Guidance Required Please
I am from Pakistan and have studied in the national curriculum.
I first time heard about common app and SAT test a month ago , and I started preparing my essays , and application and also preparing for SAT
My goal is liberal arts colleges like Amherst, Williams, Bowdoin , Wesleyan. I know they are reaches for every applicant on Earth.
But , my question is that they all list they have a contextual way of evaluating the applications and have admission officers trained for students coming from different contexts and curriculum.
They explicitly also list that not submitting the SAT will not hurt your application.
But in all majority posts on Reddit everyone say it isn't even possible to get admitted without SAT.
My question is from who already have experience or gone through the applications to these colleges.
"If someone is coming from south Asia ( developing countries like India , Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan), and he with reference to his curriculum has excelled and applying from a college on his own effort which has no history of sending kids to USA and put effort in his essays and application, is there still no chance at these top Liberal arts colleges."
I just wanna know if there is zero chance there without sat and to Cambridge or IB scores to confirm whether the effort I put in my applications - essays, and all other stuff, guiding teachers and counselors for recommendations,
Is it really worth putting my effort and time or is it completely out of reach.