<p>I'm a high school student in Australia and I want apply for the ivy league schools, most desirably, Yale. Considering my school doesnt offer AP classes or IB's and we don't offer as many extra curricular activities as schools in the US do, I'm worried this will reflect badly on my application. The only real ec's I have are piano, which I've played for 10 years, tutoring of younger students and work experience at Pizza Hut.
Will Yale and other ivy leagues take into consideration the limited opportunity for ec's or will I be treated as any other applicant?
Also, is any preference given to international applicants at these schools?</p>
<p>Any insight on the matter would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>Yale takes into account what is available at your school - the school needs to submit this information along with a letter from a school official(a guidance counselor in the US). The number of international applicants has grown substantially in recent years, so it’s unlikely to be easier to get in from abroad. Of the international students who apply to US schools, probably a large majority are applying to Ivies without knowing much more about them than that they are prestigious. If those are the only schools you apply to, there is an excellent chance that you will not get in anywhere.
As for your EC’s, your piano playing will show commitment, which is a positive, but it won’t make you a sought-after applicant unless you have exceptional ability – a lot of Ivy applicants play it.
You haven’t told us what year in school you are in, or your grades or test scores, so there’s no way to know if your application would even be competitive; but even assuming that it is, these are extremely tough schools to get into. I suggest you do more research on the topic, and that you broaden your search to include other schools.</p>