What concerns me about your list and your responses is that you haven’t responded to questions asking about what YOU are really interested in, and from the in-person tours you’ve done, you don’t seem to have much of a preference or thoughts about them.
Has your family run the Net Price Calculator at any schools? If not, run the NPC at Harvard, Princeton, or MIT, as those are generally amongst the most generous schools in defining need. If your family doesn’t qualify for need-based aid, then with a budget of approximately $77k, you’ll need to eliminate all the schools that don’t offer merit aid that cost more than $77k. Namely…Princeton, MIT, Harvard, Cal Tech, UPenn, UChicago, Northwestern, Columbia, Swarthmore, Bowdoin, Amherst, Pomona, and Vassar.
You don’t really need more schools to investigate, but I’m going to give you some anyway (particularly if your family does not qualify for need-based aid). If you see blue links on any of my posts (outside of the university names), those are links I have inserted to provide the source information. Information on percentage of students getting merit aid and average packages were sourced from here.
As you had some liberal arts colleges on your original list, there are a couple that you might want to think about:
Davidson (NC) is a well-regarded liberal arts college with about 1900 undergrads that offers an interdisciplinary major in Genomic or Bioinformatics. Additionally, it’s amongst the rare breed of “top X” schools that still offers very significant merit aid. 23% of all freshmen receive merit aid, and 7% of freshmen without need received merit aid. The average award for freshmen without need was $35,549 (source). So there are no guarantees you would get merit aid, but it’s certainly a possibility, adding even more cachet onto a well-regarded institution. And even at sticker price, it’s cost-of-attendance is about $73k, so within budget.
Harvey Mudd (CA): This is a STEM-focused liberal arts school that has about 900 undergrads that’s part of the Claremont Consortium (about 5k undergrads). It’s very well-regarded and also offers a major in Mathematical and Computational Biology. 40% of freshmen received merit aid and 32% of freshmen without need received aid, the latter’s package averaging $13,794 which would bring this school within budget, were you to receive an average-sized package.
Two schools that I didn’t see on your list but that you may want to consider are:
George Washington (D.C.): About 11k undergrads at this urban university that makes sure students have lots of opportunities for school-year internships. Its major in Health Data Science might be particularly interesting for you, among its other options. 53% of freshmen (with 58% of freshmen without need) received merit aid. The average award for students without need was $22,853 which would bring this well-within budget, and you might also be competitive for a full tuition scholarship, too. If you’re interested in an acceptance, you will want to make sure to show demonstrated interest.
U. of Rochester (NY): About 6800 undergrads and is strong in many areas. Its major in Applied Math might interest you, and it also offers a Computational Biology track within the bio major. 28% of freshmen, and 40% of freshmen without need, received merit aid. The average award for students without need was $15,133, which would bring this school within budget, were you to receive an average-sized package.
I have classified these additions by my guesses as to what your chances might be at each of these. I would not be surprised to see you accepted at any (or all) of them, but lower chances are just based on the popularity of the schools amongst very strong applicants. They simply receive far more well-qualified students than they can accept.
you’re right about those random ECs. I’m gonna remove them from the rest of the apps. and yeah these aren’t like those pre-college pay to win programs or whatever. i found out about them after a lot of research on the internet
You are currently a Sr correct? Aren’t these for next summer? All these “I am going to do” activities are unlikely be relevant to your applications. And do not include “planning on” as part of your ECs.
My one piece of advice is to be careful with word choice in your essays. You will need to submit a Common App essay and many supplementals, given your list. Please be mindful that certain words or phrases could be off-putting to Admissions offices, even with your strong credentials. Please don’t refer to yourself as a “little boy.” Are you a little boy? If you are, you have no business applying to these schools. If you are not, please don’t try to present yourself as one. Also, I would purge the “not-so-special” descriptor. Maybe it would be a good idea to have several teachers and counselors review your essays. Best of luck!