"i hated the “only-essay-2020-ap”
That’s a bit of a concern for Oxbridge. If you got in, you would be writing a LOT of essays.
In ANY good UK university for those subjects, you will be doing a lot of independent reading and essay writing… let alone Oxbridge!
It isn’t about getting in. It’s about thriving once you’re there.
A 3.7 isn’t going to help you get into those schools. A 32 ACT is about average, and a 3.7 is well below average. There’s a very high probability you’ll get rejected by all of them. Be warned, though. Don’t take finances for granted, especially now. Your parents have money now, but one thing we’ve learned recently is that uncertainty seems to be the new normal. 4 years is a long time, and if a business fails, or a parent gets laid off, you could be screwed bad. It wouldn’t hurt to go for a scholarship. This way, you have a way to pay for college with money guaranteed in writing.
BTW, it is Tufts University, not Tuft.
heyo. i think you’re totally right, just a few things.
about what you’re saying, there’s some stuff that i didn’t include earlier either because im just dumb and forgot to put it in, or because i honestly don’t think ill have the space on the Common App to include it. idt the stuff bellow makes that much of a difference, but in terms of breadth part you emphasize, maybe idk, you tell me?
so, I was a volunteer translator for USAHello, this refugee org for abt a year (i just did 30-40 hrs tho, i mention it briefly in some supplements). I’ve also played piano for 11 years (i didn’t include it because i haven’t done any big competition or won any major awards, but i think after sm time I’ve reached quite a decent level). I was also on Varsity Fencing and played in club outside of school since 1st grade, I was on Varsity Cross Country (for 5 years, 3 middle, 2 HS, but i couldn’t do it this year bc debate commitement), and on Track (5 years too, not this year either same thing). With a few ppl i did this podcast episode on the immigration system during covid where we interviewed some state senators and the ACLU etc. (i didn’t include it cause like, it didn’t win any competition or anything so i wasn’t sure). Oh and lastly, i haven’t put this in yet cause i haven’t started, but in September I’m doing this online internship for 2 months with the Los Angeles Behavioral Economics Laboratory and hopefully that should be fun.
about safeties and all of that: i think @Mfw1921 is 1000% right, if I’m looking at safeties, i think its honestly just not worth it to pay the outrageous American price, so for those I would probably be looking internationally. Most probably Bocconi in Itally and a few others.
I was also wondering: for McGill, since they ONLY look at GPAs/ACTs, if I meet the grades and tests requirements by quite a margin (i think their gpa is A-/3.6 and act is a 26 if i remember) am i pretty sure of getting in? if not, is there any other factor that come into play??
also:
yeah lmfaooo my bad ik, i was typing fast
so this is smt i think abt a lotttt. first off, 32 is DEFENITLY not what i want to submit. it was my first one, I’m 100% hoping for 33-34, hopefully 34 superscore. we’ll see it but also abt the GPA. i know 
. my school is really weird on grading so i think that’s probably in the t5-10% (which ik doesn’t make sense, and we don’t have official ranking so i cant give an exact # but that’s my approximation). but yeah ik its most definitely not ideal, hopefully its not a cOMPLETE deal breaker but ik that’s def gonna hurt. i love all of the schools on the list so tbh if i get into ONE ill be rlly happy.
lastly,
uhm ik?? I’m kinda confused by what you mean?? i just didn’t like the APs this year cause the teaching was online that’s it, like march, April, may is when you’re supposed to review the most of the material and my 70 year old push teacher lowk stopped teaching online before the exam so it was weird this year that’s all i meant lmao.
What comes across is that you don’t quite get how fierce the admit competition is, just how much other kids at other hs are doing and accomplishing. Your sports and etc add, yes. But there’s more to getting into a tippy top than being good enough or viable or wanting College X.
What’s your guidance counselor recommend? What’s your competition within your own hs for these top colleges? And high schools down the street or across town?
If a 3.7 puts you in the top 5% of your class, the US AdComms will see that and take it into acount.
Surely your school has Naviance or similar: and you have seen who has been accepted from the classes ahead of you? the latter can be a really good calibrater.
Re: Cambridge- it’s 5 scores of 5. You have to supply all your standardized test scores; lower scores in subjects that don’t relate to your subject matter less. / not at all.
I get how tough this spring semester was for students, with the abrupt shift in March. BUT: in the UK you do a lot of self-teaching- esp at Oxbridge. First year of HSPS you have 8 hours of lectures and 2 1-hour “supervisions” (aka tutorials at The Place Up The River) per week. That’s it for ‘contact hours’. You do all your learning yourself. So attributing your 4 to the failures of your teacher is a red flag (and that bit of ageism wasn’t great either).
The point about essays for Oxbridge isn’t just that you write a lot of essays for school- it is that the only grades that count are the big exams- at Oxford, the ones at the end of 1st & 3rd year, iirc at Cambridge they are at the end of each year- and they are all only essays
For all the UK unis, be sure that you have read each program in detail- they will tell you online, right down to the classes you take each year - and what (if any) choices you have.
Is your family moving back to France or are you going for a ‘study abroad’ year?
“The point about essays for Oxbridge isn’t just that you write a lot of essays for school- it is that the only grades that count are the big exams- at Oxford, the ones at the end of 1st & 3rd year, iirc at Cambridge they are at the end of each year- and they are all only essays”
Yes, have you checked the HSPS assessment test (the key part is the 1 hour essay)? https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/files/publications/hspsaa_specification.pdf
As a benchmark, my wife (who is smarter than me - she got a first at a time when only about 6% of arts students did) reckons that she handwrote three 10 page essays in each 3 hour exam (you have four of these 3 hour exams at the end of each year and that’s usually the entirety of your grade).
As you research. you look for info like this: https://admissions.tufts.edu/apply/enrolled-student-profile/
It includes this comment:
well rounded in all areas of their lives – academic, social, and extracurricular. You can see how that’s not about subject or EC mastery or “spike.” It’s really necessary to actively learn what these colleges are about. Others can guide, but it doesn’t replace your own work. The top US colleges look for that drive. Same applies to learning about Oxbridge.
Other sites say the average GPA is 4.0. I believe Tufts also favors a global perspective. That’s not living abroad. Nor a cpl.weeks on a paid “service trip.” It’s about how one steps out if his own comfort zone, not just what’s offered him, through school or parental advantages.
Use the present time wisely.
@debatingmywayout the other posters above have explained my comment about the essays and the need for independent study in UK universities (esp Oxbridge). Your experience this semester was actually pretty good practice for life at a UK uni!
hey! its been quite a while!
just wanted to say that after reading what everyone here wrote it was really a wake up call and it led me to change quite a few things! I worked on tests all summer and raised my testing scores from a 32 act to a 1540 SAT, registered for 7 APs senior year, got a really good beginning of the year with straight As and all predicted 5s, started doing a lottt of reading around political philosophy, began this 6-month research independent paper on behavioral game theory which I just started to further through this internship with a USC professor etc…
anyways, i just got an interview invite to Cambridge yesterday (so nervous!) and a full scholarship to bocconi the day before (those are the only two I’ve heard back so far, crossing my fingers for the rest) so i just wanted to thank everyone on here for helping me realize i needed to get to work and rank up my game!
thanks yall stay amazing 
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Thanks for the update- and mega-congrats on the Cambridge interview! Keep the updates coming