<p>OK I come from a third world country. I attend the most competitive local-curriculum school which prepares students for local Universities. But I am rebelling :). I'm applying to top 20 universities (as every1) my SATs are brilliant (in comparison with the other 10 who took it) but are at the 25th percentile at those universities! My school is academic based (only ECs available are sports) but I also rebeled and initiated many of them, none which are like the ones I see on this board, however.</p>
<p>GPA=4.0 uw (no IB or AP)
No clubs whatsoever
No internships (college students cant find them)
No competitions and stuff (except essay competitions)
No research..
No EVERYTHING American</p>
<p>YES (I was class representitive of many seminars, conferences and workshops)</p>
<p>But I've taken benefit from all resources available</p>
<p>The thing is how could they know? (there are a few schools which offers the US curriculum and has a $10000 tuition fee) so they will think that all the schools in the country are like this one!</p>
<p>Usually colleges ask for a letter from your counselor evaluating the comparative difficulty of your curriculum and writing any extenuating circumstances like school budget and average income of students' families. Admissions officers don't just glance over an application and say "Oh, this person's from such-and-such a place, I think schools there are trashy, they're out." Well, they do at certain state schools (UC, cough cough) but you're applying to respectable places where they adcoms their jobs seriously.</p>
<p>No. Better yet. You tell <em>them</em>. You know that space on application that asks for any additional information that adcoms should take into account? Just explain it to them.</p>
<p>Are you an international student? If so, applying to the top schools as an international student is EXTREMELY difficult, mainly because they accept so little foreign students. Your SAT score is a little low on the verbal side. I don't know what schools you're applying to.</p>