So How to Study Abroad for Indian Students?
Just know that I want to keep this real and I’m not using AI to write it. I’m sharing my own experience and yup it’s trial and tested!
So, this is Sayak, founder of AFBF. I started my study abroad journey in 2023, when I was halfway in my Class 11. I know pretty late. But still I ended up getting waitlisted from some US universities like Reed, Sewanee, etc.
My profile was strong and I got deferred from UChicago with 0 EFC. Expected Family Contribution (EFC) is basically how much money can you pay to university in a year. I would like to tell you that the universities abroad are biased. There’s more to it than it meets the eye.
As an Indian, am I at a disadvantage if I want to study in USA?
Short answer, depends on your major and EFC.
As Indian students (if you have no American citizenship or anything), you are considered to be international students for applying for undergrad in the USA.
And how hard is it to get into as international students?
Well, it’s like how hard it is for foreigners to take admission to IIT. But a little easier than that. Because money plays a big part 🙂
Now we are at the main thing…
You need these 3 things for studying abroad:
- Essays – you must make them great!!!
- Extracurriculars aka your Student Profile
- EFC (Expected Family Contribution)
One popular misconception among Indians is what you have to have certificates to show proof for your ECs. Actually you don’t even have to submit certificates for anything on the Common App other than your transcripts. And LORs (Letter of Recommendations).
For the essays, you need to have another thing –> COLLEGE LIST.
If you are tight on money, like you can’t pay around 60L – 1 Crore for 4 years for your studies in USA, you must aim for the colleges that meet 100% demonstrated need for its accepted students. Btw you can download our free resource here for Google Sheet! Personally made it. Giving this for free.
How to make the college list in the first place???
No bro you shouldn’t REA to Princeton if your profile isn’t strong enough. Stop daydreaming. You know when I said that you are at a disadvantage as an international student. You know why? Because ACCEPTANCE RATES are sooooo different.
See this video on my study abroad youtube channel. It’s detailed and covers every thing you need to know for the financial parts.
Now which colleges should I have in my college list?
Well, the first thing is don’t think that you MUST get into a T100 (top 100 in the QS) university.
Aim for the reachables.
Make a list of 20-30 US colleges (if you are like only targeting USA) and then factor them as per your needs. Like acceptance rate for international students (I have shown how to calculate it), best merit/need aid, average salary after graduation, how is the faculty, is it aligning to your need, etc. This college list should be PERSONALIZED. Why? Because obviously you will need to convince your Indian parents 🙂 {relatable laga?}
Should I aim as per my SAT score??
SAT score is just one indicator and it’s vague. So don’t depend on it.
If you have a SAT of 1300 but at the same time, you have an international biology olympiad silver medallist, you are worth more than someone having 1550 SAT with no international achievements like that. So don’t depend on it.
What do US admission system look for in Indian students?
The US admission systems depend on how holistic your growth is. And what impact did you have with your skills & learnings. They don’t care if you did CS50 course while being a 16 year old kid. But they would like to see if you created some ground breaking project with the skills you learned in that CS50 Harvard course.
What to do after making college list?
After college list is done, start with the essays.
The earlier you start with your Common App Essay (like around 2-3 months before September), the better.
The Common App Essay can make or break your entire application. So make sure you get it checked through someone human who has been in the college admissions niche. You will find plenty if you look in deep.
And then after the first week of August, start filling up the common app and then, apply and submit and wait.
What about the Extracurriculars??
See for the extracurriculars, don’t be the typical padakku (studious only) Indian nerd.
Engage in the things you love, Engage in passion projects or research projects and create organizations/non-profits/companies, etc. And most importantly, MAKE SOME IMPACT. Internships are a great way too if you find the right company. I interned at an international telephony company called Sonetel. One of our members is interning at Adobe. These are great additions to your profile.
See these blogs, maybe these might help!
What exams to give? What more forms to fill?
See along with Common App, for USA, you will need to fill up the CSS PROFILE.
Why? This is the form where the college would understand about your financial details and everything. So yeah, this is mandatory if you want to have financial aid or scholarship. Unlike Common App, CSS Profile fee waivers are a little hard to get. You might end up paying $16 per college (first college send is 25 USD) for sending this to the colleges. Some colleges don’t even need CSS Profile, they have their own application portal. Like Princeton, Pitzer, etc.
For the exams, please prepare for SAT and try to get a good score (1450+).
Don’t go test-optional. This is totally unofficial but some admission officers don’t want to trust our education system (whether CBSE or State Board) and they rely on SAT for understanding your profile. So please prepare and give the SAT.
How hard is SAT actually?
I have given SAT two times. I got 1450 in the first one and 1480 in the second.
Ryan (He is AIR 5 in IAT 2025), our senior writer at AFBF, has a SAT score of 1530 on his second try.
Maths is relatively just Class 9 and Class 10 things.
But English is hard. Not because of the quality but due to time-constraint. So work hard on this.
I know 12k price of SAT is tough.
You can avail the Buddy4Study SAT Waiver program and get 90% off if you are in Class 11-12 and your family income is less than INR 8 Lakhs per annum.
What about DET, IELTS or TOEFL??
If you are aiming for USA only and you are tight on money, give DET (Duolingo English Test). It’s easy to score high and cheaper almost 3 times compared to IELTS & TOEFL. It’s like 6k INR I think last time I checked. I scored 155 out of 160 on the first try itself. Even got my video viral on this topic lol!
IELTS & TOEFL are like accepted everywhere. DET has a few exceptions (please check it here). DET is valid in almost all major USA universities so please make your college list first. If you opt for DET, you can take your prep from here and also DET is just 1 hour exam. TOEFL & IELTS are almost 3 hours and a price tag of almost 18k INR.
If you have a backup plan of applying to EUROPE universities, please make the list first too and then check on DET. For Europe, going for IELTS is a safer bet. Moreover you will require IELTS majorly for VISA and not primarily for admissions. Students often get confused on this.
What to do after submitting my college application to USA?
Listen bro, try to go for as many colleges as you can for the EARLY ROUND. EA & ED1 are your best hopes for Indian students.
And then, for RD, trust me if you are an upper-average student, then it’s A LOTTERY if you don’t have a high EFC.
And yes, if your EFC is like less than 10k USD a year then bro, you will be almost auto-rejected.
My first rejection letter (sort of) was from St. Olaf.
And they said that if I can reconsider my EFC to around 35k USD, only then they will reconsider my application.
Now that’s called hypocrisy 🙂
So yeah, once submission is done, puja karne bayth jao (start praying to God).
And obviously if you are having boards or anything, then prepare for it. I didn’t have Europe as my backup. I had India.
And yes, I couldn’t make it MIT, but I’m going to IIT KHARAGPUR for my undergrad degree.
So please have backups.
If you are interested in learning about Student VISA and what happens after application, see this video. Subscribe to our AFBF YouTube channel & also to my personal YouTube Study Abroad After 12th channel.
And btw if you are aiming for EUROPE, there’s a short YOUTUBE playlist on my channel, EuroDreams, where I go in depth about how to study in Top 16 European countries’ universities in concise videos for each country. Dedicated solely to help my Indian brothers & sisters!
Subscribe to my The Teenager’s Diary. Personal blog hai! lol! And I’m not on Instagram. I’m on LinkedIn. So yeah, that’s all!
You can always contact me via email at sayak@abroadforbetterfuture.live .
Abhi ke liye alvida!
Some Study Abroad Success Stories from our community!!!
Making a list of Countries & also Opportunities on the site & also a list of free resources.
Below are some important study abroad blogs you might like!
