<p>Let the games begin!</p>
<p>Good Luck Prospective Class of 2012!</p>
<p>*** Yoooohoooo!!! The new journey begins! And I got the first post!***</p>
<p>Come on now, who gets the second post?! :p</p>
<p>me :D ()ZAJHSKHASKJH</p>
<p>non-Indian rushed in....
but india is my favorite country anyway</p>
<p>same here :)</p>
<p>isa and Rister : Want to switch citizenship? :D</p>
<p>yeahyeah I will seriously consider that for my next life =)
i heard of temples in india in which books foretell everyone's future and knows everything about you, your past and family.
where is that temple uknow?? I wanna go there~~</p>
<p>Hey...who's Indian Thread btw?</p>
<p>dunno... but he/she is NOT IndianThread.. thus, this thread is not TiT #16</p>
<p>But I am seriously considering to take this as the official one :D</p>
<p>I mean come on the other thread has completed one year and just because taemi has not left we are kept waiting :( </p>
<p>j/k</p>
<p>OK...so what exactly is going on?</p>
<p>hi everyone. </p>
<p>this is my first time posting here. im not even sure if this is the right thread but hello anyway. the thing is, iv not been very regular and meticulous throughout my high school years and know that it would be next nigh impossible for me to make the cut at any of the best schools. iv had my reasons but that's really not relevant here. anyway, my parents have been adamant that i at least give it a shot, although iv pretty much made up my mind to go back to india (i live in bahrain) for at least undergraduate education. </p>
<p>everyone here seems ridiculously overqualified and genius, so i feel extremely intimidated putting forth my questions but i figure, what the hell. my folks are applying pressure on me to at least post, so ill get a rough idea. or ill be mocked and won't repost. =D.</p>
<p>anyway, so here are my academic stats.</p>
<p>grade 9 *
grade 10 (CBSE) - 76.4% (mainly due to atrocious (and i dont mean collegeconfidential atrocious...iv seen people claiming 85 to be so)math and science scores - i don't wanna delve into 'why' and 'how'. it's tedious for both parties but i can sort of explain it legitimately to some extent)
grade 11 - 90% and gold medal (english, psychology, economics, marketing and entrepreneurship...this was the only arts combo offered by my school...i COULD've taken commerce...hell, even the science teachers were willing to take me despite my bad scores since they knew this wasn't my real level of achievement, but i wanted to study arts)
grade 12 (CBSE) - 92% in quarterlies but i don't wanna get my hopes up to high for the boards, although iv got my fingers crossed that it'll be in the 90+ bracket at least.</p>
<p>Co-curricular test scores </p>
<p>SATs(forced to take them last year and the subject tests a few months ago by the folks).</p>
<p>SAT I : Math - 800
Verbal - 800
Writing - 800
Yeah, I'm as shocked as anybody reading this...though I did work hard. I'm counting on the perfect score in Math to back up my claims of not being a total idiot.</p>
<p>SAT II : Biology - 800
World History - 800
English Literature - 780 (was a tad surprised that I scored less here than in Bio and History but what the hell)</p>
<p>I'm scheduled to take Math IIC and Physics as well...I know it'll seem really weird to be taking FIVE friggin' subject tests, but my family thinks that if I show decent test scores, they'll believe me when I say I don't actually suck at math and science.</p>
<p>AAT (All India Academic and Aptitude Test) taken in grade 8 - I scored in the 99th percentile and had the second highest score across the country in the Aptitude test. </p>
<p>When I was in India, we had this district wide Math Talent search that EVERYONE in my school was required upon pain of death to participate in. I competed for 6 years and maintained an 85%+ with 2 instances of having obtained the 4th position districtwide. HOWEVER, since this was before 9th grade, I'm not sure this counts.</p>
<p>IELTS - 9 (not really surprised there <em>boast boast</em>..anyway i think most people from the indian education system score above 7 so big deal)</p>
<p>EXTRA - CURRICULARS (here's what I'm thinking will mayyyyybe help me a bit)</p>
<p>(a)QUIZZES</p>
<ol>
<li>All India National Cartographic Association Quiz 2004 - First Place</li>
