Stanford (early action), Harvard, Duke, Northwestern... for me?

<p>i'm gonna give it a go for stanford early around
as for regular decision, i'm gonna apply to harvard, yale, cornell (eng'g), upenn, duke, northwestern, u michigan, uc berkeley, ucla, and ucsd</p>

<p>Location: southern california (riverside/orange county boundary)
GPA: 4.51/4.00 (3.9 unweighted)
Rank: anywhere from 10-13 out of 700+ (top 2%)
SAT: 2160 (Math - 790, Writing - 730 (essay-12), Critical Reading - 640)
(i'm taking the october test, the CR should go up)
SAT II: Math IIC - 750, US History - 790, Chemistry - 660
AP's: European History (10th) - 4, US History (11th) - 5, Calculus AB (11th) - 5, English Lang. and Comp. (11th) - 5
AP's my senior year: Government/Econ, Physics, Calculus BC, Literature, and Spanish
ACT: 30 composite (34 math, 31 writing, 30 reading, 25 science)</p>

<p>extracurriculars:
Associated Student Body (student government) - 10th-12th - technical commissioner all three years
boys varsity tennis team - 9th-12th - captain (11th-12th)
california scholastic federation - 9th-12th - president (11th-12th)
interact club/rotarian - 9th-12th - treasurer - 11th
math & engineering student association (MESA) - 11th-12th
red cross club/certified volunteer with the red cross, orange county chapter -10th-12th
boys basketball team - 9th-10th
muslim student association - 9th (club disbanded after freshman year, but i'm still involved with our local community's boys youth group)</p>

<p>Awards:
Riverside/San Bernadino/Inyo County Region Science Fair - 10th grade - 2nd place
MESA Science and Engineering Fair - Riverside County Competition - 1st place team mathquest calculus, 1st place web design competition
MESA Science and Engineering Fair - Southern California Regional - 2nd place team mathquest calculus
AP scholar with honor
National Merit Commended Scholar</p>

<p>Other activities:
Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA Leadership camp) - april 2005
California Golden Boys State 2005 Delegate - june 2005
Coordinated a tsunami relief donation drive via my club, CSF, junior year
Coordinate the talent show with CSF every year
150+ hours of community service throughout high school</p>

<p>my recs will be very good, my extra rec will reflect upon my leadership skills, which i will use as my hook (kinda tricky)
essays will reflect on projects such as the donation drive, school events that require my leadership, and other events in my life, they should be fairly strong</p>

<p>my ethnicity is bengali-american</p>

<p>i'm kinda tentative about my chances and unsure about how everything will turn out, after reading about everyone has been nationally recognized for something on this board or how their research paper they made after their experimenting at UPenn got sent to sweden for nobel prize consideration</p>

<p>so i was wondering how strong my chances are, they seem kind of like a toss-up right now?</p>

<p>p.s. - i'm probably going to include everything above in my application. if you have any suggestions or cautions about including certain stats or activities, please comment on them. that would be much appreciated, because i'm not 100% sure about every single item in the list above, of whether they should be in my application or not.</p>

<p>sunkist16:</p>

<p>UCB/UCLA: Match
UCSD: Safe Match</p>

<p>any other thoughts? i think i have a good shot with the top UC's... i was wondering really how i'd fare with the private institutions?</p>

<p>Is Bengali a URM? If yes, good shot. If no, they are long shots at HYS with your ECs and cr.</p>

<p>i dont know for sure if one would consider bengali an URM
bangladesh is right next to india, and probably considered one of three countries that constitute the indian subcontinent, though usually being the forgotten one among indian and pakistan
and the number of bengalis is relatively sparse compared to the number of indians and pakistanis
so if it makes any sense
it's like we're an URM within an ORM
haha?
any thoughts, with my chances to the top tier schools?</p>

<p>Well as far as your application, I wouldn't include the Muslim Student Association, schools barely care about your freshman grades, much less a club you participated in that disbanded, maybe you could include your work with the boy's youth group instead. I can't speak with authority about Yale and Stanford, but I know for a fact that Harvard loves leadership, so it's good that you can use that. I think you have a great chance at all three of your schools, but you aren't a shoe-in. You are a great student, obviously, but when writing your essay or getting your recs, try to focus on something else that makes you unique, not just your Bengali heritage. Good luck, you'll get in somewhere great.</p>

<p>Muslim student association is absolutely okay, saying otherwise is ignorant. Bengali NOT a URM by any stretch. And apply to Brown, WashU, and Dartmouth if you like those other schools on the list. Same overall "vibe".</p>

<p>
[quote]
I can't speak with authority about Yale and Stanford, but I know for a fact that Harvard loves leadership

[/quote]

how can you know "for a fact" at harvard when you cant speak with authority at yale/stanford? Which also introduces the question: which schools don't "love" leadership?</p>

<p>so you think a 2160 SAT kind of deflates my chances a bit? i retook it this past weekend, i might have made 2200.</p>

<p>I don't think 2160 hurts your chances that much, but I think the 640 reading does. If that CR is bumped up to a 700 your top choices are still longs (as they are for everyone), but they are much more realistic.</p>