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On June 4, 2015, IvyAchievement gave SAT test-takers in Mumbai a chance to meet model and Bollywood star Sonnalli Seygall. Check out our gallery!Students across India (and the world) took the SAT test in preparation for applying to college in the United States. IvyAchievement sent teams to nine testing centers in seven cities in India to spread the word about our company and services. Our team in Mumbai, visited the Cathedral & John Connon School in the Fort neighborhood and the Bombay Teachers’ Training College in the Colaban neighborhod. IvyAchievement gave students there a chance to meet and take selfies with Bollywood star and model Sonnalli Seygall.

On June 12, IvyAchievement hosted a seminar at the Renaissance Lucknow Hotel.

Students from India are applying to college and graduate school in the U.S., U.K., and Canada in increasing numbers. Although English is a common language among all those countries, there are many differences between Indian, American, Canadian, and British English usage, grammar, and punctuation. One of the purposes of this blog will be to point out those differences because it is important to keep them in mind when taking the SAT or ACT, which are written in American English, and when writing college application essays and graduate school application essays. Here are some examples of differences you’ll encounter:

• In Indian and British English, the past tense of “learn” is “learnt.” In American and Canadian English, the past tense is “learned.”
• In Indian, U.K., and Canadian English, the spelling is “colour.” In American English, the spelling is “color.”
• Words that end in “-ise” in Indian and British English usually (but not always) end in “-ize” in American and Canadian English.

This blog post deals with a usage unique to Indian English. It is common in India to use “the same” as a pronoun to refer to a noun or group of nouns immediately preceding it. Example:

I wrote my paper and submitted the same to my instructor.

Although perfectly acceptable in India, this is not common in American, Canadian, or British English and will sound “foreign” or incorrect. In these countries, “the same” is used as a pronoun almost exclusively in legal documents. (Even there, its use is discouraged because of potential ambiguity.) When you’re writing college and graduate school application essays, there are usually two options:

1. Replace “the same” with another pronoun such as “it,” “that,” “those,” or “them.”

I wrote my paper and submitted it to my instructor.

2. Use “the same” as an article and adjective together to modify a noun related to the previous noun. For example, instead of writing:

I sat in my chair on Tuesday and returned to the same on Wednesday.

write:

I sat in my chair on Tuesday and returned to the same seat on Wednesday.

“My chair” is a specific “seat.” Also acceptable:

I sat in my chair on Tuesday and returned there on Wednesday.

Another example:

I loaned you 10,000 rupees last week and I expect the same to be paid on Monday.

Instead, write:

I loaned you 10,000 rupees last week and I expect the same amount to be paid on Monday.

“10,000” is an “amount.” Using a pronoun here (“I expect them to be paid on Monday”) would be inappropriate because you don’t need the same exact rupees; you just need any 10,000 rupees (hopefully not in Rs. 1 coins!)

Yet another example, where “the same” refers to an action:

I started using my left hand to brush my teeth and did the same every day for five years.

Instead, write:

I started using my left to brush my teeth and did the same thing every day for five years.

There is no problem with using “the same” to describe a noun or noun phrase immediately following it. In this case it is functioning as an adjective phrase (article + adjective):

We watched the instructor and painted in the same way.

I watch the same three television shows every day.

My father wore the same shirt for two weeks in a row.

The post Indian Applicants: Stop Writing “The Same” appeared first on IvyAchievement.

Many applicants have asked us what extracurriculars they should choose, which extracurriculars they should emphasize on their activities list, and most importantly, which extracurriculars will “make up for” a “flaw” in an application, like a low 10th grade performance or a less-than-stellar SAT II subject test or ACT subscore.

There are many, many worthwhile issues that charitable organizations are addressing: hunger, poverty, housing, education, violence – the list goes on. Students from all over the world will be involved in all of these. The United States provides a large amount of international aid, which includes funding international aid organizations, and high school students in the United States often get to join those well-funded organizations and have opportunities to travel to other countries for “exotic” and impressive résumé-building activities. Canada is also well-known for coming to the aid of other countries in need, and provides opportunities to high schoolers as well.

International students rarely have these opportunities. But international students have an advantage: they are perceived as having a better chance at actually making a difference in their home countries. Our philosophy is based on crafting your application for a reader who is a human being with the kinds of suppositions, inclinations, and biases that human beings tend to have. Admissions officers, especially those at prestigious colleges and universities in the United States, Canada, and U.K., believe that they are helping to make the world a better place. They believe that an education from their employer will enable graduates to go out and change the world, whether through business, medicine, public service, or social action. They also know that when they admit international students, some of those students will go back to their home countries, and among those who stay in the United States or Canada, most will maintain close ties to their countries of origin.

You should pursue public service extracurriculars that address issues perceived as endemic to your country. Housing, hunger, education, and poverty are problems all over the world, and students worldwide will be involved in alleviating these problems. That’s great, but working in these areas won’t help distinguish you. You should instead choose an issue that meets the following criteria:

• The issue is especially prevalent in your country
• The issue is created or exacerbated by a systematic problem in your country
• The issue has been addressed successfully in other countries

Here are some examples of social causes that students in specific countries should consider working on for their extracurriculars

Toilets in India. Source: CNN, http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/17/world/asia/india-open-toilets-udas/

India

Open defecation

Access to and use of properly configured toilets reduces rates of disease, keep water supplies clean, and generally promotes health. In 2014, the WHO and Unicef estimated (PDF) that 597 million people in India do not use toilets, more than all other countries combined. Most countries have made significant progress on this issue in the past 25 years, but India lags behind. Open defecation has gotten some attention in Western press, so many admissions officers are aware of it. But even if they aren’t, the numbers speak for themselves and it will be easy to convince them it is a problem in India.

This particular issue is also a good thing to work on because many countries, even poor ones, have successfully reduced their rates of open defecation, so it is not an intractable problem. Focus your service extracurriculars on this issue, and you will catch the attention of admissions officers!

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/7349604/Chinese-newspapers-unite-to-call-for-reform.html Credit: AFP/Getty

China

Free speech

The Chinese government is highly restrictive of speech, especially political speech. Universities in the United States (and Canada to some degree) are famous for being hotbeds of free speech movements. If you are involved in trying to liberalize speech laws and get political prisoners released, universities will be much more likely to admit you. Because we want to remain accessible in China, we will not link directly to organizations promoting free speech and opposition political parties in China. Also, this can be very sensitive and you may not feel comfortable writing about it or telling people about it. But if you would like more information, you can use our secure, encrypted contact form. At IvyAchievement, we can help you choose your extracurriculars with the utmost confidence.

Admissions officers in the West dream of having their universities’ alumni going to to effect real change in China. If you can convince them with that you can, you’ll have a ticket to admission.

A Korean couple enjoys a romantic stroll. Source: http://res.heraldm.com/content/image/2015/10/19/20151019001407_0.jpg (Credit: 123RF)

South Korea

Fertility and immigration

South Korea has the lowest birth rate in the world and is tied for the ninth highest life expectancy. This is a product of cultural pressures rather than institutional forces, and leads to long-term social issues as a smaller workforce must economically support an aging population. By 2045 (less than 30 years from now), South Korea could have the oldest population in the world.

Getting involved in this issue can be complicated because as a young person from Korea applying to study abroad, you might be considered “part of the problem.” We are not suggesting that you tell admissions officers you will go back to Korea and have lots of babies, but you should get involved with organizations that promote family-building and/or immigration to Korea.

Source: http://www.elanthemag.com/saudi-arabias-women-driving-ban-what-makes-this-years-campaign-different-from-previous-protests/ Credit: Hyacinth Mascarenhas

Saudi Arabia

Women’s and LGBT rights

Women’s and LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered) rights are issues in every country in the world, but Saudi Arabia is known in the West for being especially repressive. Although we do not encourage applicants to compromise the principles of their faith, we urge all applicants to consider getting involved in these issues, which most Western admissions officers care very deeply about.

Because most students from Saudi Arabia are sponsored by the government (PDF), this could create a conflict if you are openly involved. But if you can find a way to communicate with colleges confidentially to let them know what you’re working on, you boost your chances of admission considerably. Our contact form is encrypted, so please contact us if you would like to know more.

The post These extracurriculars will make up for low grades appeared first on IvyAchievement.

by Shambhavi Gupta

There are several issues standing in the way of Indian students trying to apply to college in the United States and Canada. Colleges in North America are not familiar with Indian academic practices, and high school teachers and administrators in India (with the exception of those in a few elite preparatory schools) are often not aware of admissions requirements in North American schools. Indian students would have more successful admissions if both sides were aware of the academic challenges facing students.

Curriculum

Comparing the Indian system of education and the American system is not “potato-potahto.” That is to say, they are extremely different. For one, the Indian education system focuses primarily on theoretical knowledge and less on practical matters.

When it comes to the college admissions process, Indian students are often not as prepared for the level of English that is tested on the SAT and ACT tests. This is partly because their second language is English and they communicate primarily through their mother tongues, such as Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi, or Tamil. But that’s not all: Indian students have far less experience writing than their American peers.

The Indian education system forces children to produce “quantitative” work – i.e., a two page answer for even a simple, direct question, instead of emphasizing “qualitative” work: effective, well-reasoned communication. But even this “quantitative” work doesn’t involve much quantity: written assignments rarely go longer than two pages, and composition skills are not emphasized. By the time they complete high school, most Indian students have not written anything longer than five pages. Although college application essays do not have to be this long, Indian students often have not learned the composition and editing skills necessary to produce a quality essay.

This also puts Indian students at a disadvantage when doing research work for publications, which can be helpful for college admissions. Lack of quality writing instruction hampers many otherwise talented Indian students. One frustrated friend told me, “While some brilliant ones break through, most others face the consequences of the education system of Indian schools, merely puppets at the mercy of teachers here because nobody cares to listen at all!”

