<p>Hey Enthusiast:]</p>
<p>I'm currently living in Canada so I understand the international thing.
However because I was raised in Cupertino California, which was 20 min away from Stanford, my father used to work for Harvard, and my great great grandfather went to Yale, I can sorta help, I hope!</p>
<p>All A's are AMAZING, because my school in Canada does not produce straight A students a lot and if they do, it's not like they were always committed since the first grade. However most kids who choose the schools you did, all did get straight A's and I must agree with the kids above, who commented, that if your SAT I's were higher, you'd definitely have a huge advantage.</p>
<p>Also you have a great great great, EC record but my question is, do you have any essays or published articles regarding your interest in classics? If they were published in any journals or media, you'll have another advantage. I know for sure, of the immense amount of Asians and Western Europeans who are admitted into the schools of your choice, your Serbian background will stand out. </p>
<p>I know some Russians and some Ukranians, but I've never heard of many Serbians. I saw in a post that you took French, so other than French and Serbian do you know any other languages? </p>
<p>Stanford, Yale, and Harvard really really like recommendation letters and some of my friends who were accepted got recommendation from their teachers who were alumni of those schools or individuals known to those schools. Are there any important people in Serbia who can back you up?</p>
<p>When I used to live in Cupertino, the kids around me used to finish high school a bit early and during their Junior and Senior years they take courses in college or other universities around the area. This way their profs could be a character witness during the admission process. Also when they see you challenging yourself during grade 11 and 12 in college courses, [it'd help if the courses were close to your desired undergraduate major] they will have a better knowledge and understanding of how you will fit in their universities. I know that your country may not have AP's or IB's so is there a chance you could take maybe a semester or a term in a community college or university? Maybe, even if they do not allow credit for seniors like you, you can audit. I'm not familiar with the education system in Serbia, but I know that lots of international students can not take courses in post secondary institutions. For example, in Vancouver right now, I'm not allowed to take college courses because I don't have a diploma and I'm not of age yet.</p>
<p>If you can't take the college level courses, what exact courses did you take in high school? The more variety the better.</p>
<p>Have you done any international work or volunteered in other regions of Europe?</p>
<p>If you do raise your SATs, keep up your straight A's, and find some important people to be your references, I don't think there should be a reason why you won't get excepted, and why they won't give you financial aid. Plus with all your awards and ranks, you'll definitely stand out.</p>
<p>I don't know if that was much help:] My dad's working right now so I can't really ask him much on Harvard but he has told me about the undergrads there before and they are a lot like you. They are mostly all top 5% rank and have worked for their respective national organizations:] I imagine Yale being pretty much the same.</p>
<p>But if you do get into all of your choices, you should come to Stanford, because the west coast is so much cooler:]</p>
<p>One last thing: In Vancouver we have a huge East European population [Russian, Croatians, Bosnians, Serbians, and Ukranians] and Serbians are the biggest. My friends are Serbian, my P.E. teacher was Serbian, I teach freshmen once a week and the funniest and liveliest kid in my class is Serbian. Without the Serbians, my school would not excel in academics or athletics [esp Basketball].</p>
<p>I'm not sure if this is right: Srećno!
You should be very proud of your accomplishments and I hope you get into all four schools:]
Good Luck!</p>