So I am applying this year. The private colleges for Electrical Engineering I plan to apply are
1)Cornell
2)Stanford
3)Upenn
4)Princeton University
5)Caltech
I am an International Student from India.
My grades have not been good
10th - 9.0 CGPA
11th-60%
My EC’s are
1)First Prize at NASA AMES Space Settlement Contest
2)Presented project at International Space Development Conference
3)Wrote a plan to commercial space within 2030, mentored under a NASA AMES researcher
4)Volunteered for a space Edu Organization in market research and writing articles
5)Founder & President at High School Aerospace Club
6)Won a city level Web Design Competition
7)Volunteer to develop websites for school like the annual council voting system
How are my chances? Can I make up for the low grades?
I know I wont get into any of those colleges. But where do you think I should apply early? which of them is the easiest to get in early for a Indian?
It’s impossible to say; among other things, you have offered no standardized tests scores and they are especially critical due to your grades and your international status.
You mean I have no chance?
In your own words, “my grades have not been good.”
Do you really believe elite engineering schools of this stature are at all likely to accept an applicant with (by your own statement) a marginal academic record? Your accolades are impressive, but NOTHING is more important in the admissions assessment than grades.
Well , okay by the way. Class Rank:top 50%. I was just confirming by the way.
Okay , that’s fine. I will probably choose to apply to more selective schools.
@AnonCow:
After rereading post #4, I believe a more-detailed explanation may be beneficial to you. Given your age and experience, I suspect you feel ECs 1 through 3 should compensate for your “not good” grades. However, please consider this from the perspective of an admissions officer at ANY of the five stellar engineering schools you cited (or fundamentally similar ones).
What s/he may see is a secondary school student who has the talents required to excel WHEN HE ELECTS TO, but who has not consistently applied those gifts to his academic work. In that case, the impressive accolades you list might actually be detrimental, because scholarship – especially at the most-selective, first-tier universities – is really about doing one’s best and achieving fine results even when the course isn’t particularly meaningful or interesting, even when the professor isn’t especially good, and even when the subject isn’t too relevant to your goals.
Consequentially, admissions may well perceive your record as demonstrating ability and potential, BUT also academic indifference. Further, you need to appreciate the FACT that these five superb universities (and many other most- and highly-competitive ones) will not have a dearth in Indian applicants, who have all of the pluses your EC section suggests but essentially none of the minuses your “60 percent” indicates.
Yeah. I get it. Its really not point applying to these colleges anyway!
I am going with high selective colleges.