<p>Given there are hundreds of “Will I get in???” threads, with each author sporting stellar grades, ECs, leadership positions, and all that good stuff that makes parents wet themselves out of pure joy and make college admission boards seem like cruel, judgemental Nazis for not accepting such a pristine student; my question is a ta-a-a-d different.</p>
<p>I am a Ukrainian immigrant. I can speak, read, and write fluently in both English and Russian. My grades are less than great, but are not horible, having a 3.5 (have gotten straight A’s for the last two years, I just messed up my freshmen year).</p>
<p>My ACT scores on the other hand are amazing, a 35 and a 12 in writing.</p>
<p>Should I even bother to apply for top teir schools like the Ivy League?</p>
<p>I am in all Honors classes, I’ve taken and passed with A’s 5 Dual-Enrollment courses, with more on the way. My school doesn’t offer AP.</p>
<p>My EC’s include:
3 monthes of voluntering with learning impaired children through a school program.
Senior class president (didn’t run previous years).
Played a benefit concert for a charity with my band.
Golf team.</p>
<p>P.S. My parents make $15K a year and I live in what can only be described as a “Red-neck Ghetto.”</p>
<p>You should certainly try. Don’t sell yourself short. The Ivy’s eschew more cookie-cutter type applicants as the years go by. Make a good case for yourself. Sell your story in your personal statement and highlight your strengths. </p>
<p>I am not just a “dreamer”. I too, had less than stellar grades, but very high standardized testing scores, interesting ECs and a will to prove myself. I believe that is what got me into more than a few of those “top-tier” schools.</p>
<p>(and good for you for not listening to these “judgmental nazi’s.” anyone who actually has any knowledge of ivy league admissions will tell you that there is no way of knowing how you’ll fare with these schools unless you try)</p>
<p>Apply (although I always tell everybody to make sure to have excellent safeties just in case).</p>
<p>Talk to your guidance counselor about your freshman grades beforehand to explain to him/her the situation. He/she will have to fill out a Secondary School Report and if you have talked to him/her about it before he/she would be able to talk about how much you have improved and any possible problems during that time that may have contributed to less than stellar performance that year.</p>
<p>You’ve done so well since then and should be so proud! Apply to a broad range of schools (in terms of competitiveness) and I’m sure you will land somewhere great!</p>