How's my list?

Hey guys :-c ,
^:)^ :-*
In the past few weeks I’ve been preoccupied with creating / narrowing down a list of colleges to apply to. My primary concerns are in in finding more “match” schools with decent financial aid and paring away schools to which I probably won’t be admitted (application fees are expensive!). My stats are as follows:
:smiley: ~:>
PSAT: 223 (probz gonna be merit semi-finalist)
SAT I: 2210 (800M, 750CR, 660W 8E)
SAT II’s: 800 Math II, 800 Physics
GPA: ~3.96
Rank: 8/561

AP’s: 5’s on APCS, AP Calc BC, AP English Lang, AP Stats, AP Macro, AP Micro
Senior Year: I’m in the IB diploma program with Math / Physics / English as my HL’s

  • I’ve got decent EC’s (Varsity Swim, Key Club, NHS, Enviro. Club, Robotics) and Part-Time work experience for the past 2.5 years.

I also make video games as a hobby, but I haven’t worked on anything too impressive. That being said, here’s my list:

MIT
Stanford
Harvey Mudd
Olin
University of Florida
CMU (SCS)
UPenn
G-Tech
Rice

Do I stand a decent chance at getting into a few of these schools? Would it be wise to apply to more safeties? Also I was wondering if retaking the SAT at this point would improve my chances (do colleges care about the writing component)?

Sorry for the wall of text! You guys don’t know how much I appreciate your help!

bump it up :D/

bumperooni \m/
(p.s. In case it matters, I’m a white male from FL)

Yeah you have a decent shot at all of them but they’re all reaches for everybody.

Except Florida and GTech. Those are matches

Scores are fine; maybe re-take SAT with a lot of studying to get a super score. That will only help at really top schools, but if you have the time, it is worth a shot. Maybe another safety school or match; I see G-tech as a match and UFlorida as a low match. Huge reaches for everyone at MIT, Stanford, UPenn…still big reaches at Mudd, Olin, Rice. I see CMU as somewhat of a low reach/high match. From your EC’s though, I can’t tell what you are interested in, program wise. Since you are considering Olin, I’m assuming engineering is your desired field. Add an instate safety that would give you good financial aid. Maybe remove (if you have financial concerns) one of the other match/low reach; maybe not G-Tech, RIce, Olin, Mudd, AND CMU.

Only U.Florida is a safety. Your list is not very balanced. The percentage of students awarded merit aid and the amount of merit aid awarded will very a tremendous amount from one college to another. You can google a college’s common data set and in the financial aid section it will tell you the number of freshman awarded “non need aid” and how much. Your EC’s aren’t decent by the standard of the most competitive students applying to these schools. Your academics and test scores are good enough though. The top students applying to an MIT or Stanford will have meaningful intensive academic work or interships each summer or they will have won something at the state or national level. When the admissions officer is riding home at night in the elevator how will they remember you? Being the smart engineering guy from Florida is not enough to differentiate you from many other applicants

Do you have any intended major?

OMG yes, since you only have one safety; the majority of your list is high reaches (not just for you, but for everybody).

Oh, and please dial back your use of emoticons (of which I deleted about 90%) and shameless bumps; you’re not texting your buds here.

@michelle426 I’m hoping to major in Computer Science / Robotics
@Wje9164be Thanks for your input, I’ve had similar concerns with standing out amid the extremely competitive applicant pool. I have a couple of extremely simple iPhone games on the App Store (think flappy bird quality) which are slightly popular (~15k downloads last year) I feel like I have time for one more big project between now and the time I submit my college apps which might bolster my resume. I also forgot to mention a minor statewide math competition which I got 1st place in my sophomore year (9-10 grade category), I went again this year and placed 3rd (11-12 grade category), but I figure since it’s not very well known it won’t influence my apps too much.

I’ve been studying for the ACT recently, so I think I’ll be able to (marginally) improve my score report before the end of the year.

A big thanks to everyone for commenting! :-*

@skieurope Sorry for being lighthearted, I think the CC emoji’s are funny and under-utilized :"> I’ll definitely look into a couple more state schools!