<li>Eicher Quiz 2004 - First Place, Nationals</li>
<li>Discovery Quiz 2002 - Fourth Place, Nationals</li>
<li>Inter-School Science Quiz 2005 - Second Place (for all practical purposes, this was National since in Bahrain "inter-school" and "national" are the same lol =P)</li>
<li>Inter-School General Knowledge Quiz 2007 - First Place</li>
</ol>
<p>(b) DEBATES/SPEAKING-INTENSIVE ACTIVITIES</p>
<ol>
<li>Tons of city level elocution and debate prizes for first place (but this includes pre-9th grade as well...does it count?)</li>
<li>All India 'Outlook' Debate, 2004 - National semi-finalist (and let it be known I was the YOUNGEST, at 14! =P...though I can't really brag on my application can I?)</li>
<li>Bahrain representative to INMUN as Delegate of Jordan (Human Rights Commission)</li>
<li>Inter-School Debate, 2006 - 2nd place (all the schools in Bahrain so consider it national)
5.Intra-school Debate, 2007 - 3rd place (again, it's INTRA school, so will it count?...and I'm not listing all the INTRA school stuff, just the important things otherwise it seems like you're too desperate to pad your resume right?)</li>
</ol>
<p>(c) WRITING</p>
<p>1.Albert Barrow National Writing Competition, 2004 - Bronze Medal (3rd place)
2.Have been published in UK/US poetry journals
3.Have been published in film magazines
4.A few city wide Essay Competitions (including pre-9th grade) - 1st Place
5.Intra-School Essay Competition, 2005 - 1st Place
6.Had a chapbook of poetry published in 2004, but...how do I put it...it wasn't one of those vanity affairs where someone takes your money and merely prints your (mostly bilious) verse...this is a very respectable operation called 'Writer's Workshop' which published almost all current beacons in Indo-Anglian literature. Wiki it if you don't believe me.
7.Have a novel in verse that's been accepted by a leading UK publisher and which has been written in a format that's been tried just once before in English literature, for a full-length novel, by Vikram Seth in 'The Golden Gate'. (THIS is gonna be my main hook I think)</p>
<p>(d) LEADERSHIP POSITIONS</p>
<p>1.Assistant Head Girl, 2006 (Grade 11...declined to stand for elections in Grade 12 after hell I'd just survived, as any student council member in the world can attest to)
2.Founded Film Club and monthly reviews' newsletter in 2007 (Grade 12)
3.Captain of school debate club and have served as moderator on a number of Inter-School Debates (although the latter is kinda unnecessary right?)
4.Student Editor of Yearbook 2007-2008
5.5.Am building a comic fiction/humour magazine online with a friend which should be up by the end of this summer. I dunno why I'm placing it under 'Leadership' but I had no other spot.
6.City Ambassador for "Kids for Tigers" in 2002
7.Am co-founding a Women's Rights Activist Group with other people at school but I'm not sure about putting that in because nothing's been finalised as yet although we've been at it since last year...school bureaucracy!!lol =). Still, if it happens by the time applications roll around I'll put it in.</p>
<p>(e) FILM (apart from Film Club and writing for magazines)</p>
<p>I wrote, directed and edited 3 short films, including one short subject documentary, all of which are under consideration and/or have been accepted at reputed international film festivals.</p>
<p>(f) VOLUNTEER WORK</p>
<p>Here's where we have a problem. I don't have any. And it's not for lack of compassion either...as my efforts to start an activist group have proved. It's just that, in bahrain, there's next to none chance of doing anything.And since we're expatriates, it makes it doubly hard for us. i'm not using this as an excuse though.</p>
<p>CO-CURRICULAR RESEARCH/WORK</p>
<ol>
<li>Authored a psychology research paper on the Tetris Effect which my teacher hopes to get published somewhere important-sounding</li>
<li>Co-authoring a paper with my economics teacher on Fair Trade (it's more like he's mentoring me) which he also hopes to get some recognition</li>
<li>Wrote a paper called 'Anarchy in the UK' on Ian McEwan's 'Atonement' which I'm also submitting to Oxford's English course (I'm trying everywhere) and which my English teacher was mighty impressed by =P. it doesn't matter though, unless it impresses someone in the admissions committee.
