I’m not sure I’d recommend Lee considering your stats and thus other opportunities; they’re primarily faith-oriented and their faculty is on a 4-3 schedule or even 4-4 meaning very little research is conducted there. I guess you could apply but UTK Scholars would be a hundred times better in terms of resources and opportunities. UTK Scholars with Honors dorm or substance free dorm would be 100% fine for you in terms of fit.
EA is NOT binding, nor is rolling. You can apply to colleges Rolling Admissions and Early Admissions. However you can’t apply ED and QB - obviously apply through QB since it’s like 12 ED shots.
Excellent about UTK’s “Day at the lab” invitation.
What do you call “UAT”?
'Bama Tuscaloosa and Huntsville are both strong in the sciences, as is UT Dallas. UCincinnati has specific scholarship programs and it’s in a city, that’s why I mentioned it.
Safeties need to share one or more features with your favorites colleges. In your case, I imagine safeties (beside being 100% affordable) would need to offer strong opportunities for research in the sciences and perhaps be near/in a city. What do you think? Basically your safety can’t include “deal breakers” for you and must include at last one thing you like about it.