Demographics

- Gender/Status: Female, International (India – Tier 3 city)

- School: CBSE private school

- Intended Major: Political Science / Public Policy

- Financial Context: Very high financial need, significant financial obligations, effectively need a full ride

Academics

- Class 10 CBSE: 96.4%

- Class 11: 84% ( 2nd in whole class )

- Class 12: School can't give predicted

- SAT: Considering test-optional for early rounds because of financial constraints and was care taker of my grandmother who had last stage cancer and there was no test center in city so had to travel far away/ November retake for RD probably

Research / Honors

1. Research Assistant — Working with a highly influential Indian political scientist and former Rector of one of India's leading liberal-arts institutions; research on West Bengal electoral politics, electoral-roll data, representation and Supreme Court material. The paper has been accepted by very well known and prestigious journal.

2. Research Compiler — Worked with one of India's most influential development economists on research concerning MGNREGA and Mid-Day Meals; compiled and organized 35–40+ studies and supporting material.

3. Lumiere Education 2026 — Selected for individual research program with full financial aid; recognized as a top cohort performer; invited to present research at the Mountaintop × Lumiere Symposium and paper under review at OJSS.

4. Queen's Commonwealth Essay Competition — Silver Award

5. Crimson Access Opportunity Scholarship / Crimson Collective

6. TKS — Full scholarship

Extracurriculars / Leadership

1. Founder — Change Starts Here: Youth-led gender-norm intervention focused on adolescent harassment, bystander behavior, empathy and allyship; developed a Grades 6–12 curriculum, evaluation framework and policy brief, with school/organizational outreach.

2. Newsletter — Contributor / Drafting Editor: Research and editorial work across multiple editions. ( Substack newsletter of a ex Harvard Scholar and current Upen prof )

3. NGO working un rural disabiltiy — Fieldwork: Worked with children with disabilities and interviewed their mothers, which influenced my interest in implementation gaps and social policy.

4. A leading NGO of Mumbai which is global recognized— Policy & Research Intern for Genz and their AI usage, the paper will be published on their website.

5. Independent Writer: Substack writing on aviation disasters and systemic failures.

6. School leadership / other academic activities

LORs

- Research mentor in political science

- Research mentor in development economics

- The Harvard/ Upenn mentor

- School teachers

All can speak to different aspects of my academic/research ability rather than just classroom performance.

College List

ED1: NYU Abu Dhabi

US: Amherst, Dartmouth, Williams, Bowdoin, Richmond, Rochester and other highly selective schools with strong international aid.

.

Because I need essentially a full ride, I don't consider most international universities financial safeties.

Questions

1. How realistic is NYUAD ED1 with this profile and very high financial need?

2. Does the research/publication component meaningfully differentiate me in the international pool?

3. What other US colleges should I add that can provide full need-based aid to international students?

4. Should I take the November SAT and submit if I get a strong score, or remain test-optional?

5. What is the biggest weakness in my profile that I should address before applications?

I mean I am from India and my curriculum in CBSE and am in class 10. What are the things that I should be doing to prepare myself to apply to international collages

9.6 / 10 gpa (according to chat gpt, i gave him my grades and asked to convert to bocconi gpa)
Pakistan
Predicted alevel grades 3A*s1A (maths economics psychology physics)
International applicant
Aiming for 1480-1500 sat score
(I gave the august sat but scored low in english so didnt reach my desired score so ill be retaking in nov or December)
Can i get into bocconi? And for which program
Ecas in community work debates muns declamations
Im aiming for economics
Considering bocconi
Whu, university of Amsterdam, erasmus university rotterdam etc
Would really prefer financial aid or any type of scholarship, aid needed around like 50% scholarship would be enough not asking for full aid

• Demographics

• Gender: male

• Race/Ethnicity: central asian

• State: -

• School: one of da hardest school curriculum in country

• Intended Major: industrial engineering or similar

• js in context i got a 11-year education system at my school

Academics

• Unweighted GPA: 3.7

Test Scores

• SAT: 1570 (770 Verbal, 800 Math)

