<p>My D, who is black, with 2000 plus SAT, and about 3.9 uw GPA got only small merit offers from most places, and none from the majority. She was not a science major, but her ECs were not too shabby for not top 10 schools. The major exception was Santa Clara. Son, accepted for engineering, worse stats, better ECs fared the same, except his exception was LMU, and not sure how long that will last. We had two in privates when that happened, but were not eligible for need based aid. Also Willamette was very …welcoming, but they don’t have engineering, and I don’t know about their sciences.</p>
<p>Having SOME need, and SOME adversity might help. </p>
<p>Anyway, might be different in California for Hispanic applicants, but she might want to check out west, and in the pacific northwest. They could REALLY use some pigment up there! ( joking?).</p>