Chance your Indian boy for IVYs, Stanford, vanderbilt, Caltech..and other top engineering institutes

International Students
1

Be insanely true about your reviews. Going for class of 2023.

Demographics : Asian Male (Indian)

I have strong intentions of research.

Intended Major : Electrical Engineering

:heavy_check_mark: SAT (standardized testing)

score: Around 1500 (math 800)

Subject: Physics- 800

Math lvl 2 - 800

Chem - 800

:heavy_check_mark: Gpa

9th : 82%

10th : 94%

11th : 92%

12th (Mid-term) : 94%

12th (predicted) : 95%

:heavy_check_mark: Honors ( my weak part in app) (all of these are awarded in 4 years of HS)

– State science Olympiad : stage 2

– Regional Mathematics Olympiad : Stage 2

– TCS IT WIZ (an IT quiz conducted by TATA group., conducted in 3 stages): three times stage 1 winner ( tough never won 2nd stage)

– Regional Science Exhibition : 2nd position ( got a call to represent my work at national level.)

– Continuous 98th or 99th percentile in Physics and overall 92nd or so percentile Nationwide in several All-India Tests conducted by various coaching institute like FIITJEE, ALLEN, RESONANCE…etc ( approx 1 lakh student participation)

– Several excellence in academics awards by School

– Best Sportsman of the year for two consecutive years.

– Nominated by School’s Authority for Young Global Leaders Conference, scheduled in Washington DC.

– Also got tons of intra school awards for Co-Curricular activities, that include Debats, Clay moulding, Extempore speech…etc. ( should I mention these on my app)?

:heavy_check_mark: Spike : Neuromorphic Engineering/computing

:heavy_check_mark:ECs ( Actually these were the only possible ECs that I could do, living in not-so-industrially popular city)

– Conducted theoretical research on Neuromorphic Engineering under prof.Dr.xyz and Dr.abc ( did’t mention their names intentionally) for 3 years.

– Studied and created reports on about 25 Research papers and publications on neuromorphic engineering.

– Practical work experience in the neuroscience lab of renowned institute of India (IIT, also known as MIT of India) under prof.Dr. lmn ( again didn’t mention name intentionally.)

– Robotics club for 3 years ( group leader for 2 years and a chief assistant for 1 year). created a IR sensor driven robo-car which does not need any RC to work. Won best working model and best leadership award.

– About 8 years as part of school’s basketball team. went semi-finals at national level and won tons of inter school tournaments. This year served as Captain, In 11th grade served as Vice-Captain, and during junior years once was captain of U-14 Team.

– Conducted Self-intended Research work on Magnetic Levitation during summers and presented it in school’s Science fair. won 1st prize their and also got invited to give a representation on my work at a inter State science Fair. Also the renowned Scientific Officer who did work on this project and published research papers, congratulated me for my work on that project and gave me his thesis on the project to read( still getting goosebumps while typing this…)

– Self-taught Programmer, Know C,C++,Python,Html and Java. Helped in updating and creating new version of school’s website alongside my CS teacher in 11th.

– Tutoring juniors in science (specially physics) and maths for about 4 years, Where last two years my focus primarily shifted toward Physics Teaching and Doubt Clearing of my peers. Tutored about 300 juniors and 80 peers ( they all study in my coaching class or school)

– School Government ( all students divided into 4 houses : Ashoka, Bhabha, Nehru, Tagore)

8th Grade: Assembly commander, School’s republic day Commander

9th Grade: Ashoka House sports captain ( best house in sports that year, overall 1st)

10th Grade: Ashoka House Captain ( best house in Co-Curricular activities that year, overall 2nd)

11th Grade: School’s sports vice captain ( after declaration I left school due to some personal reasons, so I was not officially handed over the responsibilities)

*School Assembly and parade commander were common for 8,9 an 10th grade

– Lead school’s Republic day Parade 3 times, Best marcher 2 Times, and best Commander for 2 Consecutive years.

– Know how to play Guitar and Congo. Also was in School’s Marching Band during my junior years from 5th to 7th, and was second commander in 6th and 7th. ( tough not mentioned this anywhere in the app)

– Also was in School’s U-14 Athletics team in 9th and 10th std. was involved in Shot-put Throw, Discus Throw and Javelin Throw. ( also didn’t mentioned it on the app)

– Class treasurer in 9th and 10th grades. Also created a program name " Smart manager" to ease me out. Now 2 school have officially accepted this programme and is now use it to manage school’s data.
.
– I was Head of the school’s volunteer group for 3 years. These volunteers works for School during hostage of national meets like athletics U-19, Dance competition, and also work for Central govt. initiated project like Swach Bharat (clean India). approximately group of 350-400 people.

– I am also founder of an amature level basketball and cricket team, we usually participate in local tournaments. (didn’t mentioned it in my app)

– I also played Volleyball District level, Kho-kho District (champions), football inter school tournaments. (didn’t mentioned it in my app)

– I also was in my school’s fitness YOGA team. (didn’t mentioned it in my app except for Stanford)
:heavy_check_mark: Some striking points of my app

My father is a scientific officer and a research scientist. His major work is on semiconductor chips and, going more precisely, some of the projects on neuromorphic engineering.

