<p>As one of the most prestigious universities in the world, I understand that an applicant at Harvard needs to have strong, adequate criteria in all categories to be accepted. That being said, I have worked hard to accumulate success throughout my high school career.
Background: hispanic, first generation college student, southern california resident, public high school
Academics: GPA - Non Weighted 3.93 Weighted 4.68, ACT 33
IB Program Diploma Candidate, AP classes: Calculus, World History, US History, Environmental Science, Spanish Language and Culture. In addition, with the IB curriculum: IB Language Arts, IB History of the Americas, IB Mathematics, IB Physics
Extra Circulars: 4 year varsity letterman, 2 time CIF Inland sectional champions, 1 time CIF Southern California regional champions, Runner up in State in 2012, Co-Captain 1 year (all for football), American Boys State Legion Representative in the California Division, Co-Founder/President of Chess Club, Co-Founder/CFO of a student ran organization that creates solar panels, donates, and installs them in cities in southern california that lack adequate energy, 100+ hours volunteering at Kaiser, Intern at an Investment Company and received a Letter of Recommendation from the CEO, who graduated Summa Cum Laude at Harvard, Madrigals Choir, and Worked at VIP dance studio 20 hours a week for 8 weeks over summer and received a letter of recommendation from the owner of the studio
Other: For the essay, I plan on writing about my father who was incarcerated when I was in middle school (still is) for illegal activities. The points that I will discuss is the hardships that my mother, sister and myself were put through, the necessity to pre-maturely grow up and become the alpha male in my family, and how my father's mistakes have inadvertently lead me to grow as a better person and mold my morals.
I will also apply regular decision to UC Berkeley, UCLA, Brown, Columbia, and Stanford - so I would appreciate if you could give me feedback for my chances of acceptance to those universities as well.</p>
<p>Everything except the UCs are a high reach</p>