I also see a huge gap in your schools - between Wesleyan (~20% acceptance) and above; and, Case Western (~40% acceptance) and Ohio State (55% acceptance). If you don’t want small LACs, I would toss out Amherst and Pomona (both have fewer than 2,000 students). You may even want to reconsider Wesleyan. Add in more match-level schools, meaning those in the 30-35% acceptance range, such as Rochester.
Thanks everybody! I’m sorry if I was sounding unappreciative… I was just a bit annoyed that everybody was accusing me of only focusing on prestige. Yes, 30% range is what my struggle is. My rule is that I’m not going to apply to a college unless I’d be actually happy to go there. Therefore, it’s been quite a struggle and I understand that no school is going to be perfect but…one can hope?
I’m going to try to cut down on the reaches/high matches to about 7 to leave room for 2 match/low matches. I’m considering Rochester (thanks to those who suggested it), Brandeis, CWU, Northeastern. So I guess it’s researching time for me!
@momofzag Thanks for understanding 
Yeah, I don’t really want to stay in Ohio for school…
@bodangles Thanks for reading
@biochemgirl67 I’m really interested in biochem, took both APs, and journalism is no longer my chosen career path.
@SlackerMomMD Just to clarify, I DO like LACs, but since they’re small, I feel like they’d have to be an extremely good fit for me to thrive there.
Did you look at Cornell?
I’m going to throw out another suggestion on the assumption that you are female- Smith. Wellesley too for that matter. Smith is very strong in STEM fields, relatively big for a LAC, and part of a consortium that includes Amherst, making it even bigger in functionality. I suspect Smith would offer you merit aid. Northampton is a vibrant small city/big town. Its fairly high admissions rate belies the fact that it was ranked #19 (tied with Bates) by USNWR. And it has an open curriculum. https://www.smith.edu/acad_prog_liberalarts.php
Wellesley is more selective and is in a suburb of Boston. I am not as familiar with it since I never visited it with either of my daughters but it is an excellent school.
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Also, people's plans can change - journalism is no longer my chosen career
Does anyone read…
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Yes, but if you look at the time stamps, I was writing the journalism question when he was posting the above.
FWIW, I think you’re going about this the right way, even though it goes against the current conventional wisdom.
As for schools in the 30% range, would you consider Michigan?
Re Princeton. It does have a student-run daily if you want to dabble in journalism/keep your options only. If you really like the campus/environment, I’d definitely encourage you to apply there. Faculty really do cater to undergrads. And if you want to see some of the biologists there in action, check out Bonnie Bassler’s TED talk or her online interview with Eric Wieschaus.
@csdad Ya I briefly considered, but I didn’t really like it.
@LeftofPisa Haha, correct assumption. Thanks for the suggestions! I didn’t really like Wellesley, but I’m now considering Smith.
@exacademic I’m considering UMich but I’ll have to investigate a bit more. Thanks for the info on Princeton - that was really helpful!