@ClarinetDad16 My family income is 250k+. Merit aid should not be a problem unless the full cost is 60k+. The scholarships don’t need to be enormous; I know that it is extremely unlikely that that would be the case.
Many of those schools if accepted will net over $60k
@ClarinetDad16 Thanks for stating the obvious. I had originally hoped that I would at least acquire some money so it wouldn’t be over $60k but I won’t get my hopes up, thanks for your input
I think there is a chance that you could get some merit to Tulane if you visited, however this is not a guarantee. I know somebody in your geographic area with your ACT score and a slightly higher GPA who visited and was rejected. I think you will get into UMD but without money.
You should think about adding a few more schools that you will get into, like, and can afford. I see you as having four choices that you are not thrilled about: Temple, Rutgers, UMD, and Miami. The rest are clear reaches with 1-2 matches that can go either way. Even if you get into Wake Forest you will never get the price down because you will not qualify for FA and will likely not get one of their extremely competitive merit awards unless you offer something that is " out of the box." There are other schools you can add such as Ohio State, UF, Clemson, or Elon.
I wanted to add that my friend’s son just graduated from a top public HS school in NJ. He had a higher GPA than you with the same ACT score and was rejected from Northwestern, Michigan, UVA, and the Ivies. He will be attending one of your safety schools with a big scholarship and is very happy.
Will you have any siblings in college at the same time?
@ClarinetDad16 No. @twogirls I’ve displayed interest in Tulane. I expect to get merit money there. I visit November 12th, three days before my EA application is due and my Why Tulane essay has to do with the research of a particular professor in the Freeman school of Business and how I would like to involve myself in it, along with how I plan to make the most of my time in the Freeman school. Also, it isn’t that I don’t actually like the safety schools that I picked; I do. They’re just at the bottom of my list.
@twogirls Also, I interview at Wake Forest this Friday, and it will be my second time visiting. If that helps.
Re Tulane: Your stats look good for merit, probably in the $24,000-$27,000/year range. However, as you know, neither merit nor acceptance is automatic. If you look at some Tulane results threads for the last few years, some students with your stats were rejected even if they showed strong interest.
I’m going to try to say this nicely as sort of a warning: I found several of your replies to be off-putting (and saying “Sorry if that came out rude…” doesn’t make it any less rude in my book). If an attitude of arrogance comes through in your essays or in a teacher LOR, you could have a problem with every school except Rutgers and Temple.
@LuckyCharms913 Trust me, that isn’t a problem. Out of three letters of rec my worst one is probably an 8/10. I guess it’s my fault for posting this here but I just was a bit surprised that these were my results.
Northwestern- Reach
UMichigan- Safety
Tulane- Safety
UMaryland- Safety
Wake Forest- Low Match
Boston College- Match
UPenn (Huntsman/Wharton)- Reach
USC (SoCal)- Match
Temple-Safety
UMiami- Safety
UVa- Match
Rutgers- Safety
I’d appreciate it if you could chance me back!
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1906475-chance-me-for-georgetown-nyu-stern-bc-villanova-and-others.html
OP, you are applying to many schools that are highly selective including ones that reject 7/10, 8/10, 9/10. Those are tough admits.
Your stats and EC’s are good and getting accepted into 4-5 of these schools considering most of these reject more than accept should meet your expectations. Were you expecting most of these schools to be a match? 
I agree with other posters. You need to tone down the arrogance.
“Did you see my 33?”
Have you read the chance me posts for Penn & Northwestern? You will be competing with very, very talented kids. Many of them will be superstars while also being kind and humble. If you are arrogant, why would they admit you over one of those nice kids?
Honestly, try Lehigh! You clearly are not gonna settle for a school like Rutgers or Temple and of your other safeties so might as well add a few matches cuz your only matches tbh are Tulane and WF and Lehigh is well known for having people like you so you’d be in personality wise too!
I get it, OP. This can be a weird time for you. You got an amazing score on your standardized tests, and hey, they’re in range of some of these top-ranked™ schools!
Then, you go on CollegeConfidential, because surely, with your ECs (which are great btw), they’ll confirm what you’re thinking: you’ve got a good chance at these top-ranked™ schools.
The let down: they tell you what they tell other hopefuls day after day. “You’re a reach for [insert top-ranked™ school here, like Penn or Northwestern].”
This can’t be. Your score is above the 25th percentile! Doesn’t that mean anything? These people are just mean, and get off on crushing people’s dreams. That prior sentence might be entirely true, but they’re not wrong at all. They’re setting you straight. You aren’t the only amazing person applying to these top-ranked™ schools. You’re one of many thousands.
