<p>In response to marshmelt: For schools that competitive, it is basically unpredictable. You may know people that got in with lower test scores and grades, but I also know people that got rejected with higher scores than the OP, even applicants with perfect 2400/4.0s. There are things in the OP’s application that could get him rejected (lower GPA in comparison to the majority of other applicants, and no true “passion” demonstrated in his ECs). The middle 50% of enrolled Freshmen at UPenn last year had an average GPA of 3.9, and it gets increasing competitive as the years progress.
It would be foolish to state that schools with such unpredictable acceptances are considered matches or anything below at least a low reach. Much of your acceptance outcome has to do with luck, and I believe that many of your friends had luck. As an example, one year the univeristy of which you applied to that might want more students in the music department and less in the science department, so if you are a person with a music background, your chances would increase as opposed to a student with a science background. Its also immensly difficult to pick and guarantee a spot as the pool is so highly talented. Many profeessional educational analysts even agree that once an applicant has passed a certain threshold of grades, a lottery system should take place for all the applicants that meet the required criteria, as many students are equally talented and it’s immensely difficult to distinguish between one or the other. Your friends may have gotten accepted, but it is faulty to base their success and use them as an example for each applicant.</p>