I respectively spent one year in two different high schools outside the US and am going to spend the last two year in a american highschool inside the us. The first school is a american international highschool and i got a 3.75 gpa(probable ranking the top5% of the school because the school is really bad ) there with a B in math because the teacher is a jerk(i am serious, there can be so much horrible things happening in a wiered high school especially when it is out of the states). The next year i transfered to a british international highschool and is expecting to get a gpa of 3.6 at the end of this year because i struggled quite a bit moving to another system. In that school i got a overall C in art and design in the first semester(the art course is a formal A-level art course which is very professional and rigorous, i get D at the very beginning because of not understanding the grading criteria as well as having a horribly unhelpful teacher but eventually i start to get As by figuring out the way to do that by myself)but i don’t think i am gonna majoring in art in the future. Next year i am hopfully expecting to get a 4 in theamerican highschool and all courses i am gonna take their should be IBs.
the reason why i didn’t get high gpa at the first school is because i am unaware of the importance of the grades at the beginning. i am a asian american living abroad and was studying in a very different test based educational system. And their was also language problems at the very beginning. but i learned quick and so far i already got 118 on toefl(a third try), 35 on ACT(first try) and 6 5s on AP(calculus AB,BC, micro¯o economics, Physics AB, Human geography). I am also planning to take sat subject tests and more APs(about 8-9) in this year and scores are not a problem at all.
i know that i may look quite weak in terms of my gpa so that i tried my best to be successful in my ECs. So far i already have two essays being published in academic journals and i am planning to do more of this kinds of researchs later in the states. this year i am participating in the British math olympiad and lots of other academic competitions and i am expecting good results. I think i am definately going to participate in academic competitions and is very likely to win very cool national awards when i go to the states.
My father went to UPenn but i don’t know if this will help in the application.
Recently i really feel like that i want to go to a school like JHU and UC berkerly. i know that these schools have more applicants with perfect gpas than they can accept so i am worrying. Is there any thing better that i can do to make it more possible for me to get in? Thank you very much for helping.
please forgive me for those stupid grammar problems。。。 it is very difficult for a english-as-a-second-language user to make no grammar mistakes without concentrating。。。
It won’t do your application any favors to blame bad grades on “my school was bad” and “my teacher was a jerk.”
At this point, the best thing for you to do is focus on raising your grades and doing well in IB classes. Grades are the first hurdle to clear at US colleges, and right now - as an asian-american with approximately a 3.7 GPA if you end this year with a 3.6 - you’ll struggle to make it past that point.
Do your best in the competitions you enter, but don’t plan your application around the assumption you’ll win national awards. The odds are against it simply because every grade consists of a few million students, and there’s a good chance someone in that group is every bit as talented as you are.
Your main issue, in addition to GPA, looks like your extracurricular activities. You’re planning on taking a total of 14-15 AP exams in addition to IB courses, but all you’ve listed as activities outside class is research and academic competitions. This suggests you do little in your free time but study, which unfortunately corresponds to a certain stereotypical profile that many colleges occasionally see. Application readers aren’t fans, to say the least.
Come back at the end of your junior year, when you’ll have more certainty with regards to your GPA, test scores, and potentially awards.
@NotVerySmart is actually pretty smart, use his/her advice. Please don’t focus on just top 20 schools. Yes, you may be able to get into some of them, but the odds are not in your favor. The odds for top 20 colleges are not great for anyone, but having high grades and test scores gets you to the gate. Your ACT score is great, and that will help you a lot. You do yourself no favors if you don’t look for more realistic choices in your college search. Find colleges in which your grades and test scores are above the 75th percentage for the college. Then you can be more assured that you will get in.
I think many international students who want to study in the US fail to understand a VERY important fact: the American ideal is the well-rounded student. Not only should you have high grades and test scores, you should also have a good selection of activities that have nothing to do with school. Music, sports, volunteering, something creative (art, dance, film), awards, positions of leadership, Model UN, something that perhaps you began and turned into something bigger, etc… The very top colleges want to see that you are good at everything, and involved with life outside of school. The other huge factor is “fit”. does the college feel that you fit in (belong) at that college? This is why you will write a lot of extra essays for the top schools. If they don’t think you will fit in, you will not be accpeted, despite the best of everything. This is why top colleges deny 10000s of perfect students. They do not care only about grades and test scores. They care about everything. Do yourself a favor and find colleges that interest you that are not Top 20. It is likely that you won’t get into a Top 20 college, so you need to find another college you will be happy at.
If you want to be accepted to a competitive college, your command of the English language has to be as good as that of a native speaker with top grades from a US high school. You don’t have anything near that level of mastery. You are asking about college entry so this comment is very relevant. What about your past would suggest you are among the very top students compared to the vast number of students applying to those schools? Being a legacy at Penn may help you gain entry to Penn. But aside from that accommodation, you probably should not expect offers from other schools considered by many to be “top 20”. It could happen. You apparently have good scores. I wouldn’t count on it. Nobody should.
In my experience, there are a few college students (and even a graduate or two) whose level of English in CC posts belies their abilities. I’m cautious about judging proficiency based purely on what someone writes here.
The points made by @lostaccount and @Lindagaf are good ones nonetheless. Many people focus on top 20 schools, but these colleges get enough applicants that even the most qualified students can’t count on an acceptance. At most, 8 or 9 of those schools will be good fits for any given student, and admission to one of them isn’t guaranteed. Each year, students who tried the “I’ll just apply to all 8 - I’ll get in somewhere” strategy and saw it backfire show up here on CC come April because they didn’t choose any safety schools.
Find some matches - which, with your GPA somewhat offset by that ACT at many schools (not the top 20, though), means schools in the top 50 rather than the top 20. Find a safety - a school where you can count on admission, and as much financial aid as you’ll need, if not more.
Projecting a 4.0, while not as overoptimistic as expecting national awards, is still a stretch for students who’ve never had such grades before. Be very realistic in this respect - don’t assume the 4.0 will be there.
And do something outside school. You don’t need to be a captain of three varsity teams, student council president, and founder of an international nonprofit, but doing something because it’s enjoyable rather than for academic recognition will do your profile - and you - no end of good.