Different Grading Systems

Schools in India use a mishmash of grading systems with a pile of confusing acronyms: CBSE, ICSE, ISC, IB, IGCSE… the list goes on, and this will be topic of another blog post, so keep watching this blog!

Grading Practices

The damage doesn’t end there; some teachers decide on a very stringent marking scheme that can torpedo students’ chances at admission to top American and Canadian universities. For example, an English teacher may decide to give only 70/100 marks as the highest mark in the class – to even the best answer sheet written by any student. They do this because they think (or assume) this will motivate the student to work harder for their other and/or external examinations. But what are these teachers actually doing? Ruining a child’s academic report. For admission to Indian universities, the only thing that matters are boards. But mid-term and end-of-term class grades matter to colleges outside India, especially those in the United States and Canada. Since it’s hard to explain to universities abroad that even if a child has scored 70/100 in English, he or she is the top student in his or her class. When applying to college, it becomes necessary to include an addendum from a school’s principal explaining a particular teacher’s grading practices.

Educating schools about these grading practices should be a priority for counselors and students already enrolled.

Predicted Grades

There is also the issue of “predicted grades.” Many colleges in the U.S. and Canada require your predicted scores at the time of application. This concept is hard to explain to schools in India where no college follows the pattern – all that matters is the final grade, and mid-term grades are not issued at all.

A student from the city of Lucknow, India had faced such a problem: “My school, being a convent, is already very strict with rules and regulations. I suffered a lot when my school refused to give me predicted scores because my principal believed that she could not possibly predict what I’d score in my 12th grade. With a straight no from her, I had to call in my parents and my counselor to convince her to give me my predicted scores with her official signature. She finally agreed but with a lot of conditions – like granting only low predicted scores even after good performance – and hence that also played a major part in my rejections from some schools.” Needless to say, this non-cooperation from schools for something relatively simple is extremely frustrating to Indian students applying to schools in the United States and Canada.

As with many problems, these issues may begin to be addressed by education: education of admissions offices in the United States and Canada, and education of Indian school administrators. Counselors in both the U.S. and India can help with this education. Additionally, Indian students already at universities can communicate these issues to their respective admissions offices.

The post Challenges facing Indian applicants applying to American and Canadian universities appeared first on IvyAchievement.

It’s fall time in October. Most of your peers who are high school seniors are scrambling to put together their college applications, yet they’re not even due until the end of November. What gives

“The early bird gets the worm.” You’ve heard this proverb before, and you’ve probably come to realize how true it holds. The same applies when it comes to college applications. Research shows that applicants have a much higher chance of being admitted to their college or university of choice if they were to apply early. When it comes to early admissions, students have two possible options: Early Decision and Early Action.

Early decision and early action refers to a common college admissions practice used to admit undergraduate freshmen. Through this process, students tend to submit their college applications earlier to their top schools of choice in the month of October and hear back by December or January, whereas most other students hear back closer to April for regular admissions. This method can be extremely powerful if there is a school that you feel strongly about – say, perhaps your dream school.

Students applying through the early decision or early action process are given priority over other students who apply by the normal application deadline. The reason for this is because by applying early, students are making a statement and letting it be known to the school that they have done the appropriate research beforehand and is set on the college or university of their choice. By applying early, you are showing strong commitment to the school, and college admissions counselors will take this into consideration especially if you are also a strong applicant and have maintained strong academics and extracurricular activities.

There are benefits to submitting both early decision and early action applications, but there are also downsides. While applying with an early decision may constitute an early admission, students are bound to attending and enrolling in their school of choice if they are accepted as an early decision applicant. Because you are given priority over the regularly admitted students, you would usually only apply to one school through early decisions. Early action applicants, however, are not bound to their school of choice and are still allowed to enroll in other colleges or universities that they are admitted to.

A third alternative for early admissions is the restrictive early action (sometimes called “single-choice early action”). This non-binding method still allows you to pursue the early action route under one condition: applicants are not allowed to apply to other schools under any early admissions program (i.e., early action, restrictive early action, and early decision). Students can, however, apply to other colleges and universities through the regular admissions process. There may also be exceptions for applying to public universities or schools abroad. While this is not a common offering, these programs are offered at top-ranked colleges, including Harvard, Stanford, and Yale University.

If there is a college or university that you are positive about attending, whether it’s because of the school’s prestigious sports team, the amazing humanities program, or the diversity of the student demographics, you have a chance to stand out amongst thousands of other applicants. Be sure to begin working on your college applications early this October and take advantage of the early admissions process!

Here are early application deadlines for some of the top schools:

The post What’s the difference between early decision and early action? Should I apply? appeared first on IvyAchievement.

Writer’s block can be really tough when it comes to college application essays. Luckily, we’ve come up with helpful tips to help with writing your University of California personal insight essays!

It’s mid-November, and UC application deadlines are rapidly approaching! If you started your application early and are already wrapping up, you’re likely still constantly revising your personal insight essays. After all, you can never “spend too much” time on your future, right?

To help guide you along this process, we will be discussing 5 different tips for writing successful personal insight essays. Below we have shared a personal insight essay from a UCLA alumnus to provide examples for each point we make below.

First, let’s read over the personal insight question. Here’s the prompt:

“Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affected your academic achievement?”

“You know Leon? Yeah, well, he’s in big trouble, and he’s going to jail for a long, damn time.” It took a minute to let the officer’s words sink in as he searched our bedrooms. Outraged, I mindlessly charged at him only to be forced back into the living room. For the first time in years, I found myself crying. I was shocked at what I heard, and I couldn’t imagine life with my dad in prison for growing marijuana.

A household of six dwindled to four. For days, I waited for my dad and stepmom to come home and comfort us, but it never happened. Instead of sitting around to sulk, I made the best of the situation, and I made my family’s well-being my life. With two siblings who needed care and a grandpa who was unhealthy, I stepped into my dad’s shoes and became “the man of the house.”

My time for schoolwork was limited to nighttime after my siblings were asleep. I did practically everything, from taking my siblings to school to buying and cooking food to taking clothes to the Laundromat. In that same time, I even filed for mortgage re-modification when our home underwent foreclosure and managed to save our house. What 16-year old kid has to do this!?

It put me at dismay to take on all these responsibilities. I knew I was needed at home, yet I was envious of my friends who were always out having fun while I was stuck at home vacuuming or washing dishes. But as bills accumulated, I began to wonder: How does my dad support the family (he never graduated from high school)? That’s when it hit me.

My dad always puts in 200% effort into everything in order to create every possibility for me that he didn’t have. The whole reason he was arrested in the first place was that he wanted to provide our family with better living conditions than he had to live, yet I was only complaining about my responsibilities. I then vowed to one day return the favor, and more.

Word Count: 350

1. Be personal.

This is an absolute must. Hence, these essays are called “personal insight questions.” College admissions counselors are expecting you to share a story that is unique to you. Surely, there will be other people in the world who have had similar stories, but every person has a different experience from another. You just have to find what that is.

“You know Leon? Yeah, well, he’s in big trouble, and he’s going to jail for a long, damn time.” It took a minute to let the officer’s words sink in as he searched our bedrooms. Outraged, I mindlessly charged at him only to be forced back into the living room. For the first time in years, I found myself crying. I was shocked at what I heard, and I couldn’t imagine life with my dad in prison for growing marijuana.

At the beginning of this essay, you will find that the writer got personal instantly. From the very start of the first paragraph, he was personal by sharing something that we would not know about him otherwise, all the while presenting the introduction with a captivating anecdote.

2. Be bold, but not inappropriate.

Don’t afraid to be bold. There is a fine line between being bold and being inappropriate. Being bold sets yourself apart from other stories by sharing something that shocks the reader. Being inappropriate sets yourself apart by sharing something your reader should not know – you don’t want to do this! Instead, be a bit risky and change up your rhetoric, word choice, or sentence structure. This can help you be unique by writing in a different style!

“You know Leon? Yeah, well, he’s in big trouble, and he’s going to jail for a long, damn time.”

Notice that the author of this personal statement decided to use the word “damn.” To many students, this may seem taboo for a college application essay, but again: don’t be afraid to be bold. While this is somewhat out of the ordinary, this is exactly what you want! Using the word “damn” added a specific set of emotions to the statement all the while setting him apart from many others’ stories. At the same time, the word is also not inappropriate enough to be distasteful to the reader.

3. Be emotional (show, don’t tell).

Show some vulnerability in your personal statement. We’re not saying you should aim to make your readers cry, but if they happen to, it’s not necessarily a bad thing. Especially when writing a response to a prompt that asks to talk about obstacles in your life, there is likely an emotional story behind the answer.

For the first time in years, I found myself crying. I was shocked at what I heard, and I couldn’t imagine life with my dad in prison for growing marijuana.

Instead of sitting around to sulk, I made the best of the situation, and I made my family’s well-being my life.

It put me at dismay to take on all these responsibilities. I knew I was needed at home, yet I was envious of my friends who were always out having fun while I was stuck at home vacuuming or washing dishes.

My dad always puts in 200% effort into everything in order to create every possibility for me that he didn’t have. The whole reason he was arrested in the first place was that he wanted to provide our family with better living conditions than he had to live, yet I was only complaining about my responsibilities.

In this personal statement, the writer wrote about a dark time in his life where he was fed up with living an irregular life compared to his friends. He shows his frustration of having to take on more responsibilities than most people he knew (“What 16-year old kid has to do this!?”). Overall, he walked us through the different emotions he felt: from disheartened to courageous, frustrated, and ultimately empowered.

4. Be relevant and answer the prompt (all of it!).

While you want to tell a compelling story, it is important to make sure that your essay is relevant to the essay prompt. The examples you provide in your personal statements should be interesting, but it will only be interesting if you answering the question that is being asked. More importantly, you want to answer every part of an essay prompt, not just one.

