<p>Its so unpredictable these days…Its become a sort of lottery…especially for internationals. I know people who had the same stats as me( actually better :p) and still got rejected by safeties( ok you can also call them reaches…).
There is no point arguing…all these colleges are very selective and mostly (please correct me if I am wrong/mistaken) base their decisions on some of the intangible factors of the applicant pool.
Come on …How much of a choice do they have when 4000 Indians apply to a top tier school with near perfect stats and all have international/national medals…I wouldn’t blame them. Just keep your hopes up :)</p>
<p>I am not saying this because I got selected at good university(at least in my eyes) but because even I was rejected at many of the top schools…where I thought i had a good shot at.</p>
<p>‘for colleges may accept and colleges may reject, but you will go on forever.’
-quiver frost :D</p>
<p>Well, I do have an acceptance, WPI, with a really good scholarship. I have a few waitlists too. But my disdain is at the system which discriminates against internationals asking for money (not literally). </p>
<p>I may yet be more fortunate than many others who are forced to take a gap year due to unsatisfactory results.</p>
<p>What a sense of entitlement… American universities don’t owe Indian nationals in Dubai any more that universities in India or Dubai owe Americans anything…</p>
<p>Admissions at most US universities are ‘need-blind’, i,e, you are admitted or denied based on your profile. Upon admittance your file is sent to financial aid wherein aid decisions are then made. If you were rejected from a number of schools it was because of your academic profile not because of need. Many programs offered (loans & grants) are funded by the US federal government; I fail to see how restricting those offerings to the children of US taxpayers is ‘unfair’.</p>
<p>Second, many private scholarships at US universities come with restrictions placed on them by the funders. Universities have limited options on this front. </p>
<p>Third, scholarships from endowments are completely at the discretion of the university. Yet it is hard to see how offering scholarships to the vast majority of the pool while spending less on foreign nationals who often have state paid alternatives is somehow unfair.</p>
<p>While your ignorance of the workings of financial aid offices can be forgiven, choosing to focus simply on the meritocracy argument while ignoring the very real financial pressures facing universities is both convenient and naive.</p>
<p>Any rejection from a safety, by definition, almost guarantees that it wasn’t a safety. Because aside from not submitting something by the deadline, a safety is a school that you are sure to get into. Either it’s almost a sure thing and on a rolling admission, so you will know early, or it has a cutoff that if you are above this mark you will get in. Even the giant state universities have these now and they are by no means schools that are not prestigious.</p>
<p>Secondly, even at private universities in the United States, there is a lot of funding with public monies. For those international students who are looking for a school to attend in the United States, you SHOULD pay the full sticker price. The fact is that at most universities, even the full sticker price does not cover the cost it truly takes to educate you for the 4 years. Now I understand that if you have exceptional merit, that some schools will throw some financial aid your way, but for the most part, you are trying to enter a system into which you have not contributed and may possibly never contribute. It is only fair that the number of international students in limited and that ability to pay (need aware) is take into consideration.</p>
<p>I don’t know where you are from, but assuming you are from a country where the post secondary education is essentially free and paid for by your tax dollars. Would it make sense for me to show up for four years, pay next to nothing, and then leave 4 years later? That’s essentially what you’re asking for, just to a lesser degree!</p>
<p>your comments are pretentious!!! I’m not saying you’re wrong. but what about someone who has had to go through a long time in school and had to do some part time job ??? well what can that kid gain , a medal? no all of you need to understand that opportunity follows money. and some of my fellow friends has gotten into places and nearly all of them are full ride. how will you explain this thing. what you’ve achieved? some awards? some great results/ some great things?</p>
<p>all of us who have responded to this thread are good enough to understand why universities have rejected you. not because your profile. because of your personality. if you people are so good and contributing to finances of US, why are you going to USA? why can’t you establish universities in INDIA to show world how to give education to others? and do universities in your country provide free education to a lot of internationals? if not, shut your mouth and stop acting like you’ve achieved everything. and what you have achieved ? how many patents?</p>
<p>To the OP,
I’m sorry you didn’t get into your top choices. I’m sure that sucks. But don’t feel too bad for yourself! Tons of kids all over the world will never get an education. You’re living the dream just by being able to go to college. I’m sure you’ll have fun at Pitt. It seems like a big state school in Pennsylvania. You’ll still have a good college experience. Who knows, this might be a blessing in disguise and there’s an awesome opportunity waiting for you there. There’s tons of new people to meet, Pittsburgh seems like a big city with a lot to do, and most schools have tons of student organizations to help you make friends and not be bored. I think you’ll like it once you get there!</p>
<p>@drextor You think I haven’t spent long hours in school and done other things? Hell, I’ve probably worked way harder than you. Do you have any idea how taxing the Indian CBSE system is? We Indians coast through your american school systems because they are so easy.</p>
<p>So don’t talk about hard work because I’ve done a lot of it. And I’ve been accepted to a great college too (with a huge scholarship).</p>
