<p>because I live in UAE and study in a small private school and since the country is still considered a third world country there isn't any EC's here that I can do</p>
<p>so Do I have a chace of entering into a prestigious university?</p>
<p>Lots of international students have ECs. I know students from the UAE (from CC) who have a LOT of ECs.</p>
<p>Post in the International Students thread, you might get better responses.</p>
<p>Well, UAE is NOT third world, and i am sure you could eaasily play sports and there are many things in UAE you can do, i have a couple friends from their and they do a lot..</p>
<p>I do play sports like football and basketball but that's it and since the school that I attend is a small private school they is not much activities that I can do</p>
<p>yea, well sports are very important ECs so make sure you list them.</p>
<p>what I meant about third world country is that they are little or no activities for students here to participate</p>
<p>O, okay, because i've seen pics of Dubai and that is by no means part of third-world country</p>
<p>thats because dubai is not a country, have you seen the rest of the UAE</p>
<p>Abu -Dhabi is not that bad.......</p>
<p>No ECs? Oh well, it's the scrapheap for you...LOL</p>
<p>what if i have the exact same dilemma, except that i live in the bay area where you can do basically every EC possible?</p>
<p>If you're applying to colleges that take the time to look at your background, they'll see that there weren't that many established ECs at your school. So what do you do then? Start some clubs yourself!</p>
<p>I go to a school that is literally 3 years old, and we already have at leat 7 clubs started from scratch by students. Starting a club + making it work = EC.</p>
<p>Most of the UAE is just as much developed as Dubai and Abu Dhabi are. Other areas may not be as extravagant or rich, but they can not be classified as third-world.</p>
<p>I know..i was just going to keep naming cities until he gave up...</p>
<p>EC's don't have to be done at school. I do plenty of EC's outside of school. Simply saying you don't have EC's because your school doesn't provide isn't good enough. I'm an overseas student and my school doesn't provide the level of EC's provided by many American students. However I have managed to take whatever opportunities have presented themselves at school and outside school.</p>
<p>Its just too bad that you don't have any EC's. The UAE is definately not a third world country.</p>
<p>Unless you can demonstrate somehow that you are academically superior than thousands of other applicants you have NO chance of getting into a prestigious university in the US. People will not only mirror your results but also have outstanding lists of ECs.</p>
<p>The only one ones i can see you getting into are oxford and cambridge. Simply because they don't care about your EC's.</p>
<p>Really?</p>
<p>Because I am not planning to study in he states because I want to study medicine
Are all of the rest of the world don't need EC's?</p>
<p>well if your stats are amazing then your grades make up for your lack of ec's, it's that easy.</p>
<p>^ Not really.</p>
<p>The international applicant pool is the MOST COMPETITIVE in any top school. For example, the general admit rate at Oberlin is ~39%, but it was 8% for international applicants. And they just become more competitive every year. Most of the international applicants who apply have extremely good stats, as far as scores and grades are concerned. A lot of them ALSO have a lot of ECs. For example, my friends on CC from the UAE are include international debaters, and all-UAE robotics competition winners (apart from SATs over 2350, five SAT IIS, mostly 800s, above 95% in the ICSE, etc etc.). When you're up against competition like that., you need all the EC involvement you can get.</p>
<p>Yeah TheOneCurlyFry really does know what he's talking about. You really need to demonstrate that you have EC's at least on par with other international students. If you have none, well you have no chance in the ivy leagues. </p>
<p>For other countries it may be a different story. I know that Oxford and Cambridge are non EC based. They rely on really really high grades and a good interview. That said, people with extremely high grades are still rejected. In fact if i remember correctly 60% of applicants with all A's on their GSCE's were rejected.</p>
<p>Your only hope is probably in England. There are always prestigious schools in every country for certain subjects. But the Ivy leagues and Oxbridge are the best overall. Even in the interview at oxford/cambridge they'll probably ask you about EC's, and you'll have nothing to say.</p>
<p>Its a shame you haven't explored EC's. Try to get some EC's in now while you still can. Try out for oxford and cambridge. If you want you can try for uni's in france or something. Just check out what their requirements for admission are. Look for uni's who are academic based and don't have strong EC prerequisites.</p>
<p>I'm a she :(. But thanks.</p>