What colleges should I apply to? What are safeties or matches? And some other questions.

Hello everyone, I am an international student from China who just transferred to a U.S. high school last year as a junior. And I have no idea what kind of colleges are best fit. Here are some of my information, hope you guys can help me, thank you.

finished 9th, 10th in China, and now about to finish 11th in U.S.

Grades & GPA: 9th: 90%; 10th: 90%. No GPA in my previous school; 11th: ~96%. No unweighted GPA. weighted GPA: 4.1 out of I do not know but not 5; my school uses a really weird way to calculate GPA 8-|

Rank: 9th&10th: 20~30/1400 (not 140, there are MANY students in my school, a public school btw); 11th: 6/106.

Courses: of 9th&10th are the same and are all required, they are:
Math (about Pre-Cal level here, but much more difficult)
Chinese
English
Physics (since 8th grade)
Chemistry
Biology (since 7th grade)
Politics (since 7th grade)
History (since 7th grade)
Geography (since 7th grade)
Introduction to IT
Music
Art
P. E.

of 11th:
Pre-Cal Honor
Algebra II with Trig Honor
Physics 1 Honor
English
Religion
American culture
Basic computer apps.
Marketing and Management
P. E.

of 12th:
AP Cal BC
AP Microeconomics
AP Stats
English Honor
Physics 2 Honor
American Government
Religion
C++/VB
P.E.
(self-study: AP Physics C electricity and magnetism, AP Macroeconomics. Those are not provided by the school)

Notes: No lab or foreign language during four years (I can speak Chinese!).

Tests:
SAT: probably around 2100~2200, never took yet.
ACT: not going to take.
SAT Sub: Math II: 800, Physics: 710 (about to retake)
TOEFL iBT: 100 (about to retake)
AP: just took Cal AB, Physics 1, Physics C Mechanics, Computer Science AB. No idea about what I can get. (BTW, all self-study)
And seems all Chinese tests mean nothing at this point.

EC:
really not very much to mention… was struggling with my grades when I was in China…
9th&10th: President of my class (around 70 students per class, and totally 20 classes in class of 2016; we do not run from one classroom to another, instead, teachers do so). Students Government vice president (different from President of class, this is of the whole school, again, a lot of students, totally around 4,500). Co-founder of clubs and (after all clubs were set up) the leader of the department of clubs. (Yea! there was no club at all in my previous school). Leader of Computer Science Club at the same time. Table tennis team. Writer for school magazines and school newspaper.
Here is something that may be special. In my Chinese school, many school events are held by Student Government instead of school (but under their supervising). Therefore, I as a co-leader, held those following events: The Voice of School (once a year, about one-week long). Olympics of School (same, but about 3-day long). Talent Show.

11th: even less :(… not quite familiar with the new school and new environment. Tennis Team (JV) as well as a member of Science Club.

Recommendation Letter:
I do not know if I should ask the teachers from both of my attended schools.

Award:
No any big praise. Most of my awards are just school level.
9th&10th: Merit student of the City, Outstanding student leaders of the City.
11th: Science Olympiad.

Volunteer:
9th&10th: Nothing for community at all. I even do not think my city does have this concept of services hours or volunteering. I lived in a pretty small and third-class city.
11th&12th: Very basic things like helping church, school, and community. By I apply to college I think I shall have had about 50 hours for this.

Work:
Nothing. I am not allowed to have a part-time job here (as well as not allowed to drive!).

Others:
Asian of course;
International students, not citizens or green-card holder;
Never attended any pre-college program;
Need Financial Aid;
First generation college student.

That’s pretty much what I can think of now. I do really need your guys’ help. Please reply and thank you very much!
If you need more information, feel fee to ask me!

Oh I forgot to tell you guys what kind of colleges I prefer, here it is:
Urban, suburban, and country are all OK However, I do not like crowded environments at all for I want to spend my time on study during college. You can consider me as a person like “would rather sit in the library and do some reading, than go outside to look for fun”.
I want to live on campus.
Possible majors or minors: general physics, general math, computer science, economics.
School size: hope to enter a small college. No more than 1500 students of the class.
My math is probable about calculus III level (Multivariate calculus) and I do hope to continue learning math and physics in college but at the same time LACs are also fine for two reasons: general education is pretty good and I need Financial Aid.

Please reply and thank you very much again.

boom

University of Alabama-Huntsville if you decide to major in comp sci. The Marshall Space Center is located there and there are tons of aerospace/cybersecurity/defense companies in Huntsville like Boeing and Lockheed Martin. It’s near the 2nd largest research park in the US and there are a ton of companies offering internships at the career fair for comp sci and engineering majors. If you score well on the SAT, you will be guaranteed a full tuition scholarship. The school is only like 5-6k undergraduate students total.

It’s difficult to answer your question in a meaningful fashion without better understanding your immigration status. I expects that you know that. For a start are you eligible for in-state tuition at your state of residency? And are scholarships available at public universities in your state of residency with someone with your residency status? How would private universities that interest you treat your application for financial aid? As a resident or as a non-resident international student? The answers depend on the specific university. Since you require financial aid you may learn that you have very few safeties apart from community college.

OP is a foreign national, so he can forget about getting work with a defense contractor or the US government. UAH, while a good school, would offer very limited internships, if any, for someone without the ability to work in defense and government.

^ Agreed.