<p>It is narrow minded people like you who defy the liberal and welcoming nature of America. I live in a community filled with Americans (I don’t live in India) and they are all very welcoming and supportive, so I know that you aren’t like most of them (and that’s not something to be proud of for you).</p>
<p>So you can take your ideas and go home, because I don’t care what people like you think.</p>
<p>@himan, no one is doubting your abilities, and many international students are well qualified. What you lack is your contribution to OUR system (or your parents’ as the case may be). There are scholarships that are funded by endowments for people like you, and I presume that is one of the ones you got. They are hard to get, and precisely because you have gotten one shows your abilities and dedication to academics. But they are few and far between because most people in this nation are looking to support others from this nation and the government which sponsors the plurality of financial aid awards is looking to support its taxpayers.</p>
<p>What people are disagree with you on is the fact that you think it’s an inherently unfair system, but you are forgetting a critical point–you are a guest in the system. There is no reason that they system <em>needs</em> to be fair to you, but rather the system opens up limited spots for guests like you due to our respects for those from “other lands” who have exceptional skills and prowess.</p>
<p>back to the OP …@ CMU you apply to the individual college/program of your choice (as many as you want). Last year Tepper acceptance rate was 11.9% so in spite of your high stats it’s not safe enough to be a sure thing for anyone.</p>
<p>Pitt has an honors program–it’s a fine school.</p>
<p>maybe he’s burnt out and wants an educational system that values the community of the learning environment as much as the classroom? There are plenty of reasons why American schools are better and plenty of reasons why they are worse. At the end of the day, you just need to find what is best for you!</p>
<p>Before this post, I had never ever talked to anyone about my academic qualification and other things. But because you mentioned it, here it goes, </p>
<p>I’m a straight A student. it is full IB. so yes, I had to do a little bit of hard work. What do you think? it is easy? yes it would be easy if I was born with a platinum spoon in my mouth but I didn’t. I had to work 15 hours per week in high school years. three of my summer research were published in the top science magazine of my country. and most importantly, I’ve designed 11 printed circuit boards which are being used by my workshop to fix the problem we face to repair electronics. you can say I’m rich but my father barely makes $4000 per year. I’m not overqualified or anything but why you’re comparing with someone who has to take a gap year to support his education? I’m not narrow minded or anything but if I get into your place in April 2014 with no acceptance letter in my hand, I wont going to make any harsh comments because they didn’t give me an opportunity . I will be satisfied with myself as I have given my 100%. why you are making such comments if you have gotten into a good university? don’t compare yourself with someone if you haven’t been in his shoes. I have done some good things in school because I wanted to impress admission committee. because before last November, I didn’t know about SAT. I didn’t know how to apply to US universities.</p>
<p>@drexter OMG, you’re proud of being a straight A student in IB? Yeah well that’s not gonna impress me, because that’s not at all difficult to achieve. I have friends in IB and I’ve seen the course load, which is really too easy.</p>
<p>You’ve created some circuit? Well, i work on cars used by people in their daily lives (I work at Peugeot). I don’t think not knowing about how to apply to a US university is something to be proud of either. Oh and I attend 28 hour/week classes in the summer and work even after that.</p>
<p>But let’s not make this a competition, because I’m not competing with you for anything and I do acknowledge that there are many Americans far more qualified than you and me. Although, the number of those students is really small and the vast majority who go to the ivies and others get in with much less effort than an international going to the same university.</p>
<p>Moreover, you have no idea how much internationals have contributed to your economy. America is an amalgamation of several different communities, many from foreign nations and if you can’t understand that, well too bad.</p>
<p>To the others, well, I am not disdainful of the American higher education system, I consider it among the best (if not the best) in the world. And it’s no surprise that people from around the world want to come and study in the states. What I am a little disappointed with, is that many foreigners who are better qualified that americans, are severely disadvantaged because they can’t pay their way through. I’m not talking about myself here, but I’m talking about so many others that I’ve met who have had to sit at home for a year because try couldn’t pay their way through. Tell me I’m wrong if you think this is fair.</p>
<p>But I guess there’s no point talking to someone like you because you need to explore the world and get out of your ‘American bubble’ to actually understand what I say.</p>
<p>@vinceh, Only 5 US universities are need blind to internationals. And I’m not talking of federal grants from the government, I’m talking about institutional aid.</p>
<p>To the others, I’m getting off this forum because there’s no point talking to people who don’t know anything about the world outside America. </p>
<p>Good bye. Once again, I hope you get out of your ‘American bubble’.</p>
<p>Look, @quiverfox, I don’t have anything against people, because that would be wrong. I just aired my opinion in one comment and some people decided to challenge it. All I have done is defended my opinion. Now I acknowledge that every one has one’s own opinion, so I hope we all can move on from this, more mature. </p>
<p>I have learnt something here, and I hope some of you have too.</p>