4.Am writing a paper on Ancient Bahrain's links with the civilised eastern and western worlds, aimed at The Concorde Review...whether or not it makes it, that's anybody's guess...although my favourite uncle, who has a Masters in European History thinks it's pretty decent till now.</li>
</ol>
<p>The thing is, I've done all this, except the SATs, because I wanted to, not to gain admission. However, my parents want me to at least attempt so I am. I hope you guys don't think I'm one of those people who waste time on messageboards just so everyone'll tell them they're god's gift to humanity...at any rate, i know that everyone here is frighteningly talented and smart, so i don't have any illusions about being told anything of the sort.</p>
<p>I'm applying to: Vassar, Sarah Lawrence, Smith, NYU, Northwestern, UMass-Amherst, Columbia and Harvard.</p>
<p>My theory that is I don't have a problem studying in India so when i get rejected by all these hopelessly out of reach schools i can happily pursue my philosophy degree at fergusson's and apply for graduate school.</p>
<p>*that asterisk after grade 9 was because of a very complicated personal history...i was living away from my parents with my maternal family and suffered severe clinical depression and all the symptoms of a near-breakdown stage in the second part of grade 9 because of twisted family situations...it went undiagnosed but because i'd been an exceptional scholar up until then, my school and especially my principal, who didnt want me to waste another year or so, converted my test results into exam percentages so i cld gain admission to a school in bahrain. i struggled with it for the next year or so, though i do consider myself partially culpable in the 10th for my less-than-good performance...i was hung over and didn't give it what i should have. i emerged at the end of 10th and it's been an upward swing for me since then. anyway i don't wanna lie or anything about this particular side of the story so i'd rather be rejected by the schools on the basis of this than hide it and (miraculously, no doubt) get accepted.</p>
<p>right well. i hope i get some help here. i know it's a humongous post but it's my first time and i really didn't know where to start.</p>
<p>cheers and thanks in advance.
~peace~</p>
<p> WHAT THE....</p>
<p>Let me get this really straight across, stop trying to act as if you cant get in anywhere! If I am correct you are getting in EVERYWHERE you apply!!!</p>
<p>Jeezz... I dont even have the patience to read the WHOLE thing ...</p>
<p>uh...i have pretty terrible grades, in case u hadnt noticed. i already REPEATEDLY specified that i wasnt looking for some kinda ego trip...all the people on this board seem to be einsteins anyway...my parents have been nagging me to see what all the really qualified people here think. i admit i have decent ECs and SAT scores but my academic transcript is NOWHERE as great as most of you guys.</p>
<p>having said that, i apologise if my post was long. id already warned u at the top. i was trying to be comprehensive...i didnt know what to exclude. sorry.</p>
<p>Dude your ECs and SATs are going to cover up everything. You are going to be fine!</p>
<p>And CC has this effect on people. No one is an Einstein here, its relative. Dont let CC take a toll on you. I think you are a strong applicant.</p>
<p>I think you have a good shot at the big ones...and no, none is actually truly sincerely qualified enough to tell you to NOT to apply...
Ah, and ajay, there you go again...he is SHE...so she is not ''dude''...:p..</p>
<p>Very, very strong applicant.</p>
<p>I'm a girl and I call everyone 'dude', male or female!</p>
<p>Again a surprise, I have always thought you as a boy..:p..but then...I was not the only one..:p..</p>
<p>issac: I knew tetris is a girl. Shame on you!</p>
<p>Tetris are you on orkut?</p>