Am I being too unrealistic with my schools?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Objective:
•SAT I (breakdown): 800M, 760CR, 800W
•ACT: n/a
•SAT II: 800Math II, 800Chem, 780Bio/M
•Weighted GPA: 4.6
•Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 4/200
•AP (place score in parenthesis): Calc AB (5), APES(4), APUSH(4), Stats(4), Bio(4), Physics1(3)
•IB (place score in parenthesis): n/a
•Senior Year Course Load: AP Chem, AP Calc BC, AP Lit, AP Spanish, AP Psych, teacher’s assistant for calc AB
•Other things: AIME qualified, our school won the county math league and I was one of the highest scorers, Spanish National Exam (honorable mention twice)

Subjective:
•Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Service club, Stage crew, NHS(president), Spanish NHS, Science NHS(treasurer), Religious org., Special olympics, math league, science league, JV tennis/bowling
•Job/Work Experience: Internship at public college at biomed department this summer and continuing in the fall, I worked on a project and a well-written abstract of what I did (24hr/wk)
•Volunteer/Community service: Spent a summer in MA helping poor kids(100+hr.s)
•Essays: 10/10 I spent the entire summer working on this essay and got it proofread by many people
•Teacher Rec #1: 10/10 My calculus teacher said I’m the smartest student he’s ever met. He’s pretty qualified if that matters, 20/25 students got a 5 on the AB test this year (my school is not the best so this is incredible)
•Teacher Rec #2: 8/10 from Science teacher
•Counselor Rec: 9/10
•Additional Rec: from the place I intern (8/10)

Other
•State (if domestic applicant): NJ
•School Type: Public
•Ethnicity: Asian
•Gender: Male
•Income Bracket: <$30,000

Major: biomedical engineering
Super reach: Columbia
Reach: Cornell, Tufts, Notre Dame, Emory, Vanderbilt, Williams, Northwestern
Match: Northeastern, BU, BC, NYU
Safety: Rutgers, TCNJ, NJIT

Is this about right? Anyone have any advice on how to improve anything or change my list of schools? thanks in advance!

2

Good list. I think you’ll get into some top schools. Good luck!

3

What was your UW GPA?
I think you’re being pretty realistic, if not a bit conservative.
JHU and WUSTL are good for biomed, would be a reach though given the selectivity.

4

@jackrabbit14 thank you!

@rdeng2614 Our school does not do UW GPA. I appreciate your advice and I will look more into your suggestions!

5

I don’t get it - where do you think you have a deficit?

The only comment is whether you want to try for a full ride or near it; those stats and scores should put you in a good place for substantial aid at the right college.

I believe NJ state schools have scholarships/aid available for NJ residents, look into that.

6

Everything is strong. I believe a lot of those schools you state to be reaches, could be matches. (Tufts, Northwest, maybe cornell?).

7

@rhandco @LomoKuan
Thanks for your input! Obviously, Ivy leagues are reaches for everyone unless you’re beyond spectacular. Also, compared to other students, my AP scores and EC are not particularly great so I thought I’d just be the average applicant applying to the reach schools I listed.