 These are things that we put up on the website and I took it off of off of the website itself So hearing that back in this rewinding on my journey has been has been something that I've been thrown down into a memory lane But thank you so much for having me here today What I'm gonna essentially do is just take a quick poll around the room if you guys can tell me Whether you guys are in 9th 10th 11th or 12th grade I can customize the sort of the structure for today's meeting based on that So quickly if you guys can essentially go over The chat section and very quickly tell me which grades you're in so that I can get a better idea of what the room is looking like And then customize some of the stuff for that. Yeah, so I see a bunch of students that are in grade 10 11 9 all the way I see someone from 8th grade joining us as well Okay, there's someone from 7th grade as well. That's good. All right, so it looks like it's a pretty mixed sort of a room with students coming in from grades 9 onwards till 12th What that tells me is the kind of The kind of ideas that you guys need to understand the timelines that you essentially need to establish all of those are things that you Want to absolutely get started as early as possible irrespective of whether it's admissions abroad or Admissions within any university in India as such. So it's great that you guys are attending the session What I'm going to do from my perspective is Just break down a bunch of different things that are required to build what we would consider a strong profile And then walk you through how you build individual components to both crack Admissions abroad as well as crack internal Indian system admissions as well All right So I am not one of those boring Professors who comes up with a 20-page slide deck or anything of that sort What I'm going to do is really quickly run you through very very few slides All of my slides are going to be heavy in terms of information But in a bullet point once we are through with the slides and while we are going to a bunch of these slides If you could add in all of the questions that you have in the chat section I will keep coming back to each one of those questions when it is relevant. I have the chat section open in front of me I'm looking at all of the questions in the audience responses, etc So make it easy for me ask the ask me any questions that you guys have I'm more than happy to essentially go deep dive into specific topics of anything that we cover today What I'm going to do also is structure the presentation to about 20 to 25 minutes and then leave the rest of the time for rich questions from the audience Questions that you think everyone that is joining us today can benefit from and then for Personal questions, we will leave the hotline and the grad mine pre consultation call on the website open for you guys You can schedule a one-on-one with me or with some of the other mentors that are on the platform Just going on to the website All right, let me go ahead share my screen and then I'll get you guys started on today's session All right, let me know when you can see my screen. Just give me a thumbs up anyone Chat section would be great. All right Thank you Okay, so today's session is essentially going to be about profile building for undergraduate While the emphasis itself is going to be a little more on the profile building for undergraduate admissions abroad a lot of these takeaways can be applied to universities within India specifically the holistic or the the new age liberal arts institutions or institutions that also Considered Everything else that you've done as a high school student apart from just the test course that you essentially have So if there are universities in India, which follow the holistic application process and don't just look at the J The J means or any of the other standardized tests and are open to considering the rest of the profile Then this session is essentially for you guys Of course for students that are looking to go abroad both to the US to any country literally outside of India Most universities will go through the entire Holistic application process and I'm going to break down specific parts of the application process tell you what Universities consider a good or a strong profile Breakdown what profile includes and then give you tips and tricks that you can use to build your profile for admissions Let me just do a quick introduction like Segandha ma'am said I am I am one of the founders of a peer-to-peer mentorship club We have about 600 to 700 different mentors every single one just like me has gone on to a top 10 or a top 20 University abroad and these are the guys that sit down with prospective applicants or prospective students sit with them one-on-one Go through all of the things that they have done during high school and then make sure to essentially assimilate a lot of information figure out or help figure out interests Help figure out careers help figure out what courses you could apply to as a major or minor combination and then Help you with the entire logistics or the application processes for each one of them. So that's what gradvine essentially does And just in terms of background. I have a master's degree from Carnegie Mellon a top 5 university in the world for the degree that I pursued Like she said I also went on to clerk for in turn for and then work full-time with the governor the back then the governor In the state of California and then moved on to doing a lot of stuff in data science specifically The idea for gradvine essentially came about when both speaker was my co-founder and I was starting to apply to universities ourselves We felt that there is this big lack of Credible advice on the ground advice that students or anyone else is giving us from On the ground from the right programs from people who are already at the same universities and the courses that we were trying to pursue Therefore we've built up this platform and again, if you if you guys need to reach us the number is Below you can also reach us for a free consultation call on the website. All right, let's look at the agenda for today What does profile building include? What does a good profile consist of? What does it mean to say I have a very strong profile? How do you figure out various options between majors minors etc and choose the right combinations for yourself? Every single every single student that comes to us from high school from most of the IB the CVSE or the other curricula Seems to be hinting at being able to do projects being able to do various internships or Being involved in leadership activities. What are these different things? Should you or should you not get into any one or two or 20 of these and what is a good balance? We'll talk about that One of the most important things is also to demonstrate interest which is another sub topic that I'm going to cover today And if there is one single thing that you take away from the conversation today, let it