Chances at Engineering Schools - Unique Extracurriculars/Circumstances, Good GPA and Recs

I agree with DreamToRedeem. It is strange that you have accomplished so much in science, coming up with the idea for an HIV vaccine, and then synthesizing it. That is a ridiculously amazing accomplishment for someone so young. My son hated biology, had no particular talent for it, and achieved a 90 in the Biology Regents exam. And I don’t think the science education at his high school is anything exceptional. I am guessing some schools would want to explore the disconnect between your obvious interest and talent, and your Regents scores. I can only guess that you have some sort of test anxiety. If you can really nail the SAT subject tests, that would go a long way. Have you taken a subject test in Bio? (Maybe you stated this and I missed in in your original post.)

I agree with others that your expanded list is good. Several schools there you should be able to get into. I would find out what kind of placement they have into grad schools.

If you could improve our test scores, you might want to consider U of Rochester. Their life sciences is very strong, they promote undergraduate research, and they appreciate students who can demonstrate a focused interest, as well as students with multiple interests.