<p>Hey. Didn't think about applying for US colleges until yesterday for some reason, despite having taken the SAT I half-heartedly once. But here I am, judge if it's worth a try. I'm Swedish btw. </p>
<p>IB grades:</p>
<p>Swedish A1 HL 7
English A2 HL 7
Mathematical Studies 7
History HL 7
Economics HL 7
Environmental Systems 7</p>
<p>EE + ToK 3 points </p>
<p>SAT I:
2150 (750 CR, 700 on the rest, if I remember correctly)</p>
<p>I'm not sure I fully get the whole EC concept, almost all of my activities outside of school are highly informal and/or private; paradoxically enough, there really isn't the same emphasis on collective stuff in socialist Europe. I do however write fiction and poetry (in Swedish though, my English is indeed very dry and boring), and play an instrument (though not a classical one, and I'm not schooled in any way). Additionally, I've frequently housed students and people from other countries in some way connected to my school (SA zulus playing in Sweden as part of some anti-aids thing, an Indian kid who was studying at the RCN UWC school in Norway at the time and couldn't afford to go back to India for the holidays etc), and would probably get extremely good references (my reference for Oxford says that I'm by far the best student the teacher has ever encountered in his 30 year career). </p>
<p>I intend to raise my SAT to at least 2200 before the EA process, and to do the two required subject ones. Which would you recommend, given that my main interests are philosophy, languages and history (if now that's an important part of the equation; you're not inofficially forced to do maths, for example, as my friend hinted?).
I'm usually an excellent essayist, judging from the grades I've been receiving in English A2 (30/30) and on the SAT one (12), so writing a decent presentation of myself shouldn't pose too much of a problem.</p>
<p>Seems like the ECs are the main drawback. Do they really expect socially awkward vikings to be as outgoing as the US students? That's just bizarre, Swedes generally hate social activities (that doesn't apply to me, but it has severely limited the availability of interesting ECs in my region).
My parents are really uneducated and earn very little by US standards, though we do live in an affluent neighbourhood and own a house which would generate some money if sold.</p>