Hi, I’m from Myanmar. I go to an private international school here and I’ll be taking a gap year to “STRENGTHEN my resume” as I couldn’t do much during high school.
Soo 1/ should I found a community service here*
2/ or startup a social impact business*
3/ please give me more options ANY and all that comes to you or has worked successfully before.
*My country’s an MEDC so Im guessing it will be very hard to make them or even one of them happen.
AND all in June-july so I can put them on my resume when I apply in November or maybe even sooner (?)
I would choose one but I don’t know how to really do either one or knows the process but I’m trying it out either way.
Also, my dream schools are Pomona college, Babson for now.
I’ll be applying ED for one of them (if you suggest otherwise such as applying for a more match school, please feel free to discuss here 
And bc my school’s had to recruit a new precalc teacher after the old one boycotted the school and left TWO weeks (a total of five classes bc we have odd and even schedules) before the grades had to be given in and gave me two consecutive tests and a D at that, my semester grade really brought my gpa down. Since I only stayed here at this new school (I did IGCSEs for my freshman and sophomore year) for my last two years, nothing really brought my gpa up significantly.
So what can I do to show colleges that this GPA is nowhere near to representing my academics… and what should my gap year project be?
work
@wendymyat , rather that trying to “impress” a college, since you are planning a GAP year, my suggestion would be to look deeply inside and determine what moves you the most and/or brings you joy. THEN, try to find work or volunteer opportunities based upon something that is meaningful. It will make your GAP year more enjoyable and with be more authentic on your application. Presumably, if you do something that fits with who YOU are, it will make writing the essays on your application a bit easier. Also, if you tanked PreCalc (not the end of the world by any means), I would highly recommend studying for the SATs and SAT subject tests (like with Khan Academy for free) so that you might take those tests and be able to assert --via very high test scores–that you now know the material and have overcome the obstacles you faced in school. My two cents. Best of luck!!!
hey we have a subreddit for international student applying to the us. I am from myanmar as well.
@CallieMom thank you so much for your input! yes I’ll try to make for the bad gpa with the test scores and thank you again for helping me narrow down some of the stuff on my gap year list. Your response has been extremely helpful!
I took a gap year (coming to the end of it) and am going to Vanderbilt in the fall. I agree with @calliemom in that you have to pursue your passions and really go all in with them, that will impress admissions way more then doing what you think will impress them. Personally, I volunteered 20+ hours a week with a social services organization I am very passionate about and self-started a successful blog and I believe these two things really were a testament to the work I did in my gap year and my potential for success as a student. … let me know if you have any questions!
are you not gonna do A levels?
no 