@BrownParent I think I might put it on the list then! Thank you!
What should I consider jhu, a reach? It’s a pretty competitive school, but the astrophysics program is great. I was actually considering scrapping both cornell and princeton for jhu (since I want to keep my college list at 10, or preferably below 10) but the only thing worrying me is the fact that it’s in Baltimore… Should I be worried about experiencing racism there??
@GreatKid thank you so much! I’m just going to make my decision after I’ve visited it 
@tk21769 true, those stats just scared me #:-S I think I’ll apply there, and I’ll try visiting this summer. Thank you!
@lilypippili If you can afford the application fee, then I see no harm in applying for Princeton even though it is a reach for anyone, especially if they have a great program for your field. You definitely have a shot but it is still a reach.
BU is a safety in terms of admission but it may not financially be a safety but I would expect you to get some merit with your stats. Also I think Carnegie Mellon would be a high match or low reach.
All of the schools that thedidactic mentioned in his/her first post are academic safeties for you.
@invader71 do you think it would be a waste to apply to princeton if I hated the campus when I visited? It’s not even anywhere near my top choice, I just feel obligated to since it has such a great program… and when I try to imagine myself living there I just can’t (although I guess I could get used to it?)
And do you think you can suggest some matches for me? If Carnegie Mellon isn’t a match I don’t think I’ll apply to it, I already have too many reach schools… so far my matches are Tufts and University of Rochester, I’d like one more
Okay, how about this revised college list:
Safety:
BU
Penn State
UMass Amherst (financial safety, too)
Match:
Tufts
University of Rochester
NYU (kinda iffy about their astrophysics program, can anyone look into this?)
Reach:
Cornell
Harvard
Yale
JHU
I scrapped Carnegie Mellon for a match, NYU, and I got rid of Princeton (assuming I’ll like Cornell better, but that’s subject to change). Added in University of Rochester as a match, for a grand total of 10 (my absolute max haha)
I’m taking it you don’t need merit aid? Because you wondered if the PSAT mattered - you will likely qualify for National Merit Semifinalist - Finalist if you apply when the application opens in October. If you need merit aid at state schools, having NMF status would be HUGE plus at certain schools, but if you don’t need it and aren’t intending on applying to publics, then the PSAT doesn’t make a huge difference at top schools.
@albert69 yes I need all the aid I can get!! I’m super confused about the whole National Merit thing though… I never heard a thing about our PSAT scores after we got them back in December so I just assumed I didn’t qualify
@lilypippili Oh, I see! I can explain it, but do you live in the US?
@albert69 yup! 
Ok, so basically juniors that have high enough PSAT scores to qualify for National Merit Semifinalist in their state (yours is higher than all the state cutoffs in history, so you should be fine) are notified September on their Senior year. Then they have to apply for Finalist, submitting grades, an SAT score, a letter of recommendation, and a brief list of ECs. The only thing that really matters for advancing to Finalist are your grades and SAT score, both of which you should be fine with. The qualifying score is usually around 1960, and you’re wayy over that, and the only thing that seems to disqualify people are Cs, which you obviously don’t have because you’ve got a 4.0 UW. So, just make sure your essay is decent and the recommendation gets submitted in time, and you should be good. Then you wait and wait and wait some more, and in the following March, Finalists are notified.
Now, like I’ve said your chances of making Finalist are very high. There are a lot of schools, mostly public universities, that offer large scholarships to NMFs. http://nmfscholarships.yolasite.com/ Here is a list of ones that members of CC know about and have complied. (Of course, check the websites of the schools mentioned to ensure the scholarship is still being offered.) Obviously not as prestigious universities as the ones you have down so far, but you could probably get admitted to a lot of schools and for most of them, all you’d have to do to get their scholarship is name them as first choice on your NMSC application (you can login and see that and chance it until sometime in May of your Senior year.) Listing a school that doesn’t offer a NMF scholarships on there is pointless (it would have no effect on admissions since that school wouldn’t see it), so even if say, University of Oklahoma isn’t “really” your top choice school, list it that way so that you’ll be offered their scholarship. There’s lots of schools with varying degrees of rank, location, size, etc. that offer NMF scholarships, from Texas Tech which offers a full cost of attendance scholarship - tuition, fees, books, room&board, even traveling expenses to USC which offers 1/2 tuition. I’m going to a school on the list (see my avatar) because I got to NMF and I’m getting a full ride. NMF has been a lifesaver for me. I wasn’t really interested in top schools, plus my stats were nothing like yours; I’m just lucky to live in a state with a low cutoff, lol. So for me, going to a state U in Kansas is a dream come true. But there are lots of fine schools on the list that give merit money for NMFs, so depending on how much you need, you could probably find some great safeties on there. Good luck with your college search and application process!
@albert69 OMG thank you so much, you were so helpful!! This changes a whole lot – BU and UMass Amherst are listed on there! Question about this: Do I have to list the college as my top choice in order to get a scholarship? BU say it needs to be the top choice, but I don’t think UMass Amherst does (https://www.umass.edu/umfa/scholarship/umass-admission-scholarships)… could I potentially be considered for a scholarship by both schools?
Those are questions you’d want to contact the schools themselves about. But you could definitely apply to both - I’m sure they’d inform you of what deadlines you’d need to meet as far as getting their scholarships, and you generally only have to commit to a school in May of your senior year. You could definitely be considered for both scholarships, just apply to both schools and follow whatever directions they give regarding the scholarships. And those clearly state that they’re competitive and only given under certain circumstances, so those aren’t the same as the automatic ones, obviously. But you could still get some fantastic merit aid if you get the scholarship(s)!
@albert69 Okay, once again thank you so much!!!
You can also check out the threads in the National Merit Scholarships forum under Financial Aid & Scholarships on CC. That’s where I got a lot of my information from.
@albert69 duh, I should have thought of that lol. Thanks again
Oh, that’s ok. They’re kinda hidden and aren’t popping up a lot this time of year. That’s how I found CC though, I was googling questions and kept finding threads on here about NMSC stuff.
@albert69 Oh, then I guess it’ll blow up by the time senior year rolls around lolol
@lilypippili If you didn’t like Princeton when you went to visit then you should take it off your list.
Have you visited Cornell yet? It is certainly has a different environment and locale compared to Princeton.
University of Maryland - College Park and University of Texas- Austin would be matches for you. Apparently they have top ranked astrophysics departments.