An alarming question about the career of my child who is in sixth standard i want to start early

Parents Forum
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I believe I can offer some advice. I know the Indian and American educational systems quite well.
@MITer94

While this is true in American english, in Indian english “revert” simply means “get back to me”.

It sounds like to me you are limited in funding. If you don’t have enough saved up for 4 years of tuition, expenses and travel in the bank (approx $250K USD or approx 200 Lakhs), then you probably will need financial aid. I would focus your efforts on US schools where you child is likely to receive substantial amounts of aid.

Getting into MIT, and other top US schools (Ivy league) is quite difficult from the subcontinent. The reason is that these schools are beseiged by students from India and China who need financial aid. Only a handful of students are need-blind to international students (Harvard, MIT, Princeton and Yale). The rest are “need-aware” which means they will determine your child’s ability to pay in deciding to admit him or not.

To be a compelling candidate from India your child will need the following:

  • Top scores (750+ on each section of the SAT, plus several subject tests)\
  • Evidence that English speaking is good (high scores on TOEFL, and/or studying in English medium schools)
  • High class rank (top 1%)
  • Extracurricular activities which demonstrate that your son is likely to be high impact. In the US extracurricular activities play a large part in who gets accepted. Unlike India there is less focus on test scores. So the reason the other posters recommended that you wait until your son develops interests, is because it is easy to spot a kid who has been forced into ECs simply for the sake of appeasing a parent. Wait until your child shows a passion in an area and then nurture it and take it to the next level.

The chances of getting into a US college are much higher than paying for a coach for JEE. I would consider JEE as a backup in case the US college situation doesn’t work out. The last option is probably the most commonly done for Indian immigrants: 1) Study a STEM related field in India for bachelors degree 2) Find a state university in the US to do a masters degree. There are thousands and thousands of desis who have immigrated to the US over the last 3 decades after getting a bachelors degree in India first.

Good luck