Tons of great advice here and you have a very compelling story. What I haven’t seen is the question of how far away or close you would like to be from your family?
Every kid is different. Some don’t mind being away and seeing your family 4 or 5 times a year. Others not so much.
I want to be close to home, on the East Coast at least.
Throwing your early application to Princeton is a bit risky IMHO. They have plenty of kids to choose from during the early round, and there is no shortage of kids from NJ applying there.
I agree with the others: choose another top STEM heavy school that is farther away from home. The geographic diversity can play a role in admissions. There are lots of schools that would love to have a URM like you.
But whatever you choose, we are rooting for you!!!
Thank you!
Your list looks solid. Did you apply to Colgate or Olin? Might be good to add to your list.
Northeastern seems to really help their students with entertainment. Lots of freebies and low cost options. They give away Red Sox tickets. At least that’s what our tour guide told us.
Good luck and keep us updated.
“Throwing your early application to Princeton is a bit risky IMHO. They have plenty of kids to choose from during the early round, and there is no shortage of kids from NJ applying there.”
Ok but not a firt-gen URM with those scores. And given it’s scea so not binding, I think it makes a lot of sense, since OP wants to stay close to home.
I’m going to apply to Princeton (Regular), Swarthmore (not sure about this one, seems good, Regular), Lehigh (Regular), Lafayette (Regular), & Case Western Reserve (maybe). Already applied to Northeastern (EA). Got into NJIT at least (applied EA)!
congrats! and good luck the rest of the way.
You did not need to apply to so many Safeties in NJ, but if you are happy with one of them, then why not shoot really high for the rest?
Hispanic, 1st Gen, 1st in Class, Nice SAT and only took it once. Go for it!
Sure, you might be rejected by several Reach, but that’s why you apply to 5+. You can only attend one college, so let the elites make that decision for you.
If you can narrow it down, do an ED1 and ED2.
I’m not that confident, that is why I applied to a lot of safeties (at least I’ll get somewhere). I just hope that at least one of my safeties will accept me.
@firstgencollege Well gain some confidence. You have a good resume. Go for it and be thick skinned. Who cares if a few say no? One or more, might say, Yes.
You don’t want to go through life, wondering what if I would have applied to X college or what if I would have applied for Y job, etc…
My middle child was not confident. She applied to a bunch of Safeties. She was afraid of rejection as well.
I finally convinced her to apply to a few elites too. She’s at a USNWR Top 20 now and absolutely loves it.
Good job on the early apps.
Are you afraid of not choosing right? Or does it seem that you wouldn’t be able to do a good job for your top choice so you’d rather give yourself time to apply RD? Or do you want lots of acceptances so you can choose, hence RD?
Because applying ED would give you a clear advantage for whatever college you’re interested in (it increases your odds because colleges don’t have to worry their top prospect is contemplating other top colleges. You exchange breadth of choice for a higher certainty of acceptance).
I agree with Bloomfield88. Who cares if they reject you? You already have some acceptances… 
The worst that can happen is that the top schools say yes. 
Thanks. I have been told by my parents not to undersell myself and start to be more confident, however, no one in my family can truly help me and I’m not an open person that likes to talk. That is why I applied to a lot of safeties and only have 5 spots in the common app for target and reaches. I know I should’ve thought it out more, but I was told “what are you waiting for”, and I applied to so many safeties, though I also applied to Stevens, RPI, RIT, and Northeastern.
The commonApp has 20 spots, surely you didn’t apply to 10 safeties?
(as an EFC0 student, make sure you checked the “fee waiver” box and let your GC know they need to check it too. They’ll have a form where they indicate whether you qualify for a collegeboard fee waiver, are qualified for free/reduced lunch, etc.)
Anyway… you can also use Coalitionapp.
I can relate to underselling yourself and I’m much older. Please don’t. It took years of watching people oversell themselves to realize that I add much more value than I thought. You’ll get better at self-advocating and speaking up for yourself. Keeping everything bottled-up is not healthy.
Your list is solid. You need substantial FA so applying to a few more “safeties” is not a bad idea. Luckily, you found a good website in CC to bounce ideas around. Please utilize the resources on here. Good luck.
Thank you, I’ll see about the coalition application.
Does Colgate have any engineering majors?
Did NJIT deliver a financial aid offer yet?
I helped a student a few years ago that was a Hispanic first gen with lower stats than you and she got nearly a full ride to NYU.
I think you have a good shot at some of the top universities. Stick with the need blind schools (which are typically the most competitive to get in), it makes a difference. This same student I helped was waitlisted at Loyola MD and Fordham because they aren’t need blind. And NYU is a more competitive school.
No engineering at Colgate but OP is open to physics or CS.