Where should I apply?

Student Lounge International Students
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<p>I'm a student in India, currently in 12th grade, came from the US in 8th grade, now sick of the horrible education system here where you don't learn anything. MUST go back next year. I'll be applying for Fall 2011.</p>

<p>I would love to get into MIT, Princeton etc. but not so sure if I can make it. I know my SAT scores will be high (except for writing maybe, should pull off >750 on Math and the SAT Subject Tests). I'm taking the AP Exams independently this May, will probably get a 4 or 5 on all my tests.</p>

<p>Now my problem is I'm not sure how the Admissions committee will look at Indian Exam scores. I predict I'll get about 80% at most in my 12th Board Exam, the load over here is HUGE. I got 79% in my Sciences in my 10th Board Exam. Very depressing when my GPA used to be between 3.8-4.0 when I was in the US :( . How do they look at the percentages over here?</p>

<p>I have quite a couple of Activities which I CARE about (about 10), and I'm planning to do some social work & Research this summer. </p>

<p>I can't exactly describe my personality here, but my Physics teacher who works with people from top universities around the world says I am the "right type" of person.</p>

<p>I want to go to a school which is good for Biological Sciences, has an intelligent student body, offers International Financial Aid (Since I probably won't get my residency back) or Scholarships to bring down the costs to $20K at most, have classes where the professors teach NOT classes of 500 students taken by TAs.</p>

<p>Right Now I've chosen:</p>

<p>MIT
Princeton</p>

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<p>SUNY Stony Brook
SUNY Buffalo
University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
University of Utah
North Carolina State University - Raleigh</p>

<p>I would of course want to get into the elite colleges, but have to keep a backup plan of GOOD universities too incase I don't get into any of them. Anyone have any suggestions which would fit me?</p>

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<p>Not to disappoint you, even I am hoping that my low GPA is overlooked, but 79% in ICSE and 80% in Boards is going to be EXTREMELY BAD, unless you can pull of everything else nearly PERFECTLY. Instead, I’d suggest you work hard for boards and aim for ~95% or something. If you really are princeton/MIT material, you should be able to manage it. Good luck.</p>

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<p>Have any suggestions on how to pull off 90-95%? I don’t do much but studying the entire day, the problem is the weird way they ask questions on the exams. I think I am in the top 10% of my graduating class of 1500 students. The average score over here is ~60%.</p>

<p>The AP material is EXTREMELY EASY compared to my syllabus for the boards.</p>

<p>I wonder how they look at Indian percentages in the US, I’ve just checked the University of Auckland and they require only 75% in Boards to get in, and its ranked #42 in the world.</p>

<p>What’s your percentage gary, where are you applying?</p>

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<p>Hey kushal</p>

<p>IM GONNA TELL YOU ABOUT MIT AND PRINCETON</p>

<p>are you doing CBSE or ISC? by the looks of it your doing CBSE. If u did ICSE in 10th… then 79% is bad. If CBSE then I dunno (im an ICSE|IB student from India so yeah)</p>

<p>1st of all, I wudn be too confident about the SAT scores… might as well prove yourself first… I mean scores tend to be disheartening.</p>

<p>10% of 1500 os 150 - I mean to say thats not enough for MIT and Princeton. If your rank is like 50/1500 then theres a very strong chance theyll notice you. If its 10/1500… very strong chance theyll take you by seeing only that! Hope u get what im trynna imply</p>

<p>Do the teachers like you? THAT COUNTS A LOT in your App. form… coz teachers can practically jeopardise even the best apps</p>

<p>Since ur officially Indian… i believe MiT check ToEFL and SAT 2. Check it up</p>

<p>I’d have not suggested MiT for undergrad but since you agree yourself that you study a lot then I guess its worth the try (its NOT the place for other kinds of ppl IMO) </p>

<p>So… seeing your app as it is… I’d say MiT and Princeton is tough atm… but you’d might as well apply as you’ll pretty much get into all the other unis u’ve stated. If your considering others… i’d suggest go for 1 tough one (maybe john hopkins) and sm good state schools like UCB UCLA UM and UT</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/india/842401-could-you-please-chance-me.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/india/842401-could-you-please-chance-me.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>I did take practice SAT tests from the Princeton Review’s Book, and got in the ~750 range, same for the SAT IIs. I took an AP Biology practice test 1 year ago before I started to study for it and got a 4.</p>

<p>And as for the 10% out of 1500, Only about 10 students get above 85%, so I guess I should be in the top 25.</p>

<p>And yes I know the teachers love me, my chemistry teacher commented that in my class of 100 students everyone else but me is just ■■■■■■■■. I stand out strongly against all of the other students, always very very active in class.</p>

<p>Yes, MIT does check the TOEFL and SAT II, but I’m not very worried about the TOEFL, a week of preparation should be more than enough.</p>

<p>Yes I do study A LOT, well right now since I’ve got holidays till my exams I should really start to study 12+ hours a day.</p>

<p>Does anyone know how importantly they look at Essays for International students?</p>

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<p>Hey Kushal,
I agree the SAts seem too easy in comparison to what we study in the ISC but 79% is okay. Dont count on SAT too much because it can be disheartening. (I got a 97 in Math in ISC exam but only 690 in SAT. which is VERY EASY.) Get a good Recommendation from teachers and write solid essays…you will have a great chance.</p>

