Bad grades but good ECs? What are my chances?

<p>Hi, I am an international student and I want to apply to an American university.</p>

<p>I'm going into my Junior year.</p>

<p>We don't have GPA, but averages for school instead. I haven't been trying/working hard, and have gotten poor averages:</p>

<p>Grade 9: 78 avg
Grade 10: 80 avg</p>

<p>My school did a practice SAT test, and without studying I got 1990. I didn't do the actual SAT yet.</p>

<p>ECs:
-Internship as a columnist writer for a provincial wide newspaper, and I got another internship this year to write for the political section for my city's newspaper</p>

<p>-Going to publish a non fiction book I've been working on for two years</p>

<p>-I'm in a research program for the top university in my country, I'm assisting a professor in his research and this year I'm given the chance to do my own research. I'll be writing papers and finding a publisher</p>

<p>-I represent a section of my neighbourhood and voice the opinion of over 50 thousand people, I work with city councillor to speak about any concerns in my neighbourhood</p>

<p>-I was elected to be on a school board council (basically the council that oversees all the student councils in my province) for over 250,000 students</p>

<p>-I founded my own non-profit organization (not a school club, I got my license to own it). By January, it is expected to raise $20,000</p>

<p>These are just some of the more important extracurriculars I am involved in. I do smaller things such as president of 3 clubs at school, tutor for 4 years, on the varsity team for 3 sports, etc.</p>

<p>I'm going to focus a lot of time on studying this year, and I can get a 90-95 average no problem, and also improve on my extracurricular activities. But would it be too late to start working hard to improve on my grades now? Should I just stay in my country?</p>

<p>Also, what colleges do you think would be in my reach/I have a chance to get accepted into?</p>

<p>Thank you!</p>

<p>I want to go into either finances or political sciences, I’m not quite sure yet.</p>