I am 17. Old enough to give college advice LOL.

APPLIES TO INDIAN APPLICANTS TO UNIVERSITIES ABROAD

It is hard to imagine that school is done. I thought I would have to walk home from the railway crossing for some more time, try to finish chemistry at the rate of one chapter per hour for some more time (okay well this one is a relief), draw parallelepipeds and polka-dotted cubes along the margins of my notebook for some more time and make ‘logical’ predictions of my college acceptances for some more time. I will not succumb to any clichés. Will elude the “what an amazing journey”, “such a hell of a ride”, “gave me everlasting memories”, and all the stuff that makes you cringe (not to mention that my first sentence was the epitome of cringe-worthiness (oh look even the self-deprecation is cliché!)).

So I will simply tell you very specifically (look here all prospective foreign universities applicants!) what I did right and what I could have done better (nothing was wrong, happens for a reason peeps!).

1)    Start early. I didn’t. I was still deciding until middle of 11^th grade. But if you are a late bloomer and are reading this in junior year, don’t worry, everything is under control. So first things first, take a deep breath and realize how absolutely useless any sort of stress would be. You will still be alive, still have a roof to live under, still have medicines when you fall ill and still have alternatives or a second chance if things don’t work out.  
2)    Assuming you have the ground rules clear, let’s move on to the more specific application bits. I will take you through everything that makes up your application to college, step by step. Your grades, your tests, your activities, your essays, the money games and everything, bear with me.

       3) Also, at any point in the upcoming bombardment of advice, if you disagree with me, please know that I speak from first-hand experience of my application and from what I have very consistently noticed in acceptance rejection waitlist trends at colleges. But I am only 17 then. I should hardly understand this. I may be phenomenally wrong. Then, so can be anyone. So take everything with a grain of salt if you like, but the insight is worth sharing so I will just write away! 😊

STANDARDIZED TESTS

 Get this right. Some say “standardized test scores don’t matter” and some say that people who say “standardized test scores don’t matter are wrong”.

They might not matter in context of your entire application in some cases. But if you want to be able to decide between Indian colleges (especially if you are a prospective STEM major) and US universities as early as possible, get a great score so you can work accordingly in the future and expect to get admission into at least a decent university, probably less financially feasible (referring to well ranked state schools with strong focus on academics).

Now, do they matter in top tier admissions?

The answer is they matter enough for you to take them seriously and try again if you don’t get your score in the first time. I have seen wonderfully intelligent people (with external validation too) get rejected. So don’t leave any string un-pulled!

SAT or ACT?

Whatever suits you. I took the old SAT two times and new one once to finally have a great score. I never attempted the ACT, despite its rising popularity, because the new SAT was more lenient on time and had a better Math component for me. So try both of them once when you prepare and choose for yourself what suits you better. I will probably make a new post about SAT advice later.

What is a decent score?

A score which shouldn’t negatively affect your application and be just another “checked” point I suppose would be like 1540 in new SAT and 34 in ACT. BUT AGAIN, I have seen students get admitted to ivies with 33 and rejected despite of 36. So try your best to get your best score to be on the safe side.

Subject tests?

 Definitely. STEM majors 101%. Some colleges require it anyway. And you know what, get 800s. It’s terribly easy. BUT AGAIN, I have seen students admitted to top tier STEM colleges with 760s and 750s. So try your best to get your best score to be on the safe side. If you have traditionally prepared in coaching institutes or tuitions, GET THOSE 800s. It eliminates reasons for the adcoms to eliminate you!

Advanced Placement Exams

Yes take them. They may not matter much in college applications but, if you are serious about US, will save up a lot of money in quite a few colleges. I gave Calculus BC and Mechanics and will give CS A and Bio now to earn around 40-50 credit units already.

SCHOOL EXAMS

Please perform well in these! And for god’s sake, STUDY EVERYDAY. No matter how many activities you are participating in, give at least an hour on even your worst days. This is something I didn’t do at all. Know that you can’t cruise through your exams like you did earlier without giving up all sleep in the breaks between your final exams (hello CBSE!), and this is coming from someone known for gobbling up entire books in a matter of a couple of days.

BUT AGAIN, mediocre scorers get in while top scorers do not.

EXTRA-CURRICULARS

Disclaimer: I will advise with respect to STEM majors here. Can’t trust myself with the rest.

As STEM majors, you have a lot of scope to fill up your CommonApp. Internships, awards, competitions, exams, projects, welfare, research, any form of expression really.

