<p>I came to Canada from a non-English speaking country in the beginning of my sophomore year and I am currently a junior. I took a lot of junior courses and one senior course (more than 60%) in my sophomore year and again lots of senior courses (more than 80%) in my junior year (I have a balance among humanities, sciences and math; actually this semester I have 3 social sciences/humanities, one math and no sciences) and my final average ranked 1st in the first school year I came. My SAT I is2240 but I will retake. I probably won't take literature (see my previous threads) since I can get 750+ (hopefully 800) in other subjects (sadly they are sciences/math). Yes I've visited the US severally times when I was in elemantary & middle schools, I've had a decent English education in my original country (but since I was in a small city I couldn't really expect anything better) and I have the right US accent that allows me to assimilate into the new environment immediately after I came here (all except one or two teacher & most of my friends don't know that I am a recent immigrant; my accent definitely helped but I believe my personality is another important factor). My family income is about $40,000.</p>
<p>I wonder if this is a very prevalent phenomenon among people aiming for Ivies and whether it is a "hook" for me (I don't really know if "hook" is the right word since being an Asian can hardly be a hook). </p>
<p>Thank you.</p>