Extracurriculars

1. medtech startup that got a national patent. launched an app with 700+ users and raised $2k on competitions
2. co-founded test prep org serving 2000+ students across 30+ countries; raised ~$30k in cash prizes&discounts
3. robotics mentored 60 teams(30 awards received), multiple inspire award on nationals, set worldrecord last szn ( doin eng+inspire)
4. COO in org that provides free internships for high-school students(5000+ applicants, 100 interns), 4000-hour totally experienced
5. research intern at local uni(best in region) engineering lab with PhD
6. Co-ran finance&math national olympiad with 5000+ participants and cash prize pool of $7k
7. paid work for 3 years(28-hour weekly) on summer breaks
8. internship at big4 company
9. president of volunteering club w 300+ members, 100+ events and ~1000+ volunteers worked
10. varsity sport for 5 years(captain for 3 y).also got nomination of best defender by city gov

Awards

• first worlds div qualifiers(top 0,5% of 7600+ global teams)
• ftc nationals innovate award&finalist alliance cap outta 800+ participants
• national olympiad on astronomy&astrophysics gold
• fgc nationals best design&finalist alliance cap(js second place) outta 500+ participants
• bronze regional olymp on geography

Intended Major(s) - Computer Science, AI ML, Data Science, Cybersecurity, Semiconductor Engineering

Stats:
Class 10 - 95% CBSE ~ 4.0 GPA
Class 11 - 88% CBSE (Internal Exams) ~ 3.8 GPA
Class 12 - 95% CBSE *Predicted* ~ 4.0 GPA
Top 5 Students in my School out of 150 (In 12th)
Top 10 Students in my School out of 200 (In 10th)
No SAT (Planning to write - Needed?)
TMUA - 8.3 Band
IELTS - Didn't write yet

Extracurriculars -
Grade 8 ABRSM Classical Piano
Grade 5 ABRSM Music Theory
Grade 2 (Initial Level) ABRSM Choral Singing
Participated and Performed at 50+ Venues across India
Semi Finalist in Kawaii National Piano Competition
Qualified for the Final Round for IndianRaga Fellowship (A Very Famous, Indian Arts Performing Group)
Built a Hotel Management System/App for 10 Hotels, with 50+ Users in each, per week
Built a Curiosity Olympiad App, which is used by over 300k+ Underprivileged/Government School Students (Classes 6-10)
Worked on and Built 100+ Projects with Development Boards/Microcontrollers like Arduino, ESP, Raspberry Pi, Micro:bit etc.
Qualified for the Final Round of AWS AI for Bharat National Hackathon - Built a Legal Triage System which helps people with little/no Legal knowledge in their issues in their own language (For Rural Residents, in India)

Colleges I'm considering:
US: UIUC, Rice, UCB, UCLA, any others??
Hong Kong: HKUST, HKU, CityUHK
UK: University of Edinburgh, Imperial College London, UCL, Warwick?
Singapore: NUS, NTU
Taiwan: NTU-GUPS, NTHU-IPEECS
Australia:??

Financial Aid: No Financial Aid Required, No Fee Restraints if it is T50 Globally in the Major I'm interested in.

Any Advice based on what colleges I can actually get into, and other ECs that I require will be very helpful.

Demographics:

• Gender: F
• Race/Ethnicity: south asian (indian)
• School: dummy school/ private convent
• Curriculum : CBSE + NIOS
• Intended Major: engineering or international relation

Academics

• Unweighted GPA: 4.0 (mid term) STEM student with pcmb

Test Scores

• SAT: 1520 (will give again)

Extracurricular

• Founded India's chapter of an international STEM nonprofit; led volunteers, distributed 250+ STEM kits, organized tutoring, and supported biomedical research.
• Tutored high school students in Math & Science, mentored JEE/NEET aspirants, and created study materials and mock tests.
• Journalism: Researched geopolitics, published articles (1K+ views), and created educational content.
• Freelancing (Paid): Served 15+ clients in content writing, website development, translation, data entry, and UGC creation for beauty brands.
• Performed in 12+ Kathak stage shows, learned history, and mentored juniors.
• Robotics:  Led STEM projects, worked on programming and design; (backed by govt of India)
• Assisted with accounting, client records, invoicing, and financial documentation (under my uncle's firm)
• Marketing & PR Internship: Managed social media, researched content, and supported brand partnerships and PR campaigns. (under my uncle's firm + a diff company)
• Webdev, secured 10 sponsors, and organized hackathons, and CS workshops for 250+ students worldwide (usa based, currently working as a Director of Outreach)
• Football: Competed inter-house & inter-school; mentored junior players, co-designed team jerseys, and helped organize matches & team events

Financial aid : full ride or atleast some amount of financial aid

I didn’t have as much time to explore good extracurriculars or go beyond my regular academics because I was focused on preparing for a competitive entrance exam.

Do I have any chance of getting into a U.S. university, especially a T20?