@fightingsalmon I’m going to link a thread here. It’s an older thread but college admissions have only become more competitive since this thread was written. The student in this thread was a NMF, class val, excellent SAT score, excellent LOR, excellent essays, very very refined ECs. No one expected him to be rejected everywhere he applied as a HS senior, but that is what happened. He didn’t really have a true sure thing on his application list. He landed very well on his feet after a well crafted gap year, but his senior year in high school was not a happy time. You don’t want to be this student.