<p>I have for ever wanted to study in a top U.S university But from what i have read till now i understood that a lot extra curricular is needed . I live in India , schools here do not provide much of options to do things outside academics . So i would like to know more about how are the applications of international students evaluated at the top universities . Opinions of counselors , admission officials or anyone working within the process . Thanks</p>
<p>I too am interested in this. I think they compare u to other students applying from India. If everyone else is lacking, then they will understand.</p>
<p>Really? So are international students all compared to their own country’s applicants? I’m an international student from Taiwan, and though most of our high schools focus primarily on academics, there still are many applicants who have abundant extra curricular with an extraordinary GPA. I think international students who are applying to top American colleges are all competing with the best students around the world and lacking extra curricular is harsh for one’s application.</p>
<p>It is true that you are evaluated among students from your country. Considering India for example there will be a lot of ICSE and CBSE students. The former has better scope for ECs and a lot of my friends in India who do CBSE have great ECs.
You just need to try and find stuff near you.</p>
<p>@bounty123 how did you know that? :)</p>
<p>Muhammad9211 are you from India ? What is your age ?</p>
<p>I read an interview of Harvard University’s head of admissions. He said that there are admission officers for EACH region of the world. So I’m not sure if there is one officer for India - or one officer for India, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka (The entire subcontinent).</p>
<p>This is confusing to me - because I am an Indian - but I study in the middle east. So I don’t know where my application will go.</p>
<p>please help i am student. From india and want to study in usa for my undergraduate course and do majors in accounts or finance.I would be giving sat on october 5 nd my results would come around 25th oct 2013.My question is if i would submit all my documents before 1st november would i be able to attend fall session 2014 that is in january, if selected…PLEASE HELP …</p>
<p>Yes, from what I have experienced, students from a single country need to compete hard- very hard. That’s why students applying in ED sometimes switch college when they find some stronger student is applying to the same college.
Universities want to make their student body diverse. So, they prefer accepting two students from two different countries rather than from the same country ( unless, of course the two students are exceptionally well).
This is the case in Best Universities ( Ivy leagues) and other top colleges. But Top 50 LACs do sometimes take in multiple students.
India is big country ( by population) . Lots of deserving students apply every year.
So, you will have a tougher competition, I think.
Good luck :)</p>
<p>Quick question, are all Chinese considered the same too?</p>
<p>Ok there’s a little misunderstanding, which I once had too. Extracurricular activity is not limited to social activity (charity works and stuff). It can be ANYTHING outside school. You can list baking, singing or anything else, as long as you have DEVOTION (note how EA is listed in Common app - the hour of work is required, so don’t include trivial ones).</p>
<p>I believe that your school can only keep you studying for at most 8 hours (if not we have a human rights issue here), so think about what you do when you finally get out of school. It can be academically involved - no prob. I write C++ programming and Maths articles most of the time. No outdoor stuff.</p>
<p>@jenniferlien i’m from taiwan too :)</p>
<p>@timastimas Hi there! Hope ur doing great 
I’m so thrilled to hear from another person from Taiwan How’s ur preparation going?</p>
<p>@studentsharma, no im not from india</p>
<p>which country? and how are you preparing ?</p>
<p>Pakistan. And im just doing what i can. Recently, ive heard unis prefer quality over quantity. Theyre not interested in laundry lists as much as they are in a few which u are passionate about. I believe that the common app only has room for 5 things.</p>
<p>Does anyone know about the NZ’s situation??? like how its competitiveness from a NZ high school graduate to get into american unis??</p>