Holy Cross looks like a good match and HC’s science programs are tops.
I would still apply to all the schools on your list that you want to (including Cornell and Notre Dame), your ACT might be slightly low for some of those but the high GPA could make up for it.
“I do not really love my college list” (OP)
You never really said why.
Honestly, don’t listen to the people telling you to pull out Cornell, Notre Dame, and NW. You’ve down well in your classes, you have excellent extracurriculars, and your ACT is slightly low, if at all. Let the school reject you - I’m quite disappointed that the people on CC feel that just because you don’t have a 36 on your ACT or do some time of Olympiad that you are not a qualified candidate.
Hmm… what about RPI, Wisconsin, or UNC? You could also try the SuperMatch on the sidebar or go to [the Applying to College subreddit.](www.reddit.com/r/applyingtocollege)
The average ACT at ND is a 33. A 31 is the bottom 25%.
As a parent who has been through this process twice, I’m looking at OP’s list trying to figure out what are the unifying features of the schools on there now. I see remote LACs (Colgate, Colby), small city LACs /smaller sized schools (Richmond and Holy Cross), and then the SUNYs and ND. OP hasn’t said anything about financial concerns, so hard to know whether financial aid or merit aid or instate vs. out of state public tuition matters.
If the OP doesn’t love Colgate or Colby, then an alternative would be St Lawrence where she would likely be admitted – St L is beautiful campus, merit aid, semester in DC and NYC programs. If OP doesn’t love Haverford, consider Dickinson which has a good poli sci program and lots of study abroad, also merit aid. But, without knowing why the OP doesn’t love her list, it is hard to make suggestions.
I would drop ND entirely, a 31 ACT with no serious hook – recruited athlete etc – who hasn’t done something extraordinary, is almost certainly not going to be accepted. Our high school sends a lot of kids to ND, and a 33 is really the minimum needed to be a serious candidate.
The risk of adding random schools this late in the game is that, where schools do consider demonstrated interest, there is no opportunity to do so. For instance, Kenyon would be a poor choice for a late add because, after dropping their “Why Kenyon” supplement, Admissions has said they determine who really wants to be there based on demonstrated interest.