Hi, I will be a senior in high school in a month, and I was just wondering if I have any chance of getting into any of these:
Stanford
UC Berkeley
University of Washington
SAFETY SCHOOLS:
Oregon State University
University of Portland
STATS:
GPA- 3.7-ish UW? maybe higher? (didn’t get the spring semester transcript yet) (weighted: 4.1-ish/5)
SAT- 1490 (RW 750, Math 740, essay 7/7/6)
ACT- 33
Other test scores-
AP World History: 3 (meh....)
Due to weird circumstances, all of my IB exams are to be taken next year. (Physics SL, English HL, History HL, Math SL,
Art HL, Spanish SL)
Also, I am an IB DP candidate
AWARDS:
Austin Regional Science Fair- 4th place, Computer Science*
VASE (Texas art thing)- 4 (superior)
Scholastic Art and Writing Awards- Honorable Mention, Political Cartoon
NCWIT AiC Affiliate Award
- At this time, the high school I was attending had neither a Computer Science program nor a teacher with experience in the subject. The year after my win, I was part of the first such class offered at my school.
ECs:
Volunteering-
I volunteered at a mosque in Austin for two years.The first year, I was part of the team that arranged and did the babysitting for major fundraising events (the mosque was an old and tiny church building so we were raising money for a new one, and was invited as a speaker at one such event, and helped to raise $80k in one night. The second year, once the mosque was built, I was a volunteer teacher for the accelerated class for the Sunday school there. I taught basic Arabic and religious stuff. (40+ hours)
After moving to Oregon, I volunteered at a coding club for kids at the library. I was on a team with two adult volunteers. I helped develop a sort of structure to the club, and helped incorporate new technologies we could use. I also helped kids with their projects (20 hours, will be continuing next year)
I’m really constrained in what I can do in this area by distance, especially since we have recently moved. I live pretty far from where most of the opportunities are here, but I do what I can if it’s local enough.
Academically related stuff-
I spent Tuesday evenings this past semester attending an engineering sort of seminar thing at my school (it wasn’t an official course, no credit) where we did labs and worked on a realistic case study with a team. The person teaching it was an engineer from Intel with a PhD, so I thought that this may be one of the last chances I had to see if I REALLY should go into in engineering field. (Also, he is writing one of my rec letters)
So this month I’ve been part of an engineering boot camp at my school, since I found it interesting. 
As for clubs, I have been a part of:
AP World History Club (1 year)
GSA (1 year)
French Club (1 year, continuing)
Japanese Club (1 year, continuing)
Programming Club (1 year, continuing)
LEADERSHIP:
AP World History Club- founder and co-president
I founded this club after seeing that 90% of our class was super stressed out and not at all on the same page. We hosted group de-stressing and studying sessions, and the teacher said that our class had the best overall scores she’s ever seen from her students. (despite all of this, I managed to get a 3… the irony kills me)
GSA- secretary (for three weeks…)
After attending GSA for a year, I was elected secretary. I was only able to carry out my duties for three weeks, since I moved away three weeks into my junior year.
French Club- publicity director and board member
I got here based on merit rather than votes, haha. After I wrote an email to her in full, un-Google Translated French, the teacher decided to appoint me to the position herself, even though I am in none of her classes. Already, I have helped plan activities for next year and recruited 5 members in advance! 
Japanese Club- treasurer and board member? (TBD)
The president and the teacher both have vouched for me here, but nothing’s official yet.
Programming Club- president
I oversee all activities and plan them! Woo!
(Also, for the NCWIT award, I was informed I received one of the top leadership scores in the nation)
BACKGROUND AND OTHER POSSIBLY USEFUL STUFF TO SAVE MY BUTT:
I am a gorl
Ethnicity- Asian (Pakistani)
State- Oregon/Texas ?
Income Level- ~100k-120k(?)
Ok, here are some nitty-gritty details:
- I was diagnosed with psoriasis freshman year
- I lost my great-grandmother freshman year
- I was diagnosed with arthritis at the end of freshman year
- I began my treatment for the disease sophomore year (after my diagnosis was confirmed on two different continents [-( ) - I was then diagnosed with anemia as well. RIP. - (Read about methotrexate. it really screws with everything. and then I had to start biologics at the same time. ouchies)
- I passed my summer before my junior year in the most stressful atmosphere possible. My grandfather very nearly passed away, and I was suddenly informed that we were moving to Oregon, all while I was still visiting Pakistan
- I moved to Oregon three weeks after the beginning of junior year, and very shortly after, I lost my grandfather.
- The arthritis has gotten bad enough to impede my mobility. I am near constantly fatigued.
- Despite all this:
- my grades are making a comeback (almost all As in IB courses compared to almost all Bs in Honors courses)
- I am fluent in not only English and Urdu, but I have taught myself French and use it well enough to speak it daily with a native speaker, my Spanish is at an intermediate level, and my Japanese is basic (but these last two will improve soon! I am making progress)
- I have made maybe small but important differences in my communities!
- I took my all my exams under normal testing conditions even though I could have asked for accommodations and still
did well!
- I did not ask for the accommodations that would have helped my grades so much until overcoming my personal shame and telling my teachers and counselor last semester
- because art is painful for me and I care for it so much, I have built little tools for myself to use my favorite media.
Ok, this was a lot. I know that maybe I haven’t done as well as many other people, but this is where I am for now. I would also like advice for next year, if possible, to raise my chances even more. Arthritis took many of my dreams away from me and/or made them very difficult, but I’ve always wanted to go to Stanford or UC Berkeley, and I am willing to work for it!