Columbia, Duke offer scholarships; Harvard in contention too.
By The American Bazaar Staff
NEW DELHI: A boy from Kolkata has managed to do something that stumps millions of US students every year: he scored a perfect 2400 on the SAT.
Nineteen year-old Arunavha Chanda got a perfect score on three sections ocf the SAT: Chemistry, Physics, and Math II. These supplemental SAT sections, often called the SAT II, can significantly increase an applicant’s chances of being selected to the most competitive schools in the US, but are notoriously difficult.
Chanda not only rose to the challenge, but surmounted it, and now has seven of the best universities in America wooing him to join their next freshman class: Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, Duke, Cornell, Georgia Institute of Technology and Dartmouth College.
In fact, Harvard, Columbia, and Dartmouth are Ivy League schools – the most prestigious in the entire country, if not the world. Chanda could have also been accepted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), but was unable to submit his application in time due to studying for his board exams.
A whiz kid from a young age, Chanda is a student of Delhi Public Schools in Ruby Park, Kolkata. He has consistently scored over 90% in all his subjects throughout his schooling, and has topped his class from grades two through 12 straight. Chanda has been active in science and math clubs throughout school, and is an Olympiad in the fields of Cyber, Science, and Math. He is also a three-time quiz national champion, is president of his school’s Interact Club (an organization which advocates volunteer work in the local community), and even performs on-stage in various school and local shows.
His stacked resume has turned heads in the US. Columbia University has offered him their C. Prescott Davis scholarship, which is given to students who are especially promising in the field of engineering, while Duke has extended him their Karsh International Scholarship; if Chanda accepts it, he will become the first Indian to ever have.
According to The Times of India, Chanda has already set aside Stanford for his post-graduate pursuits, as he feels that the school fosters entrepreneurs in the tech fields. But for undergrad, he’s still debating among Harvard and Columbia. Harvard has obvious appeal, being arguably the greatest school in America and all, but Chanda says that the appeal of living in New York City is too powerful to ignore.
For now, Chanda knows that he will do his undergraduate degree in computer science and engineering, regardless of where he goes, and would also like to do some coursework in theatre, to develop his stage acting. Wherever he ends up, the school will be as lucky to have him as he is to be there.
The SAT, short for Scholastic Aptitude Test, is administered by the College Board as a way of determining a student’s eligibility for colleges and universities. Although the ACT (American College Test/Testing) is offered as an alternative to the SAT, the latter is still the more frequently taken, and is generally looked upon more favorably. The higher your SAT score, the more likely you are to be accepted into the higher-tier schools in the US.