The Land Of Opportunities- USA

For a long time now, the USA has been the ultimate destination for any engineer. Be it to earn an MS degree, land a job or get into one of the top colleges in the world right from the undergraduate level, everyone wants to take a shot at it.

Since NRIs are more or less guaranteed admission into the NITs through DASA scheme, why not aim a bit higher and try to get admitted into one of the colleges. The application process is more or less complete by January-February and should not interfere with your class 12 board exam preparation.

Admission to most colleges is based on the SAT scores and some colleges even ask for a subject test scores in Math-level2 and any 1 of the science branches.

Before you start thinking about applying, let me tell you the pros and cons of an undergraduate college in the US. Firstly, most of the colleges in the US famous for engineering are extremely costly(approx $50000 annually) and financial aid is hard to come by at the undergrad level. If you come from deep money, you can apply to any of the several great colleges without applying for financial aid, as this would help your chances of getting accepted. Again, not all colleges are equally expensive. There are a few other colleges(mostly state run) that have fees under $30000 annually. A special mention needs to be made about the Franklin Olin College of Engineering which is considered to be a very good college.

If you are going to be unable to afford the fees, there is still hope for you as the US has the best financial aid system I have seen. At most colleges, aid is offered to students based solely on their family's financial constraints and not on merit. The downside to this is that most colleges do not offer aid to international students who are not permanent residents of the US or from one of the neighbouring countries. The colleges that do offer financial aid and 'need-blind admission' to international students are the toughest to get into. They are Harvard, Princeton, Dartmouth, Yale, MIT and Amherst. A few other colleges too provide international kids with financial aid but they are not need blind for admission, meaning that someone who can pay the whole fees would be considered above someone who is applying for financial aid.

Getting started: The SAT