Undergraduate International Students – Admissions Process and Key Policies

Holistic Admissions

The Admissions criteria and processes are based on holistic principles and values held by Ashoka University. All applicants will be evaluated on their level of engagement with their academics, extra-curricular activities, interests and potential within their unique life journeys. Throughout their academic and residential life at Ashoka University, students work towards developing faculties and values such as:

• Intellectual curiosity and critical thinking
• Academic rigour, research, and writing
• Open-mindedness and willingness to learn
• An interdisciplinary and problem-solving approach
• Resilience, tolerance, and teamwork

Admissions Process

Ashoka University’s holistic admissions process ensures that each application is evaluated in its unique context. 

Please find the details of the stages involved in admissions in the table given below:

Admissions Process

Stage 1: 

Application & Assessments

• Application: Academic scores, SAT/ACT scores, Personal Essays, Recommendation, Non-academic Engagement
• Assessments: Ashoka Aptitude Assessment (Mandatory); On-the-Spot Essay (Mandatory)

In depth review of all applications and assessments by the Office of Admissions

Stage 2:

Shortlist for Interview

• Interview with Panel (Mandatory)

Interviewers will interact with shortlisted candidates to get to know them and evaluate their suitability for academics at Ashoka

Stage 3:

Decisions and Financial Aid

Confirmed Offer

• Conditional Offer
• Waitlist (upon availability)
• Deferral of Decision
• Denial of Admission

Admissions Committee declares decisions. A separate Financial Aid application form will be opened for those granted an Offer of Admission

• Holistic Admissions Process where each applicant is evaluated within their unique Context

• • Strong focus on Affirmative Action based on social, personal, medical, geographical, educational backgrounds, etc, to name a few

• Merit based Admissions process and decisions

• Need based Financial Aid Policy after offers have been made

Please refer to this image-

Application

Registering and starting the Application Form

• An applicant needs to register with a personal email address (Gmail, Yahoo or Personal Domain IDs preferred) to start an application form. Use a personal email address and not a school or office-affiliated email address to ensure that they have access to this email address till the duration of their undergraduate degree programme
• All communication from Ashoka University will be sent only to the applicant’s registered email address

Instructions to fill in the Application Form

• The application form has multiple sections and is designed to get to know the applicant. The applicant is advised to carefully and thoughtfully engage with all the sections in the form
• The applicant should supply all relevant information in both mandatory and non-mandatory sections of the application form
• The applicant should attach all mandatory documents to prevent the application form from being considered ‘incomplete’. The applicant’s photograph, government identification document, and examination mark-sheets should be clearly visible and not password-protected
• Haryana Domicile Applicants will be required to submit their Government issued Haryana Resident Certificate (Domicile) to avail of benefits (if relevant) as per the Haryana Private Universities Act. Eligible applicants may attach a receipt of their Resident Certificates if they do not have access to their Resident Certificates at the time of submitting their Application Forms.
• The applicant should attach collaterals (certificates, photographs, artwork, writing samples, web-links, letters of experience/completion/appointment, etc) for optional sections to substantiate their listed activities and areas of engagement
• The applicants are required to respond to three mandatory personal essay prompts. They should be written by the applicant and should aim to address the stated prompt/cue as genuinely as possible
• The applicant should get the consent of the recommender before enlisting the recommender’s name on the application form
• The applicant’s choice of preferred Majors under the Course Preference Section in the application form is only indicative in nature
• Ashoka University also offers extensive support to its students for English language, writing, learning disabilities, medical, mental health, and counselling. Please find the details for these support centres here: Support at Ashoka. To enable the university to extend adequate support to the applicant during the admissions process and on campus (if made an offer of admission), the applicant is requested to submit all relevant details in the Support at Ashoka Section of the application form
• Please make sure that you click SUBMIT after you finish completing your application form

Please click on the links below to download the sample application forms:

Sample Application 1

Sample Application 2

Assessments

Instructions regarding Assessments

Once an application form has been submitted within the deadline of a particular round, the applicant will be required to mandatorily participate in the Assessments on the date(s) mentioned in the Admissions Calendar. The Assessments consist of the following:

• On-the-Spot Essay; Mandatory (30 minutes)
  The on-the-spot essay evaluates the following parameters: engagement with the prompt, critical thinking, clarity of thought, and creativity. The candidate will be given two topics to choose from at the time of writing the essay. The candidate cannot use any external resources to help them write the essay. The essay has no word limit and can be attempted with minimal preparation
  
  Please click here to download sample essays and prompts of the On-the-Spot Essay.
• Ashoka Aptitude Assessment; Mandatory (90 minutes)
  The Ashoka Aptitude Assessment has been developed for Ashoka University’s admissions purposes by Cambridge and is based on the Thinking Skills Assessment to evaluate the thinking skills of the applicant. It consists of questions on problem-solving skills (includes numerical and spatial reasoning) and critical thinking skills (includes understanding arguments and reasoning using everyday language). It has a total of 40 Multiple Choice Questions (20 problem-solving questions and 20 critical thinking questions) and is designed to be taken with minimal preparation.
  
  Please click here to download a summary and a sample paper of the Ashoka Aptitude Assessment.
  
  Please click here to read the instructions for the Ashoka Aptitude Assessement scheduled on 21st November 2021 for applicants who have applied in Round 1.

Interview

Instructions for the Interview

Each Application Form is read in detail and evaluated along with the Assessments in a holistic manner by the Admissions Committee, which shortlists candidates for an interview. Interviews are usually conducted across multiple cities (Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, etc) in India. For applicants who are unable to travel to any of the cities where in-person interviews are conducted, there is a provision for an online interview with the interview panel. 

