Chance an anxious international student for top schools?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hello overachieving populace! :D</p>

<p>I'm a Canadian female just finishing up 10th grade, with hopes of going to an American university. film production, minoring in writing or psychology. My talents and interests are definetly in the humanities, although I like biology.</p>

<p>Before I post my stats, I think it's important to know that I have some big struggles. First of all, I suffer from depression and severe anxiety, and I am a huge perfectionist. The anxiety mainly manifests in obsessive behavior and poor test performance. On top of this, I am dealing with the recent and very sudden separation of my parents, due to my father coming out as gay. Yeah, tons of fun.</p>

<p>Anywho, here we go...</p>

<p>SCHOOLS
Chapman; USC; UCLA; CalArts; several Ivy's, most likely Harvard, Yale and/or Brown (well, a girl can dream...) I'm mostly interested in California, although I would like to try my luck at the ivies, because you never know! I will apply to three or four Canadian safeties as well (probably UofT, Queens, Laurier and York).</p>

<p>S T A T S
I'm a female and caucasian.
I go to a very competitive private prep school in Ontario, Canada. It sends a couple kids a year to the US and basically everyone has an 85%+ average. If you go here, you have smarts, money or are artistically/athletically talented (often a combination or even all three).
I have no idea how much my parents make (since they own a business, it fluctuates), but we're Upper-Middle Class and my parents pay $60,000+ to send my two sisters and I to private schools...</p>

<p>GRADES
Grade 9
*Canadian History - 96% [A+]
*English - 95% [A+]
*Careers (online) - 97% [A+]
*French - 87% [A]
*Math - 88% [A]
*Science - 88% [A]
*Gym - 90% [A+]
*Drama - 92% [A+]
*Japanese - 97% [A+]
*Tech - 94% [A+]
Overall: 92.6% [A+]</p>

<p>Grade 10 (most do not include exams or summatives)
*English - 89% [A], 92% [A+] w/ summative essay
*Math - 78% [B+]; post-exam - 81% <a href="text%20anxiety%20has%20killed%20me">A-</a>
*Science -85% [A]; post-exam - 88% <a href="same%20as%20above">A</a>
*Geography - 91%, post-exam - 94% [A+]
*Civics (online) - 98% [A+]
*Japanese - 97% [A+]
*ComSci - 94% [A+]
*Tech - 95% [A+]
*History - 95% [A+]
Overall: at least 91%, should go up to 92-93% [A+]</p>

<p>PSAT: 182
I hadn't yet learned many of the things covered in the math section, so I'm okay with it. </p>

<p>ECs
*Dance <a href="11%20years">Ballet, Pointe, Tap, Jazz, Lyrical</a>
*Varsity Rugby <a href="2%20years">MPV, probably captain for grades 11-12</a>
*U16 Basketball (1 year)
*Model UN (1 year)
*Me 2 We (1 year)
*Glassco Foundation <a href="1%20year">steering commitee for grades 11-12</a>
*Reach for the Top! <a href="1%20year">trivia, haha. Possibly captain in grade 12</a>
*Arts Camp <a href="6%20years">taken 2 week long programs in film, theatre, dance and clown</a>
*Summer Camp <a href="11%20years">will complete two month long leadership programs, 2 years on staff</a>
*I have my Bronze Medallion and Bronze Cross for swimming
*Writing; have participated in National Novel Writing Month twice, written many poems, short stories, one novel, working on a second.</p>

<p>G O A L S
GRADE 11
*Intro to Anthropology, Psychology, Sociology - 98%+
*AP Psychology (online) - 95%
*Pre-AP Biology - 94%
*English - 98%
*History - 98%
*Functions - 92%
*Tech - 100%
*Japanese - 98%
Overall - 96.7% </p>

<p>GRADE 12
*AP English - 98%
*AP Biology - 95%
*AP World History - 98%
*AP Economics - 92%
*Tech (Yearbook) - 100%
*Philosophy - 100%
*World Issues - 98%+
*Advanced Functions - 94%
Overall - 97%+ (upward trend!)</p>

<p>SAT I Scores
SAT I Math: 650+
SAT I Critical Reading: 750+
SAT I Writing: 700+
Overall: 2100+
I'm confident I'll get a good score; I get great scores on the practice tests (above 2000) and I'm going to study more this summer. If I'm calm enough, I'm sure I could get to 2300+.</p>

