<p>I’m really at this point going to treat UVA as a match, and a strong one at that. My school’s naviance graph has shown that nobody in four years has been rejected if they have had above a 2100 GPA and a 4.2 WGPA (I have a GPA much higher than that). So though I do understand the competitiveness of UVA, in my particular case, I feel it’s an exception.</p>
<p>As for all the schools in between my top choices and UVA, i really didn’t like any of them. I’m still thinking about a few super reach schools (ie Stanford, but its on the west coast so not sure). Schools like WashU, Vandy, Ga Tech, Michigan,Northwestern, JHU, CMU, etc. I feel are not worth the extra (almost $150,000) cost when compared to UVA’s programs or VT engineering. Trust me when I say I would be utterly excited to go to UVA or VT, and the only schools that would convince me not to go to UVA/VT are the ones above them on the list.</p>
<p>The reason I’m considering Columbia ED even though Harvard SCEA is available is that I feel that SCEA is just wasting a golden opportunity to get into my second choice school with ED, while SCEA would probably lead to a deferral/rejection. And in the end, I’d rather get into my 2nd choice school than being deferred/rejected SCEA.</p>
<p>And as for early/reg:</p>
<p>If I did Harvard SCEA I would also apply: UVA EA and Pitt Rolling</p>
<p>If I did Columbia ED I would apply: UVA EA, U Chicago EA, and Pitt Rolling</p>
<p>And momrath: what are some science heavy LACs? Are these like Harvey Mudd, CalTech, etc?</p>