1) “Describe the most significant challenge you have faced.”

“You know Leon? Yeah, well, he’s in big trouble, and he’s going to jail for a long, damn time.” It took a minute to let the officer’s words sink in as he searched our bedrooms. Outraged, I mindlessly charged at him only to be forced back into the living room. For the first time in years, I found myself crying. I was shocked at what I heard, and I couldn’t imagine life with my dad in prison for growing marijuana.

2) “What steps have you taken to overcome this challenge?”

A household of six dwindled to four. For days, I waited for my dad and stepmom to come home and comfort us, but it never happened. Instead of sitting around to sulk, I made the best of the situation, and I made my family’s well-being my life. With two siblings who needed care and a grandpa who was unhealthy, I stepped into my dad’s shoes and became “the man of the house.”

3) “How has this challenge affected your academic achievement?”

It put me at dismay to take on all these responsibilities. I knew I was needed at home, yet I was envious of my friends who were always out having fun while I was stuck at home vacuuming or washing dishes. But as bills accumulated, I began to wonder: How does my dad support the family (he never graduated from high school)? That’s when it hit me.

By breaking down the entire question into parts, he answers the prompt by revealing different pieces of his story throughout the essay. He also made sure that he was actually answering what the prompt asks of him and not making any tangents.

5. Be resolute – details matter.

This point doesn’t only apply to this specific prompt – you want to write with purpose. With a limit of only 350 words per prompt, you want to make every word count. Each comma you decide to use to create a pause should be meaningful. Every statement made should tell your reader something new. Remember: details matter! In fact, details probably make up most of your story.

My time for schoolwork was limited to nighttime after my siblings were asleep. I did practically everything, from taking my siblings to school to buying and cooking food to taking clothes to the Laundromat. In that same time, I even filed for mortgage re-modification when our home underwent foreclosure and managed to save our house. What 16-year old kid has to do this!?

The writer for this personal statement was very specific with his word choice. Without having to explain himself, he allows for his usage of punctuation display his frustration. For example, he ends the paragraph by asking his reader, “What 16-year old kid has to do this?” By closing in this way, he had revealed a couple things:

• He was 16 years old.
• He was frustrated (“!?”)

As a reminder, UC applications are due on November 30^th. There are still two weeks left, but it is never too early to begin planning for your success! If you run into writer’s block, refer back to these 5 tips for writing successful personal insight essays!

The post 5 Tips For Writing Successful Personal Insight Essays appeared first on IvyAchievement.

When Donald Trump was announced as the 45th president of the United States, many people all over the world immediately became alarmed.

I have been in India for the past month with the IvyAchievement team meeting with our clients and was glued to the television in my Delhi Airbnb apartment when the election results were announced.

Many of our clients in India also became alarmed and there were countless questions and a sense of anxiety. What does this mean for us? Should we still consider the US as a place to study in? Will Trump let us in? Will we be safe? Our clients came to us wanting answers – anything to make sense of what had just happened.

I was saddened by my inability to fully answer their questions or to comfort them properly. All throughout Donald Trump’s race to presidency, he has flip-flopped on his policy ideas. First he said he would reduce the number of H1-B visas (designed to help companies hire skilled workers internationally) but then backtracked, speaking about his respect for Indian students and how he would, in fact, strengthen the program.

What I do know is if these incredibly intelligent, thoughtful, and curious students stop viewing the United States as one of the leading places to study in – we are in deep trouble.

This year, the number of international students in United States colleges surpassed one million for the first time, bringing in over $35 billion a year into the economy. Along with a positive economic impact, international students contribute to America’s scientific and technological research and bring their unique global perspectives into U.S. classrooms, which often lead to longer-term economic benefits.

Our clients range from students who deeply care about mental illness and drive four hours to volunteer at a clinic to one that has performed at Carnegie Hall to another that developed a prosthetic foot. In my meetings with them, I remember feeling amazed at everything that they had accomplished by the young ages of 16 and 17. America needs these kids.

A “brain drain” would be dangerous to our country that is built upon a diverse exchange of ideas and culture imported by immigrants. Given that many of these students are starting to turn to Canadian universities as their top choice, if we don’t start acting now we will be putting our intellectual capacity at risk. We, as a country, need to do better. The decrease in brilliant students like these would hurt the fiber of our country.

Sergey Brin, an immigrant from the Soviet Union, was a PhD student at Stanford University and then went on to co-found Google, which is now the second most valuable brand in the world.

Satya Nadella, born in Hyderabad, moved to the United States where he earned his M.S. in computer science from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and a MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Before becoming CEO of Microsoft in 2004, he played a major role in Microsoft’s foray into cloud computing.

David Ho immigrated from Taiwan when he was 12 years old, spoke no English, and yet went on to study Physics at MIT and Caltech. Ho developed the “cocktail” now used to treat early stages of HIV. Diversity and openness to immigration has historically been our greatest strength and driven innovation.

So, we say to our clients and our future clients: your fears are real and need to be recognized. We’re sorry that we are unable to provide a clear answer for you other than that the best universities in the United States are still liberal institutions that foster learning, creativity, and encourage open expression. Our universities have boundless education possibilities, and are places where your dreams can take hold and one’s identity as a global citizen can take shape.

The University of California issued a statement immediately following the election results conveying their commitment to diversity and acceptance of all. My own four years at UCLA were a key experience that shaped my future and empowered me to fight for myself and my convictions. These are spaces that we will try our hardest to protect so that our future generations have a shot at becoming our future thought leaders, doctors, diplomats, and parents.

Will a Trump administration affect your chances at higher education in the United States or your experience once you’re here? It is possible – but we will try our hardest to give you a fighting shot.

The post International Students Scared for Trump’s America appeared first on IvyAchievement.

Choosing a major for your college application can be a daunting task. In fact, even college students who are currently enrolled have trouble deciding what major they want to stick with!

A challenge that many college applicants face is the classic question: “What do you want to major in?” At first thought, this question doesn’t seem too difficult to answer, but it actually places a lot of pressure on college applicants who aren’t sure what they would like to study just yet.

With hundreds of different majors to choose from, how do you know which one is the right fit for you? Should you choose a major related to your career path, or should you not declare a major at all? When it comes to choosing your major, both of these questions are important to ask, and there’s simply no right or wrong way to go about it.

Career-Specific Majors
Before you declare a major, think about all the reasons that support your decision. While your major doesn’t define your career path, many students who are looking to go into specific fields usually already have a few majors in mind. Since many post-graduate programs require that prospective students complete a specific set of coursework, students will declare a major based on the courses they will have to take. For instance, if you are looking to go to medical school after college, there are specific science courses you will have to complete in order to be eligible to apply for medical school. Thus, it may be beneficial to be a science major, such as biology or chemistry.

The “Undeclared” Student
In many cases, students may not even declare a major on their application, and this is perfectly fine! College admissions counselors do not expect that every high school student will know their course of study in college. In fact, most college students change their major at least once throughout their undergraduate career, and this is normal. The reason for this is that many college students tend to be unsure of exactly what they would like to study while others may already have a clear, set path in mind.

Does My Choice of Major Affect My Admission?
There is often debate as to whether the major you declare on your college application will affect your overall admission into a prospective college or university. Some people may tell you that declaring your major can be advantageous because it shows your dedication and commitment to a specific field of study, while others may tell you that listing your major will only slim your chances of being admitted. So, which side is right? Well, there is truth to both sides.

Often, students will already know what fields they are interested in. In that case, if you have a strong interest in a particular subject and you know you would like to continue studying it in college, then you should rightfully apply to that major. This helps college admissions counselors understand the career path you would like to take. Furthermore, it allows college admissions counselors to take into account how your past experiences have shaped your decision to apply as that major through your personal statements and extracurricular activities.

On the other hand, many schools have specific academic programs that are highly sought after, causing for certain majors to be “impacted.” When a major is impacted, this means that the college or university receives more applicants for that specific major than they are able to admit. Therefore, declaring a major that is impacted can put you in a large pool of competitive applicants.

For example, Massachusetts of Institute of Technology’s (MIT) engineering program is very highly regarded in the world. Naturally, MIT will receive a high number of applicants who declare engineering as their major every year. In this case, MIT will have to limit the number of applicants that they can admit to their engineering program.

At the end of the day, the purpose of your college application is for college admissions counselors to get to know you better. They want to gain insight on what you want to study in college, your potential career path, and how your past experiences have shaped your decision. With this in mind, you should select your major accordingly.

Changing Your Major Later
If you do not get into your major of choice, don’t be discouraged! Many colleges and universities allow students to change their major in later years during their undergraduate career. 80 percent of freshmen at Penn State say that they are uncertain about their major, and half will change their minds after they declare, some more than once.

College admissions counselors know that college students often change their minds after becoming exposed to different fields, so it’s no big deal if you are unsure at this point. The more important mission is to continue searching for what you are interested in.

The post How to Choose a Major For Your College Application appeared first on IvyAchievement.

Because you’re entering a war zone, we have prepared a commencement speech for you and the rest of Class of 2021. Don’t stop reading – this is important.

Firstly, congratulations to our clients who got into their dream school this week! Needless to say, our clients are amongst the top of their class and have worked hard to get into their school of choice. Here’s a list of the schools our clients were admitted to: Yale University, Columbia University in the City of New York, University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University, Williams College, Duke University, University of Notre Dame, and NYU Stern Undergraduate College!

As a reminder, there’s a major difference between early decision and early action. The primary difference is that early decision acceptances are binding while early action acceptances are non-binding. This means that if you were admitted to the University of Pennsylvania through early decision, you must attend the University of Pennsylvania (this is nothing to be upset about, after all). Otherwise, you have a couple of months to make a decision. Spend it wisely.

