Okay, whew. Im a pretty complicated case, so please bear with me and if possible clear my doubts cuz I’m dying over here lol. So, I’m an international student from Asia. Specifically Bangladesh. Right now I’m in my sophomore year and studying in malaysia at an IB (International Baccalaureate) school. So, my school decided to not do the final exam required for IB which is the E-assessment but instead do IGCSE (international GCSE). They’re also teaching IGCSE in an IB way which sucks as they’re both very different … heck even the papers are in IB format (remember I’m doing igcse). We have to do IB research reports and stuff with all re not required for IGCSE and is pretty useless and taking a lot of my time. So, this caused pressure for me in freshman year and I got mostly C’s and D’s. Besides, my mom wasn’t living with me due to visa issues an was living in my home country. Oh yeah and I didn’t have many friends. For these reasons combined in was pretty sad, unmotivated, couldn’t manage my time and was slacking off. Basically I was having a hard time with the transition.
Now that I’m in my sophomore year I’m working hard to get A’s and will continue to do so. I’m showing an upward trend and my GPA which will be a 3.3( due to GPA of 1.8 in freshman year) at the end of senior year, I’m aiming for near perfect SAT scores to show my academic ability to universities. I have pretty good extracurriculars which includes entrepreneur club(sophomore year), football team(sophomore year), dance (I’ve been dancing since I was 7 but I wasn’t consistent but I’m doing it again since freshman year). I’m doing community service at a refugee camp since sophomore year. And I did swimming in freshman year. I’m also a part of student council. I’ll continue to improve my extracurriculars and service and take them one step further by doing something meaningful and creative that will probably catch the admission officers attention.
I want to go to a top school in the USA. Probably the top 30 which includes all the ivy leagues, UCLA, Stanford, University of Michigan, NYU you get the gist). Do I have a chance to get in a top college? Is my reason enough to explain as extenuating circumstances? Will they consider my excuse for bad grades in freshman year? I mean should I even apply I don’t know if I’m a reasonable candidate. I know I can apply, but do I have a pretty ok chance of getting in?
Yeah, this is my whole life story. Please answer my questions cuz I’m hella stressed.
Please read the many, many threads on this topic. Admissions to the top/elite schools is extremely competitive for all students, even more competitive for internationals, and probably virtually nonexistent for an international without extremely strong grades. Best to drop the top schools from your list.
Upward trends are very important but Cs and Ds are going to be hard to overcome. International admission to the most competitive schools in the US require near perfect applications. When the time comes (and it’s too early to predict anything without test scores), spend the bulk of your time researching match and safety schools.
a 1.8 is going to be super hard to change, but are you weighting your GPA? Your weighted GPA could change the game. I do think however, if you get a perfect standardized test score, along with leadership in your ECs, maybe get a job or something you should get into a top school.
If anything, public schools like UMichigan are more stats oriented (meaning they look more at grades and test scores) than private colleges. The top selectives like that all use “holistic” admissions, but publics still tend to be more focused on defined stats than the private schools.
I’m sorry but probably not. 1. you’re an International student 2. although you will be showing an upward trend, your freshman grades since they are so much lower, will raise red flags. 3.you can’t just want to get a good SAT score, you have to get it. you can’t play hypotheticals. of course I wanted to get a 36 but I got a 33 4 times in a row after studying my ass off. 4. your activities aren’t great and are pretty generic, so right now you have no hooks
but, you are also a sophomore and have lots of time to study for the SAT, bring up your grades, and focus on an interest and do activities in that field. sorry for being brutally honest, but that is the truth. international applicants on these threads have amazing stats & EC’s yet they still don’t get in. I think you should go for schools less competitive. but you always have a shot.
If you apply to a school that emphasizes holistic admission, they will look more deeply into your grades per year and consider the upward trend rather than the GPA as a number. If you can maintain better grades, I think it will even look good for you to show that you 1. worked hard and 2. were able to change your habits. So definitely look out for schools that advertise holistic admission. I also know in particular that Emory University doesn’t consider freshman year grades at all, so you may appear a more competitive applicant. A lower GPA will affect some scholarship chances, however.
I don’t believe there’s much aid for international students. There isn’t really a lot to be had for domestic students either. I agree with the advice to search out threads on the topic. Good luck.
What does the college placement team at your school tell you about all of this? Surely their students are headed to foreign universities since they are offering the IGCSE program and they are adding on a lot of IB activities (and possibly IB exams). Start there.
“Do you know any other schools good that don’t consider freshman grades at all?”
I am under the impression that most of the various Universities of California don’t consider freshman year grades. However, they have nearly no financial aid at all for international students (or students from outside of California). Universities in Canada do not consider your freshman year grades. Again they in most cases have very little or no aid for international students, although the base price is less.
“couldn’t manage my time and was slacking off.”
Unfortunately this has the potential of being a problem for incoming university students also.
How much could you potentially afford to pay to attend university?