Getting into Ivy League from India: Chances & Impact

[anubodh]

I am from INDIA and want to go in one of the ivy league universities.I had an excellent academic record and also an reccomendation letter from CSIR (India's premier government research body) assiatant scientist as i have worked with him on a research paper (yet to be published).
But the only downfall is my class 11th grades (only 66%) because i concentrated more on invention competetions throughout the year.

So i want to ask will this (bad grades in 11th) have a very significant imapct when i apply?
Also what are my chances of going into these universities?
And lastly will this reccomendation letter will prove to be a great achievement for me or getting such letter is common?

Thank You

 

[ZapperZ]

I am from INDIA and want to go in one of the ivy league universities.

Why? Do you have the erroneous impression that these are the only worthwhile universities to attend here in the US?

Zz.

 

[SpecialPerson]

Hi anubodh.

Grades are not the only thing in your application. Things like extracurricular activities, recommendation letters etc are valued very importantly as well. However, especially for Ivy League and other similar universities, grades need to be above par as well. If the other parts of your application are stellar though, you may stand a decent chance.

Also, why do you want to go to any Ivy League university? They are different from each other. E.g. one may be great at physics and not at chemistry.

Good luck with your application! :)

 

[mfb]

Why? Do you have the erroneous impression that these are the only worthwhile universities to attend here in the US?

Why limit that to the US? There are many good universities elsewhere.

 

[ZapperZ]

Why limit that to the US? There are many good universities elsewhere.

I wasn't the one doing the limiting. The OP asked about Ivy League schools, which implied here in the US. Is the name "Ivy League" used elsewhere in the world? I was not aware of that.

Zz.

 

[SpecialPerson]

There is a big problem with these classifications like "Ivy League" which makes applicants make those universities their "dream school" without actually knowing why it is special at all.

 

[ZapperZ]

There is a big problem with these classifications like "Ivy League" which makes applicants make those universities their "dream school" without actually knowing why it is special at all.

Exactly. That's why I ask the OP (and others who had made similar post) on the rational for wanting to get into one of these schools. There are hundreds of universities here in the US, and many of them are equally as good, if not strong in some areas or another, than many Ivy League schools. So that's why I want to know if this desire is simply based on ignorance, or on some other reasons.

Zz.

 

[anubodh]

Thanks for your replies.
But can you answer more specifically that is the reccomendation letter from a scientist (with whom you have worked) valued a lot or it's common to get.

 

[mfb]

You can always ask your supervisor / more senior co-worker / group leader / whatever for letters of reference. The interesting part is not to have that, the interesting part is the content (and the sender).
Do you have a very renowned expert in your field saying "this is a great scientist! He is amazing!", or some unknown person saying "yeah well, he worked here, it was nice"? You see the difference?

 

[SteamKing]

Thanks for your replies.
But can you answer more specifically that is the reccomendation letter from a scientist (with whom you have worked) valued a lot or it's common to get.

It used to be common for universities to ask applicants for like 3 letters of recommendation when submitting the paperwork to apply for admission. I asked 3 teachers at my high school to write my letters. This feature of the application process was not confined to the Ivy League (none of the schools I applied to were in that group).

The application process is somewhat different now from what I understand. It's more than just sending in the application forms and a check. You should contact the schools you are interested in directly to find out exactly what they require in terms of application submittals.

 

[sunny79]

In India 11th and 12th grade is considered to be college whereas in US it is high school. Which college are you going to currently and in which city? There are some very reputed colleges in India ( I know of Mumbai ) like IIT ( One of the very best engineering schools in the world) and very competitive and tough to get into. In Mumbai there were some reputed colleges for Sciences such as Ruparel, Ruia etc.
11th grade isn't a big deal ( In India ) but a lot depends on 12th grade because your performance in the finals that year and scores in the entrance exams dictates whether or not you will get into a top medical or engineering school. Nonetheless even by Indian standards 66% isn't bad but for sciences it would be frowned upon.

 

[anubodh]

Do they also check our unit tests and semester test report cards or only the official 12th class marksheet for India.

 

[sunny79]

Well! Back in the day 10th grade final scores were considered to be very important since if you wanted to get admitted for a science program in a reputed college it mattered a lot. Arts ( social sciences & humanities ) & commerce ( accounting ) were the least competitive. 11th grade was considered to be a transition period from school to college..
( back then 11th and 12th grade was college). Most people sort of took it easy in 11th grade but some of the good students always scored well and studied hard. 12th grade was when people got a lot more serious making sure they got stellar grades from unit tests and terminals all the way to the finals, including the entrance exams depending on which field you wanted to get into. For medical schools PCB ( physics, chemistry, biology scores ) were considered to be most important whereas for engineering it was PCM ( physics, chemistry and math ). The ambitious students had top grades in every subject. I am sure a lot has changed since then.