Background: African American
Country: Nigeria and The United States (Maryland)
School Type: International School
IB Predicted Grades
Chemistry HL - 6
Biology HL - 5
English Lang&Lit HL - 6
Economics SL - 4
Spanish AB - 6
Math SL - 6
TOK - B
EE (Biology) - B
35
SAT I - M 630 READING AND WRITING 540 
IGCSE’s: Chemistry A*, Biology A, Maths A, English Second Language A, ICT A, French A, Physics B, Environmental Management B, Economics B
Extracurricular:
Attended a local primary school to provide help
School football
Major: Biochemistry
Choices
University of Maryland Baltimore County
University of Maryland College Park
UC San Diego
UC Santa Barbara
New York University
University of Southern California
University of Washington
Boston University
New York University
University of Texas at Austin
Fordham
University of Toronto
I redid the January SAT and feel ill get about 1250
Any advice/ tips?
Well, what’s your GPA? It’ll have to be up there to compensate for your weak SAT and very lackluster extracurriculars. At the moment, UMBC is your safest bet. Most of the rest I’ll hold off on until you provide your GPA.
But right now, I can tell you that UT Austin is probably not going to happen. It’s about as hard to get into from out-of-state as an Ivy. Take it off your list.
And do you need financial aid? If so, then the UCs and NYU are going to have to come off, too. They won’t give you much aid, if any, and your parents would have to pay $60,000 a year.
Assuming you get a 1250, I think you have a good chance of getting accepted to the University of Maryland schools, NYU, Toronto, and BU. Maybe USC as well. The UCs will not happen, and the others (mostly state schools) are reaches.
Chance me back: http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1958083-chance-african-american-male-for-stanford-columbia-penn-m-t-cornell-etc-ill-chance-you-back.html#latest
First off, colleges will most likely not give much importance to IGCSE grades. I mean sure, they’ll look at them for reference, but you have to remember that you sat those exams in 9th/10th grade, so try not to rely on those grades.
Im assuming you’re sitting your IB exams in May/November 2017? First off, congrats! The IB is really hard and a 35 predicted is not bad at all. Plus, most students get more points than they are predicted (I got 3 more points than what I was predicted). I would recommend that you work your hardest on HL’s, since most colleges recommend/require 6, 6, 6 or 7, 6, 6 in HLs.
In regards to your SAT scores, those should and can be improved. these are the average SAT scores of the colleges that you’ve applied to:
- UMBC: 1290
- U of Maryland College Park: 1370
- UC San Diego: 1350
- UC Santa Barbara: 1360
- NYU: 1410
- University of Southern California: 1450
- University of Washington: 1290
- Boston University: 1370
- University of Texas at Austin: 1330
- Fordham: 1330
Clearly, most of them are in-between 1300-1450, so I would recommend that you retake the SAT as many times as possible until you achieve a better score. In regards to how to study for it, I would recommend that you use the resources on Khan Academy’s website. I found their site really helpful, and they give you access to 6 (official) free SAT practice tests. (Ps: these are just the average scores. You can certainly get in with a lower score if you extracurriculars, grades, etc. really make you stand out)
If you can, I would suggest that you try to get some more extracurriculars on your list 
hopefully you still have time (e.g: more community service, maybe start a blog to help other IB students)
Good luck! If you have any questions please feel free to message me on here Im also an international student and a US citizen.
My high school doesn’t have a GPA (School in the UK) and my parents can afford $60k a year tuition. Are you sure I won’t get into the UCs because I’ve heard different people telling me otherwise since my IB predicted is higher than their average attainment UCSB (32) UCSD (33), BUs average is also below mine (34). How about USC (my first choice)
So you’re at a British curriculum school in the U.S.? You can convert your average percentage grades into GPA as follows:
4.0: 94-100%
3.7: 90-93%
3.3: 87-89%
3.0: 84-86%
2.7: 80-83%
etc., etc.
I do the IB instead of normal classes
Your below-1200 SAT already gives you a significant disasvantage at most of these schools. To be a competitive applicant for UCSD, NYU, USC, BU, UT, and Fordham, you should have AT LEAST a 1300-1400. UCSB and UW may also be a little difficult for you. Some of these schools require a higher GPA as well. Predicted grades for NYU and schools within a similar range are 38+.
Unfortunately, your grades and SATs are much lower than the top echelon of kids applying from British schools. On the positive side, you have a more diverse list of schools than the top British kids. I think that you have little chance of NYU or USC as you have lots of competition from UK kids there. You probably have a low shot at BU as well for the same reason. I think that you will get into the rest. I seem to recall from my son (who was accepted to some UCs last year) that the GSCEs and IB grades with UCs are more important than SATs and the national/IB exam grades do well in the UC GPA calculation.
I redid my SATs and feel I got a 1300, what do you feel my chances are with this score?
No one can chance you with a “I feel I got a 1300.” Come back when you get your actual score report.
I don’t know your SAT score so I’m basing this off of what your app looks like now but be sure to get really good SAT or ACT scores. Also your EC’s are very weak, I don’t know if that’s all of them but there needs to be alot more if you really wanted to standout in the application process. Not much info you gave us. Give us more info and anything you want us to know and I’ll try to re-chance you
UC San Diego - accept
UC Santa Barbara - accept
New York University - I hear they have thousands of international applicants so you have to be the best of the best - reject
University of Southern California - reject
University of Washington - accept
Boston University - accept
University of Texas at Austin - accept/ idk
Fordham - reject
Alright thank you, but what do you reckon I have to do to get into USC?
Well my parents can afford these unis so no financial aid is required, I am also and Under-represented Minority (African American). I have very good middle school grades and an Ib prediction (35). Assuming I get a 1300 in my SAT, what do you think my chances would be. My essays are said to be really good aswell
USC’s average admitted student SAT score is 2040-2270. On the new scale, this would be a 1380-1550. The 1380 is the 25th percentile, and the 1550 is the 75th percentile. You definitely want to be in or near the 75th percentile. A 1300 is too low.
Race, at a school like USC, IS NOT “the factor.” It is “a factor.” Race is also correlated with socioeconomic diversity, which is noted if you applied for financial aid or not. But since you made the 25th percentile, I’m sure that you are fine.