<p>Hello, I am a junior studying in an international school while living with my dad. My mom and brother live in Korea, which is where I am from. Two years ago, I decided to move to where my dad live to study in an English school to go to American colleges that I really want to study in. However, there were many problems.</p>
<p>My sophomore year was fine; although I had to "repeat" my sophomore year due to lack of credits I had earned in Korea's high school, I made a decent amount of progress. This was my first English school, so I was enrolled in EAP: English as Academic Purpose or something I forgot the abbreviation. However, I managed to get out of EAP after being enrolled for an year, because I worked hard. My grades are:
English 10-C+ C+ (It was super hard for me)
Algebra 2- B B
History- B B-
Science- A A
Spanish- A A+
For my first year abroad, I think I did well.</p>
<p>But the problem is, my junior year was HELL.
Thanks to my dad, I almost got kicked out of this country for not having a legitimate visa, which only required a few documents from my dad. Besides that, I was sick the whole year, skipping a solid two week plus various days of school, not to mention that I barely had neither money nor food to eat. My dad is always busy, so I had to go out and buy food, but he wasn't a good financial source for me haha.</p>
<p>So my grades for my first IB year are:
English SL- C+ C+
Math SL- B B
French AB INITIO SL- A A
Econ HL- B B
Bio HL- B+ B+
Computer Sci Hl- B+ B+</p>
<p>My grades were dropped by at least a letter, because of the quizzes and exams I weren't prepared. I don't blame teachers or the school for this; I should've tried harder. Anyways, I feel that I have ruined my junior year, and don't have the chance to even set UCSB as my reach school. I really believe that repeating my junior year would improve the chances to enter UCSB, since I will get to improve my GPA, SAT scores, and even do some extracurricular activities that I really want to do. My current SAT score is 2100, and I'm going to take SAT subject tests for Biology and Math level 2, probably Korean if colleges like that. </p>
<p>But I'm also aware that colleges don't like grade repeaters, although I have a reason for that. If I really had a healthy life, my grades would have been like this:
English- B(I suck at English)
Math- A (My grade dropped from A- to B because I got Fs on two quizzes that I took the day after being sick)
Econ- B+ (It is hard, but I might get an A- too if I really try harder)
Bio- A (My grade was an A- until I also ruined a quiz by the same way how I ruined math)
Computer Science- A
French- A</p>
<p>So, should I?
I really want to go to UCSB or other schools like UCLA, USC, etc. I am a huge fan of California, because my Uncle was a professor of Stanford; I visited California when I was 6, and I just fell in love with that place. I want to successfully follow my uncle's legacy.</p>