<p>Ps: Mind it there are people in this forum who think that even 100% is quite poor! And GPA is not EVERYTHING!! Colleges amost always have a holistic approach especially MIT, Princeton HArvard.and so on!
Best of Luck!</p>

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<p>And no, I’m not in ISC. I went for Pre-University instead of ISC after 10th (stupid decision). Study a ton more than I did in ICSE, but they claim that its equivalent. Even fewer here get a distinction (1.7%) so with 80% predicted, I think I would be in the top 5% taking the exam.</p>

<p>60-100 is considered an A as opposed to 75 and above in CBSE.
And I didn’t contact american universities and ask them about how they compare pre-university to ICSE and CBSE, but the university of auckland said that they look at them similarly.</p>

<p>But I still don’t get how exactly do these Universities look at Indian percentages as GPAs! The pass percentage over here is 40%, and the average is 60%, vs. 70 to pass in the US.</p>

<p>And its not just the SATs which look easy compared to what we study here, even the APs look damn easy! I went through my AP chemistry book, and it has barely 40% of what I’ve studied at 11th and 12th Pre-University.</p>

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<p>Exactly. You just give your best, that’s all you can do.
All the best to you.</p>

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<p>kushalck, are you at all interested in Liberal Arts Colleges?</p>

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<p>First of all, I don’t exactly know what are Liberal Arts Colleges!</p>

<p>At first glance, I would say no because I’m interested in Natural Sciences, and not arts. But I don’t know what exactly LACs are so I can’t say.</p>

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<p>Uhh, putting Liberal Arts Colleges in a nutshell, I’d say they’re miniature versions of large universities. Most have academic fields spanning the Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, Humanities and Fine Arts, (the number of their course offerings and academic majors will typically be smaller than larger universities though) but a few may be specialised. The hallmark of their education is small classes (an average student to faculty ratio of 20:1) and most often personalised teaching, where you’re taught by full professors and not TAs. There are some Liberal Arts Colleges that really excel in Biological Sciences. If what I’ve mentioned above interests you, you should start doing some research on the Liberal Arts Colleges and see which ones fit your needs.</p>

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<p>But do I get the same rigor of curriculum, and professors which have high achievements? The reason I would love to get into MIT/Princeton is:

  1. Professors which have done world renowned work and a Nobel Laureate faculty.
  2. Teaching
  3. Labs and facilities
  4. Variety of courses
  5. Intelligent student body</p>

<p>Do I get the above in a LAC too?</p>

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<p>But in the end my life’s ambition is to become a leading researcher in Molecular Physiology, probably one of the most difficult fields in science. It requires a lot of intuitive understanding, by seeing the structures of complex proteins itself most people will faint. It deals with the immense complexity of life at the molecular level, and how this magnifies to the superficial level of the whole organism.
In medicine, you learn how the whole human body works at the superficial level, but not how it really works in the laws of the Physical sciences.</p>

<p>Are classes at Elite Universities and the Ivies also taught by TAs?</p>

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<ol>
<li>You might not get professors who are Nobel Laureates, but all of the professors at top tier Liberal Arts Colleges are qualified and committed to teaching. Besides at larger universities, it will be very rare for the Nobel Laureate himself to do a majority of the teaching; most of it will be taken care of by Graduate Teaching Assistants.</li>
<li>Like I mentioned, Liberal Arts Colleges value teaching at a personal level, so smaller classes taught by highly qualified full professors who aren’t focussed on prize-winning research as such, but more on teaching.</li>
<li>Labs and facilities will support their Science offerings and will be comparable to the labs and facilities you can avail at most large universities as an undergraduate. Although since Liberal Arts Colleges support only undergraduate research, the labs and facilities may not compare to larger universities’ graduate schools.</li>
<li>Not as varied course offerings as larger universities, most definitely, but that by no means is entirely limiting. It depends on how much variety and depth you want, but most Liberal Arts Colleges offer pretty solid academic majors and course offerings.</li>
<li>The top-tier Liberal Arts Colleges will have as intelligent a student body, if not more than the top-tier universities. Most of the top-tier Liberal Arts Colleges are very selective and have acceptance rates below 40%.</li>
</ol>

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<p>Yes, classes at Ivies and other elite universities are also fairly TA dominated. The point is simple, a Nobel Laureate may not be in that interested in teaching students and developing course material; he’d more interested in furthering his research. Therefore, there’s a need for TAs.</p>

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<p>If you don’t mind do you have any Messenger client so I can discus and find out if a LAC suits me?</p>

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<p>Send me a Personal Message with your MSN ID, if you want to discuss it further there.</p>

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<p>Why are you applying for fall 2011, arent you graduating this year?</p>

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<p>I’m taking a gap year.</p>

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<p>For students returning from US and end up in schools in India, do not take Indian boards like ISC and CBSE. That will hurt badly if you want to get back to US for undergraduate studies. There are cases where students got 90+ percent in ICSE and ISC and still denied admission at MIT.
I know such a kid who was selected for INBO and had 2200+ SAT1s and 800s in subject SAT2s, but still denied. He is a US citizen but did his high school in India. He had 70-80s in his half yearlys etc and when his official school report went, it had a few Bs and Cs and I am thinking that hurt him in his admissions.
So be smart and take IB or A-levels.</p>