<p>hi : )
i'm an asian international student living in a foreign country.
right now, i'm going up to the 11th grade (the eduaction system's different here; so, a new grade starts in March), and i'm preparing to go to an american university.</p>
<p>well....i'm not that prepared right now...umm....actually, it hasn't been long since i've started preparing to study in the US.</p>
<p>Anyway...
-GPA : (not calculated in the grade out of 4.0, yet) around 85%...so mostly B's for the whole year of 10th grade.
-SAT : around 1980 (didn't take a real SAT test, yet)
-SAT2 : math lev.2c 800; planning to take physics, french w/ listening, chemistry, us history, biology, european history.
-AP : Economics(both Micro/Macro) 5.0; planning to take us government&politics, physics, us history this year; planning to take comparative gov't, environmental science, chemistry, world history, psychology next year.
....no ap courses or "IB"s (whatever that is) are provided inside our country.
-Extracurricular : band(2 traditional instruments)
art
pottery
volunteer work as an instuctor in a camp for the disabled
...not much CAs, volunteer works and internships are available in our country.</p>
<p>well...i have duke, michigan, tufts, webster, brandeis in mind
...as "dream schools"
i don't know if my abilities are good enough.
Which universities are the possible ones that i can get into with these abilities?
What kind of efforts (specifically) do i have to add to these grades and activities if i want to go to a better university?</p>
<p>Here's a list. Given your current stats, the schools at the top would be reaches for you, the ones in the middle matches, and the ones towards the bottom safe/matches or safeties.</p>
<p>Univer. Of Southern CA
Colgate
Brandeis
William and Mary
Oberlin
Bates
Tulane
Hamilton
Grinnell
Bard
Wake Forest
U of C Berkley
Kenyon
Connecticut College
Boston College
University of Richmond
Univ. of Rochester
NYU
Lehigh
Case Western
Trinity (in CT)
Bucknell
UCLA
U of NC, Chapel Hill
Dickinson College
Gettysburg College
Lafeyette
Franklin and Marshall
College of NJ
Sarah Lawrence
Union
Skidmore
U of C San Diego
Syracuse
Penn State</p>
<p>Duke and Tufts would be big reaches. Brandeis a reach. Michigan, though more of a match academically, is more difficult to get into if you don't live in Michigan, so it's probably a reach too. Webster I'm not familiar with.</p>
<p>thanx for the reply. it's really helpful; your advice would be a big for me in narrowing down the "target universities" to appy for. : )</p>
<p>however, you said that Duke and Tufts are big reaches. what is lacking in my stats that makes them hard to reach? is it my status as an international student without US citizenship...(i wish it's not)? is it my GPA? xtra activities? exam scores????</p>
<p>what do i have to improve in order to get at least closer to the possibility to enter one of the two universities?</p>
<p>Your major problems at this point are your GPA and SAT score. Duke is one of the top schools in the US and is very selective. The median SAT M+V is 1430. The average GPA is probably 3.8 (about 95 on a 100 point scale). Tufts, while not quite as selective as Duke, has a median M+V of 1380 and probably an average GPA in the 3.7 range (about 93 on a 100 point scale). Given your current 85 average and estimated SAT around 1980 (estimated M+V of 1320), neither your GPA or SAT scores are good enough for acceptance at either school. You would have to significantly improve your GPA, score above 2250 on the SATs, and also score above 700 on each SAT2 test you take to be a competitive applicant at these schools.</p>
<p>ooh// GPA and SAT....that's a real big problem... : (
are these score nearly have an absolute influence in the application?
can the lacking parts be supplemented with other things such as xtracurriculars and essays?</p>
<p>GPA and SAT scores have a very large influence on your application, especially at the top schools in the US. You may be able to overcome a low GPA and low SAT scores if you write spectacular essays (which is highly unlikely) or have spectacular ECs, for example, if you win a major national or international science competition, publish a novel, play soccer for your national team and so on. Maybe. Otherwise, it's pretty much GPA and SAT scores that determine whether you're a competitive candidate or not. And, you should note that most of the kids applying to Duke and Tufts have high GPA's and SAT scores, and impressive if not spectacular ECs. Having a low GPA and low SATs, even if you have great ECs, would put you at an extreme disadvantage in this applicant pool.</p>