<p>And by pretty big I mean the Keck observatory! With two of the second-largest telescopes in the world! I mean we dont own it, but we sort of manage it with the University of Cali :D</p>
<p>Eminemfan and n0mad, you guys are far too idealistic. </p>
<p>Oftentimes what determines your admission decision at US schools like Stanford is not what you have done, or who your are, but where you live (an applicant from Oman will get in over the applicant from HK, even if the HK guy is substantially more qualified).</p>
<p>Now that’s something related to my business. Yeah, I’m already a big fan of CalTech. Probably one of my top priorities for a abroad college, are MIT, UChicago, CalTech, Princeton, Cornell and Cambridge. They’re all soooo good. UChicago’s essay topics are brilliant, MIT’s education is reflected clearly in its open-course. Rest have so much great in them as well.</p>
<p>@mysticgohan - i was thinking to remove caltech from my list as i had an impression that it’s a nerd’s haven…but then you talked about the astronomy stuff! confused xD!</p>
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<p>Haha, I saw it coming.</p>
<p>Well it is a nerd haven but seriously Keck! Its facilities in astronomy are unparalleled so if you want astro, Caltech is pretty neat.</p>
<p>And it has Palomar and other observatories too and I agree with PD, that y’all are a little too idealistic :(</p>
<p>TBH, I AM a little bit idealistic; I have slightly idealist thoughts, but I live realistically. I know that for myself, I manage it very well.</p>
<p>PD, I’m intrigued about your idea:</p>
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<p>Could a elaborate a little on the ‘why’ part of that statement? And while you are at it, how are the chances for an Indian in Belgium? :3</p>
<p>Well I presume that thats because competition in HK is a lot more than Oman. But they only want a limited number of Hong Kongers and so I guess it sucks to be from HK.</p>
<p>^ Exactly. If you’re a full-paying, 2100+, leader in a few school ECs applicant from Oman, there’s actually very little standing between you and a Stanford acceptance. One of the acceptances from Oman this year scored in the 1800s on his SATs for instance, and was accepted to several other need-aware schools as well.</p>
<p>If you’re from HK, India, Singapore or Canada, then you’re out of luck. It’s in these situations that you need to resort to gaming the system to win.</p>
<p>I’ll respond to the second part of your post in more detail via PM a little later.</p>
<p>Ok here i am to keep the party going.</p>
<p>Oh sorry I forgot to do research about doing research. 
I said i want to get a patent not publish a research paper or anything. Patents can be for any small thing like a safety pin. And i’m pretty damn confident that it doesnt involve math that that i cannot understand. Cause i like derived all the diffrential equations and stuff for it, calculated the optimim values for it, the only part left is the actual construction .And as for UROP it was just an example, what i meant was you have an opportunity there to do research or anything for that matter. The month of January at MIT is the IAP month, Independent Activities Period [MIT</a> Admissions: The Month Of January: IAP](<a href=“http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/learning/the_month_of_january_iap/index.shtml]MIT”>http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/learning/the_month_of_january_iap/index.shtml) So thats thats what i’m talking about. Here at IIT I cannot explore myself and my creativity. I can not participate in many extracurricular activities, my social life will suck and if i want to this i will have to do it at the cost of my GPA. I have been among IITians both Ex and would be, i’ve heard tales from the former and sat in the same classrom as the former. And i can tell the would be’s were totally uncool. I would really like to share a particular incidence, the topper of bansal was standing in the corridor and a fellow female batchmate came and asked him," Where is the class being held today?" The fellow ran away. </p>
<p>I know he was an extreme case. But there were others who were a lesser version of him. A close friend when jee exams neared didnt bathe for five days, said that was a time waste and he really studied 14-16hrs a day. There were many others like this and meeting like about 150 prospective IITians i can get a fairly well idea what my class of IIT would be like. And i dont like it.
Oh interesting another one i just remembered: A new Dean at IIT Kharagpur had been appointed, turns out the man was a devout hindu. He said according to puranas and vedas the best time to study is at the first ray of sun called Bramha Samaya. The next day notices were up and the students were in for a shock the timtable began at 4:00 am in the morning, one hour yogasana and pranayama, followed by an hour for freshening up and classes from 6:00 in the morning. After a week college authorities found that his car had been vandalised and parked with its roof touching the tarmac.
These are the things that are forcing me to not like the IIT’s. College for me is not just four years for which you get a piece of paper that sates you are a graduate and if you are lucky you also get a job. It is the experience that will shape me and my ambitions .</p>
<p>Optimum values of what? The Young’s Modulus? Looks like you wanna have fun in college 
Well sure then, US is the place to be. But dont kill yourself over it cause then that’d be a travesty in itself.</p>
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<p>Thanks for taking out time :)</p>
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<p>They are the best. I wish Prof Lange was still around. 
He was a super star.
Astrophysics is a very interesting field but you need a lot of patience. I have spent many sleepless nights at one of those observatories collecting data and trying to make sense out of them. It is not as glamorous as people think. </p>
<p>Guys, beware of snake oil salespeople talking about MIT admission.
MITChris, where are you when we need you? Please bring some sanity to this thread. :)</p>
<p>@mysticgohan sorry i sounded a bit vague there, lousy writing Optimum values for stuff like the length of rails, Projectile velocity when it first comes in contact with the rails etc. stuff pertaining to my project. I failed to mention it there. Yeah sure sure, my first priority in life is to remain alive after 21-12-2012. Then come other things. :P</p>
<p>@Tippu Thanks for the tip, but my knowledge is solely based on the mit admissions website and the students’ and adcoms’ blog there. Not met any snake oil salespeople yet.</p>
<p>nomad, please ignore that comment. It was a lame attempt at an inside joke. ok, sorry. i’ll shut up. :o</p>
<p>@tippusultan - I think I know what you meant. But I think people here are trying to help only.</p>
<p>For those of you who don’t know, MITChris is a legitimate representative of MIT on College Confidential. If you want to gain an insight into what goes on there, read his posts. He has been on CC since 2010 admission cycle. Get in touch with people who got admitted. Many of them will be eager to help you.</p>
<p>Ahh PD love your disdain for sensitivity. But just because people are gullible doesnt mean they should attend community college Admittedly though, even Im quite disillusioned with this system. Even if you’ve successfully gamed it, I think you’d find it rather screwed up. I must agree with PD on the AA, it really pays to be a girl Why do you think MIT’s ratios are 50% while Caltech’s struggle to reach 40? </p>
<p>And nomad, it seems like you’re designing a railgun. Naughty kid, the americans wont let you anywhere near their military facilities, I can guarantee you that :p</p>