@SquirrelRacer i would suggest you read the thread I’m going to link here. This is an older thread but the message is clear…you should not apply to a list of schools where you have none that you are sure you will be accepted to. This student in the thread I’m linking was a national merit finalist, class valedictorian, excellent ECs and references, and excellent essays. A top student. No one expected he would be shut out everywhere he applied the first time…but that is what happened. Zero acceptances. He took an excellently crafted gap year and applied to a different set of colleges (except one repeat where he was rejected again). He did land on his feet, but he had a horrible second semester to his senior year in high school.