As I said before, do your best.

Start pulling all strings. Contact professors, preferably from reputable universities in India or abroad if possible, and take up research. I worked with someone mostly highly disinterested and published a paper entirely on my own and did original research entirely on my own. I hope you guys get to be in a better position. Networking is the key. I know some hardcore STEMmies like me might hate it, but the sad truth is what it is. Definitely ask your parents to get some leads for you if possible.

Same goes for internships and offline certified courses. Same goes for working on projects individually or with a team. I had to do most projects alone and that left me panting as I ran between 5 places everyday last summer trying to get things done. I thought later, mostly to console myself, that working alone might show more calibre or sorts but no. Unless you really describe all your struggles in the process in an essay, adcoms will probably not even register the difference between a team/individual initiative. So try to make work more efficient and manageable. I failed in this area terribly. Sacrificed all no-work time juggling everything.

Most importantly, try to get some recognition. Do something at a level beyond school to have your best shot at standing out. Make an app, start an organization, publish original work, etc. [NOT TO MENTION EVERYONE DOES IT NOW. CARVE YOUR WAY TO STANDING OUT].

In short, if you are capable enough to do these things, add on to your platter of skills the ability to network a bit more. That’s the key.

ESSAYS

BWAHAHAHAHAAH. Please sorry but when anyone says “she/he got in because of better essays” LOL. I sympathize with you that ability to write should not be a reason to eliminate an otherwise wonderful candidate. SADLY, that’s how things work. Those tier one colleges need some masala to make their “holistic” decisions.

So well, your only option is to give them that masala. Write about unconventional ideas and topics but do not overdo it. Please do not describe an extracurricular or some struggle plainly like it happened. Derive metaphors and learning and sure as hell vary sentence structure and furnish vocabulary. This is a very subjective area. Cannot comment much. But make sure your essays align with your interests. Make sure they, wait what do the experts say, “let your passion come through” since they are only interested in “what make you you” (slight sarcasm, apologies).

WHY YOU WILL BE REJECTED DESPITE OF A WONDERFUL APPLICATION

Okay now. Buckle up. You may work very hard. You may sacrifice everything. You may struggle more than others. You may feel you deserve the best. But you may (or may not!) need financial aid. Lolled right there. LOOK. Competition is tough. Internationals are a major source of income at these aid giving top tier universities. Candidates asking for aid WILL BE significantly disadvantaged. SO PLEASE LOWER YOUR EXPECTATIONS TODAY, RIGHT NOW. Even super deserving applicants asking for no aid will get much less than they expect in many cases. WHY?

Aid/no aid, legacies, US citizens, city/area representation, selectivity of a particular major, minority gender in a major, very difficult past, very resourceful background and sometimes a stroke of luck – after accounting for all this, as Ed Boland put it, “there isn’t much room left for your generic genius”.

So what do we do? We spread our net wide. We apply to all kinds of colleges. We lower our expectations. And we work really hard. PLUS we work smartly to maximize our chances.

And we let it all go. All strings detached.

GENERAL COMMENTS: Not bragging, just telling you how things are, I had pretty much all prestigious competitive academic achievements of India put together. Loads of awards. Loads of work in Computer Science (also most competitive major lol). Really unconventional essays. I applied for financial aid. Got waitlisted at Columbia, UPenn, Princeton. But on the brighter side got into Carnegie Mellon SCS (yay, also 50L Rs. Per year lol), Olin College of Engineering, Vanderbilt, and Rice (last three with aid/scholarships) which have lower acceptance rate for CS than do some ivies. Got into USC (with just nom for scholarship), UCLA, UIUC, UCSD, and likes and HK universities (with targeted HKSAR Government scholarship given to less than 10 students worldwide including Hong Kong) and Canada universities.

AGAIN I AM NOT BRAGGING: I AM TELLING YOU THAT MANY PEOPLE WITH STRONG APPLICATIONS WILL GET REJECTED. I AM NOT A GENIUS BUT I HOPE YOU CAN SEE THE RANDOMNESS OF ADMISSIONS FROM THIS.

SO, know that what happens to you happens for the best. And as I always say, “Keep Calm and Apply Everywhere" LOL.

Cheers,

MYD 😊

                        

 

Insanity.

