<p>Lest anyone fail to understand my piccolo comment: if the band needs a piccolo due to graduation, i.e. if they have an empty seat in the band, then that MIGHT make a difference. You can substitute tuba for piccolo as it’s only an illustration. Further to that point, instruments like violin or piano, well, less so because there will be dozens of competent (and better) violinists and pianists in any Ivy incoming class. It goes to my original point: your rank is great, your scores are acceptable so they need a reason, a highly convincing one at that, to say yes. Could your essays provide that reason? I suppose so but the essays would have to be off the chart great IMO. What would help you more would be if you had some skill or attribute that a particular school, in their eyes, NEEDS in their incoming class. It could be a particular musician, a long distance runner, a sprinter, a field hockey goalie, or any number of things. But in reality, the list of things these schools don’t need is far more exhaustive that those they do and that’s largely due to two factors: 1) they’ll recruit the runner or goalie; and 2) they might find the musician in the group that they will be selecting anyway. Put another way, it’s a long shot.</p>
<p>As for the “facts” issue, and I say this with all respect, there are applicants every year who get accepted with less that optimal stats, and some of those are unhooked. It’s just a very small percentage of applicants in highly selective school admissions. Some people seem to think the OP’s chances are zero and it is with that absoluteness that I disagree.</p>