Chance my daughter Harvard, Tufts, Dartmouth, Cornell, Columbia PO Sciences

Sat: 1460
8/210
4.35/4.6
All AP’s 4 or 5 except Chem with a 3

Sports: Varsity tennis lettered all 4 years

Academic: All honor societies with elected positions

Music: Trombone in jazz, violin (second chair) in local youth orchestra, Began viola 3 years ago and since is Principal Violist in local orchestra. District, Regions, and State (this year we have every expectation), volunteers for all county pit orchestras that need to beef up their string sections.

EC: Peer Helper for special needs students since 7th grade.
Diversity club founder which she is now President.
Chair of Mini Thon a philanthropic fundraising club for pediatric cancer.

Harvard legacy.

Based on the limited information shared about your daughter in this thread, my strongest impression is that she is a well rounded candidate (athletics, music, volunteer/community service & academics).

Is she an URM ? Planning to play tennis as a competitive collegiate athlete ?

Should be a competitive applicant.

As a legacy at Harvard, her admissions chances are about 5 times those of the regular applicant. So, while it is still likely a reach, it is possibly not the super high reach that it would be for non-legacy applicants. Her SAT score that are in the bottom 25% for Harvard, which may hurt her, however. What is her UW GPA?

The rest are much higher reaches, since your D is in the mid 50% range by stats and lacks any obvious hooks for these colleges with very low acceptance rates. Unless, of course, she went to an Ivy Feeder high school.

I think that her chances for Columbia are pretty low, since her SAT scores fall in the bottom 25% for Columbia (mid 50% are 1480-1560).

I doubt she’ll get in any of these but Tufts. She has some chance at Harvard if she applies SCEA and your legacy status is layered with donation. If you are URM then she may have some hope at other schools on your list but unlikely if you are ORM.

None of the info posted would be sufficiently predictive of a Tufts admission. Tufts puts a lot of weight on the character and interesting-ness of the applicant as conveyed via essays and recommendations, and demonstrated interest. Admit rate is about 15%.

The 3 score (and 4) and limited ECs can hurt, as well as low SAT. The unweighted gpa matters more and adcoms will look at the transcript.

Key to choosing targets is understanding your competitive position and what more they look for.

These are reach schools for even the most accomplished applicants. With a sub 1500 SAT score, even more reachy unless she is being recruited for tennis.

Spend the time finding match and safety schools and then leverage Legacy by applying early to Harvard.

Her ECs are not limited. Varsity Tennis for 4 years + playing three musical instruments + 3 volunteer positions is very extensive. That is, in fact, where she is strongest.

Her SAT is also excellent (97th percentile), it is just below the SATs of the kids who are being accepted to the super-competitive colleges which are on the list here. I expect that her UW GPA is also pretty high, however, again, it is below what most of these colleges like to see in otherwise unhooked applicants.

There is no question that the OP’s daughter can gain admission to a large number of excellent colleges. However, these likely do not include most of the colleges on this list. Her legacy status at Harvard makes it a possibility (though still a reach), and Tufts is a good choice for a reach. Otherwise, the OP should look at matches and safeties.

Legacy at Harvard College, or legacy at another division of Harvard?

Makes a big difference. Odds of admission for Harvard College legacy are 7.8 higher vs non legacy (absolute percentage increase of 683%).