<p>I agree with others…don’t spend time trying to get your SAT up to Ivy League levels, but spend your time investigating other colleges that will be a good match to your SAT scores and the major you are interested in and the area of the country you are interested in.</p>
<p>There are many good private LACs that would be very drawn to you based on your story and scores, and while your GPA may fall to the low end of their range, your unique situation is just what one usually finds among that group of admittees. </p>
<p>I would recommend you apply to Scripps (since you are female and interested in California) and other women’s colleges or former women’s colleges like Conn College and Vassar, they may have a “name” that your parents would approve of…Other coed privates across the country would also find you appealing, look for those who tout an interesting and diverse student body. </p>
<p>Assuming you are correct in saying that finances aren’t a concern, I agree that there is no reason to wed yourself to a Community College. If you are willing to look at small schools across the US, you should be able to find a well-regarded school that will welcome you.</p>
<p>Actually, IGCSE’s matter 
so you’re in luck! You’ll have to include them into your common application and your counselor will have to state clearly that you took them at age 13.</p>
<p>Please note that the ICSE “equivalency scale”, as per their site, may be:
A*= 4.3, A=4, B= 3.7-3.3, C= 3, D=2.7-2.3, E=2, F&G=1, U=0
<a href=“http://www.fulbright.org.uk/study-in-the-usa/undergraduate-study/applying/transcript[/url]”>http://www.fulbright.org.uk/study-in-the-usa/undergraduate-study/applying/transcript</a>
Another form:
<a href=“http://www.fulbright.org.uk/study-in-the-usa/undergraduate-study/applying/admissions-criteria#performance[/url]”>http://www.fulbright.org.uk/study-in-the-usa/undergraduate-study/applying/admissions-criteria#performance</a></p>
<p>Also, your school may have miscalculated your GPA. Or, if they don’t have a GPA, they can just say they don’t have a GPA rather than making one up and instead provide your predicted results on A Levels or other exams. They can provide your rank. If 3.2 places you in the top 20% or so, then it’s likely to grade very severely and the admission officers would take that into account.</p>
<p>Your odds are very good if you apply to liberal arts colleges since their admission process is holistic - it means they read your grades “in context”. Off the top of my head, I’d say apply to Occidental, Pitzer, Whitman, Willamette, Lewis&Clark, University of San Diego (a private, Catholic university), University of Puget Sound (this is in rough order of selectivity).
As for the UC’s, their calculations are numerical, so it’d be harder for you, but with a 3.2 and your SAT score, you still have a shot at UCI, UCR, UCM. UCSB is pushing it though.</p>
<p>If you’re willing to look further than the West Coast, a top school like Macalester would probably love to have you with your backstory of being immersed into a Chinese school. I think you might even have a shot at Middlebury (a top 10 school) because they’re very focused on languages and students who have lived abroad.
I second the recommendation of Scripps and other women’s colleges such as Mills (in CA), Agnes Scott (in Atlanta), plus the ex-Seven Sisters (whose brothers attended Yale, Princeton, etc) such as Mount Holyoke, Wellesley, Bryn Mawr, Barnard, and Smith plus Vassar. Those are super selective schools since they represent the old elite but they’re holistic so they’ll read your grades ‘in context’.</p>
<p>In the US, it’s illegal to display something that isn’t true. So the websites may fudge things a little - for instance, it’s perpetually sunny, even in the Pacific Northwest 
-… But they can"t say they offer a program and not offer it.</p>
<p>You can look at websites such as “Do it yourself college rankings”, “The College Solution”, or “Colleges that change lives”.
