Help!

<p>I'm an international student from South Africa. There are no counselors in my school, so what should I do?
The schools here also work very differently from those in the US. In our system, our scores actually appear much lower than the scores I would get when I was in China, while the standard of the work is actually the same. I'm afraid that would hurt my GPAs if I have to calculate mine.
The courses we take are also different. We have no APs or honours here and we don't do calculus in maths. There is also a compulsory subject called life orientation, which I consider totally useless. Would these affect my application?
And one more thing, I don't really have any leadership positions except being the leader or concertmaster of my school's orchestra. But I've won a lot of awards in music, art, science and maths, and I participate in lots of activities, including Amnesty International and all sorts of volunteer work. Will these make up for my lack of leadership positions or do US universities prefer leaders?
Thank you!</p>

<p>no I think you ll be fine, you still have a descent shot depending on your SAT score and the college you`re targeting. you have to be aware that the admission committee is aware that like nowhere, the us high school system is a way promoting the self involvement. and thus, if your ECs are not so leader-related, it is OK, there are still ECs. Also for your GPA, I think the best way is to just mention the correspondence between your way of grading and the us way. Describe all your course without leaving any detail that could harm you or cause a misconception.</p>

<p>Hey there,
I read somewhere that if your school doesn't have a counsellor, you could get your headmaster/mistress to do the job..
Well, I think most universities require you to sit for your SATS and perhaps they would judge you based on your SAT scores. Howver I'm sure they have a way to convert them fairly.. They are the pros in this field after all XD
We don't have AP/Honours here either. I think its okay if you do relatively well in your high school. They cant blame you for your school not having AP/Honours classes, can they?
Its great you join a lot of activities and stuff but I'm not very sure whether they have a preference for leadership activities. I mean its brilliant to have leadership positions but if you dont and you make up for it, I doubt it would jeopardize your chances..
Good luck ;D</p>

<p>Hey thanks guys. It sounds really comforting.</p>