<p>Hil, first of all, forgive me posting such a pointless thread here
i'll be just happy if u guys can help me find the right matches
i'm attending pretty-good public school in Maryland and my stats are-</p>
<p>9th grade - 2.9 (significantly low- i was attending the school in different country, i wasn't born in U.S.)</p>
<p>10th grade(came to US) - took only PE(physical Edu), Health, (*coudln't go to school for 6 months, therefore coudlnt receive any credits)</p>
<p>SAT I - 1410 (V:610 M:800)
New SAT- haven;t taken
SAT II - plannaing to take Math IIc, 1 science( physics or chemistry)</p>
<p>No EC's, absolutely Nothing.</p>
<p>There u can see very weird kid, but i had no choice. Can anyone possibly tell me matching schools for me? I'm really good at Math and Science so i'm pretty sure i'll get 700+ for SAT IIs.</p>
<p>What i'm considering- College Park or Above</p>
<p>What do you do in your free time (ie, when not in school)? Job? Hobbies? Let us know a little more about you besides academics. How have you been seeing your chances at College Park?</p>
<p>Ok, i hope introduing myself would help it clarified.
My parents moved to US about 1.5 years ago..(: but i couldn't go to school for 5 months because of some reason
I usually spend my time on studying (i'm very motivated in my academics)
However, i'm not in any clubs
I do some part-time jobs but not that much, and i'm planning to join one or two club
After all, i may have to help my parents financially</p>
<p>I'm thinking about Engineering( not sure specifically) , and i know my SAT(first time taken) is higher then the avg. of College Park
I'm expecting pretty good scores on SAT II's (Math IIc, 2scicences)</p>
<p>Should College park be my best choice?
Since i have no experience in these things, i know almost nothing about colleges..(i'm an immigrant)</p>
<p>everzinny - It looks like you have a pretty impressive profile. There are others on this board far more knowledgeable than I. Perhaps they'll post. In the meantime, I like collegehelp's suggestions. I would imagine(hope?) adcoms will discount/ignore your earliest GPAs because of where they come from,the situation you may have been in and the strength of the upward trend now that you are here. UMd, C Park, is also quite a good school. It has an Honors College, too.</p>
<p>How is the Guidance Dept at your HS? There are many excellent PHS in Md (eg, Montgomery County, but don't know if that's where you are). Have you spoken with a counselor? I think you would really benefit from one-on-one indepth discussion, if you can get it. Because, you are not "weird" but you have some very unique elements in your backgroun. Otherwise (or in addition), keep on posting here and gaining knowledge this way.</p>
<p>It would seem a good idea to become active in some club(s) which really interest you. Don't go scatter-shot. Focus on something you'd really like to pursue and get as involved as you are able. To me, your profile looks interesting even without the ECs, but why have to leave a "blank" on that portion of an application?</p>
<p>Because of your out-of-country 9th grade and limited classes during 10th, will you have all you need to graduate in the normal 4 years? And, maybe more important, all the "recommended" preparation of the schools you are targeting? You can find these recommended hs preparation guidelines on individual colleges websites. But again for your unique situation, I'm hoping you have access to a good GC at your school.</p>
<p>thx for ur concern, jmmom and others, too
my credits are just fine except that i was only able to have 2 foreign languages
i'm not sure if any good engineering schools require 3 more f/l ... but anyway,
i'm in howard county and i havent had any conferences because my SAT score just came out. Though my couselor is not that supportive( because of my GPA in 9th grade, i think he underestimates me..), you're absolutely right jmmom, i think i should talk to my counselor first of all...</p>
<p>I'm guessing me may be underestimating you, too.<br>
everzinny - you may want to post on the Parent Forum. There are some really knowledgeable folks there and I hope you would get some great guidance there.</p>
<p>No ec's is not helpful....unless you are working ALOT (and I mean not just school work) there is really no excuse not to do something else besides homework, it will ook like you aren't capable of doing more than just school work and most colleges like to see that their students will be involved in something at their school besides just studying</p>
<p>And you are thinking about joining clubs? why not just do it? I know it sounds harsh, but its pretty competitive out there and good grades and tests aren't enough anymore...</p>
<p>Doing paid employment of any kind is impressive, particularly if you must do it to help with your family finances. Certainly include details about your parttime jobs on your college applications.</p>
<p>Similarly, if you have other duties related to your family such as having to watch siblings while your parents work, you should include that on your application, too.</p>
<p>If also you had to devote lots of extra time to academics because of having to catch up on language skills or on academics due to coming from abroad, state that in your application and also have your guidance counselor include this info in the GC's report. Colleges understand that your first priority was to academics.</p>
<p>If you are interested in a liberal arts college, also consider Grinnell, which is excellent.</p>
<p>Do check the financial aid pages of colleges you're applying to to make sure that they provide aid to foreign students, if you need financial aid.</p>
<p>Colleges do not want to disadvantage students who because of family circumstances lack the time to participate in clubs and other extracurriculars.</p>
<p>Both your scores and grades are well above average.</p>