<p>I'm tutoring this kid SAT and giving him pieces of advice on college applications.
But he's looking at schools that are very different from the schools that I've applied to,
so I decided to seek advice here.</p>
<p>He attends a high school outside of the US.</p>
<p>SAT: Around 1250 (Math: 650 CR: 250 Writing: 350)
GPA: Bottom 25%
ECs:
A couple of leadership positions,
Varsity soccer
Lead guitar at school band
About 100 hours of volunteering</p>
<p>Let's just assume that he raises his score by a couple hundred points by the time he applies for RD.
At what kinds of schools would he be able to get in?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>What is the kid’s actual GPA? Bottom 25% at his school doesn’t really tell us much, since we don’t know how challenging the kid’s school is. </p>
<p>I think it’s around 2.0</p>
<p>And it’s not really a challenging school at all. Just a regular public school</p>
<p>And he is an international student correct?</p>
<p>Typically an American student with a 2.0 GPA would attend a community college. I don’t think a community college would admit an international with a 2.0 GPA, but I haven’t done any research on it. I think your SAT student should search and see if community colleges accept internationals with 2.0 GPAs. </p>
<p>If your student has a 2.0 GPA, why doesn’t he/she just attend a college in his/her country instead of the US?</p>
<p>Studying in the States confers a certain kind of prestige because it demonstrates their ability to speak English, which not everyone has here in Korea. And he really doesn’t have a good chance of attending a decent school in Korea.</p>
<p>Then what makes you think he would have a better chance in the United States? It is even harder for internationals to get into certain schools in the US than American residents, so chances are slim that your student would be admitted into a US school. Either way see what the prerequisites are for international students at community colleges. </p>
<p>With that stuff I’d probably say go to a community in hopes of transfer. Or try to find somewhere with Open Admission. That SAT score is about 300 points below the US National Average.</p>
<p>The high school system in Korea is notoriously difficult. A 2.0 from Korea may actually be pretty good. What is his class rank relative to other students?</p>
<p>However the main issue, as you can probably tell is that his command of written/spoken English is weak. His CR and Writing scores reflect this. Most US colleges will assume he will not be able to handle the writing component of most classes.</p>
<p>I would suggest that he apply to some US boarding schools for a Post-Grad year. Learning/improving his English for a year before applying to college would certainly help.</p>
<p>I definitely recommend doing a PG year at a prep school, a gap year of some sort here, or a specialized immersion course. He is not ready to attend an American college yet. He could apply to a test-optional school or open-admission college, but he would struggle desperately with the limited English. </p>
<p>His Math SAT score seems reasonably high, so I am assuming he will be studying STEM. The University of Missouri at Kansas City is known for accepting international students who wish to study math/engineering, even those who have low reading scores. Also, you might advise him to take the ACT, which is only half comprised of English questions, as opposed to the two-thirds focus of the SAT.</p>
<p>woogzmama, I agree with you 100%. I really do not think he’s ready for college in the US yet.
Chaos3737, ACT sounds like a reasonable alternative but he just doesn’t have much time now… and no he’s not interested in STEM. Undecided, really.</p>