You can read The Fiske Guide, or Insider’s Guide to the Colleges, or The Princeton Review’s best colleges.</p>
<p>If you can register late, you need to take the SAT subjects; Math 2 and two other subjects would help you, and when they’re “optional” it typically means that it’s in your interest to send them if they’re good.</p>
<p>You have enough for an excellent essay though! It must have been awful arriving to your school thinking it’d be bilingual and realizing everything was in a language you didn’t speak at all, not to mention Chinese is so, so incredibly difficult. Don’t write your essay as an excuse, but as if it were a very short Bildungsroman with the moral of the story at the end. :)</p>
<p>Non-resident GPA for UC’s is 3.4, calculated using the UC method.</p>
<p>
But the admission process is holistic for ALL students. Let’s say a student has a 3.8 UW GPA, well he/she worked hard for that. Op worked hard and got a 3.2. But both worked hard. So who gets in? You won’t punish the 3.8 person because he wasn’t in a foreign country. Assuming they both have good personal statements (besides mitigating circumstances), the 3.8 will get in because their GPA is higher and they proved themselves in college prep courses. </p>
<p>With a 3.2 the odds of a top 25 uni is low. 25-50 is possible, 50+ is for sure. </p>
<p>In the end would I’d personally rather spend 2 years in the heart of Los Angeles going to a nice CC like Santa Monica College + another 2 years at UCLA rather than 4 at some random university. FYI about 10% of the students there are international so it’s a pretty common plan.</p>
<p>An international student might not want to live in an apartment, managing complex daily tasks that most freshmen don’t have to handle even in their own country. But it’s an option OP has and it’s good she knows about it. I just wouldn’t send my 18 year old to live on her own in LA let alone in a huge city in a foreign country.</p>
<p>Actually, holistic admissions don’t work like that (#45). That 3.2 in a completely foreign language may well be valued more than a 3.8 in one’s native language. That’s the point of holistic admission. Admission officers can decide what matters and whether one aspect of the application offsets another, or not, what makes an applicant especially interesting and valuable for the campus, etc.</p>
<p>I don’t think Chinese schools have a GPA so OP’s school is likely trying to come up with some approximation - that GPA could be anything.</p>
<p>As far as I know, the 3.4 requirement doesn’t apply to international students since their GPAs are different or don’t exist.</p>
<p>okay, so my school marks are 0-100. each semester we have a report card with every subject and a mark out of 100. the top student in my year has a total mark of 77. HOWEVER, if you look at “GPA” or even just her marks 77/100 it seems like she isn’t a very good student. Our schools marking system is EXTREMELY strict and NO ONE has ever gotten a perfect 100/100 or even 90/100 before. My GPA may be low, but in my school ranking, my grades are counted as pretty good. </p>
<p>Can I explain this? Or does it not matter?</p>
<p>^ Sounds like that would matter. Do they offer you a class rank? It could also make it seem like you just attend a very poor school where everyone is dumb.</p>
<p>
Key words right there. The issue still stands. a 3.8 is a 3.8. a 3.2 may or may not be ranked higher. It’s an unknown. The college admissions board still has no clue how well you will be prepared to deal with the rigors of Uni education.</p>
<p>if what you were saying is true we’d be seeing lots of people with 3.2s who came from broken homes getting top school. But it doesn’t happen. </p>
<p>Mitigating circumstances are never as good as accomplishments.</p>
<p>I’m not too sure what a class rank is, but I do know that there’s 307 people in my year, and I’m 97th place overall?</p>
<p>My school is a very highly ranked boarding school…</p>
<p>I don’t really know how to explain these things to be honest. Do I explain it in my personal statements or additional information section?</p>
<p>97 isn’t really that great. That kinda backs up the 3.2 GPA. </p>
<p>You would most likely need to explain it in the additional information section. Which also means you still need some killer personal statements with accomplishments. </p>
<p>If you want to apply to US uni I would look into flagship state colleges such as Oregon State, Arizona State, Colorado State, Ohio State, etc. Those are the schools where you would have the best chance to get in. </p>
<p>I think you have low-almost 0 chance in a top 25 Uni, So anything that’s rated around UCLA or better. And I think I’d be difficult to get into a 25-50 Uni but maybe you’d get lucky.</p>
<p>@bomerr</p>
<p>Just curious, what were YOUR stats in high school? 
</p>
<p>@OP</p>
<p>To apply to US universities, you’ll need to take the college entrance exam in Taiwan (I think it’s called the GSAT?) and fill out an application/application form. I’m not sure if you draft up the whole thing yourself or if there’s a template to be filled out, so double check on that! Finally, you’ll need to have an interview.</p>
<p>There’s probably more to it so I’ll let you know as I find out! Again, good luck :)</p>
<p>Kinda curious whether Bomerr is a parent (or “other adult” 
)</p>
<p>Bomerr: you’re right, “may” is the operative word because by definition unless there’s automatic admission for stats, nothing is guaranteed.
