I think you’re getting good advice here. It’s not meant to be discouraging. You have done some amazing stuff, and your passion and interest will serve you well in college. It’s mainly a numbers game with these highly rejective schools… there tens of thousands of candidates that are very qualified and there are only a few thousand slots at these top ranked programs.
I think it’s worth taking a crack at 1 or 2 of your top chocies (as long as it’s affordable), because you might wonder if you didn’t take a shot. However, I think we want to stress 2 things:
- don’t fall completely in love with a program and believe it’s your “dream” school. There is no one single path to success for any student.
- really spend time finding a safety school you like and can see yourself happy at. Once you have that the rest is gravy
Good luck!