<p>@BldrDad
I understand where you’re coming from, and I’m happy for your daughter, but each year only becomes tougher and tougher for applicants. My friend was recently deferred from MIT early and she had URM, low-income, and was a female going into engineering. She had the same test scores as OP, and held several internships at multiple prominent biotech companies while also being nationally ranked for speech and debate as well as around 700 hours of community service and being the founder of award winning STEM clubs. She had the grades, test scores, hooks, and outstanding ECs, but was still deffered from her top schools. OP has a chance, but the colleges he/she wants to attend are looking for that “wow” factor. All in all, again, those essays better be some of the best damn things he’s written or else I’d have to conclude that the most likely place he’d be accepted to is Dartmouth or Cornell.</p>