<p>Can you people help me pick some schools with good physics undergrad programs which also give generous aid to internationals.</p>
<p>I'll need almost full ride and i'm a gap year student from india.</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>main stats are:</p>
<p>gave the sat for the first time this nov.
total : 2180
cr - 640 … 
m - 790
w - 750</p>
<p>cbse curriculum
9th : 90%
10th: 93%
11th: 73%
12th: 85%</p>
<p>::NTSE awardee
::cleared rmo twice (in class 11th and 12th)…ie. i was in the top 300 students nationwide…couldn’t give nsep/nsec though</p>
<p>::cleared jee 2010 [ got admission in iit kanpur… but not in the branch of my choice] msc phy closed at 2600 this year… 
::6500 AIR in aieee 2010
::bitsat score 312
::got admission in iist (only a handful of general category students were selected)
::working on an interesting science project right now
::no spectacular ec’s ( i come from a small town )</p>
<p>the thing is… i have a keen interest in physics and none of the univs in india seem to meet my needs</p>
<p>another ques - should i retake the sat1 in jan to improve cr?</p>
<p>You got in IIST! Man, That’s brilliant…</p>
<p>So let’s sum it up:
NTSE awardee …
You got in BITS, IIT and most probably a NIT…
RMO cleared … twice !!1</p>
<p>Correct me if I’m wrong guys … I think no one here matches these stats ( academically )… Don’t worry abt ECs just put 1-2 here and there and you’re pretty much set</p>
<p>BTW, What keen interest do you have in physics that you think is not met by any Indian university ?</p>
<p>aid compsci aid… i need aid
lots of it</p>
<p>and india != good place for pure science</p>
<p>OK so the colleges now ( I’m talking abt engineering physics majors )…</p>
<p>MIT ( may get aid … moderate fee … some chance)
Caltech ( dunno abt aid … high fee … good chance)
UIUC ( no aid … low fee … high chances )
Berkeley ( no aid … high fee … can’t say abt chances )
Cornell ( aid … high fee … can’t say abt chances due to ur lack of ECs )
Stanford ( may get aid … high fee … same as cornell )
Pton ( may get aid … high fee … same as cornell )</p>
<p>I got into IIST ( waitlist ) and BITS ( got Pharmacy here … LOL )</p>
<p>I don’t know abt the need based / merit based fundas … the other members can give a better opinion on the aid part …</p>
<p>oh i was also in the second list for iist…
and the ec case
i just never had the chance to do any (small town glitches) [though i do have few science projects here and there]</p>
<p>and you can’t really say about chances…so i’m just asking for names of prospective schools which may give me almost full aid in case i get in</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Changes from school to school …
I mean, i’m not saying this is nt imp. it just gets overshadowed by your academic stats
SAT scores - good.</p>
<p>Pretty much the same schools compsci mentioned. Don’t know abt pton’s Physics department though …</p>
<p>Full ride , you say? ( TOugh at pton and stanford )</p>
<p>how about uchic, harvey mudd, amherst?
there must be others who have rigorous undergrad programs and do give almost full aid to intls other than these famous ones??</p>
<p>oh and should i retake sat1 in jan to improve cr??</p>
<p>@compsci - how are you going to mention the iist nd bits thing in the commonapp?</p>
<p>Dude, like I said before in the PM, if you don’t get into MIT I’m changing my name.</p>
<p>Apply to ALL the need-blind colleges for internationals btw</p>
<p>ani, so sure abt his MIT acceptance ?
I mean, yes he does awesome stats ( NTSE !!! ) but… it’s MIT afterall …</p>
<p>Oh and … Didn’t u give subject SATs ?</p>
<p>giving them on dec 4
another thing is the complete lack of time…i had only one shot at both sat1 and sat2 as i was able to make up my mind to apply only in october.</p>
<p>and you guys are completely ignoring the low cr score, my lack of funds and the fact that admission in top schools is no joke…they demand much more than acads from an applicant.</p>
<p>MIT doesn’t give paramount importance to CR scores … even SAT …
This is justified from the fact that it accepts TOEFL in place of SAT 1. Imagine !</p>
<p>We are NOT ignoring your low CR scores … you are underestimating ur app …</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>will not mention …</p>
<p>k k, sorry</p>
<p>so what should i do now… i can’t afford to apply to many schools
do you guys know how exactly to ask for a waiver? i’m no longer in school, so does it still make sense to ask my principal to write the letter for app fee waivers.</p>
<p>or i should confine myself to few selected schools?</p>
<p>@compsci - why in world you don’t want to mention iist??</p>
<p>I think you’ve got a good chance at schools like MIT, Caltech and Berkeley that like an interest in Science, but schools like Princeton and Stanford would be next to impossible. That’s the truth. They want EC’s which is something you don’t have. If you’re on a gap year, why didn’t you take up something…anything?</p>
<p>not exactly gap year…gap months actually
well i took admission in a engg college…but realized within 2 months that engg was not something that i wanted to do
so here i am</p>
<p>@compsci - you asked what was my so keen interest in physics?
well i’m interested in particle physics…whether theoretical or experimental, time will tell that.</p>
<p>well some colleges say that if u’ve taken some minimum no. of classes in colleges … then u can’t apply as a freshman</p>