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[Khawaja Abdul Ahad]

Assalam O Alaikum and Hello guys.
I am really confused about the eligibility of admissions and scholarships in Pakistan , US and Canada.
I got a normal O level result : 7As 2A* 2Bs 1C (C in French).
But I got a bad A1 result : 1A* 4Bs (I didnt give AS. So these are my predicted grades)
A* in Mathematics and Bs in Physics , Economics , English Language and Computer Science.
I got an even worse Mid Year A2 report : 2As 1B 2Cs (As in English and Physics, B in Maths and C in Computer and Economics).
I got bad SAT scores as well : 1540 (540 Maths, 440 CR, 510) ,1750 (740 Maths, 470 CR and 540 Writing) ,1760 (620 Maths, 500 CR , 640 Writing)
I have a fair amount of cocurricular activities and sports. I also did internships.
I have applied to universities including McGill and Virginia Tech but due to my low credentials, I am sincerely doubtful. I want to do Computer Science but I got a C in computer science in Mid year report even though I got an A in o level and B in A1 level. Furthermore, I cant go abroad without a decent scholarship.
I also feel that LUMS is giving more weightage to SAT and my SAT score are far from good.
So I just wanted to confirm that if my credentials are good enough to get a decent scholarship from American and Canadian universities? Are my credentials good enough for LUMS and other pak unis?
Please do comment. I will appreciate any suggestion/advice.

 

[Dark Destination]

I don't think Canadian universities give any decent scholarships.
US universities give financial aid and merit scholarship, but that varies from university to university.
But I think your credentials are good enough for LUMS; O-Level grades are fine, though SAT score could have been higher. Many applicants to LUMS have 1800+

 

[Anum96]

Your SAT super score is 1890. LUMS even has students with 1600 as their super score. A2 reports don't matter. Also, A1 result is pretty decent. You will get in for sure! Moreover, Lums, in their first round of offers, accepts people with 7,8 or 9 A's in O'levels together with 1900+ sat score.
Good luck!

 

[Khawaja Abdul Ahad]

I heard that LUMS doesnt count superscores.

Your SAT super score is 1890. LUMS even has students with 1600 as their super score. A2 reports don't matter. Also, A1 result is pretty decent. You will get in for sure! Moreover, Lums, in their first round of offers, accepts people with 7,8 or 9 A's in O'levels together with 1900+ sat score.
Good luck!

 

[Khawaja Abdul Ahad]

Well, time will tell.

I don't think Canadian universities give any decent scholarships.
US universities give financial aid and merit scholarship, but that varies from university to university.
But I think your credentials are good enough for LUMS; O-Level grades are fine, though SAT score could have been higher. Many applicants to LUMS have 1800+

 

[toxicdevil]

Assalam O Alaikum and Hello guys.
I am really confused about the eligibility of admissions and scholarships in Pakistan , US and Canada.
I got a normal O level result : 7As 2A* 2Bs 1C (C in French).
But I got a bad A1 result : 1A* 4Bs (I didnt give AS. So these are my predicted grades)
A* in Mathematics and Bs in Physics , Economics , English Language and Computer Science.
I got an even worse Mid Year A2 report : 2As 1B 2Cs (As in English and Physics, B in Maths and C in Computer and Economics).
I got bad SAT scores as well : 1540 (540 Maths, 440 CR, 510) ,1750 (740 Maths, 470 CR and 540 Writing) ,1760 (620 Maths, 500 CR , 640 Writing)
I have a fair amount of cocurricular activities and sports. I also did internships.
I have applied to universities including McGill and Virginia Tech but due to my low credentials, I am sincerely doubtful. I want to do Computer Science but I got a C in computer science in Mid year report even though I got an A in o level and B in A1 level. Furthermore, I cant go abroad without a decent scholarship.
I also feel that LUMS is giving more weightage to SAT and my SAT score are far from good.
So I just wanted to confirm that if my credentials are good enough to get a decent scholarship from American and Canadian universities? Are my credentials good enough for LUMS and other pak unis?
Please do comment. I will appreciate any suggestion/advice.

