<p>I need advice as to what good schools I should look into applying. My situation is a bit complicated so let me explain.</p>
<p>I am a female native of Brazil and I graduated HS in the US in 2009. For My Freshman and 1st semester of Sophomore year I went to a public HS and took many Honors classes, made A's/B's, Honors society, FBLA Secretary, JV Basketball/Volleyball. I taught myself to play the guitar. I speak English/Portuguese fluently and I'm proficient in Intermediate Spanish.</p>
<p>My family moved to another state after the first semester of my Sophomore year and I decided to be homeschooled. I went to a tutorial once a week and was tutored in my classes and also took a supplemental math tutoring once a week. The highest math I took was Algebra 2 and my tutorials did not offer Honors/AP classes. I graduated with a 3.5 GPA and have a composite score of 30 on the ACT.</p>
<p>Our senior class was in charge of coming up with a couple of programs to get younger students more involved with the tutorial. I also volunteered a couple of hours at Habitat for Humanity and homeless shelter my Junior year and at a local library/ fire station my Freshman and Sophomore year. My volunteering wasnt anything extensive.</p>
<p>During the last semester of my senior year (09) I had some big problems with US immigration. The whole thing has been absolutely ridiculous and because of it I was not able to apply to college after graduating. Now things have been sorted out and I am a legal resident. During these 1 1/2 years I havent been involved in anything because of lack of transportation (couldnt drive) besides some online projects.</p>
<p>My dream school is UChicago but looking at my stats it feels like a long reach for me. I'm thinking about applying to NYU, John Hopkins, Emory and University of Washington.</p>
<p>Some of my "likely" schools are Belmont University, UCSD, UCSB. Ideally I want a school that is in an urban area or close to it.</p>
<p>An alternative I've thought about is going to Belmont University and keeping my GPA high then transferring out to another university like NYU or UChicago. Any thoughts on this?</p>
<p>Should I take the ACT again after 1 1/2 years and try for a higher score? Do you have any recommendations as to what schools I should apply? Do you think that this 1 1/2 year gap will hurt me when applying?</p>
<p>Thanks for reading my post. Also, any general advice will be appreciated.</p>