<p>The thing is, you have zero guarantee of getting in anywhere next year. So many Indians are applying to top American schools, the competition is fierce. there is more funding for some grad programs and less of a disadvantage for intnls. I recommend you stay in India for undergrad and apply for grad school.</p>
<p>Are you male or female? Some of the all-female schools have generous financial aid policies for international applicants.</p>
<p>The essay topics were not great but I wouldnt assume that was the only reason for the rejection. Your stats, and your need for aid probably played a big role. I am fairly new to the college search with my D so am no expert. My first reaction in reading your essay topics (all of them) was not great. Hitler- IMO never a good idea. Not sure why you did 4 essays. Were they asked for?</p>
<p>My advice if you feel your education must be in the US, apply to different and less selective schools. And find schools that offer aid to internationals. I wasn’t aware that any would.</p>
<ol>
<li>You applied to HIGHLY selective schools. Set your sights a little lower and you’ll have better results. There are plenty of great schools where your stats will place you in the upper 1/4 of candidates. Ivies and little ivies will not be among them.</li>
<li>Questionable essay topics, although we haven’t read your essays and therefore can’t know for sure if they hurt you.</li>
<li>Too many clubs. If I were reading your application I’d figure you were a jack of all trades, master of none. Who are you? A student government type? An eco kid? An artist? Focus, focus, focus. Stop founding clubs and instead work to accomplish something substantial in one or two. Then write about it.</li>
<li>Financial need puts you at a disadvantage, particularly as an international student. You’ll get better offers at schools where you’re among the top applicants.</li>
</ol>
<p>As to grad school-that’ll depend on how you perform in college. A top student from a lower tier college can do as well as or better than a student with mediocre grades from an Ivy.</p>
<p>Let’s get down to the nitty gritty;</p>
<p>Op applied to HYPS, Columbia, Penn, Dartmouth all which had single digit admit rates for the past few cycles. </p>
<p>Amherst, Williams, Middlebury, Bates, Colby & Hamilton (I do not know what the 14th school is).</p>
<p>All are extremely selective schools as the first 10 of your 13 schools are reaches for any student regardless of their scores. </p>
<p>The international pool is extremely competitive with many candidates applying for a few slots. There were probably many students who presented similar/better stats who were also not admitted as there are not enough seats for all of the international students seeking to study in the US.</p>
<p>Penn, Stanford, Middlebury, Hamilton, Colby, and Columbia are not need blind to international students. Your ability to pay would be a factor in the admissions process.</p>
<p>Your essay choices were definitely not good. Most college keep your application on file for approximately 2 years. So if you reapply within 2 years, they will pull your file to see if anything has changed from your first application.</p>
<p>x-posted with Sue.</p>
<p>If you really want to be sure to come to the US for college, you definitely need to lower your standards. That means applying to state schools, and I’m not talking about Virginia or Michigan. The fact is, it’s very hard for international applicants in general to get acceptances to top schools, and I don’t think your stats make you stand out either. And your essay topic about Hitler, which I think is very unique, could definitely turn off a lot of people.</p>
<p>A US student who did not need FA would have only had a reasonable shot at getting into 3 of the schools on that list with your stats (only Bates, Colby, and Hamilton). So part of your problem is that you started with a completely unrealistic list of schools. If you don’t have one, try to get a copy of Fiske’s Guide to Colleges and use it to identify other schools to apply to. </p>
<p>Advice if you decide to reapply next year:</p>
<ul>
<li>Study and retake the SAT, bringing your scores up</li>
<li>Realistically, apply to colleges where your stats are on the high end</li>
<li>Agree with those who say women’s college’s (not sure… you are female?) would be a good route to take; some of them do give more generous financial aid to internationals. Again, select ones where your stats are on the high end.<br></li>
<li>It is probably hard for you to find someone at home to help review your essays, but I do think you probably startled the school with an essay about admiring Hitler in your younger days… there are some things you DON’T want the colleges to know about you, and that is probably of them, even assuming you have changed your thinking now! You need someone who can help steer you to topics that tell about yourself, but aren’t too controversial. You mentioned that your EC list told the colleges what they needed to know already about those things. What they don’t tell is how you felt, how what you saw/did changed you, what motivated you to do what you did, etc. You have a long list of ECs, something must have touched you in them… dig into those experiences for a topic. Also, something that reflects your culture and remind the ad com of what you bring to the college that is different than the average American student could be good.</li>
