The Indian Thread #20

Student Lounge International Students
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<p>My sister’s an associate for a consulting firm and occasionally interviews entry-level candidates for analyst positions. She often complains that most of her interviewees don’t even have a clue as to what management consulting is, they obviously just apply because the job pays well and is very prestigious. And these are undergrads from Duke, NYU, Columbia, Cornell, Yale, Princeton like schools! You’ll find the “searching for the most lucrative” path people everywhere. Heck, I’m accepted to S, will be heading to Oxford, and for my summer internship I sit in an office staring at excel all day. It’s so mind-numbing, and about the most boring thing I’ve ever had to do. But it’s also good experience, so I deal with it. Don’t glorify US schools, their educational philosophies, or their students. </p>

<p>Honestly, hey’re just like your local schools but with more money (so better facilities, dorms, sports, and all that crap). No disrespect to US schools btw. Just want to point out that other foreign schools can be just as good.</p>

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<p>If these people end up at IITs, they’re far from imbeciles. In my relative’s MBA class, IIT’ians completely decimated all competition and landed extremely lucrative offers that people from Yale and Harvard undergrads didn’t get (KKR, Paulson, McKinsey etc.). Also, look through the list of Baker Scholars in HBS’ class of 2009, and see how many of them are from the IITs lol. And it’s not just business schools. Stanford engineering is basically a landing pad for IIT grads. Honestly, just visit once and you’ll see them everywhere lol.</p>

<p>I honestly don’t get why people from India feel the need to diss the IITs, or their system of education. Dissing Oxbridge and the tutorials here would be considered downright blasphemous lol. The IITs are extremely good schools, and for the price you pay for them, the best bargains in the world.</p>

<p>@perfectprashant: Wow, that’s a question that requires an entire essay. But, because I’m an admissions nerd lol, I’ll try to summarize it for you:</p>

<ul>
<li>Would’ve definitely lowered my chances. By how much, I’ll never know.</li>
<li>There’s another guy from my school with almost the same background as me (same ethnicity etc) who was accepted with decent aid to the class of 2014 despite worse stats (2120 if I remember correctly). So, maybe I could’ve too if I applied for aid. I’ll never know though.</li>
<li>There are a couple internationals (one guy’s from India only, in fact) who were accepted REA to S, but then rejected RD from all three of HYP, possibly because their full-pay status didn’t matter much there.</li>
<li>S’s financial aid packages are usually the second best in HYPS so they definitely will give the money if they really want a particular student, like in the case of the guy from my school, and ‘kimathi’. :)</li>
<li>Bascially, if you need any aid, just apply for it. No point in getting in but not being able to go because of finances.</li>
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<p>Also, guys, DON’T use your names or post links to private information on public forums! My student room (UK version of CC) account had my first name in it. And I posted my e-mail like everywhere. And this was all throughout school, so I posted immature rants all the time (I know), like ‘I hate this exam and I want to just drop out’, ‘this teacher’s an idiot and a moron’ etc etc. Last year, just before I was to start an internship I got a call from an HR firm doing a background check asking if I had really posted all that stuff. I freaked out but ended up saying yes. In the end, I was only allowed to start because of a contact.
Ask the moderators to remove your private info.</p>

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<p>@Tizil , so u r retaking sat again ?? …that’s good :)</p>

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<p>@Tizil7 : I like your confidence man !!
I am also expecting the same !</p>

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<p>@PD-Also, guys, DON’T use your names or post links to private information on public forums"</p>

<p>Lol yeah that’s something I learnt the hard way too.</p>

<p>Oh and btw I am really curios as to why you chose Oxford over Stanford suddenly, wasn’t your location always Stanford’15?</p>

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<p>thanks PD !!</p>

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Thanks :)</p>

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Thanks yet again, I just have to do it. It’s do or die. :P</p>

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<p>@perfectprashant and Tizil7 - Guys, I am about to take my SAT too. im stuck at 2050s. hey tizil7, i wanna know how did you have such a tremendous improvement man? I mean, you were 1820 and now you are expecting around 2300+. thats good progress.:slight_smile:
which section is your weakest and how did you work on it?</p>