Once upon a time, there was a girl. She did not have a brain with pre-defined boundaries. Because a defined brain has defined limits of forming arguments. But her brain was an inexorable argument machine. And those were not ordinary arguments, those were incomprehensible modifications of the previously made statement. Have you ever played the game called 'CUT'? Basically, you have to use a word from the ongoing song to begin another song. So, her arguments were like the game called 'CUT'. She held on to any one word/one concept and murdered it in the most brutal manner possible. Then she took another word/idea from the process of murder to continue the vicious cycle. But the burning question is how she coped with this 'ability'?
     It played in her favor sometimes. Most times it drove her crazy. In fact she could not even use this power to argue with others thanks to the chaos inside of her. It only played in her favor when she was introspecting or contemplating over a theory. And she would smile to herself, satisfied. Also, she would wonder if she could gather all those thoughts in a hard disk and hide it under her bed. So that one day when tourists will visit her house (that is sure to have made itself a historical landmark), they will be showed that place. And her hard disk would be prized for centuries, but not used.  Use would flood the world. And she would have hated it. Entire civilizations wiped out by her thoughts. Though that is what she secretly desired, in a context that I will leave you to conjecture. Sometimes she wished she could throw some of those thoughts away. Sometimes she just wished she could utilize all that brilliant dialog in a more visible manner. But enough about her, lets come to my today's post.

Note: Did you notice my obsession with full stops? I use them instead of commas. Ands. Buts. Semi.Colons.Hyphens.

I believed in karma to the point of insanity. Like I would tell myself to finish my the last morsel instead of mashing it to the smallest pieces(so that it looks like inconspicuous remains) before putting the plate into the sink, so that I get a good score in my exams. I would feel my true work in an exam was in jeopardy if I disrespected that morsel. And that is just a trivial example. Do I still believe in karma? As a person with a scientific bent of mind, I might be forced not to. But every scientist has been haunted by the "Who made it all?" mystery. So I would rather adhere to a reasonable solution than elude it by cunning methods. Yes. I do believe in it and the entire concept related to it. But I have a bigger reason to put faith in it. It keeps me going. If something bad happens, I tell myself I have done enough good to get something good happening to me. I am always calculating. Its a bit crazy. But its like my personal log-book which I feel kind of identifies me. Gives me something to write about in my autobiography(Wink emoticon). And I wish to continue, but I am now what one of my friends likes to call it - 'phased out'.

MYD.

Dreamerdom.

If there were an award for the best dreamer or a paegent Miss Dreamer, I can assure you that I would have won. There is not a single night when I don't dream. And I am a bit of a day-dreamer too (Understatement, I beg your pardon). Now, when I say dreams, I extend the word's jurisdiction to all aspects of it. I could go on and on talking about my dreams, in fact I could start another blog just for a daily  narrative of my dreams. But I wish to make a bigger and more pressing point here. That is in relation to our dreams, our desires and our ambitions.
 
Now, there are two ways of looking at it. The first kind of people follow a very cautious and seemingly practical approach. The second kind understand the complete truth, because they have kept their minds open. Open in order to grab the real meaning of all our endeavours. The first kind either dream but push their dreams away or they don't dare to dream. The second kind see that there is a certainty to only one thing in this universe, and by recognising that they have the advantage of additional  impetus and zeal. And so they dream a bit more and bit often.

But what is the right way of looking at it? I am absolutely certain that there is not any. To be a chef in the world's best restaurant is a dream to one. To be a chef to one's own children alone is a dream to another.  Now, would you even call it a dream? Yes, why not? Maybe it does not require all the self-hype as we create for ourselves and our dreams, but if it gives happiness and willingness to continue, it is basically a dream come true. Some of us think that a worthy life is one that has done something "great". I, too,belonged to that class of people. And we think that the others are aimless,  ambitionless and wasted. Now,  I realise that I don't really have the right to cast people as a particular unworthy kind. Maybe I look like a stupid fellow chasing apparently unreachable goals to them. And then,  they are not wrong. The point is, nobody is really right or wrong in deciding how to live or dream.

It is our own act, you see. All the world is a stage and the men and women merely players. Yes, we are players. And as we step onto this beautiful planet, we bring with us the inviolable right to play our own game. Right to define our own act. Some of us prefer to be the protagonists, some the antagonists, some the background artists and so on and so forth. But I am sure you will all agree that the role of each one is paramount. Without any, this play is incomplete.

Some people tell me that the few posts in my blog are negative about my country(though most are meant to be generalised). But I don't see any harm in accepting the truth. In fact, I criticise only because I care. I observe because I know that I, like everyone else, have the power to change the world. I dream big. I want to make my act grand. But then it's my choice - not right, not wrong, just mine. Just my dream.
You chase yours.
You act well.
You live well.
Make Your Dent.
MYD

Readerdom.