To the incoming Class of 2021, we have prepared a speech to help you prepare for the journey that’s ahead. Now, without further ado:

…

Class of 2021,

So you spent immense hours on your early decision or early action applications. Too many nights did you stay up to revise your personal statements to meet the maximum word count; you even have a file saved for each of the 43 respective drafts of your essay. The countless hours you put into your club positions or volunteering are starting to weigh in. And alas, you were finally accepted into your dream school last week. Great! So your work here is done now, right? Time to sit back and relax?

Nope. It’s not that simple.

If you were accepted through either your early action or early decision application, you’re likely feeling joyous, and you should be! For many others, though, they might be under a lot of pressure – and with good reason.

Getting into your dream school is only the tip of the iceberg; the real battle begins in the fall when your first set of classes begins. What students don’t realize is that they had just signed up for war. The academic rigor of a top university challenges students to step out of their boundaries not only on a mental capacity but on an emotional capacity as well. Therefore, the time between receiving your admissions letter and attending your school of choice should be spent in what we call “preparation mode.”

During preparation mode, you will probably be asking yourself a series of tough questions. “What’s more important to me: the engineering program at MIT, or the financial aid package Cornell is offering me?” “Will I like the ‘vibe’ of the Yale campus and neighborhood in downtown New Haven?” “What will living on the east coast be like? (It’s so cold out there…)” These types of questions will be some of the most important determinants when choosing your school. Here’s some wisdom we thought we’d share with you:

Be Smart Financially

Money is a huge factor when it comes to picking your school. Students are often presented with the dilemma of sacrificing going to their dream school to attend a school that’s offering a better financial aid package. For example, one of our clients received a much more preferable offer from Yale University than Princeton University, which ultimately led to her decision in attending Yale.

Sure enough, reducing your student loan debt now can provide a lot of financial relief a couple years down the line. Because each school offers different financial aid packages, the amount of financial aid that you receive is important to consider when weighing your options.

“The School Is Nice, But I Hate Living Here!”

Committing to a school means committing to your home for the next two to four years. Not only is this the place you will be attending classes and participating in different clubs and organizations, but you will be living there as well. Students often forget that the school they choose to attend will also be the same place where they carry out their daily lives: eat, shower, study, sleep – you name it.

Having early exposure to your prospective school of choice can help give you a better idea of whether the campus is a right fit. If you have attended the Yale Young Global Scholars (YYGS) academic summer program in the past and think you would be happy attending Yale, then your decision is already made. You could probably withdraw from all other schools and be satisfied with your decision. If you haven’t had a chance to step onto campus, then go visit! If you are unable to physically visit, many top universities have virtual tours that you could navigate online. Take advantage of technology!

Stay Diligent

Last but not least, don’t fall victim to senioritis! It’s very tempting to take it easy in school now that you have been admitted into your dream school, but it’s extremely important to stay on top of your game.

Colleges and universities will still require you to do well in your classes and continue to excel. For that reason and while it’s rare, schools reserve the right to rescind their acceptance offer to you if they spot any red flags, such as getting a D in AP Chemistry during your last semester. With that being said, stay diligent for the remainder of the school year! It’s the final stretch!

Over the next couple of years, you will begin facing novel challenges, like living on your own, figuring out how to choose a major, and adapting to an irregular schedule. You will also likely find yourself working much harder than you did in high school and wanting to become involved on campus. You may even find an internship that will lead to your next job! These are only a couple of the challenges that will come your way, but when the time comes, you’ll be prepared because, well… you prepared!

As the winter holidays have finally come to an end and the year of 2017 commences, students should also begin thinking about the next steps, such as applying to FAFSA (if you haven’t already) and taking their last SAT or ACT tests. Of course, you should take the time after graduation to let loose a bit and relax, but remember not to let your guard down.

As previously mentioned, it’s extremely important to stay on top of your classes to make sure you protect your early action or early decision acceptance offer. Too often do students begin to slack off before even graduating, forgetting that their admission to their dream school is provisional. In other words, schools can rescind their offers to its provisional students. Keep on studying!

And lastly, if you weren’t accepted through early action or early decision, it’s not the end of the world! The school year is not over, and you will still likely get into one of your top schools of choice. College may bring you some of your most memorable experiences in your life, and taking the time to pick the school that’s right for you is essential. You don’t want to just settle for a school because you had trouble deciding. Picking your college of attendance will take some brainwork, but we believe that you have it in you. Stay diligent and stay warm.

Class of 2017, “May the Force be with you.” (Star Wars)

The post Letter to Class of 2021: Prepare for War appeared first on IvyAchievement.

Part I: Primer on American Law and Politics for International Students

Benjamin P. Stern, Esq.
Founder & CEO, IvyAchievement
Member, New York State Bar and United States Courts for the Eastern District and Southern District of New York

As a lawyer, the founder of an university admissions consulting company that has served dozens of international students, and a concerned American citizen, I have been following the political situation in the United States very closely. There is a lot of misinformation circulating, especially in international sources. The purpose of this Guide will be to highlight and explain developments in American politics and policy that may affect current and potential international students. I will use “primary sources” (for example, official government documents and organizations’ own statements) where possible. These posts will be updated as necessary to keep them current. 

This post is geared toward international students, international applicants, and American readers who would like to know more about how the United States government works. Most of this content will be familiar to those who have taken a class in American government. You still may learn something!

The Three Branches of Government

The United States Constitution outlines the structure and function of the three branches of American government. A legislative branch to create laws, an executive branch to enforce the laws, and a judicial branch to interpret laws and settle disputes (both civil and criminal). The United States Constitution enshrines two important principles: a separation of powers among the three branches so that it is clear who can do what, and a system of checks and balances put in place so that no branch of government can wield too much power. An example of separation of powers is that only the legislative branch can impose taxes, while the executive branch can set foreign policy. As a check on the legislative power, the president can veto any legislation passed by the legislative branch, and as a balance to the president’s veto power, the legislative branch can override the president’s veto with a two-thirds majority. There are many more examples.

The Legislative Branch

The United States was founded by 13 British colonies that declared themselves as “states” and united to form a common country: hence the name “United States of America.” Each state had its own economic and social interests. As believers in democratic values, the “framers” of the United States Constitution (the political philosophers, statesmen, and authors involved) wanted to provide majority rule and planned to implement a system of proportional representation. However, a purely representative form of government would have resulted in the interests of people in smaller states getting less attention. As part of the “Great Compromise,” the framers created two “houses” of the American legislative branch: the House of Representatives (informally called the “House”), whose members are elected by citizens in geographical districts divided by population, and a Senate in which each state would have two “at-large” representatives. Together, the two are called “Congress,” although the term “congressman” and “congresswoman” refer to a member of the House of Representatives only.

Formally, members of the House of Representatives are called representatives and are titled in media with “Rep.” Members of the Senate are called “senators” and are titled in media with “Sen.” Sen. Kamala Harris (D – CA) means Kamala Harris is a senator from California and is a member of the Democratic Party. Rep. Paul Ryan (R – WI) means that Paul Ryan is a representative from Wisconsin and a member of the Republican Party. There are 435 representatives (set by law independent of total American population) and 100 senators from 50 states.

The Executive Branch

The executive branch consists of a multitude of agencies that administer the functions of the United States government and enforce its laws. The executive branch is led by the president. The president appoints members of his or her cabinet, who oversee various agencies of the executive branch. Cabinet members must be approved by the Senate. Several executive branch departments affect international students and international applicants to the United States:

• The Department of State (or “State Department“) conducts foreign relations and issues passports and visas. The head of the State Department is the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State has always been a member of the president’s cabinet.
• The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), created in 2003, includes agencies such as Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). These three agencies’ responsibilities used to be carried out by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), which no longer exists. The head of the Department of Homeland Security is the Secretary of Homeland Security.
• The Department of Labor (DOL or “Labor Department“) is responsible for setting labor policy, monitoring compliance with labor laws, and collecting labor statistics. The head of the Labor Department is the Secretary of Labor. The Secretary of Labor has held a cabinet-level position since 1913.
• The Department of Justice (DOJ or “Justice Department“) is responsible for enforcing the laws of the United States, including civil rights laws. The head of the DOJ is the Attorney General. The Attorney General has always been a member of the president’s cabinet.
• The Department of Education (ED or DoED), created in 1980, sets education policy and administers financial aid for university students and certain grants to universities. The United States does not have any national universities and no universities are directly controlled by the national government, but the Legislative Branch and Executive Branch can exert power over universities by granting or withholding money. The head of the Department of Education is the Secretary of Education.

The Vice President is a member of the Cabinet but has very few powers of his or her own. The primary role of the Vice President is to step in as president if the president is incapacitated, dies, or resigns from office. The Vice President also casts the deciding vote in case there is a tie in the Senate.

Presidential elections are conducted using the Electoral College. In this system, each state is assigned a number of electors equal to the total number of representatives and senators. Each state conducts its own election and residents of each state cast their ballots for a “ticket” consisting of a presidential and vice-presidential candidate. In most states, the winner of the greatest number of votes earns the votes of the electors, who cast their final votes in December. There are 538 electoral votes (435 representatives, 100 senators, and three for Washington, D.C., the United States capital, which is not located in any state). To win the election, a candidate needs to earn at least 270 electoral college votes.

The Judicial Branch

The judicial branch consists of most of the “federal courts” of the United States. (There are also courts that are part of the executive branch, but they are largely irrelevant to international students.) Federal courts decide both criminal and civil cases (lawsuits).

Federal civil courts are courts of limited subject-matter jurisdiction, meaning there are only certain kinds of cases they can hear. One of the most important roles of the judicial branch is determining whether the laws passed by the legislative branch are constitutional. If a law is unconstitutional, it is “struck down” and cannot be enforced. The judicial branch also determines whether the actions of federal government officials are legal. Actions of federal officials may be determined to be illegal if they violate various laws passed by Congress, including civil rights laws, or if they violate constitutional rights.

