Preparing For High School Education In Usa

@sokanasanah thank you. For reiterating my stand with regards to my kids.. thought process of the need to enjoy what they learn and do, explore and think and being themselves.

Couple of weeks back dd had to give her exams, for which she had no time to prepare owing to the exhaustive syllabbus and periodic changes. We told her write as if she were the assessing officer with regards to tax etc.. my young lady started laughing that i am making fun of her. But she told me later that there were times she tried doing the same and that it has helped.

The flaws with regards to indian system has been rote learning, humongous competition and ofcourse the thinking inside the box ..containing to a set of ideas regarding career and more. The average parent does not want to take any risk with the career of yhe child. (Am i digressing?)


Well I am coming to the question, recently my young man has been trying to get in touch with his seniors who have moved to germany, switzerland and us for their higher studies after their msc.
The subject the young man has taken is new to us but it is his passion. One of the seniors has told him that he should not try to get more than 9 in any of the subjects as it is highly impossible to do unless it is rote learned. and that the higher grades from an indian uni for such subjects could put a damper, instead he should concentrate more on interships, papers and all.

I do understand the paper and internships, but i am curious to know if there is any validity to the grade influence.

 

Here is how it works in the United States:

(1) There are independent accreditation agencies. The applicant to a graduate program submits his transcripts to this agency, which then generates some sort of a 'translation' of what the foreign degree constitutes in US terms i.e. it provides some measure of 'equivalency'. It is this measure that is used in the applications process.

(2) When the application is received, the first cut is usually made by an administrator - not an actual faculty member who is part of the admissions committee. This is because no one has the time to wade through every application! However, note that this person may have no understanding of the specific field! They just assign scores for each candidate depending on how well they meet the various requirements demanded by the program. This is one reason why it's a good idea to follow the application requirements.

(3) After this cut, members of the committee divide the applications of potential candidates among themselves to look at it in more detail. Each member may pick a few of his favorites. Then everyone meets to sort out the final picks. These 'chores' usually fall to younger faculty members!

It is a rare person on the committee who will be familiar with Indian grading, universities etc. - unless they are themselves Indian. So the short answer to your question is: simply do the best you can and don't try to read the mind of a professor who, someday in the future, will look at your application! This is impossible to do successfully. All this business about it putting a damper etc., is nonsense, in my not very humble opinion. At the risk of being unkind, I would also say that this sort of attempted mind-reading is a very Indian disease!

More later.

 

Continuing:
If there have been Indian students in the program previously, their success or the universities they came from may influence future choices of candidates for that program. The IITs have name recognition and it's a fair bet that the graduates are not incapable. There's a long tradition of graduates succeeding in US grad programs. So this counts in favor of an applicant. Now, what about one of the burgeoning new engineering colleges in TN? No real predictions are possible. In general, when the degree is from a college/university not known to a particular department/program/faculty member(s) they are rated lower than a US degree - but then again if you are from the NUS, it's better than from an obscure university in India with an unpronounceable name. See what I mean? All bets are off. Thinking about these things is wasted energy. Just go for local optimization - i.e. at every step, do the best you can at that point, given what you know. This, of course, includes doing your research, which is what you are doing here, for your son. That's good. Global optimization is not possible - too many uncontrolled variables!

 

@poovai i hear you on street smartness and handholding.

But first I think we as parents need to wean off slowly as they move to ms and not wait for the hs.so difficult but must otherwise, they will never stop turning to us. It should be about, i am here if you are not able to rise when you fall, but i am not going to cushion the floor you walk anticipating what if you fall.

If they have a project it is ok to get lesser grades but be proud and appreciate if the effort was their's alone.

It helps them learn to be more organized, a little more resonpsible. And the traits spill over into their later years.

@sokanasanah i had a doubt about the grades hence the question. I understand the indian disease(lol) you don't think asian(?).. thank you. Your inputs are highly appreciated and I am learning a lot. I am going to forward excerpts from here to the young man.

 

I am not sure what this means. If you clarify, then I can try to respond thoughtfully. Is the implication that a very high grade from an Indian university would be treated as immediately suspect by an admissions committee at a European or US university?

 

True @sokanasanah the brand speaks for itself but i am talking about the rest. Not everybody gets a cut into the branded colleges for many reasons.. the reservations, the cut offs and much more..

I understand the logic there. Thank you once again.

 

that is what he meant according to ds. The core is geology and according to the senior you can't score that high in geomorphology or paleontology because of the subject. It was not a general statement though, if it appeared so i am sorry.

 

How to apply successfully?

(1) If you already have decided on a field, then the very first thing to do is to identify leaders in that field the world over. Make a list. If you know someone in your field of interest in India, or elsewhere, then get their help to generate this list. Now you know who the players are in your chosen field.

(2) If it is a STEM field, then look at the website for their research group. This will list their latest contributions. Make a list of their published research papers.

(3) Generate a collection of review articles in your field of interest. Online citation indexes will help you do that, depending on your field. Learn to use them asap.

(4) Get PDFs of these papers and review articles. Most scientific journals are paywalled and very expensive. Here you will need the help of someone who has access to a university library. They can get PDFs for free and send them to you. Or you can ask the author directly for a PDF explaining very briefly that you don't have access.

(5) Try to read the papers systematically. The reviews can do two things for you: (a) Give you an overview of the field and (b) identify the outstanding questions in the field. That is, reviews straddle the boundary between the known and the unknown. Get a feel for the big outstanding questions.

(6) It is not important that you understand everything, every little detail. Just the highlights will do - at whatever level your background allows you to.

(7) Check YouTube for lectures by the major players in your field (and/or the good talkers!).

Now you have a fair idea of where the action is in your chosen field and who the players are.

 

Thank you @sokanasanah.

We have been checking at the regular articles in the field. Now have a couple of more ideas thanks to you. And also tracks a couple of uni he is interested, the current research and the papers. Yes universities' digital libraries are a treasure trove and he downloads copies of interesting books and articles when he comes across.

I know where to refer when he needs more guidance.

 

Continuing:
Start writing to the professors whose work you find interesting and/or those who are at the universities you are considering - but intelligently. Indian students (even PhD grads, are fantastically bad at this!!!!!!). Seek advice with writing & help with editing. Avoid the "Dear esteemed Professor ...." ********, write thoughtfully. This ought to be a learning experience in itself.It's a "learning by doing" thing - you'll get the hang of it soon enough.

For example, you might say that you read such and such a paper from their research group, but you wanted to know more about this or that. The way you do this will depend on the field. Get advice while doing this! It's ridiculously easy to spot insincere bs!

Try to be specific - no generic boilerplate!

Somewhere here, at some point in a correspondence, you can also say that you are interested in their grad program, or even their research group, say a bit about yourself and ask what you can do to prepare so that you are a strong candidate.

Now, this is where it gets rough. Most people will not reply! Too busy. So, here's where networking helps - your social capital - parents, their friends, the more intelligent seniors and so on. But - some people will respond. Where (and how) you take that (most likely sporadic) correspondence is up to you. The goal is to show initiative and drive, not neediness and helplessness.