What are my chances and matches? US HS Junior

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Any school that offers EA you should apply EA and if you are EDing to Cornell the only schools you can’t apply to EA are those who have Single Action Early Action or REA.
Your school counselor will help you with that list plus have more advice on which schools take into account demonstrated interest.

UMD, Northeastern, Rutgers, UVA all have EA off the top of my head. UMD admissions officers have told applicants who have come to visit that if you don’t apply EA you really limit your chances of getting in.

BU does not have EA but by applying by Dec 1 you can qualify for certain merit aid but you don’t get a decision till the RD date.
Also not to be a downer but given the acceptance rates at your match schools - you may want to rethink because many of those are reaches especially the state schools for OOS students i.e. UMich and UNC. Students with 1500+ SATs, exceptional GPAs (unweighted 4.0), leadership roles in extracurricular activities are getting deferred and rejected from those schools.

If you have a school you love 2nd to Cornell I would apply ED2 if available

  • Safety
    Syracuse(RD), Rutgers(RD), Virginia Tech(RD)
  • Likely
    American(RD), Florida State(RD), Central Florida(RD), George Washington(RD), Lehigh(RD),
  • Match
    Boston University(EA), University of Michigan(EA), UNC(RD), Northeastern(RD), Tufts(RD), UMiami(RD), University of Florida(RD)
  • Reach
    WashU St(RD), Vanderbilt University(RD) UVA(RD), Upenn(RD), Georgia Tech(RD), NYU(RD), Georgetown(RD), UCLA(RD)
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For private high schools, where the GPA and rigor may not be directly comparable to a public school, your own counselors can give you the best guidance.

Some notes… Cornell is heavily dependent on what college and program you’re applying too. I know several unweighted 4.0 legacy applicants who got rejected this year. Even ED with legacy, I would consider it very much a reach. Note that Agriculture and Life Science does not accept standardized test scores at all, they are totally test blind.

Your safeties and likelies seem about correct. Boston University does not have EA, and it may be a high match/low reach. I would call Tufts a reach.
Your reach list is mostly realistic reaches. I’d note a very low chance of acceptance at U.Penn without some wow factor in your application.

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