be point number seven start every single application process as early as possible That is the biggest tidbit you can get. I'm giving you a free sneak peek at it free preview of it But make sure if you are someone who's looking to apply abroad or within India start the application process as early as possible start thinking about it at least as soon as possible All right, let's get started. So one of the biggest myths that is around is the fact that universities are looking for well rounded individuals Unfortunately, that is what it is. It's a myth. Universities are not looking for well rounded individuals. Universities want to build Well rounded classrooms of students from various diverse aspects and specialization and make the entire university or campus community as holistic or well rounded as possible So the key difference here is the fact that universities are not looking for a jack of all master of none instead of well rounded students University is actually aimed to build well rounded classrooms. Let's say a classroom comprises of about 50, 60 students Universities are looking to find as diverse profiles as possible. People who specialize will take in the time out showcase their interest and specialize in specific things as part of their high school So various specialities, various interests, various sort of activities that students have participated in all of that come together in terms of a well rounded classroom And that is what overall contributes that that that is exactly what contributes to the overall campus community to the overall alumni class even once you guys graduate and therefore universities are very, very picky about the kind of specialist students that they're going to be picking So what does a good profile look like A good profile unfortunately is not one where a student has involved himself or herself in 20 different activities in 10 different clubs at the leadership position of seven of them, but only scratch the surface of every single one of those If you are looking to get into a top 20, top 30, top 40 or a top 50 university in the US or in the world, the idea has to be that you also have to be a top 40, top 30 sort of a student The idea is that there are at least two or three areas that you've indulged in that you've expressed your interest in and that you've pursued for a long period of time Long period of time to show discipline, long enough to show consistency and long enough to have actually meaningfully contributed to that particular leadership position, club activity, interest area, whatever In order and Sugandha ma'am was just showing us some of the acceptance rates of these universities, for example, let's take a Harvard which is at a 5%, 6% acceptance rate In order to be accepted at a university like Harvard, you have to be in the top 5% of the applicants that apply to Harvard which is around 30, 40,000 as many as possible In order to be in the top 5% of an incoming applicant pool at Harvard, you have to be in the top 5% of particular sort of areas that you have picked in terms of your interest areas So 9th, 10th and 11th graders, this is your cue to sit back, take a step back, think about what your interests are academically Think about what your interests are outside of academics and see if there is intersection between these interests that you want to go to a deep dive on My only takeaway from this essential slide is going to be do not involve yourself in so many activities and not deep dive into any one of them What that shows to the university is that you are still at an exploration early sort of a stage and you haven't figured out completely what you essentially want to go get or what your interests are or what you will pursue in undergrad While that is okay for some, essentially as international students, it's not going to be a very solid criteria for a university to accept you So for all of the 9th, 10th and 11th students that are here, my recommendation would be to take a clean slate Just look at everything that is ahead of you in terms of activities, in terms of interests, in terms of clubs that are available and then make sure to deep dive into at least one or two And make sure to try and understand how good or how bad these things are for you and then continue down that path Students who are in their 7th, 8th and 9th grades, congratulations, you are attending this session You have so much more time to essentially sit down and think holistically about what are my interest areas Most students often find either interest within academic subjects or find interest outside of academia, you could be a great football player The guitar from 7th grade onwards, you could be someone who really likes to debate, go out for model UN competitions etc But that is something that you have to keep doing consistently and with a disciplined mind and keep doing it for a longer period of time to actually make any meaningful contributions and strides in that particular area So the one thing to take away from this slide Be a master of a couple of specializations, specialize in a couple of things At the same time, also have a pretty good overall GPA, good grades overall Average participant let's say in a multiple sort of setting, multiple extracurricular etc But there have to be two or three things that jump out The importance of conversations The other day, one of the most important things that speaker and I talk about is the fact that when we were applying to both undergraduate and graduate schools One of the biggest things that we did not have is social media Social media was just coming up, it was the time of Facebook, there was no LinkedIn There was also no Snapchat for us to put fancy filters on our face with the elephant ears and all of that Thanks to that But again, there's one aspect of social media that we could not take advantage of And this is the fact that literally all of the world is available on social media On platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or LinkedIn One of the most important communities that exist is this community of peers Is this community of peers who've graduated maybe three or four years were elder to you by three or four years And have gone on to really good places The biggest thing you can do today to build your profile is to identify what your interests are Identify what careers exist for those interests and then identify the courses that you can do to get into these careers How do you do the first thing? How do you identify what your interests are? If there was a magic potion that you could just take in and you figured out what your interests are, that would be great, right? There actually is. This magic potion essentially is not something as easy or quick as drinking water But this magic potion is the power of internet, is the power of these social media communities that you essentially need to tap into You can understand the realities of pursuing various careers You can understand, for example, you talk to someone who's