Does undergrad college matter? (Germany or India?)

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Etranger
Posts: 42
Joined: Tue Jan 03, 2012 9:38 am

Does undergrad college matter? (Germany or India?)

Post by Etranger » Tue Jan 03, 2012 9:45 am

Hi,

I've just completed secondary school (A-Levels) and will be applying to college (not USA) soon. I don't have too much money spend and ideally, I would rather keep my expenses on the low key. The odds of me being able to $25k loan (which is approx. what it would cost me to live in that specific area of Germany I'm looking at for 3 years) with just a PhD stipend is quite unlikely. My main concern is whether going to India to study at say, the University of Pune, be detrimental in my applying to graduate school in the USA after the bachelor's degree? On the applicant profiles page, I've seen quite a few foreign students, some of which were even rejected across the board (with the odd self-funded acceptance at Stony Brook...) and this leaves me quite worried, seeing as their profiles are quite good in general. Or at least, they look so to me. In general, students having studied in the US have much less of a hard time than their Asian/African counterparts. I've only encountered two notable exceptions on these boards and I fear these may just be success stories. From what I gather, *who* is writing one's recommendation letters is also quite important.

All of the above is quite worrying to me and I wouldn't want to jeopardise my shots at getting into one of my graduate schools of choice (when and if the time comes - not necessarily a popular school but one which is strong in whatever field I'm interested in 3-4 year's time) because of the school I attend. I am willing to work hard but I fear that alone won't be enough. It's a very tough decision. My parents can't afford to spend too much money on my education and if I go to Germany, I'll have to be much more cautious with my spending. However, in both cases, I'd still be going abroad.

Thoughts on this guys? I'd really appreciate the help.

Cheers

bfollinprm
Posts: 1203
Joined: Sat Nov 07, 2009 11:44 am

Re: Does undergrad college matter? (Germany or India?)

Post by bfollinprm » Sat Jan 07, 2012 1:04 pm

Coming from a US/Canadian school is probably the best choice, and after that Europe. There is a clear detriment to coming from an Asian undergraduate institution, mostly (as far as I can tell) because it's very hard to differentiate yourself with your peers coming from China/India.

If the US is only ruled out because of the high cost of tuition, consider applying to schools that offer scholarships to students coming from abroad. For instance, my undergraduate institution, the University of Richmond, gives 50/500 of their entering class a full ride (no cost to the student), and 15 of those are reserved for the sciences.

Etranger
Posts: 42
Joined: Tue Jan 03, 2012 9:38 am

Re: Does undergrad college matter? (Germany or India?)

Post by Etranger » Fri Feb 17, 2012 2:52 am

^
Excuse the late reply. Haven't been around as of late...

Yeah, I've heard of URichmond and it looks like a great school but applying to the USA would mean taking a gap year. The deadlines have already passed and I haven't done the SATs anyway...on top of that, it's a real crapshoot. I've seen better international applicants than I (disregarding essays) get rejected from 15-ish schools and getting very little financial aid from the few who did accept them. If I were to go to America, I would need lots and lots of FA. Can't pay more than about 8k USD, including room and board and what have you. So yes, I am screwed.

bfollinprm
Posts: 1203
Joined: Sat Nov 07, 2009 11:44 am

Re: Does undergrad college matter? (Germany or India?)

Post by bfollinprm » Wed Mar 14, 2012 12:32 am

Etranger wrote:^
Excuse the late reply. Haven't been around as of late...

Yeah, I've heard of URichmond and it looks like a great school but applying to the USA would mean taking a gap year. The deadlines have already passed and I haven't done the SATs anyway...on top of that, it's a real crapshoot. I've seen better international applicants than I (disregarding essays) get rejected from 15-ish schools and getting very little financial aid from the few who did accept them. If I were to go to America, I would need lots and lots of FA. Can't pay more than about 8k USD, including room and board and what have you. So yes, I am screwed.

Always worth a shot--and the more shots the better chance of a hit. Many schools will cover everything, many more will cover almost everything (except sometimes room and board, which you will have to pay anywhere, and can almost always get work placement on campus to help pay it) and almost everyone will waive application fees if you apply online and apply early enough in the admissions season.

Gap years aren't so bad...I enjoyed mine. If you're coming from the UK (your posts make me think you might) you're a tad younger than the average freshman in college anyway.



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