<p>Hello, I'm from Brazil, I'm 17 years old, I have already graduated from high school and have already taken one semester of engineering classes at FEI (a famous engineering university in Brazil) and here we don't mind about extracurricular activities and GPA because colleges here choose their students only by one test. So, all that matter is having a good score on the test. Now that I'm going to apply to american colleges I'm in trouble, I just noticed that I don't have extracurricular activities and also my GPA isn't the best. I just had chess, Judo and capoeira classes and have played soccer and basketball at school's team, but I don't have any documentation that proves what I've done, just my memories.
School has always been very easy for me, so I didn't give my best, my average grade is 7.7 out of 10. I'm very concerned about that. I consider myself very smart and standardized tests are not a big challenge for me, so I'm very confident I'm going to get good scores, but I know that good scores are not enough, so I'd like to know if there is anything I can do now that could help me at this point of my application that is the extracurricular activities and GPA. Also, my dad passed away in 2012, this affected my life a lot, I don't know if colleges consider it and I had some money issues too in the beginning of the high school, but it's my problem, I don't think I should tell them what happened. What do you think?</p>
<p>I would suggest you post this again in the International Students forum, as you are far more likely to get answers from people with knowledge relevant to your situation.</p>
<p>Will you need financial aid? If you do, it will complicate your situation, as most colleges in the US give little aid to internationals, and the ones that are most generous are often the most difficult to get in to. Based on your description of your academic record, I suspect you have little chance of acceptance to colleges that meet full need.</p>
<p>Another consideration…if you continue to study in Brazil, many colleges in the US will require that you apply as a transfer student instead of a freshman, and this will affect your chances of admission, as well as potential aid awards.</p>
<p>You will need to take US admissions tests (either the SAT or ACT) and possibly the TOEFL before you can apply to most US universities. Check deadlines, for many colleges, you are running out of time if you intend to apply for Fall 2015, as these are only offered on specific dates, and you must register in advance.</p>
<p>Thanks for your reply. I’m going to take TOEFL next month, SAT in November, SAT II math 2 in december and SAT II physics in January. I stopped the university this weekend in order to focus on the tests, so the only credits I’ve earned are the ones from the first semester. Some universities are not specific when they talk about freshman and transfer. Also, I don’t need financial support.</p>