How would taking BC Calc and AP Physics C in junior year stands out?

MYOS1634
Mon, 16 Feb 2015 23:57:30 +0000

Annie, since you only arrived a year ago, see if your school would consider last year = 9th grade, this year = 10th grade, next year = 11th grade, and then one more year; There’s usually more leniency for students who arrive from abroad, have to learn the language and get used to the school - I think they have up to age 20 to finish high school. Your age wouldn’t matter to the college, only your grade.
This would give you time to build your resume at your US school as well as ECs - do you continue the ballet and if so can you do so at a high level? Can you be involved in a Varsity Spring Sport where your Ballet skills and athleticy might come in handy (or just to try)? Are you involved in coding competitions, hackathons, or have you built an app for android or Iphone?

In order to establish the fact English is not your native language, you need to take the TOEFL (regardless of actual English classes, or the fact you attended HS in the US - and BTW some American colleges will require the TOEFL from anyone who’s not attended an English Language HS, or some may be even stricter.) Indeed, having a TOEFL score provides context for reading your application. Study the test format quickly and take the test ASAP. Your goal is to get 100 (beyond that, it doesn’t matter how much you get. Take this quickly, don’t strive for perfection.)

Your application will be treated in two steps: your Chinese education will be studied by the officer in charge of China, who’ll compare your curriculum with that of other Chinese applicants; then your other classes will be evaluated by the officer in charge of your geographical region.
They’ll check that you pursued the most rigorous curriculum available to you, which should (ideally) include 4 units each of English, Math, Science, Social Science, and Foreign Language. Clearly English and Chinese cover both English and Foreign Language, you’re good with Math and Science, so the only unknown is Social Science.

If you attended a HS in China (or elsewhere) that didn’t offer APs, it won’t be held against you, but you’ll need to document the classes you took carefully (not just “Math, English, Science”… but “Calculus, English 4 Accelerated, Physics 2 Honors”). Did you do that for your HS so that they could report the exact classes on your new transcript? If not, gather the documentation, the translations, and ask for an evaluation of your Chinese transcript so that the correct classes are included in your final US transcript.

Can your photographs be mounted and exhibited - either at school or in town (at a community center if not a gallery) and can you get a newspaper report (in small towns, it’s often as easy as calling the local news desk to let them know.)

Can you create a club -
An example:
Are these other Chinese students at your school, and could you create a “interpreter” service club at your school, a sort of volunteering where students donate their time to help Chinese families in the community who need help with documents, official visits, etc?

(Unrelated, but you may find “Fresh Off the Boat”, funny or relatable - it’s a comedy about an Asian American family whose father transplanted them from DC to Orlando to pursue the American Dream, based on a memoir. The “joke” of the title is that of course there’s no boat from DC to Orlando and the children aren’t immigrants, but they’re now transplanted in an environment where they’re the only Chinese-origin kids.)

In addition, you should be able to take some classes through Dual Enrollment (also called PSEO). It means taking classes at the local college (community college or public college) for free as part of a program for high school students. Having a lot of “college” classes as a HS student would help you stand out a little. This is especially important since you took Calc BC and Physics C this year: it’d actually look BAD if you didn’t try to take the next levels at a college, and just stopped there. Is there a college nearby, and someone who would take you? You can even take them during May summer session and/or regular summer session (depending on what your nearby college offers).

The most important thing for you is to get that extra year so that you can build your application/resume.

Note: there are 3,700 universities in the US. Top 30 Research Universities and LACs would thus be roughly in the top 1-2% nationally. No one can just “expect” to get into them, they’re called “reach for everyone”, but you can make yourself competitive and keep your fingers crossed, while selecting “matches” (where your odds are roughly 50%+) and safeties (where your odds are 90%+).