That’s the bad news. It’s all positive from here on, I swear. Hi, I’m @coterie, and that story wasn’t about you. It was about me, eight months ago. I was overconfident in my chances at top-ranked™ schools, made a post on CC, and got parade-rained on. I got so mad, I quit CollegeConfidential altogether. I was very lucky, though. And you are too! Now that you know that you’re a reach, you can do something about it. Your potential is too great to be wasted to a dumb lottery of a school that you have slim chances in. If you applied to all these top-ranked™ schools with this mindset, you’d get your hopes crushed after it’s too late, and your smartness wouldn’t be rewarded. But it’s not too late!
Back to my story, six-ish months ago.
So, with all of this in mind, and my hopes deflated, I toured around a dozen or so schools. I looked at Ivies, small schools, state schools, all kinds. Each school that I loved made me excited, and each school that I hated made me appreciate the other ones even more. And I found one that I loved more than any other. Northeastern University. In the U.S News and World Report of my mind, it’s #1. (I also found two or three other schools that I love a lot, and three that I loathe beyond all measure, but this is distracting from my narrative.)
I realized recently that I only loved the top-ranked™ schools because they had a big name, or good numbers on somebody’s list. But what does that list mean to me? and you?
My list now: one target (NEU), two backups (love them both) and one Early Decision reach. I also improved my SATs by about 250 points. And I’m better off because of it! All because CC put my expectations in-check.
We’re all looking for different things. You’re looking to major in Spanish, and I never want to conjugate another word in my life. So don’t pretend like a top-ranked™ school is great just because other people say it’s great. What difference does it make that a school is higher ranked than another if you aren’t having the time of your life there? Go on more tours, narrow down the list, fall in love, and find the path that serves you the most.
Decide for yourself.
@dyingforbrown You all are misinterpreting what I am saying. I knew from the very beginning that Northwestern and Penn were reaches. That wasn’t a problem for me. I just found it strange that BC, Wake, and Michigan would be as well. @TomSrOfBoston @ClarinetDad16 While on my way to Wake Forest for my interview this past weekend I visited High Point just because it was in the vicinity, and I ended up loving it. Tulane is still my top school, but HPU is now up there on the list as well. I’m pretty sure that I’m going to take Penn and Northwestern off of my list (or maybe just one of them) because I don’t want to waste time and money on my application fee and sending my scores if it’s not possible. Though it was hard to hear, thank you for putting my thoughts into perspective. Thanks for sharing your point of view as well @coterie
@dyingforbrown Lol you make it seem like I’m naive enough to think that my 33 would get me into Penn or Northwestern. They’re reaches for a reason. It was never my intention to come off that way. Like I said, I was surprised I would have a bit more difficulty getting into a USC or a BC, etc.
Also, I don’t know if it makes too much of a difference but I intend to apply EA at every school that I can. So BC, Temple, Tulane, Miami, Michigan, UVa, Rutgers, and Maryland (priority).
People’s comments regarding Tulane are a little bit off. Mostly right, but just missing on a couple of points. So first, it is true that high stat kids get wait listed (and therefore essentially denied) at Tulane a lot. If Tulane suspects that they are being used as a safety, they will wait list, sometimes even deny but almost always wait list. Since Tulane rarely pulls from the wait list the last few years, it is essentially a denial. Anyway, it sounds like you have totally sincere interest in Tulane as a top choice and that no doubt comes through.
With your stats, assuming you do get accepted, the estimate of $24-27K is low. You would almost no doubt get $30-32K they were awarding as the top 2 amounts last year, and they may have bumped them this year. When I say top amounts, I mean for the merit awards that every student that applies for admission is given consideration. They also have two full tuition awards, the DHS and Paul Tulane Awards. Again, these are based strictly on merit, not need. There are 75 of the former and 50 of the latter awarded, and 7 of those 75 are turned into full ride scholarships. 5 are Stamps Foundation awards, and 2 are Hainkel awards available only to Louisiana residents. You would definitely have a shot at the DHS and PTA, and be a long shot for the Stamps I think. You are not from Louisiana and so the Hainkel is out.
To apply for those full tuition awards you must apply EA or ED and send in an additional scholarship application. In your case I would strongly suggest ED for Tulane if you are that set on it. It erases all doubt about your interest, obviously, but contrary to what some would think it has no effect on your eligibility for the full tuition awards. But as I say, EA is also sufficient to apply for those awards and is non-binding.