<li>I would NOT list all of those ECs you have down there. Pick the ones you spent the most time on and focus on those.<br></li>
<li>Not sure how your whole app sounded, but you come across as a little snotty about winning the leadership positions in all those clubs. Lose that tone completely in your app (no trace of it at all should be present).</li>
</ul>
<p>One correction to sybbie: Middlebury IS need blind for internationals. </p>
<p>Okay, I’m not an expert, but…</p>
<p>OP, you really don’t seem to have gone about this the right way. </p>
<p>Only a few US colleges are need blind for internationals. They are flooded with applications. Nevertheless, you might as well try for them. Second, there are schools which are NOT need blind but give aid to a number of international students. You can find a good list here:[eduPASS</a> | College Admissions | Choosing a School](<a href=“http://www.edupass.org/admissions/schoolsearch.phtml]eduPASS”>Guide for International Students to Choosing a School in USA - eduPASS) If you really want to come to the US, focus on this list and pick schools where your scores are ABOVE the 75th percentile of students. </p>
<p>As an Indian, you are competing with other Indians. A LAC like Colby is unlikely to admit more than 1-2 Indians per year. I’d suggest you consider applying to some larger schools too. </p>
<p>Are the books you wrote going to be published by a regular publisher? If so, and they actually are published and, even better, sell well, that would definitely boost your odds.</p>
<p>Your essay topics probably hurt you a lot too. They will be kept for next year’s cycle at the schools you applied to this year. So, while you can reapply, you’d be better off starting off with a new list of target schools. </p>
<p>Grad school is a completely different process. What happened now will have NO impact on your applications to US grad schools. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Am thinking this thread is a total joke. No serious college candidate would actually write essays about those topics. IMHO the OP is not real. Just trying to see if they could get anyone to respond. </p>
<p>Can’t figure out why an international, with not much money, would suddenly find all of this money for application fees at all of these schools? Not happening.</p>
<p>^ I got fee waivers from all colleges and every college also accepted the student SAT score report. And about the essays, I am an International without any one to get advice from so I wrote what I honestly felt. </p>
<p>Thanks for all the advice, I will retake the SATs and try and there is always grad school.</p>
<p>yes, and keep in mind there are people on these boards who will look at your essays, if you can’t find someone near home.</p>
<p>good luck to you.</p>
<p>You got fourteen application waivers?!</p>
<p>Ya, getting fee waivers is not so tough if your father’s annual income is just around $4000… Everyone accepted my fee waiver application signed by my vice principal.</p>
<p>… how can your father afford $5k-10k/year if he makes $4k?</p>
<p>Through extended family contributions and education loans…</p>
<p>I am parent trying to share my experience of sending my child to College from India and had a lot of interesting conversations with loads of kids on the Indian forum.</p>
<p>Just want to pitch in, this is one poster who stood out and thought had everything figured out and in my opinion sent across what I would call not very 'healthy" vibes. Nothing personal, since I myself have shied away or tried to avoid direct conversation with where one does not feel comfortable. </p>
<p>So a request from me to put things in perspective one needs to go through he past posts to get a sense of how it has all culminated to this state of “Please help a student…”.</p>
<p>If some of you are genuinely concerned and want to help, just take some time to go through the following links. He/She is a child and nothing personal, but to get a sense of why did not make it to any college…</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/middlebury-college/1292513-chance-me-please-2.html#post13914141[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/middlebury-college/1292513-chance-me-please-2.html#post13914141</a></p>
<p>"I humbly accept that there are tons of people with far better profile than me so I know I would most probably be rejected from all my top choice colleges.</p>
<p>I will work hard, retake the SATs, launch my books, develop my product and reapply next year.</p>
<p>Isn’t this plan of action good ?</p>
<p>I feel that as I am a non native speaker of english so my language
potrayed me as arrogant but believe me I am thankful to everyone for their valuable advice.</p>
<p>Sent from my SGH-T959 using CC"</p>
<p>-Sending messages from a phone worth 200 dollars apprx. (Father’s annual income is 2000k in dollars)</p>
<p>“I am from an EXTREMELY POOR family with annual income of $2000.”</p>
<p>-Does not come across as somebody challenged in English language , also the Essays also point in that direction.</p>
<p>“Sorry if I sound arrogant. Already have full rides at Adelphi U and KSU.”</p>
<p>“The smartphone was a gift from an uncle. ( My uncle has gifted me many more expensive things like ipods, laptop etc )
I have sent in every detail of my books and product ( circuit diagram, info etc ) to the colleges.