Where is your Alevel chemistry? Are you aiming for science school? Why dont you reduce your subjects and focus more on the rest.
Your SAT score and O levels are good enough for LUMS.
When I got into LUMS I had 7A 2B and a D in Olevels.
and A* A B and D in Alevels(all core subjects).

At that time they focused more on the admission Test, as some people with straight A's didnt get in.
SAT does not matter as much as you think, you are fine if you are above a certain level.
It main purpose is to identify people who have high grade but low SAT score, as far as I have heard. Bar for SDSB and SSE may be higher than HSS school

 

[Hassan Ali Abid]

Assalam O Alaikum and Hello guys.
I am really confused about the eligibility of admissions and scholarships in Pakistan , US and Canada.
I got a normal O level result : 7As 2A* 2Bs 1C (C in French).
But I got a bad A1 result : 1A* 4Bs (I didnt give AS. So these are my predicted grades)
A* in Mathematics and Bs in Physics , Economics , English Language and Computer Science.
I got an even worse Mid Year A2 report : 2As 1B 2Cs (As in English and Physics, B in Maths and C in Computer and Economics).
I got bad SAT scores as well : 1540 (540 Maths, 440 CR, 510) ,1750 (740 Maths, 470 CR and 540 Writing) ,1760 (620 Maths, 500 CR , 640 Writing)
I have a fair amount of cocurricular activities and sports. I also did internships.
I have applied to universities including McGill and Virginia Tech but due to my low credentials, I am sincerely doubtful. I want to do Computer Science but I got a C in computer science in Mid year report even though I got an A in o level and B in A1 level. Furthermore, I cant go abroad without a decent scholarship.
I also feel that LUMS is giving more weightage to SAT and my SAT score are far from good.
So I just wanted to confirm that if my credentials are good enough to get a decent scholarship from American and Canadian universities? Are my credentials good enough for LUMS and other pak unis?
Please do comment. I will appreciate any suggestion/advice.

UK and canadain unis dont offer any generous scholarships.In UK,its not like they don't offer,they do offer but very limited and for particular courses.
University of sheffield offers £8000 scholarship for any major but only 1 or max 2 people from YOUR country will get that ...and idk what's their criteria for offering scholarships. Other Uk uni's offers like £2000 pounds if you have an A* in MATHS but this figure and so small if you compare it with the tuition fees.
UK unis dont ask for any extra curricular activities ...all they need is GRADES ,,and thats it.

For USA ..if you have damn high SAT 1 score ..maybe somewhere like 2300,hardly any uni will reject you except top 5-10 ranked US unis.

And if you are thinking for lums ..I wont recommend you..bcz there's no worth to get a degree from LUMS in terms of money which they charge for their degree.

P.s ,there are numerous alternative to study in top ranked unis with paying national fees instead of international fees. If you need any further info I'll explain you.

 

[Dark Destination]

UK and canadain unis dont offer any generous scholarships.In UK,its not like they don't offer,they do offer but very limited and for particular courses.
University of sheffield offers £8000 scholarship for any major but only 1 or max 2 people from YOUR country will get that ...and idk what's their criteria for offering scholarships. Other Uk uni's offers like £2000 pounds if you have an A* in MATHS but this figure and so small if you compare it with the tuition fees.
UK unis dont ask for any extra curricular activities ...all they need is GRADES ,,and thats it.

For USA ..if you have damn high SAT 1 score ..maybe somewhere like 2300,hardly any uni will reject you except top 5-10 ranked US unis.

And if you are thinking for lums ..I wont recommend you..bcz there's no worth to get a degree from LUMS in terms of money which they charge for their degree.

P.s ,there are numerous alternative to study in top ranked unis with paying national fees instead of international fees. If you need any further info I'll explain you.

Could you elaborate about the LUMS part?

 

[toxicdevil]

Could you elaborate about the LUMS part?

