<p>Back to the OP’s question
Why do you need to apply to Ivies if you have gotten in to Caltech and MIT early? I was under the impression that early acceptance was binding? No? Or are you saying you were deferred and I missed that? And why the ruse, claiming to post for your “d”? No harm in a kid asking the advice of her elders. <smile> We generally don’t bite.
If you are wanting a technically oriented school with research opportunities (like MIT and Caltech) why are you looking at Ivies? Maybe take a look at Harvey Mudd, or (though not in the same league) Rose-Hulman, WPI, RPI and the like? Or is status one of your requisites? My H went to a small almost unheard of LAC called Marlboro. From there, he went right to Yale and on to his PhD there. Sometimes, you can get more out of your education, if you plan on going on to graduate school, by waiting to go to the prestige schools as a graduate student. My advice to any student would be to see where you fit, and so long as a good education and good faculty are provided, to hell with the “name” that school might have.</smile></p>