<p>I am a student from India currently lIving in Oman. My father has always Had a job in industrial areas so we always lived away from the city. This is the reason that I have theoretical knowledge in a lot of stuff but not much practical experience.
I did manage to teach myself a few skills with the help of internet, but I am doubtful whether this would be enough to get me acceptance in a good university abroad. I have had pretty good scores throughout school, accept for a small period in freshman year, due to moving here and a short period of illness.
I have also stayed in a number of places in India and can easily read Korean. Does this add anything to the diversity preference (if any). I am currently in my sophomore year in high school , so any suggestion you give me now might be really really helpful to me.
I am quite fluent in English with a slight touch of RP accent ( I have no idea where that came from).
What do you guys think??
Do I have any chance of acceptance from a prestigious university (preferably ivy league)??
PS: does blogging count as an EC, even if you don’t have many readers ???
Thanks</p>
<p>Okay I can try to help you. I would say to take challenging classes at your school and get good grades. Are there any clubs or sports at your school that you like? Join them if there are any that you like. If not, maybe you should start a club. Do some volunteer work in your community. Colleges love to see students volunteering. If you can do all of those things, I don’t see why you couldn’t get in to an American university. Being Indian, you are a minority which can give your application something to make you stand out. Also your knowledge of Korean is a big plus for you!
Don’t worry so much about the prestige of your university. There are only 8 schools in the Ivy League. There are WAY more than 8 excellent universities in the United States. There are a few thousand spots at the Ivy League schools and tons of people applying. American students barely have a chance and internationals have even slimmer of a chance. There’s nothing wrong with applying to Ivy League schools though. You miss all the chances you don’t take. But find other schools that you like and fit your needs that are less selective too. Most of the time it doesn’t really matter how prestigious of a school you go to for you undergraduate degree.</p>
<p>Your test scores are what will be truly crucial as to whether or not you are in the running for acceptance at any of the highly selective schools Yes, you will have to submit the grades from each of the schools, and, yes, at some of these schools any poor performance, even freshman year could eliminate your chances. All depends on everyone elses’ package. Why pick someone who had issues one of the four years of high school when there are thousands out there who managed to do well all four years. You see what I mean? But, the test scores are crucially important. Then, anything else, will be the extras if you survive being cut in the test scores and grades departments.</p>
<p>The other issue would be financial need for all but a few schools. Most schools are need aware for internationals and/or have very limited funds to pay for internationals. So if your family can’t pay for your education, you will be in an even longer line for acceptance, and your chances of being cut will be all the more, since there are limited funds at most schools for international students.</p>
<p>But my school doesn’t offer any thing other than academics…no olympiads…no quizzes and most organizations don’t accept individual applications…
What should I do ??</p>
<p>
No-No-No. Being an Indian, you will never have any advantage! In fact, this will cut down your chances by a lot!</p>
<p>
Search! I know nothing about opportunities in your country of residence. Search to your best effort, and try to get information from others. If there is absolutely nothing (like Olympiads, volunteer opportunities, etc.), then you have to cross your fingers in this matter and concentrate on the other parts of your application.</p>
<p>BTW here’s a writing error in your original post:
That should be except. You might have mistyped it unknowingly but you probably want to avoid it to score high on the SAT.</p>
<p>Thanks @hopingforbetter</p>
<p>:p actually it was the Autocorrect on my phone</p>
<p>@hopingforbetter</p>
<p>Please elaborate how being an Indians can cut down my chances???
Maybe I can counterbalance them in some way…</p>
<p>Being Asian cuts your chances down like hell. It’s a bit unfair but Asians are usually discriminated against in the admissions process to promote diversity. Research it. Now when you’re an INTERNATIONAL ASIAN, your chances cut to half. First, you’re an international student and then you’re an ORM (over-represented minority). Just like URMs have an advantage, we have a disadvantage. Your knowing Korean definitely balances quite a bit. Emphasize your unique heritage and experiences in your essays and you won’t get the worst of it. 
Best of luck!</p>
<p>Also, anything you’re passionate about counts as an EC, including blogging. I’m not a 100% on this but I think HBCSE lets you register for the olympiads (the real ones, not the
SOF or other miscellaneous ones) individually. I might be wrong though.</p>
<p>I contacted them…but they said that I am an NRI…therefore I Will have to apply through school</p>
<p>Try out the Google International Science Fair. This seems to be the only thing that you can do now(?). Remember that it’s incredibly difficult but nevertheless give it a try.</p>