I really am at a crossroads of sorts really, especially with the number of reaches on my Naviance, and so I was wondering if anyone could give me some perspective from a third-person POV regarding my chances.
I’m hoping to go into either Business or International Affairs (a bit of both if possible), and with other aspects considered, I’m looking at UChicago, Georgetown, American, Columbia, BU, NYU etc (in rough descending order of preference)
The high school I go to is one of the lesser-known schools among the Ten Schools, and I am a non-U.S. citizen, from an Asian nation that doesn’t have that many students studying here in the United States. (i.e. not as much as India, China, Korea, VIetnam etc)
First, my testing are as follows:
ACT:
Spring 2015: 34 Composite - English 33, Math 32, Reading 36, Science 34, Writing 9
Spring 2016: 35 Composite - English 36. Math 32, Reading 35, Science 35, Writing 28
TOEFL iBT:
117 (R 30, L 30, S 27, W 30)
IELTS (taken to potentially apply for regional British Council Awards)
8.5 - R 8.5 L 9.0 W 8.0 S 8.5
AP:
AP Calculus BC: 5
AP English Lang. & Comp.: 5
I haven’t listed SAT II scores yet, because I haven’t taken them yet - speaking of which, if I took the SAT for my native language as one of the three “strongly recommended” subject tests, would it count against me?
My academics:
My school officially doesn’t calculate GPAs. (at least for students - we’ve been instructed to leave that section of the Common App blank) I’ve been told though, that my overall GPA was approximately a mediocre 3.6. (unweighted, of course) In general, I tend to improve as the school year progresses, but my Fall term grades always drag me down every year.
I can’t imagine, therefore, my class rank being particularly impressive…especially with my consistent ineptitude on math.
Grade 9:
B+ for History, English
B for Honors Algebra 2
A/A+ for Latin, Chemistry, and Public Speaking
Grade 10:
B+ for English (Fall B+, Winter B, Spring A-)
A/A- for misc. term courses (history, philosophy etc.), Advanced Latin, Advanced Pre-cal and Advanced Bio
Grade 11:
B+ for AP Language & Composition
B for AP Calculus AB
A/A- for Regular US History, Advanced Latin, Advanced Physics
A+ for Photography
Grade 12 (Pending)
AP Economics
AP Comparative Gov
AP Statistics
AP English Literature & Composition
2 terms of college-level Biology + one term of psychology
I’ve also received two departmental honors; one freshman year, and one junior year.
Finally, my extracurriculars.
Selected as Prefect Junior year, and a RA this year
Co-chair of a club representing my native country
Founding member of a club celebrating a certain instant food
Partook in cycling, club soccer, club basketball, agriculture, and community service to fulfill my sports requirement
Debate society (2 years) (finally upgraded to varsity last year, yet to win an award)
Some Model UN (2 years)
Private tutor (paid) for an ESL student back home
Received awards from the Minister of Education and the British Council for apparently scoring among the top three on an English proficiency exam in 2015…although it seems pretty pointless as English proficiency is expected from colleges anyway.
Should I be lowering my expectations to save myself from disappointment? Any insight would be very much appreciated.