<p>So both of my brothers go to Ivy League schools and are super smart. I’m sort of aiming for Duke/Vanderbilt sort of standards, a college in the top 20 for sure. I would say i’m good academically, not really a huge studier but when i lived in SC i was definitely top of my class.
Our family moved to England like 3 years ago and it was a huge shock trying to adapt. I go to one of the best private schools in the country so if anything im in a better situation then i was before but extra curricular wise im way behind. I used to be cheer captain at middle school and was in quite a few sports teams but i came here and they had never done any sport i had before, apart from swimming, which i dont even like. I go to the gym, do a weekly netball class (sort of like basketball), volunteer and next year im starting work experience with a really good newspaper but i’m not sure if this is enough to stand out. Should i join more clubs or get involved in other things you could suggest? I dont know if i have a good chance getting in. I dont think either of the schools i mentioned let in many international students or if they make us take the SATs or not. Also is it worth visiting colleges? I would definitely like to see where i’d have to live but it would cost a fortune to get there and in places like Durham there isnt really much else to do. My brothers found it easy to convince my parents to visit the colleges they wanted to see because harvard and columbia are on the east coast (nearer to us) and not far apart. If im going to see the 5 im considering it would take me pretty much all over the US, which would be hard to organise.
Any ideas how to help?</p>
<p>I am in the same situation with my kids, and I know how hard it is to visit colleges when you are in the middle of exam revision (are you in GSCE’s or AS Level this year)?
I would recommend the following:</p>
<p>1) Definitely visit your top choice (match and reach) schools. There is lots of stuff in CC about organising college road trips. For example, from London, you could fly into DC, see Georgetown and then see top other schools in the Mid-Atlantic region and Southeast(Hopkins, UVA, Duke, WForest) before flying to Vanderbilt and flying back to London through DC. February half-term is a great time for this as flights are cheap</p>
<p>2) Try and email or call the international adcoms at your choice schools and try and get to know them.</p>
<p>3) See the adcoms when they visit London. Many of them go to the Fulbright college fair in South Ken plus they often come at other times.</p>
<p>Thanks, this was really helpful. Nice to know that there is someone with children in a similar situation to me.
I’m in grade 11 (or year 12 as we call it here) so doing my AS levels.
I got my GCSE results back which were pretty encouraging but it’s still hard to compare the equivalent in the US so I still have very little idea about how high to aim for.<br>
I should probably mention that my sister just found out she got into UGA and I would sort of put myself in between her and my brothers, as my GCSEs were better than hers but not really as good as theirs, although not far off.
I’ve shortlisted my colleges down to about 10 that i’m quite keen on and i’m thinking if i split them into areas, over the next year i can try and visit them each vacation.
The main issue though is that I don’t take the SAT/ACT until the beginning of next year and my school has little experience dealing with american colleges, apart from Stanford and Harvard.
I’m going to apply to about 5 maybe, unless I decide to go ED. That means I have to have a good indication of my chances of getting into the colleges, which I still find difficult as I don’t know how I compare to normal high school kids, seeing as the English education system is meant to be better and I go to private school. </p>
<p>Please let me know how your kids are getting on too, </p>
<p>"I still find difficult as I don’t know how I compare to normal high school kids, seeing as the English education system is meant to be better and I go to private school. "</p>
<p>Dear Jen,</p>
<p>Don’t sell yourself short. So long as you have decent SATs, GCSEs and AS Level marks, you have a great chance in getting into a top US college. In your favor, you have 1) you have a great education from a London private school, and 2) You are somewhat exotic as a foreign student, but as a US citizen, you don’t need a Visa and you (guessing here) can probably pay full tuition. Plus, all the top US colleges fully understand the UK school system. My kids will be applying mostly to top 30-ish Universities (say, Yale down to Boston College) plus some of the top LACS (Williams, Amherst, Pomona and Middlebury) plus a couple of safety schools each.</p>
<p>You may want to check the websites of the top London British schools (Westminster, St, Paul’s, City, North London Collegiate etc) plus ASL (which will have a wider spread of college acceptances) to see which schools those kids have gotten into over the past 5 or so years. </p>