Case is too far away but Vandy is not? Vandy is 400 miles farther.
Bucknell is a good option for you. A solid match and a strong engineering program.
Pretty campus too
OP said her parents are already upset about the Vandy app.
I would say Bryn Mawr, but Bucknell is pretty far over in PA…too far maybe? Is Lehigh still open?
And don’t worry too much. Send another 2 or so. You have great options so far. If you love Siena, go (assuming you reaches don’t work out). Who cares what “people” say. Kids with high SATs go to Siena all the time bc they get $ to go, and love it. Just ignore them and say what you told us: “really? Who told you that? I adore Siena!”
SUNY Stony Brook has a highly rated Computer Science program and appears on pretty much all the CS ranking list available (SB COA is moderately low and could qualify for some merit aid/Honors College). I see no point in applying to any additional schools, unless you do not like Stony Brook or you expect higher merit dollars from these schools. None of the schools being mentioned have a better CS program than Stony Brook. I think you have a good shot at all the schools you haven’t heard from has yet (Princeton, Columbia, Penn - excellent CS programs), so I think you are set.
“I have a good but not outstanding GPA (97.3/100, Class rank is 12/106, toughest possible courses)”
In what universe is this “good but not outstanding”? I’d love to know. 
I’d also recommend Case Western and Rochester, if it’s not too late.
Are you eligible for need-based aid? Or just merit? You do know that the EFC takes number of children in college into account and you’re a twin, right? The reason that I ask is that you rejected one suggestion because of cost, but you have Princeton, Columbia, and Tufts on your list and they don’t offer merit scholarships, last time I checked.
I think you have good chances at Tufts and Vandy.
Finally, if you really like Siena, what do you care what other people think? It drives me crazy when outsiders assume that a strong student MUST chase prestige. A quality education at a steep discount is a great opportunity. There will be other high performers like you that will choose to go where the merit scholarships are. Being a bigger fish in a somewhat less selective pond also has its advantages with respect to research opportunities, mentorship from professors, etc.
Congratulations on your outstanding record of achievement!
Bryn Mawr doesn’t have engineering.
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they don’t give a lot of money, which is a big factor for my family
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and you’re a twin, and parents don’t want you going far away (understandable with twins…hard to have two going to two far away locations).
Fordham doesn’t have eng’g.
Have your parents run the NPCs?
What is the issue with $$$ ? is the problem that their EFC is too high even with 2 in college? How much do they want to pay “per child”?
Some of your schools may give merit, but may not give enough to have the net cost that your parents want.
Please provide more info.
Yes we did a few NPCs. I know the ivies don’t do merit scholarships but they do tend to have very generous financial aid programs, especially Princeton. Turns out I can’t do Bucknell because I’ll miss the deadline for the FAFSA (my mom filed it this morning, now we need to wait two weeks). I’m still thinking about Bryn Mawr, but I know I don’t have much time left.
Our EFC is kind of high (?) It’s like 15k so I don’t know if that counts as high. It annoys me because my parents make it sound like we’re poor but clearly our EFC says otherwise. They are paying for the first semester and then putting the rest on me. We have a third brother still in high school.
I know Stony Brook is highly ranked for comp sci, but I really didn’t like it when I visited campus 
I really wanted to like it too
Now I feel really bad about what I wrote about my parents in my last post. I understand why this is stressful for them. I hope I don’t come off as some bratty kid Ahh I just hate this whole process
What about Ohio State? I know it’s far but my mom would like me to apply there because my brother applied, and he is heavily considering it.
Run the NPC. You might get some good merit $ there.
Even if the FASFA is late, you should still apply to the schools you want. They will often overlook a late FASFA.
Idk I’m thinking I’m just gonna try to chill out and hope for the best with my reaches… My family doesn’t really wanna be sending any more money to collegeboard for sending scores and stuff
What does this mean? All you can borrow is the federal student loan (~$5500/year). How do they expect you to pay for school on your own?