I want to pursue education till Phd.

physics enthusiast and an ambitious thinker.

:heavy_check_mark: Financial Aid

Yes, I do require Financial Aid.

My family is an upper middle class family, could easily afford education in India, but due to the weakness of India’s Currency as compared to US Dollar, my family’s Income, ranks down on the US system.

:heavy_check_mark: ROCs

Excellent as said by writers, they said they represented everything about me, which they know.

Writers: My Physics Teacher (9.5/10)

My Maths Teacher (9.5/10)

Thanks for your support. My dream colleges are Stanford and Cornell.

also I am 4th gen student from my family.

2

can you chance me, @gibby , @tripledouble2000 , @theloniusmonk , @Penn95 , @amberhearst ??

3

I just wonder what can stop you from getting in… ^:)^
Just asking, IIT ‘which one’?

4

Indore. Btw thanks prof.

5

Since you need financial aid, this puts you in a very limited category.

Given your ECs (everything but the kitchen sink), which are all over the place, I think many of these will be called into question.

Oh and don’t count anything before 9th grade.

6

@“aunt bea”

Hmm I am also not planning to put something on app that I did before 9th.

Can you elaborate “Given your ECs (everything but the kitchen sink), which are all over the place, I think many of these will be called into question”

Which ones can be called into question…for example??

7

They’re not going to believe you did everything you listed to equal depth, so they’ll assume, rightly or wrongly, you’re just listing the positions for the sake of listing them. Focus on the research, volunteer, and where you made the most impact. You can list all the awards in a separate section, so don’t worry about having to choose among them. You’ll need a recommendation from a non-stem teacher for schools like Stanford and Cornell.

8

@theloniusmonk

You mean that I should place the research work at top and remove stuff which is taking the tag " all round". I mean , you think I should be more specific towards my ECs. If so, I am doing that on top. My top priority is research, so I am putting these up on the mark and specifying them deeply.

I think I do not have more than 5 spaces for awards and so I am going to list stem-based awards in the main list and will put remaining ECs and awards in the extra information tab.

And one more doubt. I didnt heard before that you need a Non-stem based teacher rec. for Cornell and Stanford ?? can you please specify about this??

And moreover, how do my profile look in overall. DO I seem to be Strong Candidate for frice competition among the “limited pool”.

Thanks for your analysis.

9

I’ll be honest.

It’s going to be difficult for you to get in, because it is so much harder for internationals and even harder for internatioals who want financial aid. Also, doing research isn’t a spike, so many people do research, but since you don’t have ISEF, IMO, or any of those types of awards that Caltech and Stanford look for (even more in internationals), it will be hard for you to get admitted. Focus on your essays; if you make them unique, you may have a chance. Remember, more EC’s does not mean better; a one-liner of IMO qualifier or ISEF winner is better than your entire resume.

Also, remember that these schools are looking for the best in your entire country; last year, Stanford accepted 170 internationals from 62 countries, which is an average of the top 2.73 per country. Are you really the top 3 or even top 10 people in your country? I highly, highly doubt it.

Remember, these schools are insanely selective, and even more so for you. Please apply to safety schools in the states. I know many internationals who thought they had a chance at these highly selective schools, only to be rejected by all of them and they couldn’t go to school in the States because they didn’t apply to safeties. Good luck!

10

Agree with yaleivyleague. Some of your ECs are definitely going to be called in question, because right now, you just look like your listing everything just for the sake of listing them.

11

So you haven’t taken this test yet?

Seriously??

12

8-|

13

It’s highly recommended at the local high schools that you get a recommendation from stem and non-stem to show broad strength in academics. If your non-stem is not going to be very good, then stick with what you have, it’s not a requirement, just a recommendation. Remove everything that’s 8th grade or earlier, that would be a good start. As others have said you list so much it’s tough to judge how you’d compare to other applicants in India. I would not list things give out by the school, focus on awards given out at state, national or international bodies.

14

Many international applicants, for valid reasons, are not aware of the fact that most of the highly selective universities receive thousands of applications with near perfect numbers and ECs which are truly impressive. However, that doesn’t mean that the outcome is predictable. Diversity in the class profile is an important point and it means wider representation from the states as well as countries. Many American students with similar profile as the OP don’t get admission to Stanford. However, when it comes to Cornell, the scene could be different!
I hope, OP is aware that Cornell is not in the same league as Stanford,UChicago and Duke. With regard to finacial aid at the undergrad level,many LACs are more liberal than big universities.My own assessment is that full tution international students have better chances of getting admission to highly selective universities.

15

“I hope, OP is aware that Cornell is not in the same league as Stanford,UChicago and Duke.”

Given the OP is applying to Cornell, not a very helpful comment. And Chicago does not have engineering, I’m not a big fan of rankings but they do have some use in engineering, and for EE, Cornell is 9th (USNews), Duke 26th. Maybe you meant Duke and Chicago are not in the same league as Cornell for engineering.

16

yeah, I am applying to top schools for Electrical engineering program.

17

Considering the financial situation, IITs appear to be the best bet for you… and not a bad option at all (I went to one)! As @“aunt bea” has opined, the ECs seem too inflated.