SCEA Harvard- What should I do to improve my chances?

<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): 800 M 800 CR 730 W
[</em>] ACT: N/A
[<em>] SAT II: 800 Math II, 800 Phys, 800 World History
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.99
[<em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/431
[</em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): 7 5's on APUSH, AP Eng Lang, AP Calc BC, AP Chemistry, AP Physics C Mech, AP Physics C E&M, AP World History
[<em>] IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load: AP English Lit, AP Biology, AP Statistics, AP Economics, AP Chinese, AP Gov't Politics
[<em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): US Physics Team Semifinalist, US Chemistry Team Semifinalist, ARML State Team A, AIME Qualifier, 1st Place Local Math League
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[</em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Debate Team (Captain, 3x state team champion), Math Team (Captain), Interact Club (Vice President), Piano (1st Place Local Piano Competition), Violin (2x All-State Orchestra Qualifier)
[<em>] Job/Work Experience: N/A
[</em>] Volunteer/Community service: 30 hours total in random places
[<em>] Summer Activities: None really, went to a math camp one year
[</em>] Essays: Should be OK, I plan to write about my grandpa's cancer, is that way too cliche?
[<em>] Teacher Recommendation: Should be OK, my math teacher said it'd be "very good," my English teacher said I was a "wonderful student"
[</em>] Counselor Rec: Don't even know him
[<em>] Additional Rec:
[</em>] Interview:
[/ul]Other[ul] Should be OK
[<em>] State (if domestic applicant): Connecticut
[</em>] Country (if international applicant):
[<em>] School Type: Public
[</em>] Ethnicity: Asian
[<em>] Gender: Male
[</em>] Income Bracket: >200,000
[li] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Zero. My sister did amazing at Harvard and got a 4.0 GPA, is that going to help me?[/li][/ul]</p>

<p>Also, I won 3rd place in an International piano competition in middle school. Can I put this down? Does winning an international piano competition carry a lot more prestige than a local one? Will colleges figure out that I won it in middle school and not high school?</p>

<p>hi bump bump</p>

<p>At this point, with about a month to the SCEA deadline, there is absolutely nothing you can do to improve your chances. You have a great GPA and fabulous test scores. You are a competitive applicant. Beyond that, no one can tell you what chances you have, as so much of the applications process depends on comparing your teacher recommendations and essays to all other applicants. Provided you apply to a broad range of colleges – reach, target and safety – with your stats, you WILL end up someplace great. Whether it is Harvard or not, no one can say. </p>

<p>BTW: Don’t put down any awards from middle school – that’s a big no-no. Colleges are interested in what you have done from 9th grade on.</p>

<p>Best of luck to you in the admissions process!</p>