Hello I’m a student currently enrolled at a small international school in the Philippines. The school gets many acceptances to universities in the United States (notable acceptances for class of 2015: Berkeley,USC, UCLA, UMich, Emory). I’m both an american citizen and a Philippines citizen, and my Unweighted GPA at the school is very high (4.0), however my SAT scored are around an 1850. I’m still a sophomore (Junior in August) so I’m aware that I have quite a bit of time to improve the scores and have just started “studying” for the tests. I hope to apply to top public and private schools (like some of the ones listed above). So I was just wondering how important my SAT scores are; is it more important to admissions officers than my GPA since I’m an international school student? Also since I come from a more “interesting” background than most American high schools students (grew up overseas; Taiwan and the Philippines) will that work to my advantage or will it be a disadvantage? Will they be more likely to accept me because of cultural differences and a unique background? Overall I just want to find out what universities think of American citizens that grew up overseas and graduate from International schools. Any help would be appreciated
Thanks!
If a particular college places importance on SAT scores, then it will apply to you as well. International students get no leeway on SAT scores simply by being international.
For many colleges, being an Asian male will be a disadvantage for any applicant, not just international ones.
The most selective schools will absolutely expect high SAT scores, even from internationals.
Hello, thanks for your responses. From what I know GPA is marginally (depends though) more important than SAT scores when it comes to the college application process. I just wanted to know if this was the case for applicants coming from international schools as well, I know that this is usually true for American high school students/applicants. Is my situation switched? Do American Colleges see SAT scores from students from international schools as more important then the applicant’s GPA? If so, is it because they are wary of how the school grades, how it’s curriculum operates, etc.?
Thanks again
Depends on the college. There’s no real way to know the answer to your question.