<p>I think you are very lucky, because you can go to Oxbridge, which are even more prestigious than HYPS.</p>
<p>Wait, I'm confused. Three days ago, you said you were going to join the rugby team this summer, but now, you're already captain of the rugby team! That's quite a steep climb! Good job!</p>
<p>Nick - You have amazing optimism. I like it. Seriously, we need more people like you and less people who are so skeptical of everything (liberalism is much more satisfying than realism, imho). Go for it. I do, however, have some advice.
1. Work your butt off. Seriously. I'm in the IB program too... it is a lot of work. If you get 40+ in the IB, with even just a few EC's, you are pretty much guaranteed admission into a lot of top schools. Oxford asks for 39, btw.
2. Find extracurriculars that you love. Tutor kids, <em>start</em> a club, do lots of volunteering in your free time.
3. I've noticed people have been telling you to look for some "safeties" yet they have not given you any satisfactory responses. Here is one. The UK and US are not the be all end all in top universities. I'm Canadian... and there are some great schools here that will give you just as good an education, with the same recognition you would get elsewhere. U of Toronto, McGill (which is an amazing school in a beautiful city), UBC, Queen's, etc... are all great. So they might be "easier" to get into... but that is because they are public (funded by the governments - hooray for acessible education). Also, focus on grad school... a lot can happen in between now and then.
4. Have FUN. Passion for life will make you happier and more successful than any Ivy League school ever will.</p>
<p>Thanks cowgirlatheart! its morning here and thats some quite encouraging words to wake up to.
and funkyspoon yeah i asked about the rugby team and if i could join i went to a practice and they said ok you can join. then i asked about the captain position, which is free and they said if i perform well or show leadership or whatever i can be the captain.
ok so im not captain yet lol, but if i do that i can be. so theres a new possibility! i can be captain in like a month, i think. maybe.
anyway to the guy who said i have envy and/or hate for those who work hard, that again is not at all true. the way i feel is that people who work too hard and dont do anything else (i know a few) can not only miss out on life, but be damaged psychologically later on in life, or at the very least have serious self-esteem or social problems.
just look at michael jackson. ok that might be an extreme example but you get my point.</p>
<p>knowing how to interact socially is just as important in a job than having good academic skills... Especially in law.
so my plan from now on is to revise 3-4hrs a night including homework, and the only night i dont work is friday when ill go out, drink a few pints and blow off a little steam (legal drinking age in Sw is 16). and some parties.</p>
<p>anyway bye, gotta do my essay, thanks for all the help everyone.!</p>
<p>please dont expect the ivy league, you will not make it, but will a new outlook, and a better study regiemn you can make it to plenty of great schools.</p>
<p>I disagre HYP. I believe that Nick has a shot at the Ivies and other mega-selective schools like Chicago and Johns Hopkins, but he has to get serious and he has to be realistic (expect rejection). </p>
<p>Nick, one thing you may want to consider is to wait until you graduate to apply to university. You are, afterall, only 16 years old. You will finish school one year ahead of most. Study you hardest, dinish this year and next year with the best grades you can get. Use your last year of high school (next year) to focus on and do well in the A Level, IBs or APs or whatever. And then , use the year off to study for your SAT and SAT II (and do as well as you can in them) and to apply to realistic schools.</p>
<p>I actually could graduate next year but I want to continue high-school until 13th grade, so next year will be my before-last. 13th grade is the year ill have all my IB exams... 12th grade however is the most hectic, apparently.
So I still have two years before me.</p>
<p>Anyway wow Romeo and Juliet is hard to analyse, so much stuff to say (doing an essay)</p>
<p>I love you all, thanks for the tips</p>
<p>In that case Nick, if you can start getting those As, you have a shot at any university in the US or the UK. But like we have all been telling you, spend less time dreaming and posting here...and more time hitting the books and boosting those leadership skills with ECs.</p>
<p>nick: no, I didn't have straight As at GCSE - or at AS level either, which makes it even more surprising that I got accepted! My GCSE grades were 4A*s, 7As and 2Bs, which is either average or slightly below average for Oxford. My AS grades were AAAB, which is definitely mediocre. I got AAA for A-level. </p>
<p>I didn't actually work that hard at school, hence the B grades. After my interview, when I got my conditional offer, I pulled out all the stops and literally did nothing except revise for about 4 months. Luckily it paid off, but the work load was a MASSIVE shock when I first got here - especially since I had a gap year, and hadn't written an essay in months!!</p>
<p>If he still has two and a half year to go, then yes, he could probably work hard enough and have a shot. Get a hook, Nick, it will help you stand out, which is needed with any applicant, mush more so for an international.</p>
<p>Thank you all very much for your help.
I'm off t study though now, because I've finally realised all the time I spend talking about studying and increasing my chances should be used to actually do those things!
Anyway thanks a bunch, you've been v helpful!
I'm off</p>
<p>Nick... I may sound blunt, but unless you're a super genius or have worked pretty hard through out highschool(and most of middle school) don't expect to go to a super prestigious college. </p>
<p>You seem to bash people who get good grades or have awesome ECs, most people that I know who are excellent like that have a good social life. Its true that they work hard, but that doesn't mean they don't do anything else. I know of maybe one person who is a bookworm who studies like 24/7, but he is definitely the exception, not the norm.</p>