<p>Hey guys, Im from Pakistan and Ive basically been trying the last few years to get a transcript good enough for Ivy Leagues(Harvard, Yale, Columbia especially) and Stanford University. Im still in my 2nd year of AS Level and have to sit my exams in a few months but I think I will get 4A* in my 4 subjects. I have a few months to add things to my extra curricular activities so your recommendations will be highly valuable. Thank you in advance</p>
<p>GCSE 7A*, 4A's
SAT score: 2210</p>
<p>Languages beside English:
I can speak Seraiki since it is my mother tongue(no idea if it counts in the admission process)
Urdu(A grade in my GCSE exam)
French(Did a year long course at a French institute here)</p>
<p>Extra-curricular:
Best delegate at 7 local and 1 international MUN
Chair of 3 committees
Won 6 local Parliamentary Style Debates
Volunteered at Child Rights Network Pakistan
Interned at South Asian Free Media Association
Part of a trip to France and Germany
School Debates Secretary(10th Grade)
Student Council President twice(My old school was only up till GCSE and I was President, now I am President in another school.)
Won the School Science Fair
Won 4 awards at Business Concept competitions
Commonwealth Essay commendation.
School soccer team captain. </p>
<p>I plan to study Law in the future and work in a Big Law.</p>
<p>Id also like to mention that my 2 schools were never very competitive and had a class of 20 students for each grade. I was however top of my class. Also, it has been hard to participate in extra-curricular activities abroad due to the financial situation in my country(I am part of the rich elite here but that is still nothing when paying for MUN’s) and the security situation in Pakistan has restricted our movement significantly inside the country for local events as well. Can I mention this in my college essay? </p>
<p>And for some weird reason I left out the fact that I wrote 3 articles as a freelance writer for the Sunday magazine of a national English newspaper.</p>
<p>Those are good scores, you will probably be considered academically qualified and not be eliminated in the first cut. Although, I don’t see anything suggesting you are an academic star or someone with a great hook from an ivy perspective. I would probably look at some top LACs in addition to the Ivies & Stanford. btw, There is a thread for Pakistan where you can compare stats with other applicants and find out the stats of students who were accepted and rejected from Pakistan last year. You may want to check it out too.</p>
<p>Hey, thanks for replying. My country doesn’t offer AP classes, I’ve heard that institutions don’t count the lack of AP if your country doesn’t have them. Cant I specify on my college application?</p>
<p>I looked up the equivalent of AP in my country and it seems the AS Level in my country and the UK(and all the other countries that take the GCSE’s) is equivalent to the AP.</p>
<p>Not really. A-levels are similar to AP’s because both can give your college credit. In the admissions process, however, AP are much more useful than A-levels. Although the colleges you’re aiming for admit international students, AP’s will count more than A-levels because adcoms are more familiar with AP’s. </p>
<p>I would strongly advise you to take AP exams for all the A-levels you plan to take. One of my cousins took both AP and A-levels (he lives in England and applied for US schools). He told me that AP’s are significantly easier and often have better curves. I haven’t taken any A-levels, but I have taken 14 AP exams and I personally thought they were quite easy and straightforward.</p>
<p>tl;dr - If you’re already studying for A-levels, taking a few AP exams shouldn’t be too difficult and will probably reward you when you apply to American colleges. Also, make sure you take at least two SAT Subjects (some top schools require them).</p>