a lawyer And not who's a lawyer who's studying up to law school maybe Who's maybe three or four or maybe five years ahead of you in terms of career, in terms of what grade you're in Once you have those conversations, a lot of different things sort of open up Once you have these conversations, you can gain inspiration from what the mentor was like three or four years ago Or whenever they were in your own position What sort of courses did they take? What sort of path did they follow? What sort of internships did they do? And how did they mold their profile to get into whatever university, college, career they've been able to get into So understanding the realities of pursuing different career fields And thinking about what you're getting into before you actually do it is one of the most important things There's a running joke in India and this is probably meme material for everyone that's joining in You could probably put out memes of this Every single engineer that I've met did not get into engineering for the sake of engineering Every single engineer that I've met has gotten into engineering because they didn't know anything otherwise Like in India, the sort of traditional realm has so far been either engineering or medicine And so the aim here by having these conversations irrespective of what cultural backgrounds you come from etc Is to make sure that you know what you're exactly getting into So the first point of profile building is to identify interests And you can identify these interests by talking to as many people from a diverse group of population as possible How do you do that? Leverage social media So this particular slide concentrates on the importance of having conversations Importance of identifying your interests and then further building all along those interests And then sparking that identity which only happens through individual personalised sort of conversations So an action item on this particular slide, if you guys don't already do Go on to this platform called LinkedIn.com You might think it's a little too early, that's absolutely fine You can create a barebones profile of yourself But you can look at and follow a bunch of different people on LinkedIn The power of that network is absolutely immense The number of people that post about their paths The kind of work they are working on The kind of startups that they have created And the kind of problems they are pursuing or going after Those are things that can inspire you guys That can help you guys think about what you want to do as well So action item on this slide Go ahead, today, tomorrow, set up your LinkedIn profiles So the first point is figuring out what your interests are That's critical for profile building Once you've figured out your interests The second point is going to be figuring out potential careers that come up You could do it interchangeably as well You could look at potential careers that are out there today But the only problem with that is Some of the careers that existed today did not exist five years ago For example, a social media marketing analyst Sounds fancy, but essentially it's optimization of a lot of ads that you see I'm sure a lot of you are on Snapchat and Instagram And a lot of these ads sort of pop up Optimizing those ads, making sure that you are the right target audience To see a certain ad that has become a career and a role in itself That did not exist five years ago So we would recommend that you first sit down and think about whether you like math, science Intersection of math and art, intersection of computer science and public policy And a lot of different things, right? So first, figure out your interests The way to figure out interests is to talk to as many people as possible And then the second part would be to figure out careers that exist today At the intersection of all of these interests And careers that you could create for yourself five years down the line Again at the intersection of these various interests as such So that's my slide The action item on this is to go explore your interests and careers that exist at the intersection of these interests A lot of people will essentially come to me at this point and say, hey Suraj I've thought about a couple of my interests I figured out that I'm really good and interested in math I'm really good and interested in logical puzzles outside of academia I'm also interested in, let's say, human anatomy I'm interested in debating Model UN I'm a really good public speaker So I want to find out whether a particular career is for me or not So the second step to profile building after you've figured out interests and potential careers Is to actually do a live three to six months sort of a project, internship or activity Within the intersection of these various interests that you've essentially picked up Let's say you've picked out a couple of interest areas for yourself Let's say you've picked out computer science You've picked out public policy or Model UN as one of the activities that you're really interested in That you see yourself doing for a pretty long time either through high school or college And let's say you also need to know, you also know how to build websites You actually want to sit down and understand how a computer functions for example There is no substitute to understanding what careers are going to look like Without you spending a little bit of time in the same shoes as someone who's doing that particular Or who's in that particular career The best way to essentially understand what, whether you like something or not is by doing it Therefore projects, internships and all of these different activities that you can do To showcase your interest is a great way to set yourself apart from everyone else Not just from a university admissions perspective But also from a clarity of thought perspective You become much better at explaining what your interests are You become much better at yourself understanding whether this is the path I want to go down or not Not so much about the company, it does not matter as much what company, what specific role you're getting into What sort of big startup versus corporate versus individual project within the high school etc All of those things won't really matter as long as the kind of work that you're doing The particular role and the impact of the work that you're doing is pretty high For example, a couple of students essentially were interning within their own high school And I'm not even talking about going out of the high school to a corporate or to, let's say I have a question, I'll get back to you Roshni, but let's say I'm not even talking about a company or a startup or an MNC or anything of that sort Just within your own high school, right? If there are particular subjects that you are interested in, go approach the teacher Ask them to set you up with a project that you can do by yourself Second, there are so many websites across the world that will give you problem statements