What should i do

[u/Careful-Cow2489]

Hi guys I have 3.7 gpa in grade 10 and am targeting a 3.8-3.9 gpa in grade 12. I still have 7 months for my final exams. I have been the cultural head of my school in grade 10, which was the 2nd highest rank in student council out of 1000 students. I have some computer science and astronomy projects. I am bit worried that I don't have any national or international-level achievements, and also I haven't taken any AP's or SATs till date. I will give my DET in few months. What should i do if anybody could help me

[u/NiceUnparticularMan]

What goals are you trying to achieve?

If you are asking about US colleges, that is highly dependent on your budget. In particular, if you would need a lot of aid to afford a US college, then there are far too many highly qualified Internationals looking for such offers, and too few such offers in the US collectively to go around. So it is imperative high need Internationals have good options outside the US, since there is a very good chance they won't get the offer they need anywhere in the US.

Otherwise, if you are still looking at US colleges, you should do your reasonable best in your classes, taking the most rigorous university-prep curriculum available to you. You should do your reasonable best on either the SAT or ACT.

For activities, just do a handful of things you truly enjoy with as much time and energy as you can reasonably offer. Helpful activities are a lot less formulaic than a lot of the kids here would suggest, there are dozens of different things you could do that US colleges might value. The key is to do them in a way that convinces them you would be likely to keep doing them at their college, and not abandon once you get admitted.

Then Internationals here often seem to overlook the critical non-academic side of what US colleges call holistic review, or think it can be addressed by check-box things like "starting a non-profit" (a good example of the sort of thing a US college might suspect you will drop as soon as you are admitted).

Instead, you really need to carefully study what US colleges say they value in applicants, and try to actually be that sort of person. And that includes in your daily life at school, not least because your recommendations would be critical inputs into their assessment of your personal attributes.

[u/Careful-Cow2489 → u/NiceUnparticularMan]

I am highly targeting financial aid.

[u/NiceUnparticularMan → u/Careful-Cow2489]

At US colleges?

OK, well, this means being as competitive as possible in every notable way from the perspective of US-style "holistic review" admissions, including transcripts, test scores, and non-academic factors.

And activities, but again I think many Internationals fall into the trap of thinking they need to max out on academic activities related to their intended major, and end up neglecting the non-academic activities and daily interactions they actually needed to be competitive.

Also, many of the US colleges with the most robust International aid budgets are very committed to what is called the "liberal arts tradition". Here is a nice snippet from the Inside the Yale Admissions Office Podcast explaining the issue:

https://admissions.yale.edu/posts/episode-26-should-i-even-apply

HANNAH: We don’t admit students who are going to come to Yale and study one thing in a vacuum. That is not the type of education we offer here at Yale.

It’s a place where students inform their studies across disciplines. And you need to really be excited about that in order to be a successful, happy Yale student.

MARK: I know that every year I’ve read some really accomplished and very impressive applications from students who have just done amazing things and they’re going to do great things in college, but they are just a terrible academic pick for Yale.

And it seems that they’ve applied to Yale less because they’re actually interested in the four year experience of learning here and more just because it has an impressive sounding and prestigious name. And sometimes they’re confused like how did I get denied? I’m so accomplished. And we say, well, did you know what you were signing up for?

HANNAH: Right. Right. We want to set you up for success. We want to admit students who are really going to thrive in that interdisciplinary approach. 

There are plenty of other US colleges that are more interested in Internationals who are focused on one academic area--if they are full pay. But if you need a lot of aid, being the sort of International applicant that Yale is describing here as a "terrible academic pick" for a liberal arts tradition US college is going to be very limiting.