EmptyNestSoon2, thank you very much for your post, and I very much appreciate your kind words and advice. I think it was a combination of many of the things that you mentioned that resulted in my bad results last year. I think that on one hand, my essays were a little too cold and formal, and also that there was a bit of dissonance between what I was writing in my essays and what they were seeing in my AP scores (ie not doing well on the AP exams for my favorite class, I probably wouldn’t have accepted me either).
I am happy to say that my second semester senior grades are actually the best grades I had throughout all of high school. I wrote a good portion of my essays about improved maturity as a result of my gap year, and tried to sound warmer and friendlier. I also got a new recommendation from my Spanish teacher who, apart from being an awesome teacher, was an advisor for one of my extracurricular programs senior year, and the person who helped me plan and carry-out my gap year.
As you mentioned, I have also been working hard to find better fit schools. I have already finished my applications for most of my reach schools, and I am currently working on hard targets. My plan is to finish these up over the next few days and have a full month to finish my true targets and one more safety (I already submitted one). Not only am I applying to a better range of schools this year, but also I have spent more time (probably 10-fold) working on my essays, and getting more advice.
I am glad to hear those things about Northeastern, and I will definitely be applying.
One thing that has been a game-changer for me (and I recommend to anybody else applying to college) has been the website collegevine. They help you put together your list of college so you get well matched reaches, targets, and safeties based on your academics (they actually rank them high reach, reach, high target, target, etc.). They also offer advice for writing essays to specific schools, and have an essay swap program where you can get advice on your essays.
I appreciate both the advice and the kind words. Thank you!