For example, Kaggle is one, K-A-G-G-L-E Kaggle is a huge data community Kaggle is one of the biggest communities where all data sets are available Let's say you're trying to understand some of the statistics that Suranda Ma'am was showing you was IB and the percentage of how IB students can get into Ivy League University That exists as a data source on Kaggle If you are actually curious about it, there are two things you can do Go on to Kaggle.com, download the data set as an Excel Learn how to manipulate numbers on an Excel sheet Figure out and do a little bit of analysis, formulate some questions And then try to understand how those statistics come up How you can sort of build your own IPDP portfolio or curriculum etc And then do a little bit of digging around in terms of questions that you can answer That becomes a project of its own Again, the beauty of projects is that it could be very well structured In a company, in a M&C, in a startup It could also be unstructured sort of questions that you have that you'd be diving So be curious Take up as many projects and internships as you can get in terms of opportunities This could either be opportunities outside of school or within school The third part of it is the leadership aspect I am sure that not only at Elpro but also all of the other schools that you guys are joining in from There are a bunch of clubs and there are a bunch of activities that the school itself offers As part of leadership, it would be great if you guys can get a sense of everything that's going on Fit yourself into a particular club that you were interested in And slowly build your way to taking additional responsibility within that club So projects, leadership, internships These are three critical things that you could do to not only set yourself apart from everyone else that's applying to colleges and universities But also to deep dive within your interest and understand for yourself whether this is the path I want to go down or not Let's go back again In order to build your profile, you need to know One, your interests Two, what careers could exist at the intersection of your interests And three, what courses to pursue All of these three things will be clarified if you sit down, talk to as many people And then look at it from a project-based learning Look at it from an internship-based learning Or go do some sort of leadership activities or extracurricular activities within the school or outside of the school And then deep dive and see if that is something that you are interested in Alright, let's take a couple of questions Do companies outside take students of our age in internships? Absolutely, yes If you are a 10th grader, 11th grader or 12th grader There are multiple companies both online as well as offline Which will give you the opportunity to essentially intern or do a project with them That's within India One of the most important things and that's point number four is email, LinkedIn and other social media platforms One of our interns who was in 10th grade What he did was that he had this innate curiosity about something called human clock We all know that there's an internal clock of some sort that tells us when to wake up, when to sleep, whatever So this boy was very very interested in that And therefore literally scoured the internet starting from a very basic Wikipedia sort of a Google search Wikipedia Went into the depths, read some research papers, found out the authors of these research papers who were professors at MIT And simply leveraged social media and email to send them an email saying Hey Prof, I'm a 10th grader, I understand basic biology I'm very curious about the human clock that is within me because I'm a night out I can't sleep too early, I sleep very late at night So I'm trying to understand and so I read a bunch of your papers Which say that the human clock essentially adjusts to a lot of us surrounding etc I found that research very very interesting Is there a way you can give me 30 minutes of your time And I have a couple of questions for you that you can answer This is someone in 10th grade who was genuinely curious about certain things He dove deep into that particular research area and emailed a professor at MIT He is specter of not thinking whether that professor is going to reply or not reply etc This professor actually replied back, set up time with him And two years later, for the two years, was working with that professor And two years later, he is a student current second year undergraduate student At the biology lab at MIT He got into a bunch of other universities So genuine curiosity and being able to use social media as a tool Is one of the most important things that we have Are there companies? Absolutely Are there professors? Absolutely You just have to make sure to understand what your interests are first And then find the pioneers in those sort of interests People that are doing great work Follow them along for a little bit Do your research about them And then shoot out emails Shoot out connection requests etc And talk to them in terms of how they got started What you can do to contribute to some of the work that they are doing Alright, can we do internship and put it in our university form Or is this after completing university? This is in order to get into university That's the internship project leadership experience that I'm talking about As a high school student Every single student that is aspiring to go abroad for their undergraduate studies Should ideally have figured out their interests And then dove deeper into figuring out whether that's the right path for them or not And the best way to do that at the same time amplify their profile Is to do projects or internships Where can we find these companies? Great question One of the examples that I gave you is once you found out your niche or your interest area Find the pioneers for example Norm Chomsky If you are someone who is really interested in linguistics, language, English At the intersection of computer science Professor Chomsky is someone who is at MIT Who you could write to, he replies Then there are professional tools like LinkedIn Then there is this online portal called Internshala Where you can essentially log in There are a bunch of posts etc And you can essentially apply to those jobs and internships Multiple ways to figure it out But a simple Google search And you could do this right after the call And you'd be surprised by the results High school internships for students in India If you just do that you will get hundreds of different websites that offer internships So there is no excuse right now Five years, ten years ago, sure There is no excuse right now Alright, I think questions are pouring in now We'll get back to questions in just a little bit I promise to take every single one of these questions right after I'm done with all of the structured sort of slides that I have Demonstrating interest One of the biggest things that Indian students particularly