Hi everyone! I’m new on collegeconfidential so please excuse any mistakes I may make on this…The stress about colleges is really kicking in now that junior year is coming to a close and I’m starting to worry about which colleges I actually have a chance at. I’m considered the top student in my [not very highly ranked] school so many people are expecting amazing college acceptances from me in the near future. But I’m grounded in reality and I’ve long since realized that the higher scores I get…the more I fit the cookie-cutter Asian-American straight-A student. So, with that being said, comments on what you all may think about my chances are very much appreciated.
Colleges I’m thinking of(not a comprehensive list by any means): UC Berkeley, UCLA, USC, UCSD, UCI (should I bother?), Claremont McKenna, Pomona College, Harvey Mudd, Stanford (really want to go…more so than Ivy Leagues), Harvard, UPenn, etc.
I’m a full IB-diploma candidate
Gender: Female
Stats:
SAT–800 CR 760 Math 800 W
GPA–weighted (4.72) unweighted (4.0)
AP’s/IB:
Freshman: APHUG 5
Sophomore: APEuro 5
APChem (self-studies) 5
Junior: APUSH
APCalc
AP Physics 1
AP Psychology
IB Psychology SL
Senior:
IB English HL
IB/AP Bio
IB History of the Americas (includes gov’t)
AP Stats
TOK
IB/AP Spanish SL
Extracurricular (not my selling point I know… sigh but I really didn’t want college to be the sole motivating force behind my activities…these are what I actually enjoy doing)
Science Olympiad(Pres 11th and 12th but…our club won 0 medals…)
Okay I accidentally posted this when I wasn’t done haha…
CONTINUED:
Academic Decathlon (Captain 11th and 12th…a lot of medals)
CSF (President 11th)
SYMF Piano Competition (3 1st place medals)
Jesus’ Light (church ministry for the disabled)–500+ hours
HBIC (help for the disabled as well)–50+ hours
Piano CM 6 years–Branch Honors from Level 7-Advanced
IB Grant committee for our school
Oh…and SAT SUBJECT TESTS:
Korean (790)…what I will be taking (Math 2, Physics, US History, Bio (maybe), Chem (maybe))…expecting relatively good scores for math and ushistory…fingers crossed!
Yes…as you can see I’m DEFINITELY not going to shine dramatically more than other competitive applicants…I realize. But, if any of you can give me a fair and valid assessment, I would very much appreciate it. Thank you in advance! 
*If I’m missing any info please tell me! Thanks!
You have a good chance at these high ranking schools with your stats. Great ECs and grades, I think that will make you stand out if you can hone in on one unique aspect of yourself for your essays. For a safety usually ppl just apply to their local state school. I’d suggest maybe case western except they defer and reject students they know are overqualified but it can’t hurt to apply. There’s lots of places you could get a full ride too if you look for them which would make a great safety. You’ll almost certainly get in one of those schools on your list (if you want to boost your odds apply ED/EA to your top choice) so just make sure you apply to one “for sure admittance” school just in case.
Your stats are good. Take a look at Caltech.
For Stanford, your chances are about 5% - same as almost every applicant - if you want to the cold truth. Stanford accepts people who have true, strong passions. That is rare. There are people who are finalists/semi’s in the Google Science Fair, Hackers in the MLH (represent!), TED talkers, etc. They want game changers - those who are already doing it. 
But what I don’t see is why you even want to go to Stanford more or less so than Ivies as well?
“so many people are expecting amazing college acceptances from me in the near future.” That’s nice. Spare the arrogance.
It sounds you like you’re not too sure about UCI - so please don’t apply if you don’t really want to go there. UCI is known to reject those who apply there as a safety school.
You have a great chance at UCSD & Claremont McKenna though.
Safety schools would be State Schools.
G’luck and have fun.
Sorry…I really didn’t mean to come off as arrogant in any way haha I actually wrote that to hint at the fact that I don’t really agree with the people who think extremely highly of me… Yeah I see what you mean about Stanford wanting game changers. If that’s the kind of environment I definitely don’t want to force my way into a school where I don’t really belong (And I prefer Stanford over the Ivies because of proximity to my home…I’d rather stay in sunny California)
I’m thinking about majoring in neuroscience or maybe biology as a premed…do you guys have college recommendations for those majors?
I would say the obvious safeties are Riverside and Merced.
I would say Berkeley and LA are good-great shots as well.
Write somewhat decent essays and you should be in all of the UC’s, considering you’re not applying for engineering or chemistry which are the most competitive colleges.
I think you’re applying to the College of Letters and Sciences? I think that those are less competitive than the other colleges, which is why I think you should be able to get in.
You should certainly apply to schools like Stanford and the Ivies, you’re very qualified academically, but if I were you, I wouldn’t hope for anything. Getting in Stanford/the Ivies is like winning the lottery. They incorporate so much into their decision that they are nearly impossible to predict.