<p>SAT II Scores
SAT II Literature: 750+
SAT II World History: 750+</p>

<p>AP Scores:
World History: 5
Literature: 5
Psychology: 5
Biology: 4-5
Macro/microeconomics: 4</p>

<p>Essays - I would like to write something about overcoming mental illness, or about my father. Would these be too controversial? </p>

<p>I apologize in advance for the length! I'd really like to know whether or not I am on the right track, so please help me out! You can be brutal if you'd like, as long as I get some feedback. The nervousness is already eating me alive, and I'm still over a year away!</p>

2

<p>9th and 10th grade schedules seem kind of weak. Also, you should really look into majoring in something that makes you enough money to buy some food every now and then.</p>

3

<p>Wow, your school has very strange grade values. Usually it goes like A+ = 98-100, A = 93-97, A- = 90-92.</p>

<p>If your school sends in your grades with their peculiar grading scale, then you should be finefor your GPA. If not, and they send in your grades with a conventional of grading scale, then your GPA may be a problem (if they use the standard grading scale, you would have a 3.6 GPA, which is fairly low). I’m actually quite ignorant of your condition, so I cannot say much more for sure. </p>

<p>I am going to be blunt: your current EC’s are weak for the ivies.</p>

4

<p>Thank you for replying so quickly!</p>

<p>@MoveItLikeBernie
My schedule couldn’t really be any different. All of my courses were required, as were half of my tenth grade courses. I’m not 100% sure, but I think Ontario schools are all this way as well. The curriculum is much more standardized and you don’t get much choice at all for Grade 9 and 10. And don’t even think about AP’s at my school before grade 12 unless it’s online or self-studied, haha.
Ah, yes. We all dream of Oscars, but really we all end up penniless, starving artists. Oh well, at least I’ll be happy! I’m likely to do a ton of writing on the side and maybe even some freelance journalism to make extra cash. Don’t want to be stuck eating kraft dinner!</p>

<p>@dystopiclife
In Ontario, grades are…deflated, I guess, in comparison to American grades. Basically, it’s harder to get 90’s (especially at a private school). Here’s what the scale looks like:
90-100% - A+
85-89% - A
80-84% - A-
70-79% - B
60-69% - C
50-59% - D
0-49% - F</p>

<p>I think I have more like a 3.8 or something in terms of GPA, but I really have no idea.
And my EC’s are fairly basic, I know. Even at a good school in Canada, it can be hard to find prestigious awards and such to work towards. I’m hoping to publish some writing in the next couple of years, so hopefully that will help a bit. The Ivies aren’t everything to me though, so not getting in won’t ruin my life. I’m applying more to see what happens, and I have no real expectations. I’m mostly interested in the California schools, specifically Chapman and USC.</p>

5

<p>bumpity bump</p>

<p>What about my chances for film at Chapman and USC, assuming my arts supplement is good?</p>

6

<p>Your grades won’t mean anything to any of the US schools. Very few Canadian schools rank, so your grades are meaningless. Just make sure your on the commonApp, your counselor checks that you are at least in the top 10%. And get the SAT up. Canada is probably one of the most competitive places to apply from. Get a 2300+ and 780+ on subject tests (or get recruited.) Most kids with great stats get rejected (ivies) simply for being international.</p>

<p>I would say if you get 2100+, your chances at USC and UCLA are a match. Ivies are a high reach for every international without a significant hook. I can’t speak for the two other colleges.</p>

<p>And it does help a lot if you go to a prestigious feeder school. Going to UTS or Appleby,etc. will really help you.</p>

7

<p>I know what you mean when you say there’s like no awards for Canadians (I’m from Vancouver). I just finished Grade 9 but I’ll be taking all Grade 11 and 12 courses next year so I’m pretty much in your position. What you want to do is get more provincial, regional, and if possible national recognition. Ivies don’t care if you did dance, but what they are looking for is the “Prestigious National Competition of Blahblahblah” if you know what I mean. Make sure you join some clubs or even better start one. Also, spend your summers well! Do an internship or teach younger kids dance. </p>

<p>About your essays, I think that would be to controversial because the reality is many people are homophobic so you wouldn’t want to jeopardize your app because there was some old-fashioned person who disagreed with your essay. </p>

<p>About your grades, I think maybe you’re being a little unrealistic. Also it’s strange that your school sends so few kids to the US… my school is easy as hell to get into but we have a couple ivy kids a year and 1/4 of the class goes to the states or the UK.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

