Hello everyone my name is Alessandro and I was wondering if you guys could give me any tips regarding college admissions.
My situation isn’t very common: I have a dual citizenship (my dad is Italian and my mom is American), I’ve been schooled in Italy but I’m also a New York State resident so I wouldn’t be applying to college as an international.
I go to what is probably the most challenging public high school in the country, I’m in a experimental section where we not only study subjects in italian but in english as well and take 7 IGCSE exams from Cambridge.
I don’t have straight As but hardly anyone here does, I’m fluent in french as well and have various ECs showing my leadership skills.
I hope that you could advise me on what schools are in my range.
I took my SATs only once and scored 1990, I’m taking them again in October hoping to score at least 2100. I’m really strong in Math and Physics so I will be taking the Subject tests.
I’m looking to study engineering but I don’t really know where to apply. I’m really interested in Penn and Johns Hopkins because they have study abroad programs in the city I live in so they probably know my high school (it’s pretty prestigious).
Would those schools be too much of a reach? I wanted to apply to a SUNY school and Tulane University as well.
In your opinion do I have any kind of advantage being an Italian/American who lives in Italy so that schools may look past my grades? In addition would being Italian in a prevalent Asian major help? What do you think I should do?
Thanks for reading and thank you very much for answering, have a great day!
I’m not good at suggesting colleges, but I would suggest that you post this in the main “College Search” or “College Admissions” forum - this one is for non-traditional students, which I don’t think you are (you’re considered non-traditional if you’ve delayed enrollment, are part-time, hold a full-time job while attending school, are financially independent, have dependents other than a spouse, are a single parent, or do not have a high school diploma). 
Hello Alessandro,
As LAMUniv said, you should repost this (exactly as is) on the general college forum since you’re not a “nontraditional student” even if your situation isn’t traditional.
To answer briefly:
Yes being a dual citizen and being in the most prestigious school in your city will be of help. Ask a head teacher (or someone in the administration) whether they have many applicants to US or UK schools - as I assume they would.
IGCSE’s + Italian Maturità (I assume) would be a very rigorous curriculum to present.
What are your 7 IGCSE subjects? What are your predicted grades?
Be aware that for Penn and JHU they’d expect A/A* in all subjects PLUS your having achieved something rather out of the ordinary outside of school. Be aware that they’d expect 3 A Levels in addition to the IGCSE’s unless you’d have a full Maturià.
Your school’s grading system will have to be given in context, with the % students who reach each mark (ie., top 2% A, top 10% A-, top 20% B+, top 30% B… etc) - this is part of your “School profile”, written by your guidance counselor or head teacher.
Take three subject tests rather than two to highlight your versatility: Math2 and Physics, of course, but the Literature test, or a Language test (obviously, not Italian, but French would be a good one).
What do you want to do with your engineering degree? Any field within engineering that’s of interest?
Or do you mean “STEM” (science, technology, engineering, math)?
Are you interested in technical fields? What about CS? What about a potential double major?
(Engineering in the US is not seen as “generalist” but as “technical” - I know that in Europe, “engineering” can also be shorthand for “science studies with lots of general education for wide career prospects”, for instance “ingénieur commercial” in France is not an engineer but a STEM-MBA graduate who’s studied philosophy, history, foreign languages, economics… in addition to science and math!)
@MYOS1634 thank you very much for your answer, I’ll be sure to repost it in the other section.
When I graduate I will have a full Italian maturita’ so I dont think I will be taking any A Levels.
I’m not really sure what you mean by “predicted grades”, I already took all 7 IGCSEs (Maths, Physics, Biology, Geography, English, French, Art and Photography) and got As and A*s like you said.
I was thinking of taking the Latin SAT2 Subject Test in addition to Math2 and Physics, considering that it’s not a very popular subject within American students and given that in Italy we study it at a level not comparable to any American high school it could be a good way to set myself apart from other applicants.
I already have a DELF certification demonstrating my high level in French so I don’t think a Subject test would be necessary.
My school hardly sends any students in the US (only recently one student got accepted at MIT), it’s a public school, Italian students aren’t required to take any standardized tests, in fact most of them don’t even know what they are. On the other hand my school has very close ties to British universities, Cambridge in particular, a percentage of students go to England to attend university.
You’re absolutely right about engineering in Europe. I’m still not sure about what branch of engineering I would want to get into. In Italy our classes are very broad, I like studying mathematics and physics so I assumed that going into engineering would be a good choice.
Do you think I’m wasting my time applying to those if I don’t score at least 2200 on the SAT the next time I take them? I’m well aware that it’s not all about the scores and the grades but I also need to be realistic. I could score very high but I have to take into consideration every possible scenario.
Thanks again for answering!
I wasn’t sure if you were taking the IGCSE’s this year or already had. If you have a full Italian Maturità you’ll be fine, you won’t need ALevels.
Latin is a good choice but don’t forget to include your DELF score on the common app (a Subject score would be more “legible” for your reviewer but I think a DELF score will work).
I assume you’ll apply to both UK and US schools (as many European students do).
Don’t just apply to a couple schools though - you’d need at least two schools with a 40% admission rate to make it worthwhile, even if you have relative “safeties” in the UK and Italy.
You can seek out the last Italian students’ threads to see where they ended up.