Can I apply to elite schools with the A-level?
I am going to grade 10 and can only do the British Curriculum. I want to find out if after I write the IGCSE, I need to write the A-level to apply to universities. Can I not write it but write the SAT or ACT? Or do the universities only care for the A-levels if you have been doing the British Curriculum? Do I have to write both the A- levels and SAT? I plan to apply to MIT, Stanford, Caltech, Cornell,Georgia Tech and may others.
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(from MIT website, you should do some research on your own at each of the colleges you are interested in since no one off the top of their heads can properly answer your question since they are all applying to different schools now or next year, not 2 years from now when US colleges may revert back to standardized tests and subject tests.)
If you attended high school outside of the United States, your grades and subjects of study might have been very different than those of most American students. However, this will not negatively impact your application to MIT.
MIT admissions counselors are trained to understand the educational system in your part of the world. We do not try to convert your grades to the American system, or to find other sorts of equivalence. You will not be competing against your classmates or students in other parts of the world; we do not have caps or quotas for countries. We consider each student as an individual as they proceed through our process.
However, all students need to demonstrate minimum competence in fields they will continue to study at MIT. We recommend that all international students study:
Four years of English
Mathematics, at least to the level of calculus
Two or more years of history/social studies
Biology
Chemistry
Physics
While these courses are not required, studying them will increase the chances that you will be sufficiently prepared academically to attend MIT. Students without all of the listed recommended classes are welcome to apply.
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Thank you for the advice!