Okay so a few things to go over here,
First of all, about my extracurriculars, I’m kinda confused as to how my list is seen as “too many” compared to the rest of the applications out there. I did all of this, and have proof of it, however I do not think it qualifies as borderline unbelieveable, obviously all of this has been scattered throughout my high school years, and especially the ones that focus on academics and astronomy have been connected to each other like, my physics confrence acceptance allowed me to meet some incredible astronomy academics, which prompted me to form TAPhA, then the initiative through the last 5-6 months etc. My point is I have proof and strong a strong narrative to back everything up.
Regarding my software and research being the same thing, I really couldn’t combine the two as one uses the already existent manual telescope software to conduct research, and my own software solves that exact problem in a private setting. Only variation that comes up in mind is perhaps a sentence like “..did research, which led me to write my own software x to adress y issue”
Regarding affordability, I’m aware that 17/20 schools listed have publicly stated to meet %100 of demonstrated need if accepted, and for schools like UMiami and MSU, I’ll be applying however I do not have a concrete financial plan in the case of them being my only acceptance.
And finally, I know the schools I listed as “likely” are reach or low-reach schools. My point in submitting this thread is to get an understanding of what my application chances are when the rest of my application is kept in mind. If you’re unsure about me getting even one single acceptance excluding MSU and UMiami, I respect your opinion, but ask you to chance me, based on my application, and where it stands compared to the applications previously accepted into the colleges I’ve listed.
Thank you for your time.