@lostaccount, why do you think RPI isn’t strong? I’m not disagreeing. I’m just surprised to hear that. I don’t have a lot of specific information about RPI, but I was under the impression that it’s just as strong in Engineering and CS as Bucknell, Lehigh, and Union, if not stronger. And I would have guessed that it’s much more highly regarded than Lafayette for Engineering and CS.
I’ve never looked at the curriculum for CS or Engineering at RPI, but I know some very strong students who went there.
I don’t think RPI is weak but I think University of Rochester is stronger overall. I have to admit that I may have read it as RIT and not RPI if I said it was not strong or well known outside the northeast. If so, my bad and sorry. But if I said that U or Rochester was stronger than RPI, I stand by that.
In terms of RPI vs U or Rochester, I prefer Rochester and believe it to the the better of the two universities. I think it has more going for it than RPI but that isn’t to say RPI isn’t a good school for engineering. I happen to really like U of Rochester. I think it has a beautiful campus. I dislike RPI’s campus. To me, it looks like military barracks-square red brick buildings that seem unfriendly. I like the personal touch Rochester extends in their admissions process. Even the acceptance letters are personalized. I prefer Rochester to Troy. Rochester is really one of the few upstate NY cities that seems to be doing well from an economic standpoint. Rochester is a very manageable city to get around. Hey, they have the nicest Wegmans there is. Troy, well what can you say.
I like the fact that Rochester is a complete, well rounded university with an excellent medical center. RPI is not that. I think US news rates the CS and engineering programs for the two schools about the same. But in general, u of Rochester is rated higher than RPI on most rating scales. I know both schools are expensive although both give considerable merit money. I don’t know if that would be enough to make the affordable.
If I were to choose between the two, I would not find it even close. But, keep in mind that I dislike the RPI campus and that is a very individual and personal judgement that is not as connected to quality as to things like the value placed on aesthetics and I"m not a big fan of universities in run down industrial cities.
Are Binghamton, Stony Brook, and Fordham affordable? If so, they are now safeties.
Are there any other schools that you prefer over any of your safeties, fit in your existing constraints (cost, location, intended major), and whose deadlines have not passed? These are the schools you may want to apply to (if there are no such schools, then you need not apply to any more).
Well, then anything other than a full ride will be unaffordable.
Apply to some full ride schools from these lists (check deadlines):
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/ (safeties if you qualify)
http://competitivefulltuition.yolasite.com/ (matches or reaches for the full ride scholarships)
Yes, many of them are out of the region, but if you parents are basically requiring you to get a full ride to go to college, then they and you cannot be too picky about the region.
It’s much, much lower than the total COA at places like Princeton. However, it’s still high if your family is not able and willing to pay it.
Let’s assume (generously) you attend a college that covers the entire difference between the EFC and the full cost. If your parents only cover the $15K EFC for one semester, then how will you cover the $15K every other semester? You (the student) cannot borrow more than the federal student loan limits allow, that is, $5500-$7500 (https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/types/loans/subsidized-unsubsidized). The balance would be a lot to make up from work-study and summer jobs alone.
One option would be to attend a local public school and commute from home. In my area, tuition at one good, “directional” state university is about $11K/year. It sounds like your family could afford that with ~$2K/semester (or maybe a bit more in the first year) from your parents, then the rest from some combination of student loans, work-study, and summer jobs.
Another option is to shoot for a big merit scholarship (full tuition to full ride). It’s a little late to start on that process for Fall 2016, but maybe some of the “big merit” schools are still taking applications (http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/).
A third option is if you get lucky and one of the schools on your list comes through with more aid than expected (to reduce your EFC to below $15K). A realistic limit for “self help” (student loans + work-study + summer jobs) is probably about $8K-$12K/year. Your current list may not give you good enough odds of getting lucky (unless you’re sure you can afford, and would be happy to attend, one of the schools that already accepted you.)
@WalknOnEggShells: RPI is fourth in a USA Today article, “The Top 10 Engineering Colleges in the U.S.,” so the school is highly recognized for its programs. This particular ranking weights concentration of resources heavily, however, which may be either not relevant or a negative for some.