Chances

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I was wondering what were my chances to get into a top college, Im an international student from Ecuador, im coursing my penultimate year of high school, so I have like a year left to applicate somewhere, I would like some guidance from you to focus on what to do in order to get into a top one like Columbia or Yale.
A list of my high school achievements: (In Ecuador, high school is considered since 6th grade, so I will mention the years by order)

  1. -Member of the student council as class mayor (first year of high school)
    -Highest GPA out of 120 students - 6th out of 800 (school whole)
    -Member of the swimming school team as captain
    -Social work in a nursing home

  2. -Member of the student council as class mayor(second year of high school)
    -Highest GPA out of 120 students- 7th out of 800
    -Member of the swimming school team as captain
    -Social work in a nursing home

3)-The same as the second year.

4)-Member of the student council as class mayor (fourth year of high school)
-Highest out of 120- 5th out of 800
-Member of the student council as a government delegate (school government’s third in command)
-Member of soccer team
-Social work for illiterate children

  1. (currently)
    -Member of the student council as class mayor (fifth consecutive year)
    -Highest GPA out of 120- 6th out of 800
    -Member of the student council as government delegate (school government’s third in command second consecutive year)
    -Member of soccer team
    -Social work for illiterate children and for catholic church aid systems
    -Founder of the first school’s leadership group and debate club
    -UN model

  2. I hope to mantain my student council position, as well as my GPA, (well, in Ecuador we are graded by 10, my average score over the years has been of 9.87/10. I think it could be a 4.00 GPA for usa, Im not sure)
    Im working in order to become school president
    I think I will become valedictorian since I have the best grades

I havent taken the SATs yet, however I have tested myself with test preps and I think Im getting a score of 1750… I find it VERY difficult since I have never had a good English basis.

I hope you people can help me with some advice or giving me an opinion by reviewing my story wether if I can get into a top college or not, thank you very very much.

2

You need to aim for an SAT of 2200+ for any chance at a “top” university. How much can you and your family afford? Which schools are you targeting? Top schools can mean top 20, top 50 or top 100? You need to define what schools.
Your EC’s have leadership but generic, nothing stands out and this is what you need as an International applicant, something unique and impressive.

Difficult to give any advice unless you give some guidelines in what your are looking for in a school.

3

Yeah agree with the above poster. Your score is above 450 points away from being at the minimum to be competitive for schools like Columbia and Yale. URM will help, but right now you are not really on track for anything within the top 40 at least with that SAT score.

4

I meant Yale or Columbia, the problem with the SATs is that I have no basis in good english so its very difficult for me, you say they wont understand and wont look at my folder unless I get a 2200+? @Gumbymom @jarrett211

5

If your English isn’t very strong, then attending one of the country’s top schools might not be the best choice for you. Most students at such colleges will be among the best in their high school-and they’ll be native anglophones. Are you going to be able to handle the extremely rigorous curriculum, 90% of it in English (the remainder being foreign languages), that you’ll face at these universities?

In many systems-including most UK and European schools-the importance of courses unrelated to your major isn’t all that great. The US and Canada are different; even if you’re a STEM major, you’ll need to take several years’ worth of courses in literature, the social sciences, languages, and so forth, and your writing will be crucial to succeeding in these classes.

If you struggle with English to the tune of a 1750 on the SAT, you may want to consider colleges where courses are taught in Spanish. You can try to improve your level of English over the summer and after starting college, but if you find yourself struggling with the local language as a college freshman then one of the most fiercely competitive universities in the world is not a good place to be experiencing such difficulties.