<p>Nobody can chance you for most of these schools. It’s safe to say, without even looking at your stats (though to be clear, I did read through everything), that almost all will be reach-y, or at the very least high-matchy. </p>
<p>You’re an exceptionally strong applicant who obviously has a lot to offer any school, but it’s (a) impossible to chance people at most of these places; (b) particularly difficult to chance someone in your situation. We simply can’t know, any more than you can, how admissions officers will feel about your illness-related weaknesses. One hopes that they’ll all be understanding, but if you’re counting on “okay” teacher recs to pump up your personal qualities, that could hurt you. If I were an adcom, I’d probably be hoping for a rec that said “The kid got dealt a bad hand, but came back SO strong and SO motivated…” etc. versus, y’know, “He wasn’t in class much because of illness, but when he was here, he did fine.” Then again, maybe the recs will be stronger than you hope, or maybe it’ll be a non-issue…it’s just not something that’s predictable.</p>
<p>I do hope that that’s not actually your final list, because it’s devoid of a single safety. If you don’t want to go to Kentucky, then that’s fine…don’t apply there. But there are still a lot of great “safety” schools that would be glad to have you, and would likely even offer you merit money. Right now, odds are very good that you’ll get into multiple schools on your list, but it’s also conceivable, in a very-worst-case-but-nonetheless-possible scenario, that you wouldn’t get into any. Why even risk it?</p>
<p>Last piece of advice: be careful with your attitude. You’re right to wonder how you can make note of your circumstances without sounding whiney…make sure that you accomplish this in any remaining apps!!! Right now (and I know that this is only an internet forum, so I hope you take this in the casual, suggestive spirit in which it’s intended), between your comments about being ill, being stuck on JV soccer, having no chance at Princeton, etc., you come off as rather bitter. You obviously have had some bad luck, and it’s very important to make note of this on your apps. I’m not trying to say “suck it up,” but I do recommend that you adopt more of a “crap happens,” as opposed to a “crap happens to me” approach.</p>
<p>If you’re still looking for better safeties/matches, people might be able to make suggestions if you say something about what you’re looking for in schools. Right now, it’s difficult to glean much from your list, which kind of just looks like a semi-random collection of “good schools” (no question there).</p>
<p>Just to reiterate, you really are a strong candidate and I’m sure that this process will go well for you. Good luck :)</p>