You’re missing the point that 3.2 is not the OP’s GPA. 3.2 is an approximation her school came up with. It is meaningless because Chinese schools don’t grade like American schools AND OP was operating in a foreign language - not only that but one of the most difficult languages to master for an English speaker. And yes, this kind of prowess may well be considered be more impressive than a 3.8, simply because it’s quite extraordinary and must have required enormous amounts of resilience, intelligence, and work. OP basically had to teach herself Chinese at such a high level that right now she’s at the rough level a senior in college with a Chinese major would have. In three years (what the Chinese major would typically do in 6 and as a college student, not high school) and without specific support. In other words, we’re not talking “teaching yourself a language from scratch and to AP level.” We’re talking going beyond that by a lot. If she were an American she’d be a shoo-in at the Chinese Flagship for Critical Languages (in fact she may well apply there and see) and would already be on the radar of quite a few governmental agencies.</p>
<p>Coriander: actually, OP does not need to take the Taiwanese national exams since she’s not Taiwanese. She can but American universities will not require these tests’ predicted results. It’s too bad she’s not taking A’Levels in continuation to IGCSE’s since it’d be an easy thing to evaluate. SAT Subjects will become quite important to demonstrate mastery - 750+ will be expected in English and/or World History, not just math and science.</p>
<p>OP: since you speak Chinese, apply to NYU Shanghai! This is a match school for you. Chinese-speaking environment, English-language school, international recognition. Furthermore, this will allow you to spend one year in NYU New York plus one or two semesters on other NYU campuses (if you so choose).</p>
<p>Your guidance counselor MUST indicate very precisely that 77 is the highest grade given to the top student, and what % students in your class/year/grade receive each grade - ie, what percentage get 75 and more (can be 1% or 0.5%) 70 and more, 60 and more, 55 and more, 50 and more, 40 and more, 30 and more, 20 and more, etc. If students take national exams your counselor needs to establish a correlation (ie, students from your school may get a 53 average but on the national exam they get 65, which is a score only top 20% nationally achieve - ie, a 53 at your school = top 20% nationally).
The counselor will also need what selection has taken place (e.g., “students must perform in the top 20% of a national test in Year 9 to be considered for the school, then must pass an internal exam in math and English”, “the school is nationally ranked in Taiwan”) - the school’s selection process and national ranking will supersede your exact grades because admission officers will know that no matter where you’re ranked, you would have received a great education and are extremely competitive (in the same way that being in the top 50% at Exeter does not mean the same thing as being top 50% at Local Comprehensive High School.) BTW, many selective boarding schools don’t rank.</p>
<p>OP would NOT have the best chance at large universities since their admissions are mostly numerical. They don’t have the resources to sift through a story like OP’s. So Op’s best bets are the top women’s colleges (Scripps, Wellesley, Mount Holyoke, Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Smith), various top liberal arts colleges ranging from Middlebury to Macalester where her story will be particularly compelling due to their focus on international experiences and languages, and a variety of schools that are looking for this type of resilience - Op can very well apply to Top 10 national universities and LACs, they’re a reach for her just like they’re a reach for everyone, so her list should not be entirely made of those.</p>
<p>I don’t have a guidance counselor either… My teacher told me to do everything myself. Where can I submit this information?</p>
<p>Bomerr : I know you’re trying to help, but honestly, I’d like to know how your results and/or GPA would look if you were dumped in a completely unfamiliar country that speaks a language that doesn’t even use the english alphabet. I was sent to boarding school when I was 15 in a country I had NEVER been to. I’m pretty proud that I can even graduate let alone be in the top thirty percent to be honest…</p>
<p>However, I do know that colleges may not have enough time to read through my application. Aside from women’s colleges and liberal arts colleges, what other choices do I have? I’m going to try out lib arts colleges, but the biggest problem is explaining this all to my parents. (They think I can get into Stanford and the Ivys, and I don’t think they’ll accept anything less, even UCLA is “low” for them)</p>
<p>Tell your parents that National Liberal Arts Colleges are as prestigious as National Universities. A school like Wellesley is as good as Stanford. (Wellesley is where girls used to go when schools like Yale and Princeton were reserved to boys.) Not for everything, but as far as overall prestige and being “elite”, certainly. Same thing for a school like Middlebury (where you definitely have a shot).
Have them look at the USNWR rankings: National Liberal Arts and National Universities are the two prestigious rankings.
