<p>GENERAL
Hispanic Male
Public High School
Texas</p>
<p>TESTS
ACT: 33 Composite (35 Eng., 32 Math, 33 Reading, 32 Science)
SAT II: 800 US History *Took Math IIC and Physics Nov. 5...say 700 on both?)
AP US Hist. - 5
AP Eng. Lang. - 3</p>
<p>SPORTS
Varsity Football - All-District
Varsity Track - Regional Qualifier for 2 years...District Winners in the 4x400m Relay a year ago.</p>
<p>CLUBS
Student Council (President 12, VP 11 Member 9, 10)
Class Council (President 9, 10 Rep. 11, 12)
National Spanish Honor Society (VP 12 Member 10, 11)
Mu Alpha Theta (11,12)
National Honor Society (11,12)
Peer Tutoring (11) </p>
<p>OTHER
2005 National Hispanic Scholar
University of Rochester Award in the Social Sciences and Humanities
Young Hispanic Leadership Award - La Amistad Organization
Texas Boy's State Delegate
Gold's Leadership Delegate
Sophomore of the Year (For my school...)</p>
<p>I was on a committee to select our new school principal, too.</p>
<p>Just curious for:</p>
<p>Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Stanford
Rice
Columbia
Georgetown</p>
<p>Saludatorian + Decent Test Scores + Sports + Decent ECs + URM, if your essays are good and recs are golden I'd say you have a very good shot at all your schools. Would have been much better if you applied SCEA to one of these schools, though. =)</p>
<p>If not, then it is going to be a reach because of the sheer number of applicants to spots avialable and 90% of all the stellar students are going to be rejected. All that you have achieved is also going to be looked at in relation to the opportunities that you have been given (remember that to whom much has been given, much is required).</p>
<p>Because it just is. While the objective criteria (grades, scores, etc)may get you over the first hurdle, the subjective criteria gets your application moved to the admit pile. At the end of the day harvard is not going to be at a loss of smart high gpa/sat kids (both urm and majority). There have been so many events that have happened between last year and this year and you just don't know. There are students applying who will have surrived the tsunami, katrina, rita, war, the usual suspects, those that fit the school's initiative to attract more low income students and the list goes on. </p>
<p>IF any one could look in their crystal ball with any true certainty, trust me they would not be posting repsonses to chances on the CC. At the end of the day all you can do is toss your hat in the ring and let the process play it self out.</p>
<p>What makes you stand out,? When harvard crafts the welll rounded class of 2010 how and where do you fit in? The biggest hook is going to be the institutional mission and how you help to meet that mission.</p>
<p>At the end of the day you will end up where you need to be and you will have some great choices. Just don't get so stuck where you can't see the forest for the trees.</p>
<p>I would be a bit more optimistic than the above. You really have everything going for you. You WILL stand out among other applicants. Even if you were not a URM you would still have a shot, considering your rank of 2 in your class, being president of your school, 33 ACT, etc...but then you're a URM! Don't get your hopes up too high but I personally think you're in at most of those (maybe a random rejection or 2)</p>
<p>"IF any one could look in their crystal ball with any true certainty, trust me they would not be posting repsonses to chances on the CC. At the end of the day all you can do is toss your hat in the ring and let the process play it self out."</p>
<p>I am a Harvard alum interviewer who agrees with the above. So many factors go into admissions decisions that a board of anonymous strangers can not make good predictions.</p>
<p>You have some very nice things going for you, but so do many other applicants including URMs. When it comes to Hispanics, the type of Hispanic you are also will be important. Because Puerto Ricans and Mexicans are the majority of Hispanics in the US, yet in general have low rates of going to college and attaining high test scores, those are the types of Hispanics most in demand. </p>
<p>While your stats and ECs are very nice, you still aren't a shoo-in for places like HPYS. Do the best applications that you can, and hold onto a 4-leaf clover, too. Make sure that you love the colleges where you're applying and are very certain that you'll get in. Also make sure that youj do careful applications to them, too, so they don't reject you assuming that you're not that interested.</p>
<p>I appreciate all of the feedback that everyone has provided. And just to clarify - I'm Mexican-American (as well as a first-generation - if that helps?)...</p>
<p>I would advise that you read the Recipe for success about how the 11 admission officers at Williams balance scores of priorities from the campus community.</p>
<p>At selective colleges remember it is not strictly a numbers driven approach but a more wholistic one because the school looks to craft a class that meets their institutional mission.</p>
<p>I think there are going to be a lot of factors thrown in to crafting this year's class as schools are going to want to reach out to students impacted by Katrina, Rita and Wilma many of these students also coming from low income/first generation environments.</p>
<p>No matter what happens, make sure you have a well rounded list of reach match and safety schools.</p>