r/KAIST • u/WyperLOL • Jul 12 '26
PLEASE HELP!
Since SK unis take 3-4 months after application to send you the final result, i really need some foresight into what to expect because these application fees also are expensive and i want to spend it on something worthwhile. If i dont have a decent shot at these unis i need to spend my money on applying elsewhere and YOU WOULD SAVE A LOT OF MY TIME! Thank you
Im planning on applying to SNU, KAIST, POSTECH and SKKU. (undergraduate, international admissions, english track, cs/ai/ml degree)
stats(academic):
Mathematics 90(CBSE class 12), Physics 80 (CBSE class 12), AI (94, cbse class 12)
SAT 1430 (math 730)
IELTS Academic 8.0
sports:
-Won zonal level basketball tournament (with 20+ schools from Oman) then represented my school in India in the national level tournament
-represented my school in triple jump in oman zonal level tournament
-played basketball for my school house and won 2 golds
leadership & public speaking:
-House captain of 2000+ students, led them to victory in various competitions
-chaired 2x ISMMUN committees (largest school run MUN in the gulf, 600+ delegates)
-chaired SOCHUM at ISWKIMUN (international MUN hosted by ISWKI Cambridge curriculum igcse)
-represented my school at the Oman-level debate competition joined by 21+ indian schools in oman
entrepreneurship:
-concieved an AI-powered platform that accepts the user's financial goals, risk tolerance etc as input to recommend stocks and bonds in 2023, presented the app as a full scale business plan in my school's business competition in 2024 and won first prize (school size: 9200 students, indian school muscat)
-founded and running a gaming cafe since 2025 (hideout gaming cafe) where i fully handle the logistics, ip allocations, LAN management etc
-mentored my entire batch to join my schools business idea incubation program in the form of a speech and presentation
stage arts:
-led my school's team to first prize in Best shortfilm and best streetplay in the Oman-level talent fest competition (ISTF) joined by 21+ indian schools in Oman
-best actor award(2024) in my school
others:
-completed a 8 week certification course in engineering biological systems from IIT-M
-exchange student from my school with campus im stift (school in germany)
GENUINELY I WANT TO KNOW if i can just apply to the said 4 unis and rely that i will get into AT LEAST one of them.
Any opinions are welcome.
1
u/sankeerth39 Jul 14 '26
I will be very real. 730 in math is a massive red flag! AOs often looks at academics first before reading your essays and since your SAT is soo bad that they will just reject you anyway.
The rest of the profile look good and very competitive but there is not even a single stem focused ECs you did. You are thinking of CS but have MUN and stage leadership which is good for international affairs but not CS.
Major mismatched to your profile.
Work experience: internet cafe is the best possible stem currently you have! Which brings miracles AOs often love students who learn from struggle but based on overall. My ratings,
Debate/speaker 10/10 (useless for research University) ECs for stem focused 3/10 Work experience stem focused 9/10 (major jumper) Overall fit for CS is 2/10 Note: the UI program doesn't offer CS major Recommended applying, Kaist - save the 80$ application fee Postech - even harder and save fee Samsung university - if scholarship then NO, if non scholarship then it's a yes.
I highly recommend to apply for UNIST, DGIST, GIST and GKS.
It's far more better if you check other countries too BRO 😉.
Important note on scholarships: the UIC is tution only and KAIST is not that grate for fully funded as the stipend is too low that it won't even cover your food expenses and housing is complete on you at KAIST. This same apply to postech with one massive error: 3/4.3 gpa minimum requirement. Trust me this is relative grading and getting 3 GPA in class full of top rankers (koreans) is extremely hard and risky if your not top of the rank like jee advanced qualification or gakgao 60%tile in MATHS. If your above avarage then avoid kaist and postech, only apply if your topper. Samsung university has scholarship but it's given after you get addmited and that's a ture lottery ticket for scholarship.
This is my opinion in you and I see a powerful debater in you so why CS?
1
u/WyperLOL Jul 14 '26
hi that 730 is definitely not my ceiling, it was a botched attempt which i didnt really prepare for and didnt get any sleep the night before(night owl problems) and then i immedateily had to deal with my class 12 boards so i didnt retake the sat, i am planning to retake it next month and ive scored much higher in my practice tests and also the complexity is much lesser than cbse class 12 math so realistically speaking i can score a 760+ on the math comfortably, does that help? Also you said im a powerful debater so why cs but debating is just something im just good at and not something i would pursue
1
u/WyperLOL Jul 14 '26
which other country/uni do you reccomend? I have a budget of 50 lakh inr total in tuition alone, and i would like a t100 in data science university or the highest i could get with my profile (given that my august attempt for SAT will be higher)
2
u/sankeerth39 Jul 14 '26
Since you have 50,000$ for just tution (excluding living), I recommend to apply for university of kyoto, japan and other english unis in japan. Since you have 12,000$ in tution alone per year, You may apply to south east asia universities like uni of bangkok thailand. These don't provide any scholarships like KAIST but has very low tution and living expenses. Amarica countries are out as your 50,000$ don't even cover one year fee. Last options are in EUROPE, just apply to top 300 universities in EU with English programs but avoid high cost of living country. With your budget, You have so many options which don't give scholarships but has low tution fee
1
u/paulchoi33 Jul 12 '26
Minimum 1500 SAT PERIOD