Hi!
Long time, no read.

Nothing can make me smile like a well written essay or story or even a sentence. I guess that applies to many of us. What is it about language that is so enchanting? Music does it too. Movies. Photographs. But there is another kind of pleasure in reading, that cannot be derived from elsewhere. A perfect celebration is a good book, cozy room and peaceful surroundings. Sometimes when I am not reading, I imagine myself reading, which is enough to make me happy. Just the thought.
   Everyone has a different taste for reading. I cannot expect all readers to be enraptured by an intricate description of a beautiful landscape or by the classic, aristocratic language that transports you to another era or by a flowing, witty and comic dialogue or clearly explained mathematical theorems. But everyone surely is touched by some sort of words. There is one particular type that I have been exposed to, a lot, in the books that I and most of the my-age-people have read AND in the movies and shows watched. The witty-remark-laugh-witty-remark-again-impressed-but-i-will-end-the-wit-game kind. Whoa. Many books use this type of writing a lot. Either because the authors know readers love it or because it is understood that there is a general lack of it in reality (could be solely my case). Then there is a type that describes the beauty in the waves, the elegance in the dew drops and the sound of crickets. It is actually enjoyable when it comes intermittently. But sometimes it reaches the length of three-quarters of a page and then it becomes boring. The classic English one? Honestly, I tried to keep myself away from it as much as possible but being a voracious reader as I am, some did catch my attention. While most people dislike classics, like me until very recently, I think it is mostly because of our pre-set bias that they are considered incoherent. Not only the fiction/non-fiction reads, but also the academic ones can be captivating(No, seriously), given that they are written with a lot of illustrative effort. Of course, there are a lot more categories. But I have wanted to do this for a while now:
To be continued...



MYD

ThatWorld.

This post is not going to be a passionate outflow of words against most of our “systems”. I will adhere to the sweet part of me, instead of the spunky one. I want to write about books. I even want to write books, but I wouldn’t know what to write about. I will probably end up writing about the Pythagoras Theorem or Bohr’s postulates.

    I generally read all those books typically suited for teenagers, fantasy/fiction sorts. My love for these is very obvious from the fact that I haven’t missed a single word in the Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Percy Jackson, Heroes of Olympus, Divergent, etc. series. I have read and reread every single bit of every single book. And I am a voracious reader. Not boasting, but I finished The Fault In Our Stars in 6 hours, which could have been bettered if mom didn’t disturb me for snack, milk, dinner and eye-rest. While the effective reading time is short in my case, the total involvement with a story lasts for weeks. When I am reading, I am simultaneously imagining, creating the scene in my mind palace. And then when I think about that book in bed, I recreate those scenes and wish that I dream of the book. But these wishes have conditions. The protagonist or the next-to-protagonist is replaced by me. Earlier, I used to take the female lead’s position. But after my feminist ideals evolved, I take the lead, whatever the gender. And I have all kinds of stupid, horror, serious, action, drama dreams, but only ONCE did I actually dream of a book (I stood in the middle of 12 Greek gods after some heroic battle). Guess my brain gets so overdosed that it doesn’t want to think about it anymore. Recently, I have been resisting all urges to read a book because I know that if I do, I will get lost. Get lost in the world of fiction, fighting every moment to get out of it.

        My older friends ask me to read non-fiction or very-realistic-fiction novels. And it’s a straight no from my side. Because according to me the whole point of reading a novel is escaping from reality. Don’t we live in the real world all the time already? Yes, but books could be misleading too. People say that they give you a sugar-coated version of most things, cherry-topped with a happy ending. I believe that is why most authors these days make sure that they kill our favorite characters in the end. Unnecessary reality checks. Or maybe we would not like those books so much if the end was not impactful and un-cliche(accent). If we didn’t feel like strings were detached and pleasure stolen. Maybe that is what leaves us wanting for more. For a sequel. It is probably a strategy to leave the readers wondering, hence wanting more explanation from the author.

    I wish to make a cliff-hanger statement but

MYD

RelSystem

Belated Happy Diwali!

