I think you have the right attitude. You will be successful no matter where you land! Good luck to you!
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Thank you so much for your advice! Yes, my thinking is that since I already like Rutgers a lot and I have a good chance of getting in for my major, āthereās nowhere to go but upā! I will definitely try for the Jefferson scholarship (I visited UVA; really loved it). Unfortunately I donāt qualify for USSYP since Iām not in student government; the deadline for the Cameron scholarship passed already 
Agree with the quoted statement, but important to not settle/sell yourself short.
Rutgers-NB Honors College is your safety & that is fine. However, elite schoolsāwhile not necessary for success or not a guarantee of successādo make the road to success a lot easier by offering a head start regarding opportunities, options,and connections.
School selection is even more important with respect to professional programs such as law school and MBA programs. For those who elect not to pursue graduate/professional school in a non-STEM discipline, then attending an elite school can make a substantial difference in oneās career path.
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If anything, you should rather take your shot at Rutgers, make friends, get engaged, rock it in classes and have a great four years - if you end up at Rutgers.
You should never enter a school with one foot already out the door.
Thereās nothing research and internship wise that any dream school offers that Rutgers doesnāt either - different research projects yes - but you can do the same from Rutgers as Yale.
That you want to go to Yale so I hope you get in - and thatās great.
But if for some reason you end up, not at a reach school, please donāt enter that school with your eye on the door - thatās bad for you academically, socially, and in so many other ways.
Crush it wherever you end up - with the goal of being there four years!!
You have rank - itis - and yet you said it above, you will make your success moreso than your school.
Good luck.
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The honors college isnāt a safety for anyone.
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Depends upon the particular honors college as I know some are stats based while others are holistic. Regardless, in the case of OP, I suggest viewing Rutgers Honors College as one of her safeties because she can certainly generate offers of admission to many honors colleges/programs with merit scholarship money and since her SAT of 1570 greatly exceeds the program average of 1490.
In short, I understand your point, but my intention was a bit different.
Rutgers honors college is very selective as well as holistic, rank could hurt, depending upon what they are looking for that year. Itās as safe as an ivy acceptance.
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Doesnāt Rutgers-NB Honors College standards vary by school/academic discipline ?
Plus, she is almost certain to be admitted to Rutgers regardless of the honors college decision. And Rutgers is a solid safety for OP.
I think Rutgers NB is a fine flagship university. BUT I also like to see seniors have choices. I would suggest finding one more sure thing for admission that you like, that is affordable. That way, if it comes to that, you will have a couple of choices from which to choose.
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Agree and the OP, hopefully, understands that there are several safeties that offer merit scholarship money.
But, my point was to get OP to focus on her strengths.
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Iām assuming weāre done debating whether Rutgers Honors College is a safety
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No, those are honors programs that may or may not come with merit. I believe the Rutgers honors college started in 2015, all will receive merit.
As a general update, I also really like UPenn now because of their amazing PPE major, reallly strong creative writing program, and legal studies minor/joint program with Wharton. Iām currently talking with their creative writing director about getting recruited, and will be sending her a writing sample soon. So now itās between Yale, Dartmouth, and UPenn.
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Please explain this. Are you saying that Penn recruits for creative writing?
Yes, theyāre the only school to do so Iāve seen so far. While it isnāt as formal as athletic recruitment, they can still play a considerable role in admissions based on your writing.
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Considering a bunch of reaches is fine, but narrow them down to no more than 6 (+4 matches +2 safeties) at some point. Once you pass the āstatsā hurdle (GPA, rigor, test scores) and you look to have some impressive ECās, it will be about your LoRās and essays/short answers. Quality and applicability to the applied schools will matter (fit is as important to them as it is to you). My suggestion:
SCEA Yale, EA/rolling your top state schools in the first application tranche.
If accepted by Yale, RD your top reaches that you might prefer over Yale unless chasing merit is important.
If deferred by Yale, your app is likely strong enough that your RD schools can be reach heavy, especially if you got into an EA/rolling public.
If you got denied by Yale, you might want decrease your RD reaches and focus more on matches.
In any case, if you get an EA/rolling public acceptance, that pretty much should establish your lower base for RD applications, unless you are chasing merit.
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I think the issue here is that OP is Rutgers or ātop 10ā - ish / Ivy - so thereās no room for a 2nd tier of fantastic schools - whether a Brandeis or Rochester or Richmond, etc.
Given the bent in creative writing, perhaps OP should look at Iowa and Sewanee as a 2nd tier of schools (but they seem to love Rutgers) or Emory and Oberlin as not quite as reachy top school but not quite Ivy - that are likely stronger than some Ivy in creative writing. But it seems like even a school of the Emory stature might be below the swing for the stars mentality. But will these ātopā schools meet the OPs needs beside a high rank which is apparently needed?
With the OPs class rank, I think they are setting themselves up for Rutgers. I hope Iām wrong - but a 3.7, 1570, 15th percent rank in a public school (if that is the rank) is unlikely for a tippy top school. Itās possibleā¦but highly unlikely.
And thereās a lot of selectivity levels between Ivy and Rutgers being passed overā¦which is 100% fine if the OP, as said, is fantastic with Rutgers.
Great strategy in applying (assuming choice isnāt wanted and OP can handle rejection).
I donāt know if Rutgers Honors is a given but Rutgers is and OP would be happy - although this would be choice limiting.
But philisophically I see nothing wrong with the strategy being pursued - in the end, itāll get OP into a great college, she can afford and would love to attend.
The 12 Best Creative Writing Colleges and Programs (prepscholar.com)
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To clarify, Iām definitely not planning to skip straight from Rutgers to Ivies! Hereās my current list of colleges -
US
- Rutgers NB (maaaayyybe Penn State/American University? finalizing with my parents)
- UVA, UNC, UMich, NYU, Boston College, Wellesley, Georgetown, Carnegie Mellon, maybe Emory
- Northwestern, Duke,
- Ivies + Stanford + Uchicago
International (obviously a separate process; luckily no supplementals but I do have to take the LNAT for Oxford)
- University of Oxford
- University of Edinburgh
What I put down as my intended major will also vary depending on the schools. For example, at Princeton I would put down English instead of economics.
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*I do have to write a personal statement for the UK schools, but that is coming along nicely. I am almost done with my common app as well, and am hoping to finish some supplementals before school starts in September.
I see potentially all rejections below the first line. Iowa might be a better fit for you than PSU given you creative writing endeavors. Itās about 5% Asian - not sure if thatās an issue vs. PSU at about 7%.
If you have Wellesley, how about a Bryn Mawr - which gets you access to Haverford, Swarthmore and Penn (one of your targets)? Itās an easier than - so Wellesley, 91% is in the top 10% of the class whereas at Bryn Mawr, itās 69%.
Listen - youāre a great student - and if you told me you were top 10%, my thoughts might be different - and it seems you were unsure of your rank so maybe it is higher?
You wrote: Class rank: not officially reported, but counselor said Iām in the top ~15%.
To me, this works to your advantage of they donāt report it - including on the profile - for these tippy top schools. They canāt use it for admissions if it doesnāt exist.
I wish you luck - but you really, even with the non-Ivies - Stanford, hello - have a very over the top heavy list - and hopefully Iām wrong. To me, you should be looking at an Oberlin, a Sewanee, etc.
But if not, youāre happy with Rutgers and thatās the best news!!! Because no matter what, youāre going to be happy!!
Good luck.