<p>So here's my stats:
I'm from the Bay Area, am a junior, and a Filipino immigrant who came to the US in 2006.</p>
<p>GPA: 4.00 UW, 4.48 W, ranked somewhere in top 5% in a class with 1000+ students
SAT I: 2320 - 760 CR 800 Math 760 Writing
SAT2's: 800 Chem, 800 MathIIC, plus one more, probably Physics (hoping for 750+)
AP's:
5's on Calculus AB, Chemistry last year
Took Calculus BC, Physics B, US History, Computer Science AB</p>
<p>I'm also taking two classes (Multivariable Calc, English) this the summer.</p>
<p>Extra Curricular (which is weak in my humble opinion):
Varsity Cross Country, Varsity Track for two years
Math and Chemistry Tutoring
Link Crew
A myriad of community service stuff. </p>
<p>Also, can I use my immigrant status as some sort of hook? What do you guys think?</p>
<p>wow, impressive. Did you go to a good school back in the Philippines? Did you get awards/ have activities that you did there? you could include those if you think they are strong enough too, it might help you. Good scores.</p>
<p>Well, community service includes lots of hours from track meets and some volunteering in Leo Club and Hope Connections. And I've volunteered for the city too. I'm aiming for ~150+ hrs before applying Stanford EA.</p>
<p>Back in the Philippines, I studied at a public science high school, very selective. We competed in national and some international contests like AMC (Australian Math Comp) and had some awards, but nothing real fancy. The high school also sends students to compete internationally, research contests mainly. I was rank 1 in my class before immigrating so that kinda sucked but everything's dandy now.</p>
<p>Anyway, how much does applying to Stanford EA help?</p>
<p>Participate in some academic competitions and with any kind of awards, you'll get into Caltech, Berkeley and UCLA for sure, and Stanford will be about 60-40. </p>
<p>Without the awards, you still have at least a 50-50 chance at Caltech, and should still get into both UCs--but Stanford becomes more iffy.</p>
<p>P.S. Stanford is known for not admitting that many Asians compared to the other California schools because they receive so many applications from all ethnicities and try to admit a class that is representative of all of the US. For this reason, generally less than 10% of their admitees are Asians--which means that your background may actually hurt your chances there.
Also, admission to the UCs are required by law to be ethnicity-blind--so once again your background won't make a bit of difference. The only place where the Phillipine background may possibly help you is at Caltech.</p>
<p>Caltech doesn't look at race at all in admissions, so your immigrant status will not help you or hurt you except in relation to how it has affected your opportunities (and it looks as though you've taken advantage of a good number of those, so it would probably not make any difference). I wouldn't say winning "any" awards would get you in as Calcruzer said - most people here are at the state level or better. You should mention your contests in the Philippines. To get in you want to demonstrate a real passion for math and science, which is not necessarily evident in your extracurriculars (but the multivariable helps.) I would do more math and science on the side. Your scores are certainly good enough for any school and there's no need to retake anything. Good luck!</p>