<p>I am a second year high school student from Albania. I have an unweighted GPA of 3.96 (there is no weighted GPA in my country). I have only one B in Albanian literature and a few A-. I’m not sure if it is correct to convert the grades of my country(4-10 scale) to US grades. I used this site for conversion <a href=“http://www.foreigncredits.com/Resources/GPA-Calculator/Albania[/url]”>http://www.foreigncredits.com/Resources/GPA-Calculator/Albania</a>. If I maintain these results in the next two years and also get a good score at SAT (greater than 2100), do i have a chance at top schools in USA? My main concern is that I do not have any extracurricular activity, except being at the physics group.</p>
<p>You should clarify what you mean by top university. If you are in Albania and go by reputation, you are probably referring to the Harvards, Yales, Columbias, Dartmouths, U. of Pennsylvania, etc. Those schools are a reach regardless of how high your stats are. Your grades appear strong, but colleges also consider the high school profile as well. If your school regularly admits students to these top colleges, then your chances are better. If you are the first that hopes to get accepted, you will really need something more beside high SAT scores. This is where leadership and other accomplishments come into play. Can you take your interest in Physics and get involved in a way that you can show deeper involvement? Are you able to work with a physics professor at a college to get insight on research or application of physics? Can you get involved in your community through volunteer projects? Can you lead a significant volunteer project? If you play sport, are you captain of the team? The international and US students that get accepted to schools I mentioned have great grades (like yours), came from backgrounds where they were able to take rigorous HS coursework, have high intelligence (2100 SAT and higher, and the higher the better), and have shown a significant talent (sport, art, community leadership) and/or have won significant recognition at the state, national and international level.</p>
<p>No one here can say whether you will get in, but we can say that the more of the things I mentioned above, the higher your chances.</p>
<p>^Agree. Your gpa and projected test score will be high enough that academically you’re qualified. But without good ECs your chances are significantly lower.</p>