May I know why that is?
Thank you very much!!
Yeah I agree with you and thank you very much for your concern and advice! I appreciate it!
Update: I got into Ohio State and VTech for Computer Engineering and UIUC for CS+Philosophy!!
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Re returning to India after you graduate. Unless auntbea and I missed something, you don’t have a green card? On what basis would you stay in the US? A student visa requires you to return home after you complete college. Getting a work visa straight out of college as a new graduate is possible but difficult - you’d both need to find an employer prepared to sponsor you for one and be lucky enough to be selected in the H1B visa lottery (it’s always oversubscribed so even if an employer applies for you there is no guarantee you’d get one).
Since the private colleges on your list, particularly the smaller ones, will be looking at your application the most deeply, they may offer you a sense through their admit/deny decisions as to whether you will be ready for this great adventure. From a planning perspective, you may be able to relax a bit as you await further results.
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Congratulations! Looks as if you are going to have plenty of choices, without even having heard yet from the private colleges.
I agree that if you can go to a great school that is near your relatives, that would probably be the best option for you. Assuming that they are established here, the ability to just go to a clean, quiet home with good home-cooked food and a quiet room to sleep or study in (if anyone has a guest room) can be very important to one’s well-being. Dorm life is fun, and the library is a great place to study, but escaping to a relative’s house, especially during midterms and finals, can be invaluable.
I don’t think that you have to worry too much about being too young for college in the US. You’ll be 16 yrs old. You already sound like an extraordinarily mature young woman. Yes, you’ll be at least a year younger than most freshmen, but there will be some who are 17.
As for staying in the US. You will be 20 when you finish. Despite the fact that you may have a graduate degree that you’ve earned simultaneously, you may go on for another PhD at a world-class institution, like MIT, or for a post-doc degree. I wouldn’t worry right now about how you might stay in the US. As an old immigration lawyer I knew said, a lot of things can happen while one is here, that might alter one’s immigration status. Laws change. Marital status changes. Employment laws change. Way too early to worry about immigration now.
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Perhaps I misunderstood but there seemed to be an assumption that OP could automatically stay in the US afterwards. Not the case, and perhaps this needs to be clarified.
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No, I don’t have a green card.
I didn’t really look into this that much because I didn’t know that it’d be that hard. My uncle moved to the US to do his Masters at UT and he never had any major issues with his visa or anything. He’s been living in the US for over 15 years now and also bought 2 houses there. Maybe this is why I didn’t think that it’d be hard for me to work and live in the US after I complete my education.
Moreover, my brother is a sophomore at Harvard and although he’s an Applied Math major, he has plans of expanding his current business after he graduates. So even if I’m unable to find a job elsewhere, I can work under him! However, the H1B visa part would still be a concern.
I have around 7 more years (UG+ Masters concurrently and then PhD) for me to finish my education!
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Ahh yes but the wait is also very stressful 
Thank you!!
If I have to select a college in VA then my options would be limited to VTech and UVA. They are definitely great options and regardless of which one I choose, I’d be close to my family. If I commit to VTech, I can go to college with my best friend (he’s a freshman) and initially, we planned on going together along with his gf but she got rejected today :^(
Oh and 2 of my close friends attend USC and Case Western. One is at Cornell but that doesn’t matter because I didn’t apply. My best friend got accepted to Bard College at Simon’s Rock 2 days ago and she’s also 15! I also found a roommate at UNC and Purdue!!
My uncle and aunt don’t want me to live on-campus because they don’t think it’d be very safe for me. They offered to let me stay at their house for all 4 years (I know that most colleges require students to live on campus for at least their freshman year so I’m not sure if I can that requirement waived?) but this depends on which college I decide to attend.
I also have family and close friends in Madison, Seattle, Austin, Houston, Arlington, Atlanta (very close family members), Phoenix (my brother who goes to Harvard), Oklahoma, and Dallas (my basketball coach of 8 years recently moved to become a wellness coach for the Dallas Mavericks!!). So even if I choose to attend a college in these areas, I’d still have a pretty solid support system!
Thank you very much for the reassurance, I needed that!
I think that’s something I forgot to mention. I do intend on pursuing a PhD (not sure about post-doc) after I graduate. Also, I’m either going to go into research or I’ll start my own company. I have absolutely no intentions of getting a full-time job; maybe a few paid internships, but that’s about it. If things don’t work out as planned in the US, I can move back to India and take over my dad’s company as he probably would’ve retired by then!
That’s true!
Why do not you go to one of the top tier of IITs like IIT Kanpur ? There will be more competition there than most of the colleges you have admission until now.
It’s pretty cool over here though. Lots of opportunities once she’s done. I don’t blame her.
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I’d like to respectfully disagree. As someone who has 2 friends currently studying at IIT Guwhatti and an IIT Bombay alumnus in the family, I think I’m qualified to say that the opportunities there are sub par and the education is quite literally the opposite of holistic. I have nothing against the IITs but I despise their approach towards education and the cutthroat environment that they foster. Neither of my friends are happy there and trust me when I tell you that the dorms are awful.
I grew up in a household that was very different from that of a typical Indian. My parents have never wanted me to go to an IIT. In fact, they’d much rather not have me attend one and growing up, I was encouraged to pursue my education in the US.
Moreover, the highest ranked IIT is ranked 172nd whereas UNC is ranked 66th, UIUC is at 82nd and Purdue is ranked in the low 100s. So I have much better options in the US even today.
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Not true, had both experiences.
yeah I too can agree upon you on this fact, but for your major the conditions might be a bit different as CSE is something that the IITs are known for.
As for me, I wanna do Theoretical Physics and there is not much to offer in India apart from IISc Bangalore. I’ve seen the status of all the IITs that offer BS or Integrated MSc in Physics, and none are are even close to what “Holistic” really is.
We have to admit that our education system is very strong, but the management and the implementation of it is somewhat laid back, and if we can work on that weak part, surely in future we will see a “negative” brain-drain, i.e., you’ll see US and other international students trying to get admission to Indian Universities.
And I believe some individuals like us can bring this change .
But anyways, I love my country !!! 
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Studying in the US for an undergrad degree is extremely expensive that only a few families would be able to afford. If your family can afford that I guess that is a good option.
India has plenty of places where you can do an undergrad in physics, and then go abroad for graduate school in theoretical physics.
An IIT degree in Physics is top notch and will be a very good preparation for grad school, but IITs are very hard to get into. In addition to IISc there are places like IISER (Pune etc) which will give you a similarly good undergrad physics education. See for example https://www.iiserpune.ac.in/research/departments/physics
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In that case, you should likely wait to decide until you have all of the responses from the liberal arts colleges. As a rule, the percent of student who go on to do a PhD from liberal arts colleges are higher than from other places.
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Ohh okay, thank you for telling me that!
Davidson is a LAC that I love and I’d love to attend if I get accepted!
Also update:
I got into UCI for CSE!
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Congratulations!
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Did you apply to UCB,UCLA or Stanford for CS ? They may be very competitive for you.
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