Hey, I am an Indian in the 11th grade studying in Dubai.
I was wondering which is better for undergratuation study : Stanford, MIT and Ivy League Universities OR IIT, and NIT in India? I have to apply by the end of this year.
If price is not a worry, then the amount of resources, research opportunities, and academic flexibility you will get at an MIT, Stanford, Ivy, Caltech, etc. are far more than any Indian university. But all of these schools are hard to get into, albeit for different reasons. American Schools want excellent grades and scores, but also exceptional extraurriculars: volunteering, research, competitions etc. while Indian schools require good rankings on tests that are much harder than American entrance exams. My recommendation: if price doesn’t matter, I would apply to both sets of schools, plus add a few more American schools that are slightly easier to get into. What are your grades/scores/resume items/intended major? If you provide these we can provide suggestions.
It depends on what you want to do with the degree. If you want to work for an American company (and be assigned anywhere in the world), you would do better to go to an American university. I would stretch that to expect the American university would provide more opportunities with any companies anywhere in the world than the Indian one; and would improve applications to Grad School.
They are hard to get accepted to, though, especially for a non-American citizen.
@QwertyuiopPro
Here is my profile:
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): Composite Score-2250 Math-800 Critical Reading-700 Writing-750
ACT (breakdown): Not written yet but planning to
SAT II: Math-800 Chemistry-800 Physics-800
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 10% of my class
Grades in 9th - CGPA-9.4
Grades in 10th - CGPA-9.8
Grades in 11th - 88% (was concentrating on extracurriculars so my percentage dropped)
Grades in 12th - 95% (aiming for)
APs
- Computer Science - 4
- Chemistry - 4
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Music : Successfully completed all 8 grades of Keyboard with a distinction. I have participated in many competitions winning many accolades and also given many stage performances in school and outside. I also reproduce and compose music. I also have a channel on youtube. I have also been part of my school’s Brass Band for 4 years, me being the lead Saxophone player.
Computer and Technology : I have successfully completed courses on web development (PHP and MySQL), web designing(Adobe Dreamweaver, HTML, CSS), Adobe Flash, Adobe Photoshop and Animation (3ds Max) (All certified by the World Multimedia Association). I also learn several programming languages (Java, Javascript, C, C++) myself with books and the internet. I also edit video and music, having participated in several movie making competitions. I have also completed the course of learning the Python programming language from school which is part of the CBSE syllabus. I officially develop Android apps and have developed 5 so far.
Sports : I had learnt Karate till the black belt and won several accolades securing the 3rd position in a national level for a Karate competition. I am also a very ardent basketball player and often play cricket, squash and football too.
Puzzles : Speedcubing is also a very ardent hobby of mine. I can currently solve the 2x2, 3x3, 4x4 and the 5x5 Rubik’s Cubes. I have participated in several national competitions in Dubai and have come among the top 20. I often play chess too.
Art and Dance : Have participated in several art and dance competitions in senior school and have acquired certificates.
Other : I have participated in the F1 in Schools competition and have gone till the national level. (i have a certificate for that too)
Job/Work Experience: Web development, app development and video and audio editing.
Volunteer/Community service: None yet
Summer Activities:
Essays (rating 1-10, details): Not written yet
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Applied for Financial Aid?: No
Intended Major:Computer Science
State :
Country:Indian living in Dubai
Your resume is good, although not anything special for Ivies and others. How well do you think you will do on JEE and other entrance exams?
Here is a (long) list of other good CS schools in the US that you should check out:
Super Competitive CS Schools:
UC Berkeley
UCLA
Carnegie Mellon (CS program is unfortunately as competitive as MIT, but ECE is slightly easier)
Harvey Mudd (Highly recommend checking this one out. Very highly recruited in Silcon Valley, and one of the highest median salaries in the US for grads)
Northwestern University
Rice University
University of Southern California
Duke University
Johns Hopkins
Very Competitive:
University of Washington, Seattle
UC San Diego
UT Austin
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Georgia Tech
Purdue University, West Lafayette
UC Davis
Fairly Competitive:
University of Wisconsin, Madison
University of Maryland College Park
Rutgers New Brunswick
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Pennsylvania State University, University Park
UC Irvine
UC Santa Barbara
California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo
@QwertyuiopPro I think I will do pretty well in the JEE. But how will that help?
The IITs are well known and highly regarded in the US and world-wide: Silicon Valley is full of them and they are well represented in the senior mgt of most the major tech companies. The investment banks and consulting firms all know and happily hire IIT grads as well. Ditto most international firms in other countries. If you can get into IIT, the education is nearly free so unless you are looking at a full-ride from Stanford, MIT, etc…consider coming to the US for a PhD (which will be free to you). If you do get a full-ride, then Stanford and MIT offer other benefits - exposure to a different culture, one that is currently having a major impact on the world, a high degree of diversity, a breadth of undergrad opportunities born of immense financial resources, innovative research and entrepreneurship opportunities etc…that the IITs can’t offer at this time.
(Disclaimer: Spouse is an IIT grad who attended US grad schools.)
@Deebthik If you are able to clear the JEE and get into one of the IIT’s for CS, it is an excellent deal as you will save tons of money, not to mention travel to India is much easier and cheaper for you from Dubai, so you will be able to visit your family more often.
