Please chance me: (Unique Background)

I would not ED to Cornell because while they meet full need, they will pile you with loans. Although as a non-US citizen, I wonder how that would work. If you are going back to the “Great White North” (outside of the big cities) after graduation, be wary of loans. Assuming you will not be in the natural resource extraction business, your income up there will not support the debt service payments.

Purely from a strategic view I would SCEA to HYP and RD to Cornell,Dartmouth and the other ivies you did not SCEA. According to a Native American coworker, Cornell and Dartmouth are actively looking for qualified Native Americans, of which you are most definitely one.

Assuming you get into the SCEA school and some other ivies, Cornell should match the other ivy financial package. (While not ivy, we did the same thing with a T20 and a lower ranked school, and it worked out great. The lower ranked school bumped the package significantly to match other offer).

Again purely from a strategic view, let’s assume you get into HYP. Consider attending the school with the best financial package (full needs met, no loans), major in Bio or some variant, and then go to Cornell for grad school.

BTW, I love the seal story. I’m not sure how a typical middle class or rich kid would react. My left leaning liberal son would probably be most interested in the taste, rather than the politics. I would love to see him eating seal in his Bernie 2016 shirt. Anyway, it will make quite a discussion topic wherever you go.

Good luck and make sure you give a final update next April.