u/cranky_nautical

hey, D this side from india (high school)

cutting up all the drama , and being straight to the point , My primary goal is to gain meaningful research experience, learn from others, and contribute wherever I can and build up my EC profile (planning for major in neuroscience) for the t20s , I don't have extensive experience yet, but I'm willing to learn, put in consistent effort (around 5–10 hours/week), and take feedback seriously. so if you are looking for some enthusiastic partners, let me know

or should i just build up my own passion project just now

or gain some experience and work in groups and then think about taking up a passion project

thanks a ton

Hey, D this side from India,

Well approximately 4 years back, I got to know about neuroscience , while showering.

I thought how human brain processes info of such high order and at the same time it can be stuck at deciding,what colour should I wear today, well back to today, after investigating the evolutionary origins of neurodevelopment and neurogenerative disease genes, I am getting more and more eager to to study neuroscience at ivies as it has much better lab access and research opportunities as compared to what you get in India (even in colleges with acceptance rates of less than 1%).

The one thing that blocks my road every time is that there is no guidance available in India about getting into ivies , no one here cares how much a person knows conceptually , they just tell to rote learn the whole syllabus and puke it out on the test day.

Therefore I need some advice from anyone in the ivies from India on

how to make my app so that it’s on par with what ivies usually accepts

What more skills should I develop in next one year (going to apply in the fall of 2028)

What is the ground reality of need blind scholarships

I can send you my profile for further judgement(I didn’t wanted to brag about my ECs/ volunteering in this post) , your advice will make my showers a little less stressful

Thanks a ton

(newly added)

Just wanted to add up , I am also parallely preparing for neet UG the premed exam in india as a backup (can't afford unis without financial aid)

Here's my some ECs or whatever you like to say them

-Mentorship: Supervised and trained a junior-level science team for the regional Balvigyan competition, guiding them through research methodologies and project design.

Outcome: Successfully led the team to a 1st place finish.

Community Impact: Initiated a fundraising campaign dedicated to establishing basic hygiene setups and sanitation in rural India.

Interests: Tracking breakthroughs in neuroinformatics and brain-computer interfaces, reading historical non-fiction and biographical literature .

Digital Operations Manager :Managed the official Google Business Profile, optimizing the digital footprint to improve local search discoverability .

Research lprojects:

Core Team Leader & Speaker | Sahodaya Computer Science Balvigyan

Awarded: Best Research & Project Award

Founder & Head Delegate | School Model United Nations (MUN) Initiative

Initiated and founded the first-ever MUN delegation at my high school, building interest in international relations and mentoring new student delegates.

Gold Medalist | National Science Olympiad

Awarded Gold Medal out of thousands of standard competitors nationwide.

Top 10 finish in one of India's largest interschool parliamentary debate competitions

Contributed to school outreach, brochures, presentations, and event organization

investigated the evolutionary origins of neurodevelopment and neurogenerative disease genes( the one which i boast the most about)

also tell me about what should i do next to make my profile stand out

got 95% in grade tenth and 93% in grade 12 pcb

thanks guys

Hey everyone,

I’m currently deep in the US application grind from India, and to be honest, I’m pretty overwhelmed. I’m juggling NEET prep, which feels like a marathon in itself, but my head is constantly somewhere else—mostly focused on neuroscience.

I’m genuinely obsessed with the intersection of biology and cognitive function. I’ve tried to dive into botany and some other projects on the side, and I’ve been helping out with the family hostel business just to keep things moving. But looking at my profile on paper, I’m worried it just looks like a scattered, confusing "everything-everywhere-all-at-once" situation.

I’m terrified that I don’t look like the "perfect" candidate because I’m trying to bridge these different worlds instead of just picking one narrow lane.

To any current Indian students who made it to the Ivies:

-How did you actually make your interest in something like neuroscience stand out without it getting buried under the rest of your life?

-Did you try to weave it all together, or did you just pick one thing and pray the rest sounded interesting?

-Any "I wish I knew this before I started" advice for someone who feels like they’re just spinning their wheels right now?

I know everyone’s busy, so even just a quick reply would be a massive relief. I’m probably overthinking the whole thing, but I’d really appreciate some real talk.

Thanks a ton!