USA Uni

I’m applying to a few T20 American universities from the UK and i’m wondering the likelihood of me getting in.

I’ve spoken to my advisor whose said my main common app essay is really strong, i have a list of 9 extracurriculars i’ve added to the system (some including research and residential university events), My predicted A-level grades are A*AA, but my gcses aren’t that strong (987766665 - but one of the grades are also BTEC D2 which is the equivalent to a grade 8/7, so technically my grades are 9887766665) . I’m worried that my GCSEs are too low to get me into a school with a 30% acceptance rate (for early decision). Should I stop panicking? my family tells me I have strong chances of getting in since the schools I applied to mainly care about my a level predicted grades, extracurriculars - which I have and the strength of the common ap essay.

However, I also don’t have any SAT/ACT scores to submit since i didn’t sit the exams

GCSEs all count towards your GPA - US universities look at all grades for all your subjects in your last 4 years of school (high school equivalent). It is not clear how each US college converts British grades - but some advice from a few years ago said they convert an A (7-9) for GCSE into a 4, so your 5 could be given as low as 2, and it will drag your overall GPA down. A* is treated same as A.
A-levels are given a max of 5 in the weighted scheme (as they are advanced in comparison to GCSEs), so you will get a 5 for each of those.
Usually if your GPA is imperfect, it helps to have a very high SAT//ACT score, and you may still have time to sit the test.
Unless you have some “hook” (like legacy, athletic recruitment, first generation etc) and very strong extracurriculars (ideally with some national-level impact/results), your chances at each of top 20 are probably around 1-2%.
You should expand/diversify your list of US unis if this is where you want to study: there are plenty of less competitive private colleges that offer automatic merit -based scholarships to international students.

I wrote that first comment when I was hella stressed and unaware of certain details but after talking with my advisor more, gcses and alevels are also a lot harder than SATs and AP classes (their equivalent) and even looking at uk uni students that were doing a study abroad in America (for example), when they go, they usually get put in the classes for the year above to match the proficiency of uk universities because the education is harder here. Considering Im also a first gen student, I have a lot working in my favour and I don’t agree with your very low rating lmao 1-2% is like basically no chance of getting in (imo it’s more like 75%). Also, a minimum of 5 GCSEs at a grade C (4) or above is the equivalent of a US high school diploma (which is received at 18years old), which definitely helped me put into perspective the difference in academic levels between the uk and us. AP classes are more on par with A-level or IB courses but can’t really be compared as well how differently they’re taught ( Alevels are very content heavy which is why you usually on do 3 or 4 if your school allows it)

I think it’s important to mention that the schools I’m applying to are test-optional, where last year my top school had 54% students accepted with test scores while 46% got accepted without them.

Another edit lol, I just added my a level equivalent onto my gpa so now I have a 3.97GPA which is near perfect👍🏽