There are three levels of federal courts:

• District courts hear cases, impose penalties, and order federal officials to act or refrain from acting through the use of “injunctions.” There are 94 district courts covering the 50 states and various U.S. territories. Jurisdiction of the courts is geographical, with at least one district court per state. Some examples of district courts are the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (E.D.N.Y.), which covers the New York boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens and the remainder of Long Island and the United States Court for the District of Northern California (N.D. Cal.). Each district court has multiple judges. For example, E.D.N.Y. has 15 judges and N.D. Cal. has 14 judges.
• The courts of appeal (“appellate courts” or “circuit courts“) decide whether decisions issued by district courts are correct. Only certain kinds of decisions may be appealed to the Courts of Appeal. In some urgent cases, an appeal may be taken very quickly. There are 13 courts of appeal, 12 of which are divided up geographically and one which hears all cases on certain subject matter, including patents, trademarks, and international trade issues. The district courts are each assigned to a single circuit court. For example, cases heard in the District Court for the Eastern District of New York are appealed to the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and those in the Northern District of California are appealed to the Ninth Circuit. The circuit courts have several judges. For example, the Second Circuit has 13 active judges and the Ninth Circuit has 29.
• The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in America. A party that is unhappy with a court of appeals decision can appeal the case further to the Supreme Court. With a few exceptions, the Supreme Court can decide what cases it takes on appeal. If the Supreme Court refuses to take a case, then the decision of the circuit court stands. The Supreme Court can also take appeals from individual state supreme courts if there is a “federal issue” (for example a state law that may violate constitutional rights). The members of the Supreme Court are called “justices” and are appointed by the president. There are nine Supreme Court justices. If the Supreme Court declares a law unconstitutional, then it ceases to be an effective law anywhere in the United States even if it remains “on the books.”

All federal judges in district and circuit courts and the justices of the Supreme Court are appointed by the president and confirmed by a majority vote in the Senate. Notably, unlike other government employees, they serve for life or until they retire. Because the Supreme Court is so powerful and the fact that there are only nine justices, appointing a Supreme Court justice is one of the most important actions a president can take. The process is often fraught with political controversy and maneuvering.

Federalism

When the original Thirteen Colonies unified to form the United States, they each wanted to retain their own sovereignty in some way. Prior to the adoption of the Constitution, there was public debate between federalists, who favored a strong national government, and anti-federalists, who thought the role of the central government should be minimal.

Throughout American history, there has been tension between those who support “states’ rights” and those who prefer the Federal government’s laws

Political Parties

The United States has two major political parties: the Democratic Party and the Republican Party.

Democratic Party

The Democratic Party is conventionally characterized as “liberal” and supports government-sponsored social welfare programs, stricter regulations of business, and higher taxes to fund government spending including on public education. For several decades, the Democratic Party has been considered more “socially liberal,” taking stances in support of protection of lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender (LGBT) rights, affirmative action in schools, the right of women to abort pregnancies, and stricter gun control. The Democratic Party also tends to align with labor unions, including teachers’ and graduate students’ unions.

Finally, the Democratic Party tends to support liberal immigration policies and does not support policies that target law-abiding “illegal aliens” (often called “undocumented residents”) for deportation. Many in the Democratic Party even support “sanctuary cities” whose law enforcement officers do not report crimes committed by non-citizens to federal authorities. Democrats are more likely to argue that non-citizens should be afforded the same legal rights as citizens, including the right to legal counsel, the right not to be detained unreasonably, and the right to a speedy trial.

Former president Barack Obama is a member of the Democratic Party, as are former president Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, who was former First Lady (wife of the president), a United States Senator, Secretary of State, and the 2016 presidential candidate. Hillary Clinton’s opponent during the 2016 election was Senator Bernie Sanders, who was an independent (not a member of either party) until he ran for the presidential nomination against Hillary Clinton.

Leadership and famous party members

The leaders of the Democratic Party include Senator Charles “Chuck” Schumer, who is the Senate Minority Leader, and Representative Nancy Pelosi, who is the House Minority Leader.

Other famous Democrats include Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR), who served from 1933 until his death in 1945 (longer than any other president) and led the United States during World War II, and John F. Kennedy (JFK), who took office in 1961 and was assassinated in 1963. JFK International Airport is named after him and the Kennedy family is still active in politics.

Republican Party

The Republican Party is conventionally characterized as “conservative.” The Republican Party tends to oppose the expansion of civil rights laws to cover LGBT rights, increased spending on social welfare programs, and laws that regulate the sale or ownership of firearms. Republicans tend to oppose using federal money for certain actions, such as contraception and abortion, that they feel violate certain values, largely derived from Christianity.

Republicans tend to support lower taxes as well as less regulation of businesses and financial institutions. Some Republicans also tend to support programs that benefit private schools over public schools.

Notably, Republicans tend to take a harsher stance toward illegal immigration and a “hawkish” (more confrontational) approach to national security, leading to stricter immigration policies.

Leadership and famous party members

Leaders of the Republican Party include current president Donald J. Trump, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan.

Famous Republicans include 16th president Abraham Lincoln, who served from 1861 until his death in 1865 and led the United States during the American Civil War, 40th president and former governor of California (and actor) Ronald Reagan, who served from 1981-1989 and led the United States during the end of the “Cold War” with the Soviet Union, and 42nd President and former governor of Texas George W. Bush, who served from 2001-2009, led the United States during the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, and launched wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Republican Party currently has majorities in both houses of Congress, but there has been political upheaval recently due to the 2016 election. There are currently several factions within the Republican party. Two of these factions are noteworthy for international students:

The Christian Right

The Christian right refers to those who believe the United States should be guided by Christian values, specifically Evangelical Christian values. Those on the Christian right oppose LGBT rights and may even support criminalizing homosexual activity. They oppose abortion in any form and tend to oppose contraception as well. Many on the Christian right would prefer that Christianity be made the official religion of the United States, although that is against the Constitution.

In accordance with the tenets of Evangelical Christianity, many on the Christian right believe those who do not practice Christianity are “damned” and so support efforts to convert non-Christians. Some on the Christian right believe that the “Christian world” is at war with the “Islamic world,” and Islam is a force to be defeated. Those on the Christian right tend to oppose immigration from non-Christian countries and have mixed feelings toward immigration from Latin America, which is largely Catholic.

The “alt-right”

The alt-right refers to a relatively new movement that encompasses a range of various positions. In general, the alt-right is nationalistic, putting American interests ahead of others’. Unlike the position the Republican Party has taken for several decades, the alt-right is strongly protectionist, favoring economic policies that encourage the use of labor of United States citizens, including import tariffs and restrictions on immigration. Those on the alt-right generally believe that non-citizens, especially illegal immigrants, are entitled to minimal protection under American law.

The most prominent voices on the alt-right are white, and those considered to be on the alt-right tend to favor policies that tend to benefit white people over others. Several members characterized as alt-right have supported principles of “white supremacy” (the belief that white people are superior to others and ought to have political power) and/or “white nationalism” (the belief that white people have a right and/or duty to politically unite and assert their interests over others’). However, not all members of the alt-right believe in white supremacy or white nationalism.

Those on the alt-right tend to oppose women’s rights movements, affirmative action, or any liberal “identity politics.” The alt-right tends not to be vocal on same-sex marriage or drugs, preferring the government refrain from regulating personal activities.

The alt-right encompasses a range of religious views. Some of the alt-right is overtly Christian, but many believe in a strong separation of Church and State. However, the alt-right tends to be suspicious of immigration by Muslims and Islamophobia is very common. Many on the alt-right see accepting refugees and migrants from Islamic countries as opening up the doors to violence and terrorism, and in support point to countries in Europe that have seen an increase in violent crime after admitting Muslim migrants.

Some notable alt-right personalities include Richard Spencer (a white nationalist who coined the term “alt-right”) and Steve Bannon (former head of Breitbart News and a current Donald Trump advisor).

Donald Trump

Donald J. Trump started working in his family’s real estate business in the 1970s and became a real-estate magnate in the United States by the mid-1980s. He is one of the most recognized celebrities in the United States. Trump’s companies own or control hotels, casinos, clubs, and condominium buildings around the country and several abroad. Donald Trump produced and starred in the television show The Apprentice and its spin-off The Celebrity Apprentice, dismissing contestants with his signature “you’re fired.” Trump has had several other businesses, many of which branded with the “Trump” name.

Before 2015, Donald Trump’s political activity consisted mostly of developing positive relationships with politicians of both parties. However, during Barack Obama’s presidency, Trump became an outspoken member of the “birther” movement, which believes that President Obama was not born in the United States and was therefore, ineligible to be president.

Donald Trump announced his candidacy for the presidency of the United States in June 2015 for the election to be held in November 2016. Trump’s candidacy was not taken seriously by most in the media. Trump entered the Republican primary race with 16 other candidates. During debates, he attacked many of the other candidates in colorful ways. Despite a series of gaffes, statements, and policy positions that would have doomed other candidates’ campaigns, Trump defeated the competition won the nomination.

Trump then engaged in a general election battle with Hillary Clinton. Despite several setbacks, Trump recovered against predictions and was elected president on November 8, 2016. Donald Trump lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes but still won the Electoral College 306-232.

Mike Pence

Vice President Michael “Mike” Pence, former governor of Indiana, was Donald Trump’s running mate. He is known as a Christian conservative.

Differences Between the United States and Other Democracies

• The United States does not follow the parliamentary system. In a parliamentary democracy, representatives are selected in proportion (subject to certain cutoffs and other rules) to the number of votes received by their party as a whole.  In the American system, each citizen votes for one representative and one senator. Unlike in a parliamentary democracy, the executive branch can be controlled by a party (or coalition) other than the one that controls the legislative branch.
• The two houses of Congress are not divided into an “upper” or “lower” house. Although senators serve longer terms and the positions are considered more influential and prestigious, the Senate is considered equal in power to the House of Representatives.
• There is a single Supreme Court that hears appeals from regular judicial disputes and also rules on constitutional challenges. In some countries, there is a separate “constitutional court” that rules on constitutional issues only.

