<p>Hi! Im new here and I'm having serious doubts as to apllying to an American University this year..
Im a half-Mozambican, half-Portuguese senior high school student living in Portugal and i really really wanted to study in the US (i want to go to Cornell for engineering), but I dont think I have any chance at getting in on Regular decision, so i was planning on applying Early Decision...</p>
<p>The problem is, in Portugal sophomore year is the hardest and busiest one and last fall i was having a surgery and physical therapy and couldnt take th SAT. In Spring it was the busiest i'd ever been because of the end of the year tests and projects and midterms (yes, at the end of the year) and, most importantly, our national exams, which are our admission exams for college. For these reasons, it was impossible for me to take the SAT last year so i'm goingto have to take it in October of senior year for the first and only time (next month) and hopefully get the SAT results back in time for me to send all my application materials before th Early Decision deadline... Plus, i would have to send in my Subject SAT results late because, for the same reason, i can only take them in November!</p>
<p>Here is what i have to put on my application:
I play volleyball in the national federation I've also done volunteering for the Red Cross. I am at the top 10% of my class and won Merit Awards at my school in 10th and 11th grade for my GPA. However, my GPA is of 3.6, which is really good in Portugal because it corresponds to 18/20 here and you can rarely get much higher than 18 unless you're at a bad school where they give away good grades but then you fail the nationals, but i know that for the US its very average-ish! </p>
<p>So my question is: based on this, do you think i have a shot at getting into Cornell Early decision? Should I take the SAT next month and apply, or do you think it's not worth the try? I've taken a diagnistic test in my Kaplan study book, and only got 1900, so i'm afraid it wont be enough... But i dont wanna miss out on this opportunity!</p>