do not do They will fill their forms They will be top of their class They will be really good academically They will have great grades They will be prompt in terms of filling out applications But they do not take that extra step They do not show that they are really interested in a particular university I understand from a university's perspective right And this is guided by both logic As well as precedence For example, past examples Every single thing, every single bit of gyan that I'm giving you Essentially something that I've observed through my journey Also the journey of dealing with thousands and thousands of undergraduate kids that are Or high school kids that are moving to undergrad There are two potential things that I'm going to talk about in terms of demonstrating interest From a university's perspective As well as from a student's perspective Let's say I am a student admissions counsellor At MIT, I am in charge of reading 3,000 applications Do you really think that a committee of about 20 or 30 readers Will be able to go through every single thing on every single university application It's not going to be possible Universities and readers essentially remember certain students That have shown or demonstrated interest Demonstrated interest is essentially not going above and beyond filling the application form For example, visiting campuses or in this time taking virtual tours Constant contact with the top interest choice Constant contact with let's say university admissions officers Just asking them casual questions about Hey, I'm doing these, what do you think I could build on The same questions that you're asking me You could essentially figure out and just email these guys And there's a question, where do I find these email IDs Every single one of these email IDs is going to be available on the website On the university website For the particular counsellor, professor Every single detail is going to be available It's publicly available detail for everyone to go out and take advantage of I'm not saying hound them with continuous emails They're also busy people, so keep in mind that you might or might not get replies But from our end, there has to be some sort of an interest that you show In that particular university and a course That's another way to stand out and build your profile To set yourself apart from everyone else that's coming in The second thing is Universities get thousands and thousands and lakhs of applications They are looking to admit students Who, if given an admit, have a high probability of coming and joining the university For example, there's university X Its intake is 10,000 students It gets one lakh applicants The university also needs to be very very sure That if it gives you the 999th admit As compared to someone else They want to know whether you will attend the university Or will you attend some other university As much as it is a choice for the university to take you in It's also a choice for you to whether you want to attend that particular university or not So demonstrating interest in this particular case Specifically concentrates on how you show interest towards that particular university One big example is tailoring essays Most US universities, most universities abroad Will have essays that you will have to write about the particular university And why you wish to attend that Don't talk very very, you know, at a 10,000 feet level Hey, I like the university because it's one of the top 10 universities That is very generic Tailor the essays specifically to what you like about the university I went to Carnegie Mellon because I loved the program Which offered me insight into public policy Which offered me a great depth in the energy sector And offered me the chance to take electives Or courses in data science and artificial intelligence And apply them to my domain knowledge expertise Which is the area of interest which is energy in my case So when you go specific about the university and why you wish to attend that Universities are convinced a lot more That you know why you're applying That you know that if given the admin You are a serious applicant who will come to the university Tailoring essays when you are applying is another way of demonstrating interest Another way to demonstrate interest would be to attempt all the optional essays Taking time out, researching the particular university The course, the sort of culture, the vibe of the university, etc All of these combined together within the umbrella of demonstration of interest And that's another way you can essentially build your profile If there is one thing that you take away from this conversation It's that you absolutely need to start thinking about applications early For students who are looking to apply abroad 10th grade, 9th and 10th grade are your best times to start figuring out And start doing a little bit of the groundwork Because once you come into 11th grade You're already sucked into a particular stream and domain You're already taking a particular set of subjects And so because you're taking those set of subjects Some of the majors and minors are essentially closed off to you So critical steps and the foundation should be laid in 9th and 10th grades And that's the start thinking about applications early piece that I'm talking about It's not that in your 12th grade I'm applying to university now And so I would start thinking one month in advance Not going to help you guys Start thinking from 9th and 10th Start building your profile from 9th and 10th And therefore it becomes a lot easier For you guys to essentially set yourself apart Set yourself apart from an interest, from a career, from a course And from a university perspective One last thing is This age old question of how do I stand out from the rest This will I promise be the last one or two slides before we take a bunch of these questions I would also really appreciate guys if you could send the questions out to everyone I think a lot of direct messages are coming in If you can send the questions out to everyone Everyone sort of had an idea about the question that I'm addressing And they have their mind structured and oriented towards that So just a request if you have questions please send that out to I don't know who the admin is I don't think there's permissions So if you could figure it out That'd be great Alright, how to stand out from everyone One If there is again I'm hopping on this as much as I can If there is one thing that you take away from the session today Let it be that you have to begin early 9th and 10th grades are absolutely the perfect time to essentially start out Second, be yourself In this age where you know what the other person is doing within your class When you know what your peer is doing One of the most important things is to be genuine Be what you are That's the best version of what you are It's not copying or aping someone It's not saying that person has an interest in this That could be