<p>Like apache14 said, and I probably couldn’t put it any other better way, all of those schools are highly competitive, so you it’s difficult to standout amongst an applicant pool that’s already so versatile. Don’t forget, and this is by no means to worry you, but kids that apply to MIT, Yale, Duke, Stanford, etc. also apply to these schools, because if they’re ready for the likes of Stanford, they assume that it wouldn’t be too hard for them to get into “a little bit lower than Ivy,” private schools, such as Rice, Notre Dame, Georgetown, Emory, Vanderbilt, etc. Not to mention, kids that are applying to schools that you might not find too difficult to get into, and they believe that an Ivy League school is way over their heads, look to these schools as dream schools, so you’re getting a good mix of applicants in the pool.</p>
<p>And these schools I would say your app wouldn’t go down the crapshoot! Although competitive, it’s very possible to kind of say “That kid will probably make it in!” You just gotta do something interesting! What’s the “something interesting?” I don’t know, you tell me! It’s about you and your passions. I know it’s not the best advice, but you’ll make it work. One of my friends have been admitted into Notre Dame this year and if I were to say his interesting feat was… It would be the fact that he spent every summer (I believe one by himself) in Spain, at one of the oldest universities in the world, learning Spanish. Now I’m not telling you to blowup your wallet or smash your piggie bank, but take hold of every resource you can. Colleges like to see that you utilize what you have! Oh! And do something or express interest in their school! Private schools usually love that kind of stuff (i.e. my friend spent the other half of his junior year summer at Notre Dame under its pre-college program; really competitive to get into)!</p>