     A lot of our lives revolve around festivals. And well, they are very welcome. Welcome because I think they give a good break. A good excuse to skip homework ("There was a puja yesterday"). And some good fun with the guests. But to think of the underlying hypocrisy...
    The altruists, the business men, the police men, the criminals, the thieves- all celebrate the same festivals the same way. Now, festivals are supposed to be those days when something grand happened in mythology or just a day charted out by the constellations (or whatever astrology goes behind it) when we worship more than we do normally. But then it is surprising that all kinds of people pray for the same thing, regardless of their deeds. Now now there is another topic that I do not want to touch here. But to make the understanding of my thoughts clearer, I would say this. I not going to start speaking of karma nor am I going to talk of Godly existence. But I just wanna say that the supreme power that governs the universe must not be blind to the deed record of someone. And that is clear in most situations. Now I should return to the hypocrisy or else my creepy-over-age-philosophy will... become creepy.
   So yeah, even the most corrupt of ministers and the most brutal of murderers pray for more money or I don't know ...more victims?? And I don't think that the God they are worshiping fulfills their wishes based on the sweets they offer or the money they give in the temples(which finally goes God DOESN'T know where).
God does not want people to fight in her name. God does not want the destruction of her creations unnecessarily. If only we understood.

MYD

EdSystem

A little late? Yeah. Busy with what we call education.
After my last post, I received mostly positive feedback. I could not think that anyone would not agree with my overflowing expressions on such a pressing issue. But some actually did not like it. It is called "unnecessary" or "not exactly true". And I realized they were right. If I were to be defined in one word, it would be- complicated. So sometimes my complicated thoughts don't come out uncomplicated (mostly *emoticon*). And I accept and understand the meaning and importance of what is called an 'opinion'. Nothing is right and nothing is wrong. Yet we spend all our lives trying to do 'what we feel is right'. That is it. Rightness is FELT. Not DEFINED. But if we all give up trying to do something just because there anyways isn't any RIGHT, what will be the point? So I must, you must, we must: DO. More on this later.

Where was I?
      Education.
My life has basically followed this pattern: Study. Play. Fun. Exam. Result. Post-ResultReaction (which can vary from celebration [which further varies from watching a movie to going swimming/shopping] to tears[the same old variety always *failed attempt at funny*]). It has been particularly affected by the exams. For me, exams are always unwanted(that goes for most people I guess). I have always thought that 'exams do not test one's true potential', 'they are the worst performance days', 'not the right way of assessment' and the most cliche(e with the weird slash on the top) of all- 'Did not prepare'. But the sad truth is that while I curse exams, I celebrate like crazy everytime they go well( I actually do, to all those who know me).
     Drifted again.
Now to speak of the SYSTEM. The system goes beyond schools and teachers and exams. It starts at home. And very often, education is associated with career. There are many families where a particular career is favored. It is mostly engineer/doctor here. And oh that phrase- "Lucrative job offers". (I am glad my parents support me in what I do. <3 ) The entire matter is: Job. Most people do not really bother to explore. They stick to the norm. And they end up being happy sometimes. They end up killing themselves sometimes.

Here in India, you see more advertisements of 'Coaching Institutes' than you do of smartphones and refrigerators. [Coaching rhymes with poaching( In all ways.).] Rigorous classes for students wishing to grab high ranks in the most prestigious competitive examinations. (My whole post needs to be in quotes.) Every other day its the institutes advertising their numbers-of the selected, the qualified and I wonder why not: The Killed. Let me tell you already that I myself go to a coaching institute. If my mum and dad told me to sit at home and never go to coaching again, I would never agree. I cannot tolerate the absence of exciting knowledge. I cannot tolerate not learning. I love to attend the classes more than anyone else. I love the teachers. But the part of coaching I do not like is how they(whoever are the masterminds) ruin the joy of knowledge with the stress of 'consistent GOOD performance'. How all the awesomeness math and numbers is destroyed by the other numbers. The growing suicide incidents are obviously not liked by the institutes. They do not mean to kill. But they must still understand that without intending to to do so, this is happening. And so a solution must be found.
     And the masterminds are not the only ones who need to work. The folks need to too. The society needs to. No child will kill herself because she is doing something she likes. There is a serious misconception ingrained in us: Good job. Good life. Comes from HARD work.
1. If you are working HARD, you are actually doing something that is difficult. But if you did something you enjoyed, well then it would be FUN work.
2. Straight from a super-hit movie: First Excellence. Then Success.
3. Good Life follows. (Thanks Dad for all the counseling.)

We must do what we like. We must learn for the pleasure of learning.

P.S. Wrote this one in mid-sleep. Because I really wanted to. So, disconnected thoughts.

MYD