something that I am also interested in Sit down, reflect, figure out what you want And then be yourself Alright Consider what is very important to you There are students that think that advocacy Human rights, being a lawyer All of these things are important That computer science Being able to code, being able to put some stuff together All of that is important But, introspect, understand what is important to you And learn more about it Be curious guys Literally one thing that will help you throughout your life Irrespective of what stage you are at Is being curious Asking questions That's one of the most important things You can cultivate as a habit Tailor your essays And demonstrate interest Again, for the benefit of everyone What is a good profile? A good profile is not someone who has participated in 20, 30 different activities And is a jack of all master of none A good profile or a good student or a good candidate Is someone who has explored two or three interest areas to a great depth Has specialized in those While at the same time Everything else on the profile Is pretty solid as well Right? So there are two or three things that you deep dive Everything else you've maintained at the average Or the above average mark for that particular university Alright You have to understand what your interests are You have to understand what careers are possible for those interests And what courses you can do for those careers To get into those careers All these three things are possible By doing two things Particularly one A diverse set of individuals And if you guys are interested Grad one can help you with some of that Second, doing projects, internships Or some sort of practical work In the areas of interest that you have These are two things that will help you understand And sort of set yourself apart Of course from a university perspective But also give you additional clarity In terms of what you need to do To become the best at whatever interest area You've essentially picked That's pretty much it for me For the structured part of the session today I'm going to leave this slide on This is some of the services that Grad by and Office We are a, like I said, peer-to-peer mentorship organization We help with the profile building aspects We also help with the applications part of it I'm going to leave this slide on And dive deep into some of the questions that I see here Also Sugandha ma'am if you are around If you can make it open to everyone I think that makes a big difference I've done that Suraj Great All right I'm interested in artificial intelligence Could you please suggest some sites Where I could do internships Two sites for you Grishma One is Kaggle, K-A-G-G-L-E Actually three sites for you One is Kaggle Two is WorldData.ai And the third is essentially on LinkedIn I cannot emphasize The kind of projects etc that are put up You could also look at intern Shala And see if there are internships within the area But Kaggle and WorldData.ai Are your two best friends How much does volunteering matter? What did you as a What did I do as a student volunteer Or what can other students volunteer in All right Let's look at it very very holistically Volunteering essentially is Being able to contribute or give back to society How much does it matter Is something that is very very relevant And depends upon what sort of work you're doing You could essentially And something that every single high school student Sort of puts up on their profile Go to an old age home Or to an orphanage Or to teach some Lower income, lower community sort of students But that is something that everyone sort of does When you've done it for Consistently for a long period of time And you've tracked the impact that you've had That is when volunteering starts to matter If it is something that you're doing Just to put up on your profile Not going to matter as much Because of COVID during 2020 A lot of students were not able to cope With the schooling and has impacted their profile building Tremendously Our university is going to take that into account I'm going to answer that question with two Basis one is a logical basis And two from a very experiential Or past relevant case studies Sort of a method Logically speaking Just as much as high school students Have been affected So have college administrations And admissions staff themselves One of the biggest things That universities look for In an application reader Or someone who's evaluating your application Is empathy They have also gone through the same Ordeal that you guys and I And everyone around us has gone through So there is absolute consideration For students Who are graduating now Or who have graduated last year Or will graduate next year Universities understand that it was a tough time Therefore they have relaxed Some of the entry criteria If you noticed Universities have essentially relaxed Or made standardized tests Like the FAT, ACT, etc. Optional So that students don't face the trouble Of my test got cancelled I couldn't give it Or I couldn't cope up with the studies So I couldn't get a really good score So universities 100% Are human beings just like us They understand that the entire world Has gone through something And therefore are very empathetic To all of the students That are going to be applying What if our interests are non-academic Sports, music, absolutely mental I mean one of my interests As a young adult Who was in high school Was debating Was model U.M. Was public policy, etc. None of these things I come from a CBSE school So none of these things were offered What we have to essentially understand Is if you have identified these As your interest areas If you are in the top 5% Of the work that you do In that particular interest area Then you essentially set yourself apart So it's great that you Sort of have an inclination Of what my interests are Dive deep into it First of all, identify whether those Are actually your interest areas Or whether they are hobbies That's a very, very big difference That you can turn into careers So can hobbies But hobbies are not pursued Very, very seriously If a hobby is pursued seriously It becomes an interest area So the base could be in 7th, 8th grade You can have a bunch of hobbies And you can pick and choose 2 or 3 That become your interest areas And then talk to as many people As possible Who have made themselves a career Out of these interest areas For the past 5, 6 years now A couple of them Were great hobby football players In their high school, in their 7th, 8th grade Took up the sport Very, very interesting Sort of turn Took up the sport seriously In their high school And then went on to study the sport The science behind the sport And now, assistant managers Work with the club Back office, analytics, etc At clubs or European clubs Like Manchester United At places like Liverpool and Sheffield Right So if you have an interest in sport Even within sport Do you like playing it Is there a particular science That you like