To get admitted to Harvard, a student needs to have good school grades, show his/her leadership and do well in extracurricular activities. SAT scores do not need to be perfect, it is the best to score at least 700 in all three areas. It probably is not ideal if you score 800 in math, but below 700 in one of the other two areas.
On college application forms, it often asks questions regarding your life experience. If your kid have good experience in getting involved in a school club or doing volunteer work, then it will be easier for him/her to answer questions like those. He/she can show his/her leadership by saying how he has worked all the way up in a school club (to become the president of the club, etc.) or how he organized an activity (like spelling bees for the little kids), commitment by elaborating how hard he/she has worked in the club or for the activity, and talk about some moving experiences from his volunteer work.
As to the extracurricular activities, anything that is either an Olympic sports or arts activites supported by the schools can be regarded as in the main stream. It probably helps a lot that my kid was one of the top swimmers in the state and also got involved in orchestra. In his class, another kid who got accepted by Harvard was the quarterback on the school football team.
For schools like Harvard and Stanford, it is important to show that a kid is well-around, not just a bookworm. As to schools like MIT or CIT, it probably is more important to them that a kid can do well in science and math. It helps a lot if a kid can win at least state-level math competitions or science contests.
As to join the SAT classes offered by the test preparation companies, I do not think it is necessary. However, I did hire a tutor to enhance my kids' writing for a period of time.
This year it probably is harder to get admissions from Harvard, since they raise the income level for paying less tuition. If I remember it right, the tuition is $10K+ for family income lower than $150K and free for family income lower than $60K. For state universities, it probably is not important if a kid does well in extracurricular activities, they probably mainly look at school grades.
About getting good recommendation letters, I think it is important that a kid has a good relationship with the teachers and especially those who also also supervise his/her club. If a kid is unselfish and helpful to others, he/she probably can also get good recommendation from the school counselor.
For a more average high school like the one my kid went to, to get into Harvard it probably is necessary to rank among top 5 in school. However, for more competitive schools like those in Plano, it probably is good enough to rank among top 30 in schools in academic area.
Regarding getting a recommendation letter from a senator, it probably is not necessary, unless a kid is applying to a military school.
BTW, it is a good training to take the kids to various competitions like piano, chess and swimming, etc. so that they can learn to be more self-motivated. If a kid can not be self-motivated, even if he can get accepted by a top school, there is a possibility that he could fail the school and have to withdraw in 1 or 2 years.
This year (2008) the college application results were so unpredictable.
Some kids who have top rankings have heard back from any top school they applied, but
some other kids whose rankings are not as good have already got admissions from some top schools.
Some kids who have been accepted by some top schools got rejected by some other schools that are not as good.
To get accepted by MIT, CIT, and Rice University, it is important for a kid to have great performance in science and math
(like doing well in Siemens or Intel science compeititions or math competitions).
Regardless of which top schools a kid is going to apply to, in texas at least they should consider to apply to UT-Austin
as a safety net. I've heard that some kids with top rankings in Plano high schools ended up getting no admissions
from any top schools at all. I feel sorry for them. If they had applied to UT schools, then they would not have no schools to
go to. If a kid ranks among top 10% in his/her school, he/she is guaranteed to be accepted by a university sponsored by the state (of Texas).
For kids who would like to study in science or engineering field, they can consider to go to TAMS (Texas Academy of Math and Science).
This year a lot of kids from TAMS have been accepted by schools like MIT, etc..
TAMS is a public school sponsored by the state, it is much less expensive than the private schools.
Kids from TAMS also did well in science contests this year.
During the middle and high school years, if a kid is interested in science or math, then it would do him/her good to join
the school math club or laser club (science club).
If the kids can not get used to the competitive situation in Plano schools, the parents can consider to transfer their kids to
private schools or send them to TAMS, if the kids can be disciplined.
I know a few parents transferring their kids to Hockaday school.
The couselors at private schools work much better and more closely with the kids in college application than those at public school.
At public schools a counselor has to take care of too many kids.
I did not get involved much in my kid's college application except telling her not to choose too many AP classes within a semester
because she needed a lot of time practicing a musical instrument and I was afraid of her getting over tired.
she had a great relationship with the school counselor. I think it helped a lot.
Some kids choose classes based on how easy it is to get high scores and whether or not it is an AP class,
but my kid only chooses the ones she really liked.
It would not be fun to take the courses that you don't like, wouldn't it?
Even though she might have got higher GPA by choosing the classes like some other kids did,
I actually am glad that she took the courses that she really liked.
About the SAT scores, it is not important to have perfect scores.
For the top schools like Harvard, etc., they probably consider the kids within a score range to be about the same,
so there is no point of trying hard to get perfect scores.
It probably is more important to write impressive essays when applying to good schools.