The books are not complete yet. Giving the final touches.
NGOs are well and running. ( Registered and successful )
Sorry if I sounded a bit arrogant.”</p>
<p>And the discussion about the Essay topic,</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/india/1288502-harvard-interview-3.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/india/1288502-harvard-interview-3.html</a></p>
<p>"I felt that the colleges had to know what forced a young boy to fall in love with the most evil person.</p>
<p>Why he saw Hitler as a messiah."</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/india/1270009-indian-thread-20-a-15.html#post13911208[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/india/1270009-indian-thread-20-a-15.html#post13911208</a></p>
<p>"Back door entry to Columbia !!!</p>
<p>Excepted full ride at Adelphi’s 4+2 Joint degree BS+MS program with Columbia. 
a if I graduate with a 3.3 GPA and get a recommendation from the director of the joint program.
Guaranteed entry to Columbia if I complete these two requirements."</p>
<p>I have yet to meet anybody who talks like that. I have my doubts about the credentials of this person, nothing personal, something does not feel right. Especially when people with excellent credentials both academic and otherwise (ECs , Full Pay ,phenomenal writing skills, and rigorous curriculum) were really nervous about admissions and were engaged in some serious discussion to make their application as strong and competitive as possible. Just my opinion and I could be wrong.</p>
<p>Huge ■■■■■. First you write that you have a full ride at KSU and were accepted at Columbia, then you write not accepted anywhere. No one believes liars, even when they tell the truth. </p>
<p>Anyway who the hell would write an essay about idolizing Hitler?</p>
<p>In my opinion its not not about the essay (well partly), but more about your scores; which are the first thing that all unis look at. </p>
<p>From an international applicant pool like India’s you need to have a 2100+ SAT, in my school two guys also got rejected from everywhere with sub 2100 scores-luckily they have conditionals from the UK. </p>
<p>Unless you have stellar achievements like winning an international Olympiad or participation in the junior Olympics, nothing can really act as a substitute for good scores.</p>
<p>If finances are your biggest issue, you should have looked into whether or not schools are need blind and considered them in terms of reach, match and safety. This site is perfect for doing just that- scroll through the results thread of your choice unis and think about whether it really is worth applying. Being realistic is extremely important.</p>
<p>From your previous posts I’ve determined that you had no safeties, and by safety I mean places like Drexel. Also the application process itself is extremely expensive, as is retaking every single standardized test. I say you re apply to some safeties for the next semester- not wait till 2013, since according to most sources your scores won’t increase. In my case, both times I took the SAT I got 2120 -.-- and I studied! In addition, on the subject of paying for college; at need blind schools you really do need to have stellar stats if you ask for aid. Even if they don’t overtly state it they do discriminate to a certain extent between applicants who ask for aid and those who don’t.</p>
<p>With all the time an effort you must have put into your initial application I honestly think that going through the whole process again is nothing more than an unproductive use of time.</p>
<p>PS- Apply to UFT, everyone gets in. Also adcoms aren’t superhuman they can’t really determine if your lying or not just by reading your essay; you didn’t have to be THAT honest. I wish you the best for your future.</p>
<p>I don’t think you need anymore bubble-bursting but I’ll chime in with a little anyway. I’m a fellow applicant much like yourself with what I would consider ‘better’ statistics - and I wouldn’t have been surprised to be rejected by all of those colleges had I needed F.A. (those who are need blind to internationals are ridiculously selective. How so? You better be sure you’re amongst the top 10 applicants from India…).</p>
<p>It’s a painful reality check for internationals, but that’s just the way it is.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>OH PLEASE…what kind of educational loans can you get with an income of $4000 a year?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Posted by the OP…OP were you talking about yourself having acceptances to Adelphi and KSU?</p>