about it Is the character building aspect Of it something that interests you, etc So dive deep again As many wise Why, why, why, why It's a good practice Do that with yourself Do that introspectively When you say XYZ is my interest area Are there internships For those who want to pursue medical careers Absolutely, yes They're just not called internships They're called volunteering activities Or shadowing So as part of internships For science ways, etc They can actually do projects With many opportunities They can actually do projects With medicine If you are looking to become a psychologist A doctor specializing in something, etc The best way you can show interest In that area Is by volunteering with a clinic Or volunteering or shadowing a doctor Who's a specialist in that particular area That concept is not so popular yet In India But is the base That is accepted in the US So shadowing is something that you can do If there are Clinics close by If there are doctors in your community In your network That are specialists at certain things You could go shadow them You could go watch them do certain things Of course with proper Permissions, safety guidelines, etc Especially in today's world Is there any structured way To find out kids' interests Unfortunately The only tools The only tool that is available in the market Is something called a psychometric test We've seen research in the last ten years That shows how ineffective Psychometric tests are Understand that when a student Is sitting down to give one of these tests They're probably in a world of their own They're not thinking about the things On the test They're thinking about the PT period Or the games and sports period That's upcoming Or something else completely different And so while Standardised tests and these tests themselves Could be a great indicator Of what the student is good at They're never a good indicator Of what the student has an interest To pursue later on Just because someone is good at something Does not mean they make that their career Is there a structured way Yes The structure is conversations That are based on This is not something that I am coming up with This is something that twenty years of research At places like Harvard Stanford Early School Early System Education MIT Multimedia Lab Which is the K-12 lab And my alma mater, Kaneki Mellon And the University of Chicago It's a joint study that was conducted For twenty years And these are the results of that Which have been taken up by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation The exposure to opportunities Exposure to people And exposure to projects If you want more Much more structure Of course the admin offers some of these services So you could just schedule Your free consultation call on the website And we should be able to talk to you guys about that Wanted to ask about financial aid How does the financial aid process Work for a top university like MIT or Harvard Very similar to admissions process If you're top five percent They will give you an admit If you're top five percent They will give you financial aid That's the scholarship part of it There is also financial aid Based on need So if there is a financial need You can't attend college Or there is a financial need to attend college Then depending on the endowment Of the particular university That is also something that is possible Unfortunately if you are not a US citizen Or that particular country's citizen There might be very very few opportunities As an international student If you are good enough If you are at the top one percent Two percent of incoming students You will get scholarships How would you compare getting into IIT Is then getting into a university abroad I don't think I'm qualified To answer that question But I will sort of pick a very small Attempt at it I never went to an IIT So I do not know I will not claim to know What the IIT pattern is I did however So what I can tell you Is that these universities Place a lot more emphasis On personalized learning On individual application Of whatever you've learned In terms of assignments That are very real life Projects that you essentially have to do Which are very very realistic And help you transition To the professional career So that would be I think One of the biggest differences But I don't think I am the right person I am interested in cars My goal is to open a car showroom What subject should I go Let me demonstrate A use of the question why Let me ask you Why are you interested in car Which part of the car Are you interested in the engine Are you interested in how the automobile Actually functions Are you interested in Why there are regulations and rules In terms of lane markings Are you interested in the car From a marketing perspective When you ask yourself These four or five questions And then peel layers It's just like an onion You keep peeling You get to the core of it That's where you will figure out What course to apply If you are someone who is very interested in Understanding why there are White lines on a road Why there are lanes on a road Why the traffic signal What is the timing behind the traffic signal How can I sell some of these cars etc You could be much more into the liberal arts Or making sure to get into Marketing management Public policy etc If you are someone who Thinks intuitively about how is the car running What is petrol How am I putting petrol and the car Is actually running etc You could be interested in the science Aspect of things So asking these why and what questions I don't think Again of course you can talk to as many people As possible to get a better understanding Of this as well But one of the most important things You can do is ask yourself these questions Without reading out the name of the student How do I resolve conflicts of interest If parents and my views Don't really match Very very pertinent question One that comes up a lot I think one of the most important things You can do Is as a student clearly articulate What your interest areas are And why Once you are able to tell your parents Hi guys My interest areas are these I am very interested in that I am very interested in music I am very interested in whatever Extracurricular, co-curricular Academic subject that I am taking up I have talked to One, two, three, four, five people In this field Every single one of them has given me Certain tidbits, advice And parts that they have taken Based on all of these conversations I have sort of identified a couple of things That I want to do to both build my profile As well as in the future Pursue a career in this particular field When you give them logic Plus data back inside I think parents will also try to sit down With you and understand And will put up counter points The only way to resolve conflict Is through conversation and dialogue Even for those conversations And dialogues to happen You need to know what your core Interests and careers You are choosing the major The courses that you