How Laws Are Made

All laws of the United States start out as “bills.” A bill is a proposed law.

1. A bill is authored by congressional staff members under direction of one or more members of the House of Representatives (usually) or Senate (sometimes).
2. The bill is reviewed by congressional lawyers.
3. The bill is then introduced by one or more representatives or senators, called “sponsors.”
4. Other representatives or senators sitting on a relevant committee then review and debate on the bill, and vote on whether or not to recommend it become law. Committees most relevant to international students include the House Committee on Homeland Security, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, and the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.
5. The bill is brought to a vote by the entire House of Representatives or Senate.
6. The bill is sent to the other house of Congress and sometimes amended.
7. The relevant committee revises the bill if necessary and votes to recommend it for approval. Sometimes the bill goes through several revisions and is sent back and forth between houses of Congress.
8. The second house (usually the Senate) votes on the bill.
9. If the bill is passed by both the House of Representatives and the Senate, then the President is given the bill to sign.
10. The president may (1) sign the bill into law, (2) veto the bill and return it to Congress, or (3) (rarely) not take any action and exercise a “pocket veto.” Only in the first case does a bill immediately become law.
11. If a bill is vetoed, Congress can override the veto with a two-thirds majority in each house.

Executive Orders

An executive order in an order by the president directly to an agency or agencies of the executive branch. Usually the executive branch carries out its functions without direct orders from the president, but sometimes the president wants to implement a policy change or exercise some authority provided by law. 

The use of executive orders has increased in recent decades, with presidents typically issuing around 30-40 executive orders per year.

Executive orders can be controversial because the president may direct law enforcement not to focus on enforcing certain laws. This is because the president swears to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States” and the Constitution requires that he or she carry out the laws. Executive orders that contravene legislation passed by Congress or the Constitution can be challenged in courts.

Our next article will focus on Donald Trump’s executive orders regarding immigration and national security. 

The post The International Students’ Guide to American Politics and News: Part I appeared first on IvyAchievement.

Benjamin P. Stern
Founder & CEO, IvyAchievement

Jump to:
Data collection
Test scores are important for UIUC admissions
UIUC computer science admissions statistics
Non-CS applications at UIUC
UIUC CS+X admissions
Conclusion

Introduction

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) is the flagship state school of Illinois, the fifth-most populous state of the United States. With an overall freshman acceptance rate of over 65%, it is less selective than other state schools, such as University of Michigan – Ann Arbor (24%) and the University of California, Berkeley (17.5%) . However, it has a top-ranked computer science graduate program: UIUC computer science is ranked #5 in U.S. News and World Report, behind only MIT, Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, and UC Berkeley (all tied for #1).

Selecting schools to apply to is a daunting task, and for students who choose schools based on rankings readily available on the Internet, UIUC is an attractive choice. UIUC reports that international students make up over 15.7% of its undergraduate student body, which is more than the 14% of American undergraduates who come in from out-of-state!

I work with a large number of international students, the majority from India, including Indian expatriates in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Singapore, and Indonesia. I have spent over five of the last 12 months in India, meeting with clients, conducting events, and establishing a presence there. I am also very active on Facebook groups for Indian applicants and interact with them daily. This gives me the unique opportunity to collect and share admissions data with them.

Data Analysis

Data collection

As I discovered counseling Indian students, UIUC gets a lot of applications from India. I aim to be able to guide future clients regarding whether to apply and perhaps demystify the “black box” of admissions for them. A few days ago, just after UIUC announced its regular-decision results, I circulated a poll online and directly to clients who applied to UIUC. The poll was originally tailored for Indian students, and now includes American grading systems as well. So please fill it out!

The poll collected admissions results (early action/regular decision and accepted/waitlisted/rejected plus honors); standardized test scores (including old and new SAT, ACT, SAT Subject Tests, APs, TOEFL, and IELTS); and grades from various curricula in use in India and elsewhere. These included the Indian Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE), the Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE), International Baccalaureate (IB), and others. (Wading through the alphabet soup will be the topic of a future post!) Optional information included a description of extracurricular activities and an opportunity to upload the 400-word UIUC essay.

The poll has received over 85 submissions. After eliminating fake entries and disregarding (for now) data from outside India and from other admissions cycles, I was left with 79 submissions. I can’t be sure this is a representative sample, but the data suggests it’s pretty close. My feeling is that there is probably a slight under-representation of those who were rejected, but the accepted and waitlisted respondent sample accurately reflects the Indian applicant pool.

Overall, our data showed an acceptance rate comparable to UIUC’s published acceptance rate (68.4% of respondents vs. 66% published):

First, I wanted to figure out how big of an impact GPA has on UIUC admission. UIUC is one of the few schools that does not ask Indian students studying under a national or state curriculum for 9th or 11th grade scores, so 10th grade board scores are the only grades UIUC takes into consideration. (UIUC doesn’t even ask Indian applicants for transcripts or coursework.) In the CBSE system, students take six nationwide exams and the five highest are counted. Each exam is given a grade of A1-E2, which is converted to a 10-point scale. GPA is the average of the top five exam scores. 50 of the 79 submissions came from Indian students in CBSE schools. To my surprise, there was no correlation whatsoever between GPA (which is on a 10.0 scale) and acceptance rate:

I was also surprised that the lowest CGPA reported was 8.8. After we collect more data, I will run analyses on other grading systems.

Test Scores are important for UIUC admissions

So if grades don’t matter, what does? It turns out that admission at UIUC is highly dependent on test scores. 47 of the 79 responses included SAT scores. I converted old SAT scores to the new SAT equivalent using the official College Board score converter. To produce less “granular” data, I grouped scores into 30-point range “bins” (1570-1600, 1530-1560, 1490-1520, etc.) and plotted the midpoint of each “bin” against the acceptance rate. Unlike the CGPA analysis above, the analysis shows a nearly linear correlation between SAT score and admission.

But the composite score is only part of the story. The SAT has two main components: a Math score and an “Evidence Based Reading and Writing” score, each scaled to 800 points. With the data we collected, I generated a “box and whisker” plot. Each box is bounded on the top and bottom by the 75th and 25th percentiles, respectively. The horizontal line inside the box is the median and the “x” is the mean. The “whiskers” extending upward and/or downward represent the range of the data (minimum and maximum), which may exclude “outliers” which are represented by dots outside the whiskers. If there are no outliers, that means all scores were within the boxes and whiskers.

Accepted applicants were very strong, with all accepted applicants scoring at least 710 in Math (all but one 740 or above) and 75% scoring at least 700 (or the equivalent old SAT components) in Reading & Writing. Waitlisted students had a slightly wider range of Math scores (still near the top), but their Reading & Writing scores were lower: the median for waitlisted students was 675, as opposed to 720 for accepted students, and the 75th percentile for waitlisted students was just above the 25th percentile for accepted students (705 vs. 700). For currently enrolled freshmen, UIUC reported a middle 50% for Math at 700-790, Critical Reading at 570-680, and Writing at 590-690. This is approximately equivalent to 740-800 Math and 640-720 Reading & Writing on the new scale. Nearly all Indian applicants who filled out our poll scored at or above these new-SAT 25th percentile equivalents. Rejected students had a range of scores, but tended to be lower.

ACT scores showed a similar trend:

This chart represents the highest ACT Composite, Math, English, Reading, and Science score across all test administrations. Accepted and waitlisted students had similar Math scores, but waitlisted students had much lower English scores. (The 75th percentile for waitlisted students [32.5] was below the 25th percentile for accepted students [33]). All accepted respondents except one had ACTs in the 32-35 range.

UIUC computer science admissions statistics

How much more difficult is it to get into computer science at UIUC? UIUC allows applicants to select two majors; the first choice is mandatory (but can be “undeclared”) and the second choice is optional. Because of UIUC’s strong reputation, UIUC computer science is a popular major choice for applicants, especially those from India:

More than half our respondents applied to computer science, computer engineering, or some interdisciplinary major including computer science (referred to those discussing admissions as “CS+X”). 13% of Indian respondents applied to “CS+X” majors. Mechanical and aerospace engineering took up a combined 16%, and the remaining majors 4% or less. Half of Indian applicants didn’t choose a second major, and another 18% went undeclared:

It turns out the UIUC computer science program is indeed more selective than admissions overall:

Seven respondents from India who were accepted into the UIUC computer science program provided SAT scores. All seven had a 790 or higher in math (or the equivalent on the old SAT). ACT results were not much different:

Waitlisted and accepted applicants both achieved high math scores, with accepted students sitting at the top of the range, and waitlisted students scoring lower in English. Notably, accepted students performed more poorly in Reading. The ACT Science score does not appear to have been a factor in admissions either. Only one CS respondent who took the ACT was rejected, which explains the sparse data. Once we collect more data, a full ANOVA (analysis of variance) will yield more information.

Non-CS applications at UIUC

Over half our respondents applied to a computer science or “CS+X” major, so their data weighs heavily in the above charts. What happens when we isolate non-CS applicants?

The non-CS acceptance rate among our respondents, 75%, is higher it is for non-CS majors.

The data pool for non-CS students is smaller, and the accepted student pattern is similar to that for UIUC computer science, with very high Math scores and lower Reading & Writing scores. Scores don’t need to be as high outside CS: the median reading and writing score for non-CS accepted applicants is 730, as opposed to 770 for CS offerees. Another big difference between CS and non-CS is who was able to make the waitlist. Some students with low scores managed to avoid being denied admission.

