@arwarw Why did I apply to Brown? Well, it ended up being the only Ivy League I was accepted to, so there’s that. I applied because with my stats 2310 SAT, 4.0 UW GPA, Research at many top cancer research insitutions (3, in the Greater NYC + LI area), captain of matheletes (AIME qualifier, ranked 4th in county), president of robotics, and captain of the varsity tennis team, and member of the cross country team, with 100 hours of volunteer service, that I should get into at least one Ivy. I applied to all 8, because I would rather attend one of them than my state flagship (Bing or Stony). Brown was the only one I was accepted to. Rejected Harvard and Princeton. Waitlisted everywhere else.
I also applied to RPI, SBU, and Binghamton, and UC Berkeley (where I was waitlisted too). Accepted to RPI, SBU, and Binghamton. None of which, unfortunately, meet the criteria (all located in pretty remote low-key areas). I should have applied to perhaps NYU or BU, but those schools are very expensive, and much less likely to give financial aid than the Ivies. I would have had to pay a full 60k to attend those, instead of 39k at Brown right now.