@frizzle68 , you can’t only visit all the reach schools. Pomona and Carleton are more reaches. Harvey Mudd is extremely selective. You need to visit some match and safety schools. Visit RPI and Rochester if you can. Visit CWRU and Stevens. You are a high-achieving student, but these days that doesn’t guarantee anything.
And of course, it’s difficult, expensive and time-consuming to visit everyewhere. It’s simply not practical. So show interest by signing up for emails and requesting interviews. All of the schools mentioned as matches like interest.
@frizzle68, Small data point but something to consider. The STEMy son of good friends was accepted at WPI, Reed, etc. He was very interested in attending Wesleyan as well but was rejected. After visiting some of his colleges during accepted student day, the final choices were Reed and WPI. My friend is an MIT alumnus and his wife Amherst. They were * very impressed* with both schools before visiting but even more so after.
Portland is a great town and it rains much less than in Seattle.
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Reed could be a good option for you. Relative to other LACs, it is a top contender in the “least sporty” and “coolest urban environment” categories. Some qualifications:
- While Reed is not "sporty" in the traditional sense, it does have a significant PE requirement. On the other hand, since Reed does not have to pay for NCAA athletics, they can afford a wide variety of unusual and appealing PE options. http://www.reed.edu/sports_center/pe-requirement/classes.html
- While Reed is in Portland city limits, the immediate surroundings lack urban excitement. Reed is located in a relatively affluent and safe residential neighborhood, including an undeveloped on-campus canyon with a surprising amount of wildlife. You have to travel to reach the cool parts of the city, but this is not difficult, because Portland is bike-friendly and has excellent public transportation.
- While many LACs (especially in the Northeast) are preppy, Reed is hipster. If you are from the Northeast, you may think that schools like Wesleyan, Vassar, or Brown are hipster. If so, you will need to recalibrate for the Pacific Northwest. If you are more comfortable in a preppy atmosphere, Reed might not be the best choice.
- Reed has the longest "reach" of any college in the 48 states; the average Reed student is nearly 1,400 miles from home. So there is a lot of geographic diversity on campus. However, it is always harder to recruit long-distance students; most students want to stay within about 300 miles of home (i.e. an easy one-day drive). So by top LAC standards, Reed has a relatively low yield and an unusually high acceptance rate (about 31% for Fall 2016). So statistically, your chances of admissions could be good.
https://ink.niche.com/top-25-colleges-students-farthest-home/