Dont worry. LUMS is totally worth it.
As far as money is concerned they provide you aid if you cannot pay the fee. (But they do an extensive background check first: utility bills, salary, savings, bank account, properties, siblings who earn, tuition fee of siblings, cars etc.)

 

[Hassan Ali Abid]

Dont worry. LUMS is totally worth it.
As far as money is concerned they provide you aid if you cannot pay the fee. (But they do an extensive background check first: utility bills, salary, savings, bank account, properties, siblings who earn, tuition fee of siblings, cars etc.)

And dont forget the number of students who get this aid ....and moreover if u compare the tution fees of lums ..its roughly 1/3 or 1/4 of international unis and in return what u are getting ..a degree from uni which is roughly in 800's..and lastly how much time does it take to cover that money ...if u work in pak..you can calculate it yourself.

 

[toxicdevil]

And dont forget the number of students who get this aid ....and moreover if u compare the tution fees of lums ..its roughly 1/3 or 1/4 of international unis and in return what u are getting ..a degree from uni which is roughly in 800's..and lastly how much time does it take to cover that money ...if u work in pak..you can calculate it yourself.

You say 1/4 so lightly but it still means you save around 75 lakh from your degree. Even if you study from abroad and come back to Pakistan you will earn almost the same amount of money. Money and jobs depends on your skills and not on your degree, at least in the fields I am aware of.
LUMS is probably the best business school in Pakistan and has become a brand name. LUMS is known not only for the quality of education but because its graduates have better skills, including social and interpersonal skills.

http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/13552/will-i-get-a-job-if-i-havent-graduated-from-lums-or-lse/

Secondly if you take into account graduate studies; LUMS still at the top. For USAID scholarships(fully funded MS in USA with living stipend), most of the accepted candidates are from LUMS.
A lot of people from LUMS get into high ranking grad schools in many fields, every year.

Take for example LUMS CS dept. People in the job market might prefer FAST students but LUMS students get higher salaries than others. It has a very small CS dept (around 50 students). Every year I have been here someone got accepted into companies like Google, Microsoft, Facebook etc. Faculty members have contacts in these companies and they can easily get you an interview.
And out of those 50 or so students every year 10s of student get into top places like MIT, Harvard, Berkley, UCLA etc.
This year I also applied for grad school and had interviews from 2 places. Both of the interviewers knew LUMS.
Some students in their senior year work directly with faculty from top places in the USA.

This is just for CS. Since I study in the school of science I can tell that other science departments have similar acceptances.

 

[Hassan Ali Abid]

You say 1/4 so lightly but it still means you save around 75 lakh from your degree. Even if you study from abroad and come back to Pakistan you will earn almost the same amount of money. Money and jobs depends on your skills and not on your degree, at least in the fields I am aware of.
LUMS is probably the best business school in Pakistan and has become a brand name. LUMS is known not only for the quality of education but because its graduates have better skills, including social and interpersonal skills.

http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/13552/will-i-get-a-job-if-i-havent-graduated-from-lums-or-lse/

Secondly if you take into account graduate studies; LUMS still at the top. For USAID scholarships(fully funded MS in USA with living stipend), most of the accepted candidates are from LUMS.
A lot of people from LUMS get into high ranking grad schools in many fields, every year.

Take for example LUMS CS dept. People in the job market might prefer FAST students but LUMS students get higher salaries than others. It has a very small CS dept (around 50 students). Every year I have been here someone got accepted into companies like Google, Microsoft, Facebook etc. Faculty members have contacts in these companies and they can easily get you an interview.
And out of those 50 or so students every year 10s of student get into top places like MIT, Harvard, Berkley, UCLA etc.
This year I also applied for grad school and had interviews from 2 places. Both of the interviewers knew LUMS.
Some students in their senior year work directly with faculty from top places in the USA.

This is just for CS. Since I study in the school of science I can tell that other science departments have similar acceptances.

