Indian student needs advise!!

cool_abs44 · 08-03-2005, 01:35 PM

Hey Everyone this is my problem:
I have passed my class 12 th in 2004 with 80% marks from CBSE. I prepared fr one year for AIEEE and nw i have taken admission in an engg colg in Delhi.
But one of my friends went to the US This year with partial aid and since then i am keen on going to the US too.
I am scoring 2200+ in the practice SATs and i think i cn get a pretty decent score.
However if i give the SAT nw it will mean a two year gap. I want to go into the ivy league colleges but will this two year gap count against me??
I will join my colg in delhi on august 16th
Do you advice me to apply as a freshman or should i complete one year of my studies and then apply as a transfer student. The reason why i am a bit against applying as a transfer student is that i have heard that the selection as a transfer student is very hard and also that obtaining financial aid as a transfer case is also difficult.

Plz help me out???

nomad · 08-03-2005, 01:46 PM

freshman would be better especially if you are goign to be applying for finacial aid ( most of the schools dont have aid for international transfers anyway )

You better do something really impressive this year though ( social work learn somethign etc ) so that your gap year may have a reason

cool_abs44 · 08-03-2005, 02:03 PM

Thanks for the suggestion nomad.
Any other people who happen to read this please keep advising me. I am really confused but maybe you cn help me out.
Thanks!

vaib · 08-03-2005, 05:33 PM

I think you are aiming a bit high, in terms of the Ivy league, seeing as you do not have any official SAT or SAT II scores yet and the fact that if you would like to apply as a freshman - you need to have a productive gap year as the application explicitly asks for gap year students to report what they did during that time period. If you are applying as a transfer - you will not be eligible for aid at most Ivy League colleges

A two year gap, unless for military service or financial (employment) related reasons, is almost unheard of.

Havaldaar · 08-04-2005, 03:15 AM

DO NOT tell them that you spent a year preparing for AIEE, they will not be impressed. You should indicate to them that they are your first option.

pradyumna · 08-04-2005, 04:50 AM

hey even i do have the same problem as u have cool_abs44,the only difference is my 12th graduation year(being 2005).I couldnot get through iit mains so i thought it would be better to apply to a good american university.i scored 96.2% (AP state board).I am pretty confused whether to apply for fall-2006 as freshman or not.At present i would be joining in Andhrauniversity.should i learn some extracurriculars?(or) can anyone suggest how best can the one year gap be covered?
hope i recieve some help from u guys pl.

adides · 08-04-2005, 05:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cool_abs44

However if i give the SAT nw it will mean a two year gap. I want to go into the ivy league colleges but will this two year gap count against me??

a two year gap for an ivy league is a big gamble... if you take the top five colleges of us i.e., HYPMS, these 5 colleges combined take only 20 indians per year! thats when more than a 1000 might be applying..also many of them are olympiad finalists, authors, patent holders and what not! So if you are considering wasting another year for an ivy league, i think it will be a very big gamble because managing your engineering with SATs, SAT II, applications, essays, recs., your ecs will be a very tough task...but it all depends upon you, if you think you can manage it, go ahead but DONT drop out of engineering.

cool_abs44 · 08-04-2005, 06:10 AM

thanks adides but do you have any information about the transfer student policies of the HYMPS. I mean is it easier to get in with my two year gap or will it be easier as a transfer student.
I have found out the transfer student acceptance rate in the HYMPS is about 10% which may be even less for intl students

cool_abs44 · 08-04-2005, 06:13 AM

Pradyumna i think you still have a pretty fair chance as a freshman if you do some really interesting extra-curr stuff this year.
However, i think my case is hopeless. HOW CN I EVER EXPLAIN MY TWO YEAR GAP TO THEM. Although only about 4 to 5 of my classmates went directly to college. Rest all took a gap.

Oh! Laila · 08-04-2005, 10:38 AM

hey cool_abs..
i didnt realise you graduated in 2004! Well.. I take my advise back!
a two year gap seriously *is* trouble. I would second adides's advice... donot drop your engineering course!

adides · 08-05-2005, 03:09 AM

well to give you an idea of how tough transfer admission is, check this page out
http://www.princeton.edu/pr/admissions/u/transfer.html
No transfer admissions offered in 2005!
I am not discouraging you or anything, but there are cases when a college takes no transfer students, so it is very tough, especially for the internationals to get in via transfers

pradyumna · 08-05-2005, 04:35 AM

THANKS A TON FOR THE SUGGESTION COOL_ABS.As adides says it may be very difficult for us to get into ivy-league.But why dont we try in some other good engineering colleges.And moreover I agree with vaib.u can show some fake employment and socialservice certificates and that to if they ask for proof.So all the best for ur SATs.I wouldn't encorage u not to drop out of DCE(if thats ur thought).Because even DCE is a premier institute for engineering in India(which is hard to get into).

saurabhsingh327 · 08-09-2005, 02:00 PM

hi i am engineering student(2 nd year)from citm faridabad and the biggest blunder i commited was i didnt apply to a us university as a freshman student and would apply to umd,rit,uva,vtech,ucsd as a transfer student i scored a medium 73% in my 12 standard and by the time i complete my second year my percentage would be around 65-70%.i know that the transfer process is extremely tough but if carried out through usefi it can be very easy as they know where we can get accepted and also they arrange exclusive interviews with the university representatives which makes the transfer process preety easy.
saurabhsingh327@gmail.com