International Student Forum/ Message Board

Okay, so here's the deal. I'm an Indian studying in 12th grade, non-US citizen, with a childhood dream of studying in an Ivy. Well now the time's come to prove my mettle, except that I come from a pretty small school where nobody's ever applied for an international college before (we don't even have a college counsellor!), and hence have no clue as to my standings, my chances, or even if I'm kidding myself by trying or not. I've talked to a few friends here and there, a cousin who got into Princeton last year and a few college counsellors who rate my chances as fairly okay, but what I've read online and around here and there only confuse me more. So here's a pretty brief round up of what my app will look like, could all the experienced folk here tell me if I have the slightest of a chance?

My folks aren't the most well off, so they've put their foot down on an american university unless I can get financial aid, which, I understand, is a herculean task. I'm going to try for the need-blind Unis, i.e. HYP, Darmouth and Williams, as well as Brown because I love their courses/ the college in general even though I understand they offer limited aid.

ACADEMICS: 90%+ in IXth and Xth grade including 91.4% in the All Indian Secondary School Examinations (with a 97% in Maths, 98% in Social Studies and 91% in English), 85% in XI grade (which is generally considered the toughest year: most people's grades drop about 5% then). I'm trying for a 95%+ this year in my XII grade examinations, and hopefully a 90%+ in my Midyear report (sent in February, right?). Now, my only standard for measuring myself up against is the guy I know who got into Princeton, who said 90%+ in X and 80%+ in XI should do. Can anyone give me further info on this? Do my grades look adequate? The two pitfalls I see here are: a. My school is a pretty small one. Apart from my AISSE results, could the school evaluated ones be held suspect? and b. All the Unis say they encourage students to challenge themselves with the toughest courses. In India, we all study the same course till X grade after which we take either Commerce, Science or Humanities stream. While Science is traditionally considered the 'toughest', your decision is made based on what career you see for yourself in the future and as I don't really enjoy science or want to do engineering, I took the 'second toughest' stream i.e. commerce. Will this be held against me?

STANDARDIZED TESTING: Not taken yet. Have registered myself for the October SAT I and Maths I & II C and Literature in Novemember. In the practise tests I have taken from the Collegeboard book, my score range has come out to be 2000-2300. How accurate are these score ranges in predicting my actual score? And does 2000-2300 mean I'm reasonably good (2000) or very good (2300)? I have no clue about the SAT IIs, I'll start studying for them in October. I can handle Maths I with ease, though, though Maths II and Lit. look a bit challenging.

EXTRA CURRICULAR: Okay, my main weakness here is that I am very well rounded but with no clear 'spike' which I fear will harm me. Also, being from a small school and an international, will my extra-cs be taken as seriously? Nonetheless, here they are:

SCHOOL LEVEL: Junior Cabinet member in 8th grade, Cultural captain of the school (second most important position in senior student council after Head boy/girl)-- organized most of the school events, competitions, pioneered an inter school leadership summit that brought together best schools of Delhi to a common platform to discuss student governance, editor of 12th grade annual newsletter 'Embark', chief designer of all school certificates, pamphlets and the Embark cover this year as well. Also won the school's topmost awards including 'Shoba Bhavnani' (best contribution to intra school activities) and 'Dr. H.Sen Memorial' ('Best' Student of the School in class IX and XI).

MOVIE MAKING: Movie making is one of my passions. I've won two inter school competitions and my movies have also been showcased at the Worldkids International Film festival infront of a panel of esteemed bollywood filmmakers. I've also made a movie that was presented infront of an All Indian conference about Open Source Software organized by Sun Microsystems India. I've also won the Open Document Format Alliance competition (held by Sun microsys with over 110 schools participating) and the judges were impressed enough to allow me and my teammate to judge the junior round of that competition the next year, as well as winning a second time in the senior round. We travelled to Kolkutta specially to attend the conference. We also designed the certificates presented to the winners in the same competition.

