<p>I’d like to first mention that I’m not an expert and pretty much no one on CC is – no one out there besides the adcoms the year you apply to college can tell you whether or not you’ll get in, or what admissions wants to see. If you really want advice, I’d recommend checking out some of the old/well-written threads here. I don’t have most of them on hand, but here’s one for starters:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/stanford-university/533633-how-get-into-stanford-admitted-student.html”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/stanford-university/533633-how-get-into-stanford-admitted-student.html</a></p>
<p>You mentioned you had a disadvantaged background. If by that you mean you’re low income, check out Questbridge. Huge advantage for applying to Ivies.</p>
<p>Otherwise, I’ll say this: You seem to be doing well and know what you’re doing in terms of academics and going for opportunities. However, don’t be stuck in the mindset of “I need to satisfy each category with x amount of hours or activities”. Having 10 different extracurriculars, 200 hours of community service, and a 3.8 GPA/2330 SAT really won’t impress Pton adcoms if your interests are absolutely scattered. Sure, you filled each of the categories/bins, but if you did it just trying to fill those “bins” for the admissions, it won’t look good.</p>
<p>My point here is (and I may be wrong, I don’t know much about many of the programs you listed) that your interests are not very clear from the activities you listed. You said you love law/politics/economics. I have no specific examples to give, not knowing much about it – but pursue that. Show them you are focused, dedicated and excel at what you love. It’s much better than having several academic awards and scattered ECs and volunteering at the nursing home just because you wanted to look like you like helping people/wanted community service hours (like all the other flat and fake-sounding Ivy applicants.)</p>
<p>But yes, you are on the right track. </p>