<p>This is Adam from india.
I am most probably gonna join a good indian college. But to get to a good indian college you will have to kill your brain, as believe me, these exams are hard. This is the entrance exam paper for a college called IIT (which rank only in top 100 tech universities) <a href="http://tr.im/iGoB%5B/url%5D">http://tr.im/iGoB</a>. Check out math, then physics, then chem as thats the difficulty order. Plus this is for a student who has just passed 12th grade. </p>
<p>And what we get to in the end is not a very very good college for straining our a*ss so much. Isnt that sad.</p>
<p>Well, so suddenly, i am having dreams.... that i could somehow get to some of the worlds best colleges for BS. Like MIT.. Caltech or similar. Mostly MIT. The cost of education will be hard for my family, considering that IIT costs only one by 17th of the cost of MIT. But they said if i get into MIT, i am flying right away. </p>
<p>So i applied for SAT. I am writing SAT on june 6th. I dont really know how to apply for colleges etc in US much, bu i'll research on it. But i wanted to ask u people one small doubt. </p>
<p>In India, college selection is based purely on exam mark based. We have a lot exams (Like IITJEE, AIEEE, State board, WB JEE....) ranging in difficuly level. In most of the SAT exams i wrote i am getting 100 percent or near 100 percent marks for physics and Math. So i am pretty sure of SAT. But they say that MIT admission is based on a lot more things. Can u explain in short what are the elements i need to possess to get to be an MIT material apart from SAT? What are the things that i can do to double my chances to that awesome college.</p>
<p>Academics are important at MIT, but they look at a lot of things like extra curricular activities, club involvement, and your depth/breadth of interest. I live in the US by I was born in India and my parents went to college there [rec nagpur], and I totally get what you mean by the exam system there. Unfortunately, everything in India is determined by test scores, but in US universities, test scores are only a part of the process. </p>
<p>To be honest, it is tough for internationals to get in because they don’t accept many, and a lot of internationals are strong school-wise but not in other things. If you have won major awards in a field, that will help a lot, but otherwise it’ll be tough. Best of luck.</p>
<p>I havnt won any awards. I never even applied for olimpiads or anything. Bad. But i play a lot, i bboy, i draw, i do programming, i web design and do adobe and 3ds max animation but i dont think i have any certificates to prove them. So my chances are real slim right? But i am really gonna try btw. Thanks for the reply Anomaly.</p>
<p>You are not going to get into MIT… I’m sorry, but for all purposes, it’s impossible for Indians to get in. You should go to the International Students forum, there’s a thread for Indian applicants. They can probably advise you better.</p>
<p>You should have gone to an american international school in India rather than a local one, and you probably would have had been a very good student there to. If you have a younger brother or something, and he wants to study in U.S, you can advise him to go to an international school. However, it is freaking expensive though…But you have a low chance because you haven’t studied in an american enviornment, but try anyways.</p>
<p>It’s not at all impossible for Indians to get in. I know some who have. Are your chances slim? Well, yeah, they would be at any school of MIT’s calibre, for anyone. But is it possible? Sure. Just do whatever you can to help your application at this point - if your grades are good then concentrate on your ECs, focus on what you like and try to get some sort of recognition for what you’re good at.</p>
<p>If your International, you NEED an international award for math/science competition. Its very hard for internationals to get in. They also have a quota. 100 students, I believe?</p>