UIUC CS+X Admission

“CS+X” at UIUC refers to a major that combines computer science with another discipline. These include Computer Science & Anthropology; Computer Science & Astronomy; Computer Science & Chemistry; Computer Science & Linguistics; Mathematics & Computer Science; and Statistics & Computer Science. We didn’t have a large sample of CS+X applicants, but 4 out of 5 who indicated CS+X as their first choice got in. Almost all respondents who had CS+X for their second choice had computer science as their first choice. (One respondent applied to CS+X majors for both first and second choices.)

There were only a few CS+X applicants who took the SAT, and they all scored in a narrow range. All had 790 or 800 (or equivalent) in math, but their reading and writing scores were lower than even the non-CS admitted applicants’. Unfortunately, there is still not enough data to yield conclusive results, and we can’t yet do a meaningful breakdown of different CS+X majors. So if you applied for a CS+X major, take our poll!

Conclusion: UIUC Computer Science Admissions Demystified

UIUC considers only a few variables when evaluating Indian students. UIUC does not accept letters of recommendation, its essay is limited to 400 words (shorter than other schools’) and the application asks for a limited number of grades. The application also has very limited space for describing extracurricular activities. This makes analyzing admissions relatively easier compared to other schools.

I would love to do analyses of other applicant populations, so please circulate our poll, which may be filled out anonymously:

https://ivyachievement.formstack.com/forms/uiucpoll

I believe that being well informed about admissions gives applicants an edge, and I look forward to continuing to demystify the application process. For now, potential applicants to UIUC computer science and other majors will have some data to “chew on.”

The post How competitive is UIUC computer science admission? A quantitative study of Indian applicants appeared first on IvyAchievement.

Gregg Prigerson & Benjamin P. Stern

Gregg Prigerson has served as Assistant Director of Admission at Stanford University, Auburn University, the University of Alabama, and the University of Miami. Benjamin P. Stern is the founder and CEO of IvyAchievement. Both have read thousands of Common App essays and helped hundreds of students with them.

Introduction

The Common Application (“Common App”) is accepted by hundreds of undergraduate colleges, primarily in the United States, but also in Canada and the United Kingdom. A major part of the Common App, required by almost every school that accepts the Common App, is the 650-word essay. Each year the Common App has a set of prompts. The past two years (2015-2016 and 2016-2017) had the exact same set of five prompts.

This year, those five prompts remain in a slightly modified form, and two new prompts have been added. In this article we will analyze each one and explain why changes were made and what sorts of topics we recommend. IvyAchivement’s writing experts have reviewed thousands of essays through our essay review service and from our long-term clients; this has given us unique insight into what students write about. (The most popular topics will be the subject of another post.)

We want to preface our analysis by saying that many schools that have supplemental essays place more weight on their school specific prompts than they do on the Common App essay. Nonetheless, the Common App essay is the best way for you introduce yourself to an admissions officer and create a great first impression.

Common App Essay Prompt 1

(No change to this prompt.) Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

Common App Essay Prompt 1 Analysis

This is the most common prompt; over half of the applicants who submitted Common App essays to us chose it. It’s easy to understand why: the prompt allows applicants to discuss their passions or their defining characteristics like ethnicity, national origin. Teenagers have often given a lot of thought to these already, so it is usually the most natural to write. We don’t necessarily counsel our clients to avoid this prompt, but we try to prioritize the other prompts as possibilities when conducting our development and brainstorming sessions. (We specifically instruct our writing specialists to first explore the most interesting ideas, and only after it becomes clear what will work best in an essay, decide which prompt to follow.)

We are a little surprised that this prompt hasn’t been narrowed in some way, especially in light of Prompt 6 below, which seems to suggest speaking about some kind of interest or passion.

Common App Essay Prompt 2

Old Common App Essay Prompt 2

The lessons we take from failure can be fundamental to later success. Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?

New Common App Essay Prompt 2

The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?

Common App Essay Prompt 2 Analysis

We have sometimes called this prompt a “trap” prompt, because students may be tempted to write about a type of failure that might leave the reader with a bad impression of them (for example, a severe moral lapse that led to cheating). It’s also a “trap” because the most common topics for this prompt are (a) some academic failure, or (b) a disappointing athletic or musical performance. There are two types of essays for the latter: either the applicant rebounded and achieved greatness in the sport or musical medium, or learned the lesson that not everything in life was about sports or music and found joy in other things. In fact, nearly half of the essays we received for Common App Essay Prompt 2 were on one of those topics. Although one can certainly write a great essay about rebounding from failing to qualify for a sports team to becoming a national champion, the sheer number of these types of essays makes it harder for an applicant to stand out.

The new prompt addresses some of these “traps” because it is broader and allows applicants to discuss certain travails that may not necessarily involved failure. Many high schoolers, in fact, have never really failed at anything, but almost all have been challenged by something. This prompt gives those applicants another option.

Common App Essay Prompt 3

Old Common App Essay Prompt 3

Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again?

New Common App Essay Prompt 3

Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?

Common App Essay Prompt 3 Analysis

This is the by far the least popular prompt—only 5% of applicants using our service for their Common App essay review selected it. The three changes here are major. The first is the “framing” of the prompt. Not every person is in a position where it is possible to challenge certain ideas without severely compromising social status or even safety. Some of the “beliefs” and “ideas” we’ve seen for this prompt include the Indian caste system, menstrual taboos in the Middle East and South Asia, and Orthodox Jewish views on homosexuality. One customer wrote about publishing an article that started a religious controversy. In some places, such actions might be met with severe consequences.

The addition of “questioned” to “challenged” as a possible frame to this prompt lets applicants who may not have had the courage or been in a position to challenge certain norms to opine on them. The use of “thinking” rather than “action” is a natural extension of this, as those who question ideas do not necessarily “act.” If an applicant writing this has acted, the response to the question “what prompted your thinking?” would most likely be the same as the response to “what prompted you to act?”

Finally, the second question in this prompt addresses another weakness: the answer to the original question, “would you make the same decision again?” is almost always “yes.” (Otherwise, an applicant would be writing an essay about a time when he or she exercised poor judgement.) Although this could make for an interesting essay, usually the belief or idea is something the applicant is passionately opposed to. The new question added to Common App Essay Prompt 3 may yield a more natural conclusion to the story, as it gives the applicant a chance to reflect on whether the outcome was desirable.

Common App Essay Prompt 4

(No change to this prompt.) Describe a problem you’ve solved or a problem you’d like to solve. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma – anything that is of personal importance, no matter the scale. Explain its significance to you and what steps you took or could be taken to identify a solution.

Common App Essay Prompt 4 Analysis

Essays on this prompt were the second-most common we received after Prompt 1. Similar prompts appear on other applications as well, so it lets applicants “kill two birds with one stone.” The prompt is sufficiently broad to cover a wide range of topics from a developing a new app to losing weight to improving education in Pakistan. We generally counsel applicants to choose to address either (a) a social issue that a reader is unlikely to be fully aware of, or (b) for international students, a problem especially prevalent in their country and somewhat unique to their country. This is consistent with our advice to pursue social service extracurricular activities that do the same thing.

Admissions officers read a lot of essays, and we find that this prompt gives applicants a chance to teach them something about the world. Some of the more interesting topics we’ve seen include promoting organ donation in India (this applicant was accepted to an Ivy League school), improving machine learning algorithms, and catching a locker-room thief.

Common App Essay Prompt 5

Old Common App Essay Prompt 5

Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family.

New Common App Essay Prompt 5

Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.

New Common App Essay Prompt 5 Analysis

This prompt gets a radical revision, which addresses two major issues with the original prompt:

First, one’s “transition from childhood to adulthood” is rarely marked by some particular “accomplishment, event, or realization;” it is a long process. Coming-of-age ceremonies like Bar Mitzvas, debutante balls, and quinceañeras do not usually make for interesting topics, nor are they truly “transitions to adulthood,” and applicants seem to be smart enough to avoid those as topics. (Although we did have one customer who wrote about his belief in Santa Claus! We weren’t quite sure that not believing in Santa Claus makes on an adult. [Spoiler: there is no Santa Claus.])

Second, for most in the United States and many western countries, the transition to adulthood does not take place until much later, in one’s 20s or even 30s, and this is no longer considered atypical. The authors of this prompt were aiming to open it up to a wider range of applicants, specifically those who feel they have not achieved adulthood. The most powerful stories we received as submissions (for example performing in Carnegie Hall, surviving a school shooting, being robbed at gunpoint, and coming face-to-face with a bear) would still fit this prompt, but applicants will no longer feel compelled to justify that certain experiences made them an “adult.” (Certainly, if that were the case, the applicant could include it.)

Common App Essay Prompt 6

(New topic.) Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?

Common App Essay Prompt 6 Analysis

We really like this prompt. One of the key items admissions officers at elite schools such as Stanford are trained to look for is intellectual curiosity. We counsel applicants to not just show intellectual curiosity, but also intellectualism: the ability to appreciate and contemplate topics with complexity and depth. This prompt lets applicants “wax philosophical” and perhaps teach readers a thing or two, even helping them see things in a new light.

This prompt also gives applicants a chance to write about quirky interests that may not necessarily define them (as they would in Prompt 1). For example, we had a client who has several ant farms of different sizes. He observes how their behavior changes based on the dimensions of the container. This hobby is not “so meaningful that [his] application would be complete without it,” but it is still interesting and off-beat.

As counselors, we look forward to helping students craft essays in response to the new Common App essay Prompt 6. We anticipate that this prompt will serve as a nice balance to many supplemental essays, which ask more straightforward questions about applicants’ backgrounds and accomplishments. Common App essay Prompt 6 will provide a great opportunity for applicants to truly stand out as interesting and/or intellectual. Overall, a good response to this prompt, along with supplemental essays, will be conducive to giving admissions officers a “snapshot” that conveys breadth, depth, and uniqueness.

