<p>Hey, I'm an Indian guy but I was born and brought up in America.</p>
<p>I was wondering if you guys could tell me about IIT.</p>
<p>With an acceptance rate of around 2%, I wonder if we could “all just go” to IIT. 
But in all honesty, hardcore engineering is not something I’m interested in. I’m more of an LAC-type person. So, certainly no IIT for me.</p>
<p>@ccp- For a good student, the 2% is meaningless. Its all about rank. You have to be like top 500-1000 for a really good stream. And with all due respect, its much much much easier to do that than get into an ivy <<em><
Also, if I were to do engineering and interested solely in academics, I would always prefer the IITs. In fact, I have been training myself for the JEE past two years. The ratio of time given to IIT-JEE coaching : school was something like 20:1.
But I realized I had different priorities, and my abilities were more creative and research oriented. I just couldn’t do away with psychology, philosophy, politics, poetry, particle physics, plays, etc. And yes, all my interests begin with a ‘P’ 
Even my Facebook pic is a pokemon called psyduck and fav college princeton <</em><
Edit: I have my entire common app essay on this transition :P</p>
<p>The acceptance rate is 2% because just about everyone takes the IIT, even though most of them are just not IIT caliber, but take the exam because of parental/societal pressure. I also believe that getting into an IIT for a very smart person is much easier than getting into an Ivy for a very smart person.</p>
<p>^ That depends. If you’ve been participating in ECs for a long time, because you’re passionate about a few things, are intelligent enough to score consistently in the 90s, and have a flair for English and are good at standardized testing, you have a pretty solid app ready for the Ivies/ T20 colleges. However, cracking the JEE is a completely, completely different thing- you need a superhuman brain (or very, very solid and dedicated coaching for 2 years or more) to be able to even understand how to go about the questions.</p>
<p>In my maths coaching (I’m a commercie), we crack a few Delhi College of Engineering Entrance level questions for “fun” (and DCE’s much lower level than JEE) and though I consider myself a pretty good maths student, those questions were pretty tricky. They weren’t inhumanly difficult, but to understand the questions and come up with the quickest way to crack them requires a different form of intelligence.</p>
<p>So, yeah, I think different admission processes are relatively easier for different sort of people. But to answer the OPs question, we don’t all go to IITs because we might not like the environment there (like gary said), we might not be sciencies (like me), and even if we wanted to go, we’re not ready for the time committment (most of my friends spend about 15 hours a normal week on coaching) or we don’t have the inherent intelligence (I have no problem admitting that I don’t- IITians take the famous Indian maths/sci aptitude to a whole new level).</p>
<p>Random, slightly related thought: I shouldn’t speak to soon, but I think it will be easier for me to get into an Ivy than into even St. Stephen’s college in India. Not to discredit getting into the Ivies, because I know my chances of that are low, just that the chances of getting a 97% in my final exam is going to be even lower.</p>
<p>I totally agree with you. It is easier to get into a top US School than a top school here in in New Delhi!</p>
<p>Ah, I’m going to have to disagree.
If you’re talking about St Stephens, then the US equivalent would probably be Harvard. And though this is different for everyone, I feel it is more probable that I will score exceedingly well in one exam (<97 in boards) than score well on SATs, maintain a fabulous GPA, and have done something exceptionally different and unique or won some amazing competition such as the INTEL Science one. But thats just my opinion.</p>
<p>Not disagreeing with you that some people will definitely find doing well in one exam easier than a consistently brilliant performance for four years, but I’m just throwing in a personal example here. I’ve always loved activities, been involved in leadership, and scored pretty well on my exams. But I’m terribly unfocussed when it comes to one single exam. I’ve also always loved writing and english, so the SATs and the essays went well for me. So, I have a hunch I’ll have a better chance of getting into a good US Uni than one around here. But I guess till March/May, all is uncertain.</p>
<p>hello everybody we met again, what is the toughest university to get into in india? just curious</p>
<p>You’re probably right about that, and I in fact really dislike how the Indian education system places SO MUCH emphasis on one exam, and I also really dislike all this hype/tutoring mania of the IITs. Its really ridiculous, the kind of things some kids there are forced to go through.
BUT what I don’t agree with are those (pretentious) people in India who are like “Oh the acceptance to IIT is 2% and the acceptance to even the US’s best school is like 8%, we are obviously better” when in fact these are two COMPLETELY separate processes, and different types of people apply to each.</p>
<p>But apart from that, it probably does vary from person to person.</p>
<p>I’m not COMPLETELY sure, but i think IIT Kanpur/Kharagpur and the Law School in Bangalore which also has like a ridiculous 3% acceptance rate or something.</p>
<p>that is crazy wow !!!</p>
<p>Depends, FP. In India, you decide whether you want to go into the sciences, the arts or into commerce right after the tenth grade. If you go into science, then the IITs, RECs etc are your goal. If you want to go into arts/commerce, Delhi University is the best option, followed by other state unis like Xavier’s or…something (I don’t know about any non DU options here D: ).</p>
<p>Oooh, yes, like Rhumjhum mentioned, I forgot to talk about our National Law Schools, and Med schools, which from here you go to right after school. National Law School Bangalore/Hyderabad and AIIMS are the best in those fields.</p>
<p>i think in india, it alot more competitive than here, just saying its my opinion</p>
<p>@ Rumjhum: Make no mistake, you guys ARE better. People over here are lazy fools compared to India. If you come here, you are going to be amazed at the laziness of all of us. Yes, even the people you meet at MIT and harvard etc don’t do HALF the work i bet you guys do.</p>
<p>Oh yeah. And when you come here. Everybody automatically assumes because you’re brown that you’re good at math and science. DON’T DISAPPOINT!</p>
<p>And really, don’t sweat it. My dad didn’t go anywhere special, he went to clemson. And he still makes $200,000.</p>
<p>HAHAH zaqwsx170
I AM here (:
I go to a California high school.
And since my school is super competetive, there are lots of people who in fact are not lazy at all and their dedication honestly frightens me. However, i know that the vast majority of kids in the US are not so crazy about school word.
On the other hand, I think some students in india go to the other extreme. They take their studies/acceptance into IITs/doing ridiculously well in board exams wayyyyyy too seriously and forget o live life in the process. Not saying all, but there’s alot.</p>
<p>@ zaqwsx170 Sorry, I fail to understand your logic. Intentionally or otherwise you have insulted a whole bunch of people including your dad!</p>
<p>@zaqwsx170 Why the animosity? We all know American Universities are an amazing place to grow and learn, which is kind of why we’re spending so much time and money trying to get admitted abroad. All we’re saying is that getting into good Indian Unis is no cakewalk, and a lot of people spend hours and hours trying to achieve that end. Horribly difficult entrance examinations (willing to bet there are very few entrance exams in the world as tough as the JEE), the minimum requirement of near perfect marks/ranks/percentile scores and the focus on giving one examination just one time and doing it perfectly is a bit daunting for a lot of people.</p>
<p>At the end, America and India simply have different approaches to learning, and the school curriculum. Noone is trying to attack either side, just bring out the differences and similarities of the two systems.</p>
<p>Lol, you guys have at points thoroughly uncomplicated the scenario Besides, the psychological and economic aspect of the problem has been completely ignored. I feel like posting a loooooooooong explanation, but I frankly shouldn’t coz I have preboards(mid term report, FU!!) from tomorrow and I have a total of 4 hours of study.
But having been through both the admission processes rigorously(not to forget the tormenting decisions to CHOOSE one under serious pressure), and coming from a city of many worlds, I hope I’ll be able to give a detailed analysis around 15th :)</p>