Have them read professionals’ websites such as The College Solution. Show them Colleges that Change Lives (website) or order books such as Fiske Guide, Insider’s Guide to the Colleges (compiled by Yale students so that one may sway them), or The Princeton Review’s Best Colleges.</p>
<p>Why did your parents send you to boarding school in Taiwan though? Was one of them moved there for their job and they figured it’d be better for you to be in boarding school rather than stay with them? Did they think the school being bilingual/international would help you adjust better than if you attended the local school?
Yes it’s a miracle you made it a month, and not only graduated, but graduated in the top 30% – indeed, and colleges with holistic admissions will understand that. These schools pride themselves in looking carefully at your whole story and making decisions based on that, rather than just on a test score and a GPA.</p>
<p>As I said, you also have a shot at the national flagship programs in Chinese. I don’t know how they’d look at the fact you’re from New Zealand, but it may be worth a try.
I don’t know how your story would play at Barrett (ASU’s Honors College*) since they have a Chinese flagship. Would your parents like the idea of ASU Barrett?
Email the directors of the flagship programs, explaining your story:
[The</a> Language Flagship - Chinese](<a href=“http://www.thelanguageflagship.org/chinese]The”>http://www.thelanguageflagship.org/chinese)
Or, since you’ve shown such aptitude at teaching yourself a language, you may want to check another language flagship:
[url=<a href=“http://www.thelanguageflagship.org/russian]The”>http://www.thelanguageflagship.org/russian]The</a> Language Flagship - Russian<a href=“this%20one%20has%20a%20UCLA%20base%20and%20also%20a%20Bryn%20Mawr%20base,%20both%20of%20which%20would%20be%20the%20most%20prestigious%20colleges”>/url</a></p>
<p>If your parents think you can get into Stanford and the Ivies, for family peace, apply there. Tell them your odds as an international students are roughly 1 in 20 at best (and the 19 who are rejected are all qualified.)
Your story may help as well as providing relevant information about your school. Even with that, your odds are still 1 in 20.</p>
<p>You need to give a bullet point list of everything to your head teacher but s/he needs to enter it from a school computer. Go to CommonApp and invite her/him from there - tell him/her they’ll receive an email from you and will have to upload all that information themselves; you can’t do it yourself because it’ll look like you’re cheating (CommonApp does look at foreign IPs and if the “student” and the “counselor”'s IPs are the same… you have a problem.)
*ASU would admit you on stats but it’s not worth it for you without Barrett, which is the premier Honors College in the US; with the Chinese Flagship you’d be able to get an immediately usable degree and between the Honors seminars and the Flagship classes, you’d skip most of the huge classes.</p>
<p>You don’t need to listen to bomerr, he goes to community college. His school might be right by Disneyland, but he doesn’t seem to have a very fun personality!</p>
<p>I agree that NYU is a good idea, you should try for that. My friend, who is a sophomore there, was in a similar situation as you (moved to Sweden in 7th or 8th grade and had to learn everything from scratch–did not have the best grades as an underclassman but she moved back to the US during her junior year and got into NYU) I also think liberal arts schools may be another avenue to consider–they would find your story interesting. </p>
<p>Out of curiosity, do you go to Taichung Yizhong? I don’t know if it’s a boarding school or not but it’s top ranked and not an international school, haha.</p>
<p>I have a 3.8 overall GPA, 4.0 Major GPA for Haas School of Business at UC. Currently enrolled in 19 units. I’m applying this fall and Ill get into UCLA no doubt, USC most likely but as I said, my plan is UCB. </p>
<p>FYI I was born in Europe and moved to America so I do know a thing or two about learning a foreign language. But I digress, that’s not the major overarching issue at hand. </p>
<p>Sorry, I know it’s harsh but if you wanted a shot at top universities your parents should have enrolled you in a foreigner school. Instead you used all that energy trying to catch up. It’s not fair but it’s life. </p>
<p>@ Coriander23, that story is still better. Because she moved back to American and then got good grades. With the OP it’s unknown. That’s part of the reason I would rec CC classes. They would basically prove he is able to preform well in his native language.</p>
<p>The bottom line is the admissions officer at a very high rated school would never take that kind of risk but they simply don’t have to. There are soo many other competitive students applying to these same institutions.</p>