<p>hows rest of you profile…i mean which ECs you have?</p>

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<p>Well, in a very rudimentary and naive form:</p>

<p>1840 was me being ignorant. (I had no intention of applying to US Univs)
2100 was me being clumsy. (That “watch” episode)
22__+ will be me putting my best foot forward.</p>

<p>In fact, I was hoping for a 2200+ on my May attempt, was it not for that little “unrest”.</p>

<p>My weakest section… was CR. Yes. How did I work on it? I followed a one line advice, “Become acutely interested in the passage”. That made all the difference for me.</p>

<p>ECs hmm… I have no idea :stuck_out_tongue: But my foremost would be:</p>

<ol>
<li>Authored a Science Book.</li>
<li>Played Tennis at State Level.</li>
<li>Awarded Scholar Badge for seven consecutive years, culminating into a Gold Medal (school)</li>
</ol>

<p>That’s the main ones I can think of :D</p>

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<p>That explanation will do, PD. I feel I perceive things from a very different perspective, so I’ll never agree with you (or anyone) on the IIT thing I guess. You have got me convinced with the ‘search for the lucrative jobs though’, but yeah, I’ll rely more on my experience, which might eventually vindicate/disprove more opinions and generalizations held by me.</p>

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<p>@Tizil7 : wow , you authored a science book ! has it been published ?</p>

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<p>prashant, check your inbox for a link to the publisher’s website. I don’t want to compromise my identity ;)</p>

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<p>“Become acutely interested in the passage”
Well…I have heard this idea so many times.
I have heard about really interesting ideas…See this -<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/750399-how-attack-sat-critical-reading-section-effectively.html”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/750399-how-attack-sat-critical-reading-section-effectively.html&lt;/a&gt;
Seen it before ? He has overdone it a little, in my opnion. Isnt it?
which approach do you use?</p>

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<p>i scored a 2010 in my first attempt…i suck at CR :frowning:
i can do the vocab but definitely not the passages :(</p>

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<p>^ A very big part of improving one’s CR skills is to take interest in the passage.
Worked for me, as it did for Tizil7.
<for example=“” -=“” i=“” like=“” reading=“” books=“” so=“” imagine=“” whatever=“” the=“” passage=“” says,=“” just=“” would=“” do=“” when=“” a=“” novel.=“” don’t=“” laugh,=“” it=“” works=“” for=“” me.=“” :p=“”></for></p>

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<p>i am an active reader…still i mess things up lol
probably my problem xD</p>

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<p>Nope. But I read through it now. Yes, a little bit overdone. But what can I say? Everyone has their own way of tackling things</p>

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Good to hear that :D</p>

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<p>@ iamthebist- To be honest, being an avid reader doesnot necessarily give you much advantage over others. CR is more about strategies!</p>

<p>@Tizil7- Do you actually go through the passage first and then go to the question…or do you straight go to the questions and then attack the passage led by references? what approach do you follow? …I always finish on time…i have heard bizzare comments of people finishing the CR section like 8-9mins before the time!! what do you think guys??</p>

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<p>@dilettante800 - well I really dont know the strategies used by people to attack the RCs. Will be awesome if you could spare some?
PS - considering your knowledge about the CR section, your username doesnt suit you :P</p>

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<p>To be honest, while practicing from the BB, I used to read the whole thing first and then answer. Initially, I used to overshoot the time limit by ~ 5 minutes, but with practice, could finish in time.</p>

<p>I suddenly changed my strategy while taking the test. Instead of reading the whole thing, I first marked the “line questions” in the passage. Then, I started reading the passage, while paying special attention to the underlined areas. After reading the underlined line, I read the next line also and then answered the “line question”.</p>

<p>I cannot vouch for this method as it was the first time I tried it. Otherwise, using the “read it-answer it” approach, I landed 730-780 (ALL my practice scores, in a range)</p>

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<p>Haha, even I tried to analyze the name “dilettante800” and it struck to me as a very witty and a well thought of name :)</p>