@xraymancs I understand but do you believe I have a chance at these “highly selective” schools? I do not want to waste time applying when I do not have the background necessary to be successful in admissions. Will a 3.7 be strong enough to pass the GPA triage? I will ask my faculty.
Your faculty mentors will know the field better than I do. You shoudl be able to get into a very good program though.
Once you have completed one or two applications and gotten your letters of recommendation, additional applications are not much work. Other than the application costs, you don’t really have anything to lose applying to a few stretch programs.