In my opinion, the “old” IITs and possibly IISc Bangalore (doesn’t offer CS for undergrads though) are the only schools in India are worth it over a top or mid level US school, unless finances are important. My father followed a similar path as @N’s Mom 's spouse: IISc UG, IISc Master’s in CS, and top level US Grad PhD at the University of California. No doubt American graduate admissions offices and SV Tech companies think very highly of students from IIT and IISc. However, it will be easier to get into these programs or be hired if you are already in the US.
Since you are not applying for financial aid I am assuming that your family is financially well off, and I would highly recommend checking the first and 2nd groups of schools I posted above, plus a few from the 3rd especially since you do not know how well you will do on JEE. It can’t hurt to apply.
Have you considered schools in UK like Ox/Bridge, Imperial, UCL, Edinburgh, Manchester, KCL? These are great schools, but will probably end up being more expensive than US schools, and they are still very very hard to get into.
Also, in Singapore NUS and NTU are considered to be on par, if not better than IITs. Also check out HKUST if you are willing to venture to other parts of Asia.
I am not very familiar with universities in the middle east. Are you considering any schools in your region?
I must stress that even though many Indian and Asian students believe because American/European students do not have to compete well in super-rigorous entrance tests, the standards her in the US are very high. While you can do well now in your test to get into an IIT, MIT, Harvard and all others will look at all four years, your grades, what you have done, how well you interview, and how your essays are. Standards are even higher if you are international, especially for public schools that have strict quotas for instate, out of state, and international students. If you are applying to US Schools this coming fall, definitely start your essays over summer as they take a long time and can make or break your application.
Sorry 
if I am regurgitating information and schools to you but I just want to help you spell out all your options other than the obvious choices. Feel free to PM if you have any questions.
Companies and grad schools do have very high regard for certain IIT’s, this is true. However, the limit on foreign nationals in their acceptance pool makes your chances better if you come from an American system school, where you can develop contacts and relationships.
If you can guarantee to be the cream of the cream from IIT, you will be fine there. The education is very well respected. Companies wish they could get more visas and grad schools wish they could take more internationals. If you go to a foreign school, you may find it difficult to be placed above less qualified Americans, or those who are more connected to the American culture and systems through undergraduate experience.
So, your benefit would be partly from proximity and cultural assimilation.
I find it interesting how your SAT score shot up 200 points after posting a week ago:
Either you are extremely hopeful or you just want to waste people’s time.
If you plan on doing this on your applications for US schools, your are going to have problems.
@QwertyuiopPro Thanks a lot 
Anyone know why the IIT’s are ranked so low on world university rankings, e.g., IIT Bombay is ranked #1 in India, but #222 in the QS World University Rankings. My impression of the IIT’s have always been that they’re very hard to get into, but the quality of education isn’t so great.
That’s a genuine question I’ve long wondered about. It’s not meant to be a diss.
@simba9
See, there are so many things that QS considers while ranking.
While the IITs are extremely tough to get into and they provide a good education, their research output is not as much as that of US colleges. Also IITs don’t have a very diverse student body as compared to the student body of any US college.
US colleges have a lot more money than IITs, and hence their infrastructure beats IITs’.
Its because of all these factors that the IITs are ranked low.
@Deebthik
If cost is not an issue, i feel you should definitely go for a MIT, Caltech, ivy league.
also, US is much more liberal than India, so if you want to participate in some extracurriculars/research or are not completely sure on your major, you should go to a US college.
@ss124081 Ok got it.
@simba9, I am from one of the original IITs…did my undergrad in MechE in the 80s. I graduated in the top half of my class but had no problem in getting into a Top 3 US MBA program. Following that, I worked for the top Management consulting firm in the world. In essence, the value of an IIT education is well known to the best universities and global firms in the US and there are umpteen examples of successful IIT alumni. As @ss124081 has opined, the QS rankings take into account a lot of factors, and the IITs cannot compete with the breadth or the width of many leading US universities. If you look up the Faculty directory of some of the top Engg. schools here, you will notice that it is well-staffed with people of Indian origin and most of them have done their undergrad from one of the IITs.It is just hard to beat the value of a degree from IIT, domestically and internationally, as the cost (around $1000-1200 /yr incl. boarding and lodging) is negligible for all students as compared to their US counterparts.
Having said that, I need to mention that my D2 is a Freshman at GTech, planning to specialize in ChemE. Just to put things in perspective, though one does not want to take a dig at one’s own child but I don’t think she would got into the IITs, though she made it to UCB and UMich as well.
@Deebthik, I wanted to add that though IITs are technical institutions (a la GTech), the alumni has done well in non-Engg. fields as well. My batchmate at IITB, Nitin Nohria, is the Dean of Harvard Business School.
You might consider other [url="<a href=“http://theaitu.org%22%5DAITU%5B/url”>http://theaitu.org"]AITU[/url] schools in the US as options. Your stats would easily get you admitted with some merit aid at a number of them and they are all known for engineering education in the engineering community.
@i012575 Ok got it. Thanks for the information
Your posts all over the place, and I doubt you will find the answers you need or, at least, want. My suggestion is to enlist the help of a professional who can guide you and place you on realistic rails. To emerge from the ocean of international students with high but rather nebulous qualifications, you will need someone who can organize your process from establishing targeted schools to helping you polish your application.
There are very good people who could do that and right in your neck of the woods. Well, not so many woods but you get the image!
@xiggi Yeah I get it. I’ll look for someone. Thanks