8

<p>First of all, thank you for the help, I’m feeling better now.</p>

<p>@arghwhy</p>

<p>Ugh I know what you mean about the grades. The reason I need my grades so high is to be in the top 10%, as grades at my school are pretty competitive.
The school I go to, Hillfield Strathallan, is in Hamilton so we’re a bit removed from the Toronto schools. As a matter of fact, Appleby is our rival school (and we tend to beat them at most things, haha). The school is definitely at that level, especially considering all of the big building projects we have going on (I’ll be in a brand new, state-of-the-art building for the next two years :D). Getting into the school involves writing a fairly extensive application (short answer questions, essay, the usual) and taking exams for English and Math. I don’t know if it makes any difference, but I was actually accepted a month early because they “didn’t want to lose me”. I was surprised to say the least, because my math exam was horrendous! It must have been the English portion…</p>

<p>Anywho, I tend to be good at the SAT-style questions, and I’m studying hard, so I should do alright on it. I`m going to take them twice; in the spring of Grade 11 and fall of Grade 12. I might also take them earlier on in Grade 11, just to test things out a bit. I’m aiming to get over 2200.

@ReesesPieces

Thanks for the tip on the essay, I thought the exact same thing. I would never do an essay like that for the Ivies, USC, or UCLA, but I could maybe get way with something subtle for the smaller schools. I`ll have to think about it. </p>

<p>The awards thing is incredibly annoying, especially considering that most awards are for math and science. I`m going to write a lot in the summer, and I’m hoping to enter plenty of provincial and national level writing contests over the next couple of years. I am also considering trying to get some of my work published, be it an actual book, in a magazine, ect. </p>

<p>My rugby team just won our division, which I guess can count for something, especially if it happens again when/if I am captain. I’m also trying out for competitive jazz and tap, and if I get in I will be on a really good team, and will have plenty of chances at awards. </p>

<p>My summers are filled up with camp, and have been for the past 11 years. One of my camps is art focused, which has given me tons of experience. We take one program for two weeks that is 5 hours a day, plus two hour workshops in the afternoons. I have had plenty of experience in film, theatre and dance, and our instructors are all in the fields that they teach. My parents own my other summer camp, and I’ve been super committed to it my whole life. I’ve helped a lot behind the scenes as well, volunteering and the like. Next summer, I am hoping to go California for a couple weeks of film camp at one of the universities I like. </p>

<p>I think I can realistically get 94%+ in the next two years. This year I was not myself at all, and it’s pretty hard to commit to school when you are dealing with so much, especially the suicidal thoughts. As I feel better, my drive to succeed is returning, which is encouraging. If I am happy and develop better study skills, my marks will be there. I just need to stop basing all of my self worth on marks, because then I’ll be a million times less stressed out! </p>

<p>Yeah, the number of kids that go to the US really fluctuates. I’m not sure how many are going to Ivies and the like in total this year, but I know one girl is going to John Hopkins, and I know that maybe 20 out of 60 kids applied to the US. The reality is, it’s just cheaper to stay in Canada, and plenty of kids have no reason to go far away. We do always have some Ivy-bound kids every year though, and a few others that go to other American schools. I’d say maybe 5-8 kids in total. </p>

<p>Ultimately, I want to emphasize my passions for art, particularly film and writing. I also love history and psychology. If I end up in California, I will do film and writing for sure, but if, by some miracle, I end up at an Ivy, I will probably do history, psych or writing. I want to keep my options open, just in case I decide to do something a bit more stable in the future.</p>

9

<p>Your best chance would be to keep up your academics and get recruited for a sport. (this really really really really really helps)</p>

10

<p>The only sport I play is rugby, and I am too small and not talented enough to play it at a higher level. And I’m pretty sure it isn’t an option anyways. </p>

<p>What would be an ideal average to maintain? Will universities see all of my grades, my overall average, or something else entirely?</p>

11

<p>^depends how your school handles it. Most likely all grades from grade 9.</p>

12

<p>Okay. I’m really concerned about the 78% in math, it is considered a B+ at my school, and my exam may bump it up another 3 percent, but I am still concerned that that will be frowned upon by admissions…ugh.</p>

<p>Anywho, I’ll leave my grades up to fate (and plenty of studying!). Subjectively, I really want to make my EC’s stand out. Keeping in mind that I am humanities/arts-focused, what would be my best bet? Should I attempt to enter some provincial/national contests for writing or art?</p>