<p>Okay, just a little background: I've been a casual reader of this site for a while now, just looking at the answers to other people's questions that are similar to mine mostly. Now I have a more specific question for myself, on whether I can get into the institutions in the USA (Undergraduate) that I want. Good, constructive answers would be appreciated.</p>
<p>General Information:</p>
<p>Year: Senior this Fall.
Age entering college: 17
Ethnicity: African-Canadian (Born in Nigeria, West Africa)
Location: Canada (I go to the top public school in Western Canada)
Class Rank: School doesn't rank, I would probably gaurantee top 10%
SAT: Not taken yet (When answering, assume a 2100+ score, I never score lower on practice tests. Will be taking it in October)
SAT II: Math II and Chemistry (Will be taking these in November on the same day, expect a 700+ based on practice)</p>
<p>Grades</p>
<ul>
<li>Freshman Year Grades: N/A, these are not put on transcripts where I live (Alberta) because high school starts in grade 10.</li>
<li>Sophomore Year: Essentially straight As, marks ranged from high to mid 90s.</li>
<li>Junior Year: First semester I basically had straight As, with one 89% (we do percentage GPAs here) and one 87%. Second semester I fell off a bit, with all my grades in the high 80s; which is why I'm making this thread haha. </li>
<li>Senior Year: Unknown so far, I'm going to work WAY harder than I did in the second half of my junior year and shoot for straight As.</li>
</ul>
<p>Honor Level Courses: I'm in the IB Certificate program because I had a teacher in grade 9 for Humanities who decided not to give me a recommendation for Social or English IB despite having high 90s in both her classes. The IB Classes I do take are:</p>
<p>IB French A (IB 10, 20, 30)
Pre-IB Science (Pre-IB 10)
IB Biology SL (No HL offered) (IB 20, 30)
IB Physics SL (No HL Offered) (IB 20, 30)
IB Math SL (Couldn't fit HL into my schedule because I'm taking all 3 sciences) (IB 20, 30, 31)
IB Chemistry HL (IB 20, 25, 35, 30)</p>
<p>I only started taking IB exams this May so I don't know any of my scores out of 7 yet, I felt good when writing them though so I expect to do well.</p>
<p>Extra-Curriculars</p>
<ul>
<li>Club Basketball for about 5 years (Equivalent of AAU in the USA)</li>
<li>Varsity Football (Sophomore and Junior years, will likely play as a Senior)
Community Basketball (9 years)</li>
<li>Royal Canadian Air Cadets (For 3 years, attained the rank of Flight Corporal, Cadets is a great leadership program)</li>
<li>Patti Falconer Acting/Modelling Agency (Received many scholarships to acting schools outside Alberta, that I was unable to attend because we won't move. I also received an offer of a lead role in Like Mike 2 the movie; but was unable to participate because my parent's were not around for me to go to Vancouver for the casting. I was 12 or 13 iirc.)</li>
<li>Debate Club, never won anything significant :(</li>
</ul>
<p>Awards:</p>
<ul>
<li>Honor Society (All of High School)</li>
<li>Alexander Rutherford Scholarship (National Scholarship for Academic Acheivement, received for all of high school)</li>
<li>(My school doesn't do Cum Laude, Magna Cum Laude or any of that stuff so it's not really something I can beef up my resume with).</li>
</ul>
<p>Work/Volunteer Experience:</p>
<ul>
<li>Refereed basketball for 2 years. Paid about $13 per game.</li>
<li>Calgary Women's Show: Packing gift bags for thousands of attendees</li>
<li>Helped paint a bridge and do a garage sale for a Women's Shelter in Okotoks</li>
<li>Vacation Bible School Crew Leader at Church for 2 years</li>
<li>Volunteering every Sunday at church for 6 years as a youth leader, teaching younger kids</li>
<li>Tech Management Leader at Church</li>
<li>Miscellaneous other things that I could bring up if I had my resume handy haha.</li>
</ul>
<p>The last thing I want to say is that I'm well respected around the school by teachers, and I'm a good writer so the essay and teacher recommendations shouldn't be a problem. </p>
<p>Speaking of the essay, if anyone has any suggestions as to what to write about that would be appreciated. I haven't really experienced any hardships to be honest, other than a very aggressive series of bouts of abuse with my father during my junior year. I guess I could make a sob story and use that as an excuse for the dropoff, but I'm not sure if that's a good idea.</p>
<p>Schools I'm considering:</p>
<ul>
<li>Harvard (USA)</li>
<li>Duke (USA)</li>
<li>Princeton (USA)</li>
<li>Johns Hopkins (USA)</li>
<li>New York University (USA)</li>
<li>California (USA)</li>
<li>Penn (USA)</li>
<li>MIT (USA)</li>
<li>Stanford (USA)</li>
<li>McGill (Canada)</li>
<li>Toronto (Canada)</li>
<li>Calgary (Canada) [This is definitely a fallback, I want to move as far away from here as possible lol]</li>
<li>British Columbia (Canada)</li>
</ul>