DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS: Newly diagnosed B-cell precursor acute lymphocytic leukemia No L3 morphology Very poor prognosis CNS 3 (blasts and WBC greater than 5 microliters) OR Must meet all of the following criteria: No simultaneous trisomy 4 and 10 DNA index no greater than 1.16 (if FISH 4 and 10 unsatisfactory) No TEL-AML1 [t(12;21)] Meets at least 1 of the following: Has MLL (11q23) and/or BCR-ABL [t(9;22)] WBC greater than 100,000/mm3 Age over 12 (boys) or 16 (girls) OR Boys Girls WBC 8 12 greater than 80,000/mm3 9 13 greater than 60,000/mm3 10 14 greater than 40,000/mm3 11 15 greater than 20,000/mm3 Concurrent registration on stratum 6 of POG-9400 before 11/15/1999 OR Concurrent registration on stratum 4 of POG-9900 after 11/15/1999 Concurrent registration on POG-9201, POG-9705, or POG-9806 unless ineligible