Undergraduate Studies: What are the requirements for a Russian high school graduate to apply to US universities?

Universities that are used to dealing with international applicants (and that's most of them) have admissions officers who are familiar with the educational systems of various countries.  They do NOT expect international applicants to have completed the same classes as US applicants, but to have done very well in their own system.  Many other countries' secondary educational systems are more specialized than in the US, so that students may have chosen to attend a science/math high school, or a languages school, and have relatively few classes in other things.  This is fine.  US universities will expect students to be quite fluent in English, however.

It would vary depending on the university you intend to attend. You should contact each school you are interested with to get more information. See http://bitly.com/1rOeCRK to find schools.

High School Diploma - translated in to English by college's verified/certified service - US based one. (something like "Academic Translations of Transcripts & Diplomas").  There should be an official stamp and this service will state "this diploma is equivalent to the US High School Diploma with equivalent GPA to (let's say 3.9) by US standards...etc. TOEFL - test of English as a foreign language SAT or ACT Letters of recommendations from the teachers - in English or translated into English You will have to fill in application (obviously) and most importantly write an "additional information" essay, explaining as to why you would like to study in US and why at this particular college and how you will contribute to the student body...etc. As an example: I came without an undergraduate diploma from Russia, but translators stated that number of my credits (I submitted an official University classes/hours/grades paper) equal to the same number of credits required for graduation from US undergraduate programs.  Passed TOEFL and, in my case GMAT, wrote an essay and got into top MBA program... Of course, TOEFL and SAT/ACT scores should be decent by US standards - English sections are not as important as math for you on SAT - you should score high on TOEFL to compensate for poor English on SAT/ACT.  I am assuming English is not your native language and that you have not studied at English language school for the past 4 years.