are choosing are So that would be the first step Identifying why you are getting into that Would be the second step Conversation sometimes Looking at a couple of questions I think Hardic Bunch of messages from you Let me just get to that Should I do 11th and 12th grade in Europe Or USA I think that's a very subjective Sort of a question You could do it in India You could do it in the US You could do it in Europe I don't think that Is anything you need to worry about Going abroad for college might make sense Maybe studying in India also might make sense to you So it depends On a bunch of different things In terms of what your interest areas are Samrithi essentially asks What is the time frame for graduating Out of US universities Or what is the time frame for applications I think We'll get back to you with maybe A future session Where we will do a bunch of timelines For applications Not just profile building Of applying to any university abroad I think those are things that we will talk about In a future session So if you have any other questions I'm seeing a bunch of repeat questions That I've already answered So if there are any specific questions That you would like me to answer Just one Suraj which is My interest lies in space science And I wanted to know if NASA recruits Indians Okay Let's talk about that The Indian does not preclude you From going and working in space science To understand that NASA First of all understand that NASA Is not the only space agency that works in space science There are a bunch of other Indian International and other space agencies There are also private companies That work in space science To answer your specific question Yes NASA does not care about Except for core National security related Topics and development NASA will 100% recruit Anyone irrespective Of what their nationality is For some of their projects Of course there are going to be Some very critical projects That because of citizenship You will not be able to work on But if you are again The top 1%, 2% at what you do They will find a way around it They will find a consultant position Or anything something along the line To be able to utilize your talents I am interested in aerospace engineering How am I supposed to do an internship Which benefits me First of all Vivek Understand what aerospace engineering itself is If you are thinking about rockets And airplanes flying Very little part of aerospace engineering Is that Excuse me Aerospace engineering Specifically has A lot of mechanical design So design of elements Design of parts and components Has a lot of Thermodynamic concepts built in Has a lot of Newton's law Sort of built in as well So escape velocity Gravity All of these things that concepts That you are probably studying now In physics Are basics that you need For any sort of engineering Let alone aerospace Figure out what within aerospace You are interested in Are you interested in propulsion If you are Then try and build a simulator A computer simulator based on data That essentially identifies What is the thrust that is required To escape the velocity For anything to achieve Escape velocity So let's say you have a rocket Which is mass x You have to escape the earth's Downwards What is the thrust that is required And in order to generate that thrust What is the amount of fuel required For that particular mass of the rocket Very simple thing It's a brilliant project for you to pursue In your ninth and tenth grade If you are able to build the simulator That becomes an internship or a project That you can showcase to get into aerospace engineering Very very simple things that you Boiled down to Fundamental concepts And work on those fundamental concepts I think we have a bunch of more questions Graduating From abroad How much does it differ from Indian services, the jobs I'm not sure I understand that question Would you recommend Yeah Would you recommend giving international exams In the later stages of 11th and 12th That increase your academic portfolio 100% If you are looking to apply abroad Make sure to give the SAT Or make sure to Essentially take advanced placement As if the school offers it As an international student Understand that you are not on the same Level field as someone who's a US high school So you have to show a little extra As compared to them You have to show that you are actually Deeply interested in attending that particular university And so in order to stand out You could take some of these tests Yes ma'am, go for it Next question This one which is interesting Is there an on-campus job And is it enough for paying the tuition fee If one doesn't get a full scholarship Absolutely, again There are different kinds of on-campus jobs As an international student You will have to wait for a couple of visa issues Immigration issues But yes there are At least from your second year onwards Maybe not for the first year Second year onwards There are ample amount of on-campus opportunities That you will have Either as a research assistant Or helping the university overall with Administration Your hostel admin Your library etc Will it be sufficient to cover tuition? Maybe, maybe not In most cases not It will however be enough to sustain yourself In terms of living costs Maybe not tuition costs But living costs definitely Purva honestly spamming the chat With this question about How do we find time for these Because studies and pens consume all the time Suraj you would like to take that I graduated from high school A little too long ago Fortunately for me back then Computers and internet was not the rate So I did not have to deal with A lot of distractions What I would recommend you do Is make a list of 5 things And only 5 things Cut out everything else 5 things that you are interested in Cut out everything Cut out and prioritize Just those 5 things for 2 years And just keep plugging away Plugging away consistently At these things That will be the best tip that I can give you So I think the questions Are pouring in Suraj We will probably have to With the positive of time We will probably have to stop now But students I am sure Suraj sir will be more than happy To answer your questions Or you can reach out to Suraj himself On the graduate website And I am sure he will be more than happy To help you all Thank you so much Suraj For being a part of our Study Abroad series And as you can see The interest and the kind of questions That are coming up And this is precisely why we want To do sessions like these Because it matters a lot When it comes from The experiences And you can help Actually you all have this great Capacity to help these young students So thank you so much On behalf of the entire EIS IBDP wing We thank you I would like to extend My gratitude to Dr. Ramritavora Our director principal Who is always the rock solid support And the force behind us Doing these things The force behind The organization So thank you ma'am And thank you all the parents And students who have joined us