<p>Hello everyone. This is my first thread, and i am here to ask you what do you think of my scores/gpa/situation to get into a good college in the US.</p>
<p>Ok, so lets start with my background.</p>
<p>I am originary from the southeast part of Mexico (the one that is green and damp), and I am a senior year student. I come from a family somewhere between upper middle class and wealthy (so to speak). We can afford a college in the US, so money is not a problem. My main issue in this situation is that, in my city, we dont usually prepare for college, and my family certainly didnt prepare us (me and my brothers) for the big challenge that college is. So my big brother didnt make so much out of his life because of this, and my little brother is in his way to the same than my older brother (something that I am trying to change).</p>
<p>So, by the time I realized the importance of getting excellent grades (the old ones were good, not excellent) and the importance of extracurriculars and examinations (SAT, TOEFL), it was too late for my to pave the way properly to my college admission.</p>
<p>So as you may have guessed by now, I want to go to the US for college. No one in my family has ever done any intelectual achievement nevertheless (the money came from somewhere else), for this reason and more I am really motivated to make something out of my life.</p>
<p>Having said all of this, I would like you to tell my what to you think of my situation. The GPA in my school is measured in a different way than in the US, while in the US it is measured from 0 - 4 (Dont know if you can get a 0 or 1.0 though), in my school it is measured with a 0 - 10 (But no one ever gets less than 5). My school doesnt provide a translation from these grades to the GPA system, so my closest calculation is that my GPA is around 3.6 (My grade from 0-10 is 8.6, this is the average from the past 4 years).</p>
<p>I went to Ireland for three months (In summer) so I could prepare to take a standarized test of English (IELTS, TOEFL, etc), something that I did eventually. I got a 96 in my TOEFL (should have prepared more for the actual test though), but I am okay with the results.</p>
<p>But, the previous things were not my biggest problems. My biggest problem had and has a name: SAT. When I found out about this test (around 4 months ago) when I was in Ireland, enjoying the Irish life and preparing for my TOEFL, so there was not too much that I could do about it.</p>
<p>When I came back to Mexico, I took the test, and I prepared as much as I could, because of all the school work I had and thing that I had to do. I prepared myself enough to get a decent grade. I ended up with a 1640/2400 overall, with a 580 in Critical Reading, 550 in Math, and 510 in writing (havent practiced too much English writing in my life). So that score was at my first try, with a decent preparation (which consisted of practicing through one section of the test almost everyday for around 3/4 weeks). I am planning to retake it, as this score is from the December test, just one month ago, but now it is too late to take another SAT, as admissions are closing altogether around January and February and the SAT is in February with the results being delivered around the the end of the same month.</p>
<p>Having said all of the previous, I would like you to tell me my chances to get into a good college. I have already applied for Biochemistry in the University of Illinosi at Urbana-Champaign, and I am trying in Penn State (U Park) and the Perdue University as my main choices (maybe ill apply to some others as well).</p>
<p>My extracurriculars are OK, I was at my school basketball team (and made it into the state final), and I have done community service (clening streets, donating clothes and toys, raising funds), nothing impressive though.</p>
<p>So guys, I need your help. What are my chances of getting into any of these colleges? Do you recommend me some other college(s)? Any suggestions? What do you think I should/could do? Ask me if you would like to know something more about me (it is for you to evaluate my changes, that is)</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone! (Sorry for the grammar/spelling mistakes and for writing so much (: )</p>