International Student seeking advice

<p>Allright... so I'm currently a student in Hong Kong and there are quite a few differences between my school's education system and the American System. Here's what I have so far:</p>

<p>British A-Level Results:
A-Level Math: A
A-Level Physics: B
A-Level History: C
AS-Level English: A</p>

<p>GPA - Our school doesn't give us a GPA since I follow the British GCE system If I were to take Boston University's method of converting A-level grades into GPAs, I would have a GPA of 3.75 (4.5 for an A, 3.5 for a B, 2.5 for a C). However, I am aware that not all schools do this, so this isn't really set in stone.</p>

<p>Class Rank: Likewise, our school doesn't offer a class rank to us under any circumstances.</p>

<p>SAT Is
Critical Reading: 780
Math: 700
Writing: 670</p>

<p>I will be retaking my SAT Is in November.</p>

<p>SAT IIs, I will be taking in October. I'll be taking Math IIc, English Literature and Physics.</p>

<p>Special Courses:
We don't really have anything like an AP course except for Math - We have the option of doing Math a year early (freshman) and taking Further Math in our sophomore, junior and senior year. I am currently taking Further Math, so I will graduate with 4 A-Levels and 1 AS-Level.</p>

<p>I have taken a Javascript course outside of school as I want to major in Computer Science.</p>

<p>Essay - I hope to have a good essay and I do have some good writing capabilities but this ones a toss up. I have no idea how it will be taken.</p>

<p>References - Both the teachers I have asked truly believe I have a lot of potential. Beyond that, I don't know.</p>

<p>ECAs:
Community Service - I have really been involved with a lot of community service.
Silver Award for Community Service (100+ Hours) in 2004
Gold Award for Community Service (200+ Hours) in 2005
Half an hour away from being the person in HK with the most hours in 2005 (No award for this though - probably won't count)
Total of 400+ Hours of service in 2005 although only 200 is recorded as an award</p>

<p>Spent two summers teaching at Breakthrough Collaberative (Summerbridge) as well as teaching in the Breakthrough School Year Program (Summerbridge After School).</p>

<p>Help out at KELY (An organization to help teens with issues such as drugs, sex, etc.) every Thursday for 2 to 3 hours.</p>

<p>Participated in a sponsered walk for charity to help raise money to fund classrooms for autistic children.</p>

<p>Went to Baiwan, China to help teach students to improve their English skills.</p>

<p>Part of the Matilda Sedan Chair team that competed against other teams while raising money for a hospital (Team came first place, I was a sub, am doing it again this year and have a position on the team)</p>

<p>Work Experience:</p>

<p>Spent a month with an Asset company, creating a newsletter for them.
Spending a week with the IT department of a TV station</p>

<p>Other:</p>

<p>Head of Technical Department for School Yearbook.
Received the Bronze and Silver Duke of Edinburgh Award and currently participating for Gold.
Was invited to do the American Invitational Math Examination (AIME)
Currently a member of Mensa Hong Kong
School Prefect
Winner of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce Maple Leaf Short Story Contest.</p>

<p>Okay. So here are a last few things - I want to major in Computer Science/Software Engineering Stream and these are my schools:</p>

<p>Reach-
Stanford
Carnegie Mellon</p>

<p>Target-
University of Toronto
University of Waterloo</p>

<p>Safety-
UIUC
UW-Madison
UTexas at Austin</p>

<p>Please tell me what you think my chances for these schools are, whether I should consider any others and whether the schools I have listed are in the right slots.</p>

<p><em>Bump</em> Any advice at all? I know there must be thousands of threads like this but I would really like any comments you could give...</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>Based on your SATs primarily:</p>

<p>Stanford - Big Reach
Carnegie Mellon - Match. Decent chance here. Do well on your MathIIc and Physics SATs and you'll really improve your chances.</p>

<p>University of Toronto - Sorry, don't know anything about Canadian schools
University of Waterloo</p>

<p>UIUC - High match. It's getting increasingly more difficult to get into UIUC if you're from outside Illinois.
UW-Madison - Match
UTexas at Austin - High match. Difficult to get into if your from outside Texas.</p>

<p>You might want to consider these schools:</p>

<p>U Michigan
Case Western Reserve
Renssalaer Polytechnic Institute
Georgia Institute of Technology
Rutgers</p>

<p>So does the fact tha I got a C in History hurt my chances? I believe that if I talk to my History teacher, he would be amenable to saying my predicted grade is a B. I'm hoping to retake the module I did badly in as well as work hard in the other modules to make it a mid-high B.</p>