The competition for the very best students is global.

From prestigious Princeton to MIT, city boy Rik Sengupta can pick and choose where he wants to study — for free. The South Pointer has bagged full scholarship seats at seven top universities in the US.
Princeton, the top ranking university in the US, has offered him a scholarship of $52,990 a year. His other scholarships have even more jaw-dropping amounts: Yale $53,764, Caltech $48,490, MIT $51,540, Williams College (1st among undergraduate liberal arts colleges) $50,390 and Amherst College $51,832.

Sengupta chose Princeton. Thanks to EphBlog’s favorite Lord Jeff, Modale Hall, for the pointer. Hall also asks, “Is this a sign of increased financial aid for international students, or are there full scholarships available for whiz kids? Or is it a little of both?” I assume that this was all need-based and that Sengupta’s family is poor. How Williams (or any other school) can actually measure the income/wealth of applicants from around the world is unclear (to me).