style to make it catchy. Show interest in the college in your supplementary essay. Be humble. Be modest. Show them the qualities they want to see. And what I'd personally suggest, is base the essays on one of those Computer Projects of yours. Again, they're college professionals so dont try exaggerating the greatness of your project. Be humble, but tell them about it in an essay. I'll give you the exact details later. Oh, and if you're wondering what the other 20% of your application is about, it's your school marks and your board marks.</p></li>
<li><p>Acceptance rates can be misleading
You've probably scanned many a website and seen acceptance rates like 10% and 20% and told yourself, that's one in 5, how hard can it be? First of all, unlike the IIT, this is one in 5 extremely competitive applicants we're talking about. One in five applicants just like you. Secondly, for internationals, this percentage drops to below 5%. For internationals, The highest acceptance rate amongst Ivies + MIT/Stanford was 5-6%. That's one in 20 extremely competitive applicants, most of whom have similar SAT I and II scores as you do. Plus, admissions for CS is 2-3 notches tougher.
Further, we Indians have a preconceived notion that the tougher the college is to get into, the better it is. You'd be surprised, but that's not really true. Harvard is extremely difficult to get into for your undergrad, but doing Engineering at Harvard would be an epic waste. Similarly, UMichigan is comparatively easy to make, but is known for being proficient in a wide number of fields.</p></li>
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<p>This is all I can think of as of now. Read those 7 points, word for word, and remember them. That is the truth of applications that no one will tell you. I know I sound arrogant, but they're never going to publish that in any book or article you find online. If you find it in your heart to believe me, you'll be happy you did later on. </p>
<p>Now let's come to you. As I already said, without aid, and with good essays, you'll make it to good places. Now what places are we talking about here? Your college list will depend or whether or not you're asking for aid, but generally speaking you should have 10 colleges, not more not less, that you'll be applying to. 4 of these should be dream colleges, 3 should be reach (or compatible) colleges and 3 should be safety colleges. If you're doing CS, here's a list of the best places compiled by the little knowledge I've gathered of the college's prestige and quality of their CS undergrad program in order, with some key information in brackets:
1. MIT (impossible)
2. Stanford
3. Carnegie-Mellon (no aid)
4. Cornell (Ivy, limited aid) / Harvard (Ivy)
5. UC Berkeley (no aid) / Caltech / Princeton (Ivy)</p>
<p>I'm obviously a little partial to Cornell, not because I'm attending the college, but because I know a lot more about the lifestyle and the way things work there than other places.
Lastly, before you get too engrossed in still trying to make MIT or Stanford, consider more than just acceptance rates and prestige. Some people forget to factor in important details. College is a gateway to a good career after all, isnt it? So do you want to be stuck in Stanford or MIT, collapsing under the academic pressure and coming in the bottom half of your class (it happens) or do you want to go to a college like Cornell or Berkeley, which is considered right after those two, and ha.ve the best four years of your life and be able to top class while you're at it and land a better job than most Stanford grads. This is information you keep to yourself. Don't show your parents this bit. Think about it. If you're the type who WANTS to study all day at Stanford, nobody's stopping you. If not, choose wisely. Nerdy colleges: MIT, Stanford, Caltech, Princeton. Chilled Colleges: Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, UC Berkeley, Harvard.</p>
<p>This is all the information you need to know. I know you want to be 'chanced', we all did at one point. You want to be given a percentage. I'm not going to give you that. I will tell you that the only reason I'm wasting my time writing this extremely long mail is because I think you're a very good applicant and with proper guidance, you'll make it. Ask me all the questions about my advice that you want answered. I like long replies .</p>
Not because I am assuming it’s correctness (or incorrectness) just because it reminds me of the so many other related things :)</p>