Chance me - top ivies/stanford/mit/caltech

Ivies, Stanford, MIT (and the rest of the T20.)
Well, your ECs boil down to stem and “piano prodigy.” Getting into a tippy top is not about being spikey. (MIT discusses how unilateral isn’t an "it.) Imo, if you’ve been researching what these colleges want and look for, you’d know it’s about more, the right rounding. They want to see kids can climb past their interest zones, try new things, and will be like that in their college community.

Any committed comm service? Not just NHS and piano? Your stats are great, but learn what the rest of it is. It’s not just the essay.

Prepare to be disappointed.

“National merit finalist”

How do you know when the semi-finalists haven’t even been announced yet?

*hopefully

Hey. Don’t let some of the other posters get you down. They are trying to be realistic, to not let you get your hopes up. No one here has any idea who might get into an elite school. You have enough to get past the minimum threshold, and then it’s just a matter of whether the school likes you or not. I’ll say it another way: From what you’ve presented here, you seem to have as good a shot as anyone else. That could easily mean that you get into all of them or get shut out, though, since many sterling students don’t get into the schools you are focusing on. We just don’t know.

I think the key take-away is that applying for college is NOT the same as applying for a job. Having a bunch of accomplishments on your resume, by itself, isn’t going to ensure anything. Lots of kids have done cool stuff. They will accept you if they like you. Figure out how to make yourself as likeable as possible through your essays. That’s all you can do.

Look, you’ll be successful anywhere. As long as you don’t connect your idea of success with the name of the school on your diploma, you’ll be fine.

Also, it’s a step down from those schools, but if you want to continue your music studies, the University of Rochester is connected to one of the greatest music schools in the world. I’m not sure, though, what if any limits there are on an U of R student in what they can do at Eastman, but if there is any sort of joint program there, they would probably kill for you. best of luck.