<p>Hey. I'm from the UK and in Y12 (Junior year) and looking to apply to US colleges. I'm taking my SAT1 in June and doing my SAT2s and applying next autumn. I was just researching some colleges (Ivies and others) and I found that for a lot of them there are recommended high school courses applicants should have taken for the last four years of high school (something like 4 years english, 3 years maths, 3 years lab-science, 3 years social science, 3 years foreign language).
I don't meet these requirements (they mostly said 'recomendations' but I think they're fairly compulsary). For AS I took Psych, Phil, Eng. Lit, Gov/Pol and History and I'm dropping one or two next year. If I'd known about high school course requirements I'd have varied my subjects a bit, but I didn't know to. I got A/A*s in English, Maths and Sciences for GCSE but I didn't take a language at GCSE - this is what I'm most concerned about. I did do French from Y7 to Y9 and German in Y8 and 9, plus I took an intermediate-french night-class this year (40 hours total in the class), but that bit wouldn't be on my high school transcript as far as I know.
Just wondering if anyone who has applied or got into a US college from another country has had any problems due to not meeting such recommendations/requirements?
Thanks.</p>
<p>I believe UK applicants can use GCSE’s to satisfy American HS requirements. In fact, the standard HS curriculum in the US does not go beyond the GCSE level; A-Levels or anything taken beyond GCSE probably will be counted as AP courses in the US and might even give you university credit.</p>
<p>okay, thanks. do you think the lack of french will be a big problem? I don’t have any language GCSEs or A/AS-Levels.</p>
<p>If you read the college/university website very carefully, you will notice that certain courses are “recommended” or “expected”. The word “required” is used only rarely. That is because the admissions offices know that students in other countries (and even in different parts of the US) have to meet a different set of requirements in order to complete their secondary school studies. </p>
<p>Don’t worry if you don’t look like a US student on paper. You aren’t a US student! You are an international student. Trust the admissions officers to be able to interpret your secondary school record. They do this all the time.</p>
<p>Thankyou, happymomof1 (and bruno123 too) - you’ve made me feel a lot better about this. I appreciate it.</p>