Chances? International/US Citizen...

srsx3
Sun, 28 Dec 2008 02:08:33 +0000

Ok, so I’m hoping there will at least be a few people out there who are not completely sick of seeing these posts. I would sincerely appreciate any opinions received. The truth, please! I can handle it. :)

First of all, I live in the Cayman Islands. (If you haven’t heard of it, don’t feel bad - it’s really itty bitty, close to Jamaica and under Cuba, about an hour’s flight from Miami.) There’s only one American school there, otherwise it’s the British system. The high school I went to doesn’t offer AP courses, but I did take the most difficult courses there. After we take the courses, we have to sit a regional exam (Caribbean Examination Council) or a British exam (General Certificate of Secondary Education). For CXC, the highest grade is a ‘1’ and for GCSE (sometimes IGCSE - ‘International’ may come before it), the highest grade is an ‘A’ or, in rare cases, an ‘A*’.

My grades were:
Information Technolgy - CXC - ‘1’
Mathematics - CXC - ‘1’
English Language - CXC - ‘1’
English Literature - CXC - ‘1’
Integrated Science - CXC - ‘1’
Geography - CXC - ‘1’
Principles of Accounts - CXC - ‘1’
Physics - IGCSE - ‘A*’
Human & Social Biology - GCSE - ‘A’
General Paper - GCSE - ‘C’

To explain the awful grade in General Paper (which is kind-of like a ethical issues/writing exam, only not really, if that makes sense), it was an extra class my English teacher was supposed to do with me and a couple other students in his free time - which turned out to be, more or less, 6 hours of an entire year. I could have done better, but bottom line, it wasn’t mandatory. So yeah. If anything, just ignore it - I’m not sure if I’ll even submit it, if it might hurt my chances.

My school also doesn’t do official GPA’s, but I graduated Valedictorian. It was an extremely small class though - about 42 total.

Highest SAT is 2110. (Single sitting 2100, scored 10 points lower on CR.) 710 CR, 640 M, 750 W.
Did SAT II (Bio. E. & English Lit.) and got 600 Bio, 660 Lit.
Not the best, by far.

ECs are at least decent, I think.

President of my local Junior Achievement company in 10th Gr.
Vice-Pres. of local Leo’s [Alpha] Club in 10th Gr and Pres. in 11th and 12th.
President of School/Student Council in 11th Gr.
Debate Team Captain from 10th-12th Gr. - all of which my team won the national (Cayman Islands’) Debating Championship)
Head Prefect in Grs. 11 & 12
Children’s Church teacher at my church
A few others, too - Agriculture Club, Major School Magazine Contributor, Concert Band, etc. - but they weren’t for as long or as meaningful to me (with the exception of the magazine) as the others.

Awards:
Won 1 regional (Caribbean) and 2 national essay competitions.
Leo’s Club “Outstanding President” Award
Citizenship Award - 1 yr.
Debate Award - 3 yrs.
Leadership Award - 2 yrs.
Academic Achievemnet Award - like 5 yrs.
$1500 US Scholarship for Outstanding Academic Achievement and Citizenship
Awards in National Children’s Festival of the Arts for group pieces in music/individual awards in speech or writing.
A few more, too.

My essay’s humorous and definitely unique. My old English teacher loved it. I’m hoping the humor won’t work against me. Teacher Recs are amazing (I’ve seen them). Counselor Rec. should be pretty good, too.

Duke’s a bit of a reach for me, but, again, I would really, really appreciate any opinions. Thank you soooo much! :D



Oh, I forgot to mention. I got 2 viewbooks and a smaller blue book in the mail last week. The cover of the little blue book says it’s for “first year students and their parents” or something similar. I only sent in my application a few days before I got it. Has anyone else received these? Personally, I don’t think it’s anything big or meaningful, but my mother has a different opinion - wishful thinking, I guess. :)