DEBATING/WRITING/SPEAKING: I got second place (team of 2) in the Harvard Club of India (a club of Indian Harvard alumni) debate and I've won panel discussions/ economic competitons in several inter school competitons. I've also got Best Delegate in two all Indian Model United Nations and was appointed editor of the world press in yet another MUN. I've won an essay writing competition called the R. Gupta Memorial award. I've also been the Hindustan Times 'Spell Vocab' all delhi champion for two years in a row.

OTHER NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS: I've got an all Indian ranking of 1500 something in the National Science talent search examination in the 10th grade. I've represented my school in the JENESYS Indo-Japan Exchange programme where around 180 students from university and school level (I was one of the 20 from school level) are sponsored by the Government of India to undergo a two week cultural exchange programme in Japan-- I consider this my strongest EC yet. In addition, I've won several other essay, multimedia and speech competitions at Inter school level. I was also nominated as a Times of India junior reporter for a year. I've also anchored a few episodes of a TV programme on Lok Sabha TV (government sponsored news channel) and appeared on a few odd debates on NDTV and Lok Sabha TV as well. A second prize from the Arab embasssy for my artwork is another thing I would like to mention.

I've participated in a few odd social events such as teach India and a few volunteering missions, though I'm not particularly strong in the social work aspect of my app.

I'm honestly sorry if this is long and rambling, but I'd also like to know if any of the above should be cut out as excessive/unnecessary from my App. And I'd love an honest appraisal of my chances, financial aid, small school, international candidate, academics, all considered. Cheers!

Based on the brief outline you have shared with us in your post, I'd say you might have a chance. It seems like you are a very active student who engages in salubrious extracurricular activities. I know international students, from very small towns, who have been accepted to Ivy-league schools with similar profiles. BUT (there is always a big fat BUT, sorry), in addition to excellent academics, test results and the obvious must-haves, they also had strong letters of recommendation from well-respected professors and were engaged in interesting projects (research, published works, etc.).

Another tip: my friends were in touch (for research purposes) with faculty members at the schools they later attended. Networking is vital. Do not take this as a "go spam and stalk Ivy-league professors" advice. IF your academic passion or projects, regardless of where you ultimately end up getting your degree from, justify/require your being in touch with and exchange information with faculty members and students, say at Brown, you might want to explore ways to get in touch with them. Perhaps your Harvard debate club could be a good place to look for contacts.

Merit is all that counts, but if your solid academic background is backed up with initiative, a project in the works, relationships abroad... you follow my drift, then your chances may just improve.

As for the financial front... Herculean might not be enough to describe the difficulty of the matter. Try to source some fund from your country's government, a company, whatever.

Getting a degree from an Ivy is not essential to your happiness and success. Don't try to go there for the wrong reasons. Who knows, you might get your degree from a good institution in India and end up getting a Phd from Stanford.

My 2cs.

Hi I would like to add my own two cents, and I'm sure you're knee deep in SAT prep right now but don't forget about the essays, and applying early.

I went to an Indian (ICSE) school in Dubai and graduated Columbia a few years ago, and I feel that a lot of our Indian-system students don't spend enough time crafting an essay that will "sell" them to the specific schools they want to get into, even if they have good writing skills, which you look like you do.

Your grades are perfectly fine, as you know there is no "cut-off" system (I too was a 90%-er from the Commerce stream) it's all about how you put everything together in your application (think of it as a marketing exercise) . Don't repeat all of your accomplishments in the essay, pick one and relate it to your future plan of study (which should be as specific as possible if you're fishing for scholarships.. even though you can totally change it once you get in)

As for scholarship money, I agree that you need to work with those organizations at home but also the school. A classmate from Delhi got a full-ride from an external institution after being accepted by Columbia. Once they accept you there are ways to arrange scholarships.

You look like you know a lot more than than the average student but do not underestimate the power of knowing particular professors that the uni. prides itself on, and then writing an essay about how you would take advantage of that unique strength of the school if you were to get in. If you can network with them as the previous poster said, that would take it to the next level.

I would also say apply early to one of your top choice schools, and don't wait until the last minute to send in the other applications!

Best of Luck!