HELLO THERE! 
I’m a south east asian student looking forward to apply to US universities for the 2016 Fall enrollment. (English as first language, though) Brand new here ><
Schools:
Berkeley/UCLA/NYU/Columbia/UChicago all RD(?)
Stats:
2280 on SAT first try, taking SAT subject tests (phy, math 2, lit) soon
school doesn’t rank students, and we don’t do GPA. About 40% though 
I’m in one of the best schools (if not the best) of my country though.
EC:
Floorball school team, national 4th last year
School green council (organise charity and school events such as green festivals and wrote school policies)
ABRSM Grade 8 piano; piano teaching as well. I play 2 other undocumented instruments.
Mindsports (represented school team in othello & scrabble)
Volunteered in charity projects overseas, in Vietnam
Various volunteer work in community (street sales, house painting, etc.)
Assistant class representative
National Youth Achievement Award
Various academic awards (American math comp honor roll, australian math comp distinction) from around 3-4 years ago
I’m the most worried about my ECs and my GPA.
I don’t particularly hold a leadership title. Is this a deal breaker?
As for my stats, is 2280 a good enough score even if my GPA isn’t the best? Because my school’s exams are extremely tough and you’re expected to get Cs and below for them.
Going to put in a lot of effort into my essays and they’re going to be stellar because I have a flair for writing.
Thank you so much for reading this <3
What do you mean GPA is not the best? What is your GPA% scale? 10-100%?
My grades would probably fall at about 40% in my school
Out of a 100%. What % are the top students receiving? Just trying to get an idea of how you compare to your fellow classmates.
the top students are receiving 99%
Very very slim chance if you are at 40% and top students at 99%. You need to rethink your list to match your stats.
Oh I see. Even if I have decent SAT scores? what about my ECs? Thanks for replying
UC’s are very GPA focused, so GPA/test scores/HS course rigor and essays are considered the most important in the application review. Like I stated above, if your GPA is 40% and the top students at your school are at 99%, not knowing how exactly how your GPA scale works, it looks like your GPA is very low. On a US scale, 40% would be failing.
As an International student, you need to be at the top of your class to get into most of the schools on your list.
Oh, i see. I meant it as a percentile. Top 60% of my cohort in school, but my school is probably the top 2% in the nation. Do you think my ECs are alright?
yup! does it matter though? haha
But i just want to ask, what grades do you send? Since singapore follows the British education system, online it says, our transcripts would consist of our O-level grades, predicted A-level grades and actual A-level grades. Am i right?
Unsure how your grades would stack up in the UC system. Can you provide further information about your grading system?
If your school is in the top 2% in a competitive country (such as Singapore), your school wouldn’t rank and simply indicate admission to the school is selective and students there are among the top students nationally. If your school is the best in the country (or among the best), it’d likely known from adcoms.
You’d need O’Level results, AS Level Results, and Predicted A Levels (+ SAT Subjects).
Would you be full pay or do you need financial aid?
well, apart from this, how are my ECs?
Whether y ou’re full pay or not matters more than EC’s for most schools
does that mean that you don’t need financial aid?
please write in full sentences and as clearly as you can.