@rkalahasty you seem qualified, but I think you may want to think over what kind of undergraduate education you want. You see, Cornell and Penn on your list are all about vocational learning i.e. if you go there to study biology, you will, for the most part, stay within the bounds of biology and take courses related to that for your education. The other schools on your list have undergraduate liberal arts curriculums, which means they like applicants who want a more diverse education, specializing in something but also taking courses related to other fields for the purposes of interdisciplinary education, since that is what the liberal arts curriculum gives to students.
Also, besides that, some schools on your list have decidedly contrasting views on education even within the liberal arts. Columbia and Brown are exact curricular opposites. Columbia’s core curriculum means that a quarter to a third of your courses as an undergrad are decided for you, since the core means that there are a number of courses that all undergrads are required to take. You may like that, or may not, but you should consider it. They have many Columbia-specific courses that I found quite interesting. Brown, meanwhile has the open curriculum, meaning that you have almost no requirements to fulfill and can take courses from multiple fields, building your own concentration of multiple fields you are interested in without having to worry about requirements you may have to fulfill.
Additionally, some of the schools on your list like Harvard, Columbia and Penn are in large cities and, to an extent, have a city-based social life and atmosphere. Others like Princeton and Yale are small city schools, with a more campus-based social life and atmosphere.
These are just things to consider, Which side of any of these factors you prefer will help dictate fit, which is perhaps the strongest factor college admissions officers look at for their decisions. It will also help tell you if some of these schools might be better replaced with other top tier schools that best fit what you want out of a college experience. Also, Princeton and Brown on this list (and to a lesser extent, Yale) are the only ones which are undergraduate-focused. The rest have more of postgrad focus, so small class sizes, participation in research, and close contact with professors would be harder to come by in the latter category.
OP - If you think 7 of the 8 Ivies are a “good fit,” you need to more digging. The only thing all these schools have in common is playing in the same sports conference and prestige. You will need to be able to articulate the “why us” very, very clearly and “it’s a great school” is not the answer they are looking for. I’d encourage you to really think about what you want from your college experience - size of the school, location, pre-professional supports, research opportunities (especially if you are bringing to the table past experiences that you may want to continue), etc… If you are planning on a pre-med track - dig deep into the numbers of acceptances to med school, attrition to other majors, student supports, average GPAs, etc…
For the record, Cornell is rich in the traditions of a liberal arts education. There will be tons of requirements outside biology required for graduation, especially for a student studying biology through the College of Arts and Sciences (which is where I would expect this student to apply since they are also interested in Brown).
This is simply not true. You will find small class sizes, ability for undergraduate research, and close contact with profs at many, many schools, and certainly at all of the Ivies.
Gogreen, you don’t know nearly as much about Ivy League schools as you think you do. Virtually everything you posted about Brown is incorrect (I am both an alumna and an admissions interviewer, involved and back to campus very frequently). A bio major at Brown has to fulfill all the requirements of the Biology department in order to graduate. You can’t just declare yourself “I’m making up my own major” and then dabble in whatever you want. The open curriculum does not mean what you think it means.
The inaccuracies of your POV on the other colleges I will leave to others to correct (but they are numerous). Please stop posting as if you were a college expert. Someone else (not the OP) reading this thread is going to be seriously misled by some of the stuff you write.
The idea of Columbia, Penn and Cornell having a “post grad” focus is hilarious. Ask any graduate of a grad program of those universities and they will double over with laughter. I have a Master’s from one of these-- the undergrads were the main event and everyone knew it. If you were at the Med school- then yes, you were insulated from the undergrad focus because that program is completely self-contained, the hospitals are geographically removed, etc. But otherwise???
Pick your favorite and apply SCEA or ED. If FA is a concern, HYP will likely be the most generous. Simultaneously apply EA (where allowed by the SCEA restrictions) or rolling admissions to a couple of safety/match programs. You can see where the chips fall in December, and reset for RD applications (maybe none if you get into your SCEA or ED school).
You will get a better idea from your school counselor/peers than strangers. How did similar students do in previous years at your school ?
Try to identify reasonable matches and safeties that you will be happy to attend.
Learn more about the Reach schools (visit, attend classes, talk to students) to find a good fit, and articulate that in your essays.
If you are an Asian Male, then your chances at the elite schools are quite slim, in spite of your excellent stats.
Aim high but be realistic, and Good Luck !
What is your ultimate goal? An undergrad degree in biology, is nice, but will be difficult without graduate work (PhD, Masters, MD). Are you premed?
If so then premed varies considerably among all of the ivies. Why are you only focused on the ivy schools? There are so many other great colleges out there with great biology programs.
Choose a college that has flexibility and affordability. College students changes majors all the time. It’s part of the learning and maturing process. Don’t get hung up on school rankings. You’ll be surprised how useless they are in determining how good the school actually is. A Cornell degree makes for a good conversation starter, but if you come out with $150k in debt, the bachelors degree won’t mean much. You have grades sufficient to get a full ride scholarship. That’s worth far more than prestige, and if you do choose medicine, you have a big financial advantage going into medical school.
Your stats are pretty strong, but as you have already realised it is hard for anyone to say who will get into the elite schools. Have to agree with coolguy40 on the affordability part. If you are seriously considering premed (or any post grad studies for that matter) you will want to come out of undergrad with as little debt as possible. So that is definitelt something you should also consider when looking at colleges. UVA has a very strong biomedical engineering program that you might want to look into.
Good luck!!