But the strength of the new Common App Essay Prompt 6 is also a major weakness: in the absence of supplemental essays addressing the applicant’s background and how “they got where they are,” it will be difficult to paint a complete picture. This won’t be impossible, but we will advise applicants to keep this in mind.

Common App Essay Prompt 7

(New prompt.) Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you’ve already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.

Common App Essay Prompt 7 Analysis

This is a major addition to the Common App and brings it in line with the Coalition App, which similarly asks, “Submit an essay on the topic of your choice.”

Common App Essay Prompt 7 serves two functions: First, it gives applicants a chance to be creative and come up with outside-the-box ideas to demonstrate their creativity. Second, and we have a feeling this was the main impetus for this prompt. Is that it allows applicants who may not have the resources to get help with a college essay to use one they’ve already written and perfected.

We will likely caution clients on responding to Common App Essay Prompt 7 most of the time. Part of the admissions process is, of course, comparing students to one another. Being able to make an admissions officer think, “this is a really good ‘problem’ essay” or “this is a really good ‘belief or idea’ essay” can help a student stand out. Also, it may leave less space for a response: The Common App is not open for fall applications yet, but if an applicant responds to a “different prompt,” including the text of that different prompt will likely count against the Common App word limit.

We don’t anticipate that admissions officers will look too negatively on a choice of Common App Essay Prompt 7, and in fact we expect some really great, creative essays to come from it. However, selecting this prompt may convey a sense that the applicant couldn’t find a suitable topic in the very wide range afforded by the other prompts available, or didn’t put much effort into crafting an essay for the Common App. Again, we think the latter won’t be a problem for applicants who may not have resources for help with their essay, and for whom college applications are a severe burden. But for those with access to support and the luxury of time, Common App Essay Prompt 7 may seem like a “cop-out.”

Conclusion

Overall, we think the changes and additions to the Common App essay prompts are positive. Small changes in language open up a wider range of topics to a wider range of people. That is important to colleges, and we believe it is a noble goal. We look forward to helping short-term customers and long-term clients with their Common App essays.

The post The 2017-2018 Common App Essay Prompts: An Expert Guide appeared first on IvyAchievement.

Looking for international ACT test dates or international SAT test dates? We have them here! Score release dates will be added when they become available.

Important update: the SAT will be given internationally only four times in the next calendar year: May, October, December, and March. The June and November College Board administrations will be for SAT Subject Tests only.

The reduced number of international SAT test dates means that international applicants will have to be more careful planning when to take required standardized tests. Students planning to apply under Early Decision or Early Action programs will have to take the SAT in May or October. The June test date, often the most convenient for international students, is no longer available for the SAT and is reserved for the SAT Subject Tests. The ACT will still be available to international students in April, June, September, October, and December. Our strong recommendation is that international students who still have to take the SAT and SAT Subject Tests should take the SAT in May and the Subject Tests in June. The October and November test dates should be reserved for re-takes.

We believe the reason for the College Board’s change is that previously, the College Board would use old but unpublished tests for international administrations. Because some students have been able to gain access to these unpublished tests, this gives them an unfair advantage. It’s possible they are now administering different versions of the SAT to international students, or perhaps instead of authoring new tests, they chose to simply cut the number of international administrations.

Whether to take the SAT or ACT is dependent on a student’s own strengths and weaknesses. Few schools still have a preference, and we have clients with both ACT and SAT who have been accepted to elite schools. Students should keep in mind that it is slightly easier to attain a perfect score on the SAT rather than the ACT. (And it’s also now easier to score a perfect 1600 on the new SAT than it was to score a 2400 on the old SAT.) So if you’re the type that’s unsettled by a lack of perfection, the SAT may be a better choice.

Schedule a consultation so we can help you decide when to take your SAT or ACT!

The post International SAT test dates and ACT test dates: important information appeared first on IvyAchievement.

About this Guide

The IvyAchievement Counselors’ Guide to Indian College Applicants is meant for college admissions professionals, Indian parents and students, high-school counselors, and anyone curious about how and why Indian students come to the United States and Canada. It contains material already familiar to each audience, but from the perspective of an American counselor who has spent a great deal of time in India. Our founder and CEO Benjamin Stern spent May thru July 2016 and November 2016 thru February 2017 in India, getting to know Indian college applicants and families.

Click here for Part II (about parents’ and families’ concerns).
Click here for Part III (about Indian high school).

Part I: Heat and Smog

The first time I visited India, I stepped out of the airport into heat. It was some of the worst Delhi had ever experienced; much of northern India was in the midst of a heat wave. The high temperature that day was 47 degrees Celsius – 117 degrees Fahrenheit. I had been through New York City “urban island” heat waves and the Dead Sea in Israel, but this was unlike anything I had ever experienced, even in a sauna. This was the kind of heat for which fanning yourself off doesn’t work (because the air is hotter than your skin, even with any cooling effect) and you feel it in your eyeballs. Fending off eager young men offering to help with my bags, I headed to my hotel in a run-down, non-air-conditioned van that seemed to be on its last legs. There were four lanes marked on the highway running into central Delhi, but somehow that supported seven lanes of traffic. Drivers honked as a matter of course to alert others to their presence; bumper stickers on vehicles with low rear visibility read “please use horn.” It was hot, it was loud, but it was exhilarating.

The second time I visited India, I stepped out of the airport into smog. It was some of the worst Delhi had ever experienced; much of northern India was in the midst of polluted haze. For several days, the streets recalled bleak scenes from Alfonso Cuarón’s dystopian Children of Men. Visibility was limited to a few blocks. Even on a cloudless day, one would look upward and not be able to see the sky. This smog wasn’t a Los Angeles haze; it was like the evil twin brother of Karl, San Francisco’s gentle, rolling fog. Even after the smog cleared, the air remained turbid. I knew things were bad when, on a night I thought the air quality was relatively good, a friend visiting from the United States asked me, “how can you breathe here?” I longed for the clean air of Northern California.

Bearing the heat and smog was worth it. I visited seven cities in India: Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Lucknow, and Jaipur. My team and I conducted seminars, presented in schools, and met with dozens of Indian college applicants and parents. We encountered a diverse array of people with a multitude of questions and concerns. Overall, I spent six months in India during my two trips. To me, the heat and the smog were symbolic of why Indian families want to send their kids—and kids want to go—abroad: the brutal “heat” of competition and the stifling “smog” of poor educational opportunities.

The Heat: Academic Competition

Aside from cows, perhaps the most venerated thing in India is academic performance. In every city I visited, I saw billboards and bus-stop advertisements for various elementary and high schools, degree programs, and exam preparation classes. The top high schools have dedicated admissions offices and post at school entrances their application deadlines and the number of available seats. When you enter a school, you’ll usually see color posters, either on the wall or freestanding, with the names and pictures of the “toppers” (highest scorers) in each class and subject. Many schools post honor-roll-type lists containing dozens of names for all to see.

Newspapers regularly publish articles about high-achieving students and lists of toppers in towns and cities. High schools and coaching centers take out full-page newspaper advertisements filled with pictures and profiles of their toppers (sometimes covering the first page) and will list prestigious university admissions. Government agencies overseeing education and even the Prime Minister will award certificates to outstanding students, and those award ceremonies will be covered by the media.

Because the stakes are so high, sometimes things get… “crazy.” Two years ago, parents and others in the state of Bihar, in northeastern India, literally scaled walls of school buildings to pass exam material to students inside. Last year, three “toppers” from Bihar were caught cheating when reporters, during the toppers’ award ceremony, asked them questions about the exam material and received nonsensical answers. The kids didn’t have to do anything to cheat; their papers were simply replaced by an official of the Bihar State Education Board, who had been bribed for 2 million rupees (around $30,000).

The Smog: Higher Education in India

India is set to become the largest country on Earth by 2022, with a population much younger than China’s. There are more children under the age of 15 in India than there are people of any age in the United States. The Indian university system, already bursting at the seams, will only grow more competitive. The internationally renowned Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) each take a fraction of a percent of candidates. The IITs, with just a few thousand seats available, require two rounds of entrance examinations: the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Mains, taken by over 13 million candidates a year, and the JEE Advanced, for which around 10% of those (13 million) qualify. The most coveted course of study/major at IIT, computer science, is open only to the top 500 or so of over 1.3 million applicants. And even among IITs and IIMs, there is significant variation in quality and job placement.

Some new, western-style colleges (such as Ashoka University) have popped up with support from American colleges and universities, but it takes a long time to build international reputation and prestige, and in general liberal arts education is not perceived as valuable by the vast majority of Indians. While there may be a future for Indian liberal arts colleges, that future is still several years away. One issue India has is quality of life: with poor infrastructure, severe air quality issues, and extreme weather, it is difficult to attract top research and teaching talent to establish a truly international university. When it comes to convincing academics and administrators to move to India, the (actual) heat and smog don’t help! India shows a lot of potential to address these issues, but for families deciding on education for their kids in the next several years, that potential means little. 

Because there are few high-quality post-secondary schools beyond the IITs and IIMs, parents and students look abroad. Other than the US, Canada, and the UK, Indian college applicants also look to universities in Singapore, Hong Kong, Germany, and the UAE. There are thriving Indian expatriate communities, which the Indian government calls “Non-Resident Indians” (NRIs) for civil purposes. These families, too, look for educational opportunities in their resident countries and beyond.

Up Next

In Part II of the IvyAchievement Counselors’ Guide to Indian College Applicants, we will discuss particular concerns that parents and kids have when considering study abroad, especially in the United States and Canada. In Part III, we will explore the world of Indian high schools, including their curricula, methods of education, private tutoring, test prep centers, and how high schools prepare (and don’t prepare) kids for college.

The post The IvyAchievement Counselors’ Guide to Indian College Applicants: Part I appeared first on IvyAchievement.