<p>I'm a junior high school student,I'm Egyptian/American but I live in Egypt & I'm planning to attend university in the US, I'm a french baccalaureate student, my grades range from 15 to 19.5 out of 20, with a general average around 16.5 (16 equals an A+/4.0 GPA), I'm top of my class which is 16 students, I'm taking the SAT and SAT subject tests in Math level 1, french, biology & chemistry in june, october & november, & I'm sure I can get more than 750 on each subject (hopefully), I know 3 languages other than English (Arabic(my first language), french, and spanish) & I'm sure I can get amazing recommendation letters from my teachers.
My extracurriculars aren't really outstanding though: I've played the Piano for 2 years before high school & in freshman year in high school & performed in a concert at the Cairo opera house (before high school though), I volunteered for about 15 hours last year & am planning to do more community service this summer and next year, I was a member of our school scouts for 6 years, until freshman year in high school, and was the leader of my team in 1 year, I used to play many sports for several years but before high school.
So, what do you think my chance would be to get into a top US university (like Ivies, Stanford, or at least UCLA or Berkeley)? and what can I do to improve my chances if possible?</p>
<p>can somebody reply & help me please?</p>
<p>any answers please???</p>
<p>It’s hard to guess without your SAT score, especially since your GPA is so irregular.</p>
<p>I say get a 2000 on ur SAT and at least a 700 in the SAT II and u should be good to go. Another factor is finaid, since US colleges arent need blins for int’l students</p>
<p>‘Top of your class’ doesn’t really mean anything if your class is only 16 students. Why do you say 16/20 is equivalent to a 4.0? Wouldn’t 20/20 be equivalent to a 4.0 on a 4.0 scale?</p>
<p>Sorry. I thought u said USC. Lol. That was someone elses post. For ivys u want a 2200+ and 750+. Its a crapshoot for them. If u can afford berkeley and ucla without aid, then u should be good if u get a 2000 and 700</p>
<p>2000 SAT is nowhere near good enough for ivy leagues/stanford, especially with your ‘meh’ extracurriculars and grades. I would say you need at least a 2300 to be competitive and chances are you still won’t get in.</p>
<p>well, first: I have the american citizenship, so I don’t think I’d be considered an international , second: I already too the SAT once and got 780 in math and 680 in writing (I didn’t really study reading enough though so I’ll retake it to improve both the writing and reading scores), so I think I’d be able to get more than 2200. I also already took the SAT subject test in math level 1 and got 780, and I got 800 in french, I’m also planning to take it in biology and chemistry or math level 2 (with similar score -probably-.
As for the GPA, in the french bac. system, it’s impossible to get 20/20 or even 18/20, I checked on multiple websites that convert the grades to the american GPA and found that 16/20=4.00, so I don’t really think GPA would be my problem.
I think it is my ECs that wouldn’t be sufficient though as there aren’t a lot of activities you can do in Egypt + I come back home from school at 6 pm everyday, but I published some articles and volunteered for 50+ hours (planning to do more) and I may try to write and publish a book. I also speak 4 languages, does that help???
sorry that was long, and also thanks a lot for your help.</p>
<p>so, do you think that if I succeed to publish that book, do more community service and keep going for another year with the piano (and maybe publish some more articles), I could stand a chance at these Universities (with 750+ on each SAT subject, really good essays and recommendation letters)?</p>
<p>Yeah, you would probably have a good chance. Publishing a book is hard, so it would definitely make you stand out. Piano and community service, not so much.</p>
<p>well, the good thing is that it’s a bit easier here, so I guess I’ll count on that, thanks for your help :)</p>