Harvard, MIT, and Duke are my “reach” schools. Not currently planning on applying early to any.
Asian male from an average public school in California. >150k income bracket.
Stats:
GPA: 4.0 unweighted, 4.77 weighted, school does not rank but top 1%
Standardized Testing: 36 ACT
Subject Tests: 800 in Bio (M), Chem, Physics, Math II
Course Rigor: Maximum offered by school. Am physically taking a diff eq. math course at a local community college.
ECs:
- CEO of registered California 501©(3) public benefit nonprofit corporation. Host quizbowl-style competitions specifically targeting middle schools w/o much exposure to academic extracurriculars as a form of outreach.
- Model UN stuff (large umbrella)
- Secretary-general for a city-wide middle school MUN Conference. Will not name for reasons of personal identification but it is one of the largest/oldest in the world and organizing it involves coordinating a 60+ person high school staff.
- Director/founding member of an outreach program that connects experienced MUNers with schools that are just starting up/need help with their clubs.
- Was heavily involved with the inaugural sessions of a local high school conference (Under-secretary general of logistics) my sophomore/junior years.
- Club president. We help out a lot with our feeder middle school’s MUN club.
- Paid research at a local institution. Full-time during summer, part-time now. Very well known and am working on getting a publication, although I doubt it will happen in time for apps :p.
- President of Science Olympiad, Academic League, and Math Clubs, roughly in order of time commitment. Volunteer coach for middle school SciOly. Helped found a Chemistry Club and was president last year but dissolved due to lack of interest :(.
Awards: USNCO Semifinalist w/Honors, AIME qualifier, tons of state/regional level Science Olympiad medals, nothing particularly major or overtly prestigious. Would consider myself to be highly talented at MUN and have won Best Delegate/Gavel 6 times, but Model UN lacks a national circuit/culminating tournament where I could qualify that assertion.
In freshman/sophomore year I was part of JROTC (grants mandatory PE credit) and I won their national academic bowl championship. Team captain/top scorer at event. Not sure if this is significant given lower level of competition. I’m good - top 10 in my area, close to playoffs level at NAQT nats, etc in quizbowl - but not amazing or a standout by any means.
Recommendation: AP Lang and AP Bio teacher. Both should be great to excellent. Getting an additional rec from my research mentor.
Essay: No clue 
Hooks: None? Don’t really have anything like USAMO that singularly drives my application. I think the depth of my commitment to service/educational outreach (through nonprofit and MUN) stands out but to top colleges I’m probably just another well-rounded applicant.
Harvard’s History and Science concentration is kind of the dream for me right now, but 5% acceptance rate + Californian Asian male :/. Thanks to anyone who took the time to read this/chance me.