<p>Jesenin, I completely sympathize with you cos I’m in pretty much the same situation. </p>
<p>Although My ECs aren’t as remarkable as yours, I did enough to show that I was well rounded. </p>
<p>Just remember that it is unpredictable how much SAT scores will help (I got 2200+, 780+ on 3 SAT IIs) unless you can make 2350+ IMO.</p>
<p>Although you are likely to get much better education in the US, if you intend to work in your native country in the future, I think it’s a good idea to study in your country for undergrad.</p>
<p>Yes, “ponornica” describes my sporadic participation in College Confidential forums… I hail from Europe too… Send me a private message if you want to chat.</p>
<p>@Pizzagirl: What you said about the SAT is not necessarily true. It’s a very taxing test, and coming in healthy, energetic, and with a clear mind makes a HUGE difference in scores. </p>
<p>Anyway, I’m definitely not an authority on admissions and what not, but I think working to become a star in a local school like a couple others have said would help you tremendously when/if you decide to transfer. Gap years are tricky to manage, and unless you do something amazing, I’m not sure how much it would help. However, proving that you can do excellent work, getting the support of your professors, doing amazing things on campus, etc. would make transferring much easier imo.</p>
<p>@Shorty- I don’t want to go to the US college just for academics. Selective Drama school which I will probably be enrolled to has superb teachers (major awards winning directors), so faculty is maybe better than those at Harvard. I want to go to Ivy school (or similar) because of whole package and experience. </p>
<p>@Njisom- Since I will be applying long before finishing academic year, I’ll apply as a freshmen. But, I guess, that won’t distract them in understanding of my accomplishments? That school is extreme selective, and they really should recognize it.</p>
<p>Regarding whether being ill or having other disruptions affects your SAT performance—</p>
<p>When my D took the SAT in March, the school had a windstorm and power outage mid-test. They made everyone stop – they were in the middle of a Math section—and wait until the power (lights) came back on, which took abt 20 min. </p>
<p>The proctors gave them their full time total, but when you look at her scores you can see immediately which section of the test had the interruption.</p>
<p>Where those your only recs? Generally the colleges like to have a teacher write them so that they can attest to how you are in class - inquisitive, collaborative, eager to go deeply into material, etc.</p>
<p>It is a shame you had that fever. I don’t know how you managed to stay upright.</p>
<p>Is English not your native language? Your post is full of grammar and usage errors. The SAT requires good command of English. You might have trouble getting the high score you expect of yourself even if you’re perfectly healthy.</p>
<p>benny1, foreign students are not expected to be as proficient in English as native speakers; they are that proficient, presumably, in their native language. Getting mediocre scores on SAT for people who did not have instruction in English is a <em>huge</em> success and a good predictor of the person’s capacity to master new skills, especially linguistic - most admitted foreign students have taken TOEFL (test of English as a foreign language), which is much easier than SAT.</p>
<p>@twomules- My math and literature teachers wrote excellent rec letters, too. @benny- I am aware that my english is far from perfect, and CR and Writing sections won’t bring me super-high score, but math should be 750+, and I’m hoping to recieve at least 720 in World History and 750 in Math II.
I hope CR and W are not gonna make my application failure (again). I am really very good at what I do, so my enrollment into good uni is deserved.
But, even if nothing happens regarding the enrollment in an Ivy school, I’ll go on. Getting into a selective Drama school I will probably attend is huge success so there is no room for regreting :)</p>