In light of the Covid-19 Pandemic travel and safety restrictions, all interviews will be conducted online, till further notice.

• Interview with a panel; Mandatory
  The Ashoka Interview seeks to understand and get to know the candidate, their background and story. It also evaluates various parameters of the application form submitted by the candidate to gauge the candidate’s suitability to Ashoka University’s academic and residential life programme. The candidate will be interviewed by a panel. The time taken for the interview might vary depending on the interaction

Policies

The Office of Admissions follows the policies given below:

• Ashoka University does not have a policy of deferral of admission. An Offer of Admission is only valid for the academic session commencing at the end of the Admissions cycle in which the candidate has applied. If a candidate wishes to delay their joining by a year or more, they will have to re-apply and go through the entire admissions process within the Admissions Cycle for the academic session they wish to join
• A candidate is eligible to receive a firm offer of admission from Ashoka University based on their overall performance in their academic and non-academic pursuits as well as their performance in the Assessment and Interview Rounds. The academic parameters requires a candidate to submit grades/scores from Grades X to XII. In the absence of Grade XII/Equivalent examination final scores, a candidate is required to submit Predicted Grades, which is considered as an indication of their performance in their final Grade XII/Equivalent examination results. However, no firm offers or decisions will be taken based on only the Predicted Grades of the candidate
• All applicants will be required to appear for the Assessments and take the Ashoka Aptitude Assessment and write the On-the-Spot Essay. Applicants who submit their SAT/ACT scores in their Application Form are also mandatorily required to take the Ashoka Aptitude Assessment. However, if their performance in the SAT/ACT is better than their performance in the Ashoka Aptitude Assessment, the higher score will be considered in the evaluation of their application
• Indian applicants may send their official SAT scores to Ashoka University through the College Board portal for free. Our DI Code for SAT applicants is – 7343. All applicants applying with SAT/ ACT scores need to send us their official transcripts
• Applicants will be shortlisted for the interview based on a holistic evaluation of their Application including their performance in the assessments. Shortlisted Candidates will appear for an interview within the round in which they have applied
• Admissions decisions are rolled out at the end of each of the four rounds within the Admissions cycle. Once a candidate has participated in the interview, they can expect to receive one of the decisions/notifications mentioned below

Types of Admissions Decisions

Offer of Admission – The candidate will be made a firm offer of admission, after which they are only required to pass their final Grade XII/Equivalent Examination

Conditional Offer of Admission – The candidate will be required to meet the conditions specified by the Admissions Committee in their decision notification

Waitlisted – The possibility of an Offer of Admission at the end of the admissions cycle or earlier based on the availability of seats but to be decided by the Admissions Committee

Deferral of Decision – The Admissions Committee defers the decision of the candidate until the candidate submits their final Grade XII/Equivalent Examination scores

Denial of Admission – The Admissions Committee denies admission to the candidate based on their overall performance in the holistic admissions process

– The Admissions Committee annuls an application or candidature if the candidate fails to participate in all components of the admissions process or does not submit mandatory documents required by the committee Annulment of Application or Candidature 

Key Policies

In order to enroll in Ashoka University’s Undergraduate programme a candidate must have completed 12 years of school education which is recognized in their respective countries.

Please click here to see the list of educational board recognised by Ashoka University.

The application form requires the applicant to submit their grade sheet / marksheet of the last 3 years of school education starting from the most recent one (Grade 10 to Grade 12).

Accepted Educational Boards :

• Ashoka University accepts students from all +2 level qualifications recognised by the AIU. Please click here to view the complete list of boards recognised by the AIU
• For International Baccalaureate (IB) students, only applicants enrolled under the Diploma Programme are eligible to apply for the undergraduate programme at Ashoka University
• Students enrolled in the IB Certificate Programme are not eligible to apply
• For students enrolled in the Cambridge Board, applicants must appear for a minimum of 3 subjects at the A-level to be eligible to apply to the undergraduate programme at Ashoka University
• For all other boards, we request students to share a conversion sheet/normalisation scale or any detailing around the grading/scoring system used by the board/school authorities with the Admissions Committee

Discipline-Specific Policies

Students of Ashoka University who wish to Major or Minor in the following disciplines should have studied Mathematics in their senior school years (Class XI and XII): 

Economics/ Economics and Finance/ Economics and History/ Politics, Philosophy, and Economics/ Mathematics/ Computer Science/ Computer Science and Entrepreneurship/ Computer Science and Mathematics/ Physics

Students who wish to Major or Minor in Physics should have studied both Mathematics and Physics in their senior school years (Class XI and XII)

Visa Application:

The Office of International Programmes will provide support and guidance for visa application of selected students. You can address your queries and concerns directly to io.helpdesk@ashoka.edu.in

Which visa should I apply for? – You will require a three-year multiple-entry student visa to cover the duration of your undergraduate studies. The multiple-entry part is important as it enables you to travel home during holidays.

How do I apply for the visa? – Depending on your country’s bilateral relations with India, we strongly advise that you contact the Indian Embassy in the country of residence and check their website for the visa application procedure. Since this is a residential university, all the students live on campus. While filling out the visa application, your residential address will be the following: Ashoka University, Plot #2, Rajiv Gandhi Education City, P. O. Rai, Sonepat, Haryana 131 029, India

What documents will I need? – Typically, for your visa application, you will need an offer of admission, fee and financial aid in letter format, which will be provided by the office of Admissions and Financial Aid. The Office of International Programmes provides a visa letter to support your application. Make sure you have all the documents listed on the Indian Embassy website of your country.

When should I apply for the visa? – Ensure that you apply well in advance as visa procedures require three weeks or more. You can start the process as soon as you have the aforementioned documents from Ashoka University.