<p>Like entomom I do not do chance threads but have a few comments based on experience. The UC’s (with the exception of Riverside and Merced) are no longer safeties and should not be considered as such especially if Prop 30 does not pass today. I know of many California Latino high school students with stats better than the OP who were not admitted to Cal; UCLA; Irvine etc. With the budget issues I would not count on those schools as safeties. </p>
<p>Instead focus on a variety of schools and apply now. The early deadlines are passing each week and it is best to be in those early action pools. You have already missed the merit scholarship/early action deadline for Georgia Tech (where 70% of the EA applicants are accepted). It was Oct. 15. Michigan will probably not be generous enough in financial aid if you have a high % of need plus it can’t really be considered a “safety” school. </p>
<p>Case Western is a good safety and they give merit money if you apply by the scholarship deadline. </p>
<p>Cornell’s west coast admissions’s rep was just in California traveling up the coast and giving multicultural presentations. Did you get and invite and attend it. You want to make sure to get on the radar of the schools on your list? Cornell’s rep gave all 10 students who attended the event a fee waiver and walked us through the common app line by line with tips. </p>
<p>For Carnegie Mellon your stats are good but CM only meets 82% of need with an average financial aid award of $28K. Remember the school is around $55K so you will need to have other resources to meet that gap. See CM’s common data set for more info. [Common</a> Data Set 2010-2011-Institutional Research & Analysis - Carnegie Mellon University](<a href=“http://www.cmu.edu/ira/CDS/cds_1011.html]Common”>http://www.cmu.edu/ira/CDS/cds_1011.html)</p>
<p>So not only do you want your safeties/matches to be good schools but you want them to be generous with aid. Since you are a National Hispanic Scholar look at the offers that are arriving in your mailbox/email. See the more generous ones and apply to those schools such as Arizona. My son goes to Ohio State and they are very generous with Latinos and have good match program. </p>
<p>Look at the partner colleges at the Center for Student Opportunity and examine some of the programs offered. Also sign up for the Venture Scholars website since that website will send your profile to some colleges which could be an additional source of safeties and matches. </p>
<p>The ivies such as Harvard get about 35K in applications and admit 2K with 700 early. A I tell my students you have to have the stats to get a pair of dice (which the OP does) but then admission is like rolling a pair of dice-who ever gets snake eyes gets into Harvard. The ivies could admit 5 times the number of qualified students but they simply do not have the room. This does not mean you do not try but rather you have some great backup plans. </p>
<p>Good luck.</p>