Im not talking about the msc or phd admissions.I am talking in regard of getting a job (INTERNATIONALLY) ....what do you think people do get jobs easily if they study from lums ...BIG companies dont give a shit to those who study from ranked unis and u are talking about lums ..just common...If you see International market ..hardly anyone is from lums ...And even if they are ...firstly they gain(maybe 5-6 years experience) before getting the highly paid job...

P.s I didnt talk about getting admissions for msc or pdh after studying from lums ...Thats totally a different thing. Even a student from comsats , nust , or IIT (india) can get easily in these uni's which you have quoted.

P.s you talked about that 75 lac thing ...Didnt you know how much time will it take for you to earn that money if you work in Pak..almost 7-8 years maybe??or more ...but still If you invest that money in getting a degree from US or Australian uni ...straight away you'll recover ur money back in like 1.5 years.

Getting an admissions for grad school and getting a grad job are two different things.

 

[Hassan Ali Abid]

You say 1/4 so lightly but it still means you save around 75 lakh from your degree. Even if you study from abroad and come back to Pakistan you will earn almost the same amount of money. Money and jobs depends on your skills and not on your degree, at least in the fields I am aware of.
LUMS is probably the best business school in Pakistan and has become a brand name. LUMS is known not only for the quality of education but because its graduates have better skills, including social and interpersonal skills.

http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/13552/will-i-get-a-job-if-i-havent-graduated-from-lums-or-lse/

Secondly if you take into account graduate studies; LUMS still at the top. For USAID scholarships(fully funded MS in USA with living stipend), most of the accepted candidates are from LUMS.
A lot of people from LUMS get into high ranking grad schools in many fields, every year.

Take for example LUMS CS dept. People in the job market might prefer FAST students but LUMS students get higher salaries than others. It has a very small CS dept (around 50 students). Every year I have been here someone got accepted into companies like Google, Microsoft, Facebook etc. Faculty members have contacts in these companies and they can easily get you an interview.
And out of those 50 or so students every year 10s of student get into top places like MIT, Harvard, Berkley, UCLA etc.
This year I also applied for grad school and had interviews from 2 places. Both of the interviewers knew LUMS.
Some students in their senior year work directly with faculty from top places in the USA.

This is just for CS. Since I study in the school of science I can tell that other science departments have similar acceptances.

Ps as you have mentioned that you have applied for grad schoool ...I must say that just apply for a grad job rather then grad school and then you'll see how much preference you'll get from international companies in terms of jobs after studying from lums.

 

[toxicdevil]

You cannot compare local univ. with foreign ones. Even if you do, then as you have said yourself, they don't care about ranking! Even I said the same thing in my first post; skills get you a job and not the degree. And you are getting not only high quality education but important skills as well, that will help you score a good job, at fraction of the cost (plus your peers will be intellectually superior so that helps in your grooming). It has a good career service office which helps you with job applications. A good alumni network that can help in getting jobs too. There are a lot of other ways it helps in. Can you say the same about other local universities?

I really doubt that Comsats has the same level of admissions as LUMS. NUST is a very very big university and a good one too, so I don't doubt that some people from nust would get good admissions. But maybe you should talk to people from nust who leave to come join LUMS, about why they did it. I personally know some people from places like nust, pieas etc. IIT India is a world renowned institute with multiple great branches, nothing in Pakistan can be compared to it. Many people in USA know about IIT like they know about Tsingshua in China.

Going to a college in USA for a 4 year will cost you 130k~220k depending on where you go state or private. Average salary is 45k. We need 3-5 years to recover the money.
LUMS will cost you around 600k for tuition+hostel and misc charges. If you eat 300 daily (you can live with half that) the total cost goes to around 675k per year. Let's say an average graduate earns 60000 per month or 720k per year (MNCs pay 1 lakh+ but those are the exceptions). Which is around 4 year to recover.

So recovery time is almost the same.

This is if you don't account for salary increases over time and you save all the money.
To give you an estimate of cost of living difference, over there I am being offered ~$2400 per month excl taxes in relatively less expensive city. which goes to around $28000 per year(for 12 months; normally you live there for 9 months in a year).
Living in same conditions (shared room etc) here would cost around 300k per year here.

the fresh salary to living cost(as a single person) ratio is:
1.6 vs 2.3
Which means that in Pakistan you would save more of your salary. Of course things change as you progress. e.g. Buying a house over there is a LOT more expensive (mortgages can last for 50 years maybe, their medical bill are too much people go bankrupt if their insurance refuses to pay etc etc.).
Even if you tweak the number a bit and bring in other variables result stays the same. Undergrad in Pakistan is better if you are paying for it.

Although if you are looking at lives after maybe 5-7 years the money you will earn in USA will be a LOT better than in Pakistan. You could afford a lot better lifestyle in USA. But after 5-7 years people usually move abroad and with the job experience getting jobs is a relatively easier.

If one cannot pay(or get a loan) 30 lakh for a lums degree you can you expect them to pay 1.3-2.2 crore for a US degree?
What if you take a loan and then can't get a job over there? Or you get a job but can't get the H-1B visa, which is lottery based with a limited number of visas per year? This is why people usually go for graduate degree from USA even if they do not need it. They then get more priority for the visa.

As far as aid is concerned you would be surprised to see that people from all kinds of social classes come to LUMS. I have seen students drive their own mercedes to lums, students who come in hilux with private guards and even students who come on motorbikes, rickshaws and public busses. I know a lot of people who are on some form of aid. Some get partial fee waivers, some even get zero fee bills and they are paid a monthly stipend!
LUMS obviously won't give you aid if you have a big bank statement, or if you have properties lying around or if they visit your house and then find out otherwise.

Now ofc US unis also give aid. But it is very scarce for international students. Unless you get into top places that offer need-blind admissions, you will have a hard time finding need based aid. If you can get merit based or sports based scholarships that's great! There is no doubt that a funded offer from a good US uni is more superior than a fully funded offer from lums. But I think you know that most places there have a holistic admission process, they dont just focus on grades or SAT scores.

So if anyone has the capability, skills, and profile to get into these places they probably deserve much more than LUMS and even if they go to lums they will probably excel here and in their future lives as well.

In conclusion please do not compare lums with US colleges, but compare them with local ones and you find that in the long term going to lums is a better investment despite it having a higher fee.

 

[Dark Destination]

BIG companies dont give a shit to those who study from ranked unis and u are talking about lums

Lol.

 

[Dark Destination]

LUMS is indeed one of the best universities in Pakistan. No doubt about that.
But I guess it can obviously NOT be compared to the top universities of the world, especially those that are ranked in top 100. No comparison there, in terms of campus, student body, starting salary, prestige, standard of education, etc.

 

[Khawaja Abdul Ahad]

No, I dont take A level chemistry since I wish to do computer science. However , I have to study chemistry for the sse test.
I only know olevel chemistry , therefore I doubt my success in the sse test.
I find it odd that chemistry is included for the computer science prospective students.
Chemistry and computer science are far different from each other.
I will also apply NUST . My NET test wont contain chemistry but computer science instead. That makes sense.

And I have been studying these subjects for two years so I dont find any major difficulty in handling them.

Where is your Alevel chemistry? Are you aiming for science school? Why dont you reduce your subjects and focus more on the rest.
Your SAT score and O levels are good enough for LUMS.
When I got into LUMS I had 7A 2B and a D in Olevels.
and A* A B and D in Alevels(all core subjects).

At that time they focused more on the admission Test, as some people with straight A's didnt get in.
SAT does not matter as much as you think, you are fine if you are above a certain level.
It main purpose is to identify people who have high grade but low SAT score, as far as I have heard. Bar for SDSB and SSE may be higher than HSS school

 

[Khawaja Abdul Ahad]

Thank for the info. It was very helpful.

Dont worry. LUMS is totally worth it.
As far as money is concerned they provide you aid if you cannot pay the fee. (But they do an extensive background check first: utility bills, salary, savings, bank account, properties, siblings who earn, tuition fee of siblings, cars etc.)