Chance Me/College List Advice

Hooks: woman in stem? if not then there's nothing lmao

Demographics: ca, homeschooled, middle class (don't qual for fin aid tho T_T)

Intended major: applied/engineering physics; maybe physics at some schools where it's relatively easy to switch to more applied fields

Academics: 4.0/4.0 UW

Rank: na (homeschooled)

sat: 1550+

psat: enough for NMSF prob

Coursework:

AP Physics C: Mechanics + E&M (5, 5), AP Chemistry (5), AP European History (5), AP English Language (5), AP Calc BC (5, 5 with AB subscore), Lin Alg, Multivari Calc, Diff equations, post AP level physics courses at CC (jnr yr), AP Latin

Senior yr: AP Lit, AP Gov, AP Macro, AP bio, Latin V, Intro to proof class (upper div), Intro to Analysis I&II, honors track undergrad physics (taking 2-3 classes) @ public uni

ECs/Awards:

SSP astrophysics

Research Internship in physics (going to present at local conference, not competitive, before/just in time for college apps. Also going to enter local state fair but that's not gonna happen until college decisions come out)

Part time tutoring job; ~6 hrs/week

Volunteering at animal shelter for past 3 yrs (400+ hrs)

sat/AP Physics 1 tutor for schoolhouse (19 hrs, 2 countries reached, 10+ learners impacted as of june 2026)

National board member @ nonprofit impacting 10000+ students, leadership role, help with leading events regionally (although just started June 2026; will host physics camps for elementary school students at various locations, including church and the library, for many sessions starting August); 20 hrs/week

Some leadership roles in church (though starting in august); 2 hrs/week

Some unrelated Latin/collegeboard ones

LOR: research mentor/cc professors

Here's my