Chance me for Brown ED - Senior, 4.0UW (99.43), 1540 SAT [Financial aid, astrophysics, astronomy, physics]

I fully agree. And that’s kinda what I meant by the “grim reality”. I’ll put up the best application I can tailored to the schools I want, but there are many factors, more negative than positive, that affect my situation. I don’t necesarrily think that means I’ll get 0/20 admits, but I’m aware of the competetiveness and randomness that my application will also have to be a part of.