<p>Okay great, which APs? They really only care about scores in RELATED subjects. For studying Bio, this means Biology (obviously), Chemistry, Physics, Calc, Stats…that kind of thing. Basically, they won’t care if you took every AP History and got 5’s on all…you may not even recieve and interview unless at least some 5’s are in related subjects. </p>
<p>As for your E.C.'s, they won’t care about any except the breast cancer stuff and the research. When you’re writing your UCAS personal statement, this sort of thing should really be emphasized. Maybe mention your other EC’s if you’ve got extra space but don’t spend too much time. </p>
<p>Oh and impressionistic was quite mistaken. I know all 6 of the Americans who were admitted to Cam my year (I’m an international officer) and NONE had unconditional offers (even though I had 6 5’s and the rest had between 4-5). </p>
<p>Regarding being an EU member-no help, don’t even mention it. Tuition stuff is all based on where your family lived for the past 3 years and where taxes are paid (one my friends has dual citizenship and did years of school in the UK but doesn’t get any tuition breaks bc her dad pays taxes abroad). </p>
<p>One more thing-take a rigorous course load senior year. They really expect to see that. If your course load is too light, they get cranky (UK students have their hardest year right before Uni, that’s how they feel it should be). It also gives you more leeway when they give you a conditional offer (which you’ll probably get). I had to get two 5’s but was taking 5 AP’s so I had room for error. If you’re only taking 3 APs, it’s entirely possible they’ll ask for 5’s on all 3, making it a pretty hard task. Even if you have to work a bit harder senior year, I’d definitely recommend taking at least 4 AP’s (remember Econ counts for 2 if you haven’t taken that one yet!). </p>
<p>Ah sorry okay-actually last thing. Do you know what college you want to study at? I know the website says all sorts of things about the colleges all being quite similar, the pool system, yada yada yada. The truth of the matter is college choice can have a significant effect. Obviously colleges like Trintiy and Kings are more well known and, therefore, harder to get into (well this actually depends on what you’re studying but still). Check out the student room (UK version of college confidential kinda) or feel free to message me about what colleges are known for what. Also remeber you can only apply to one, Oxford OR Cambridge (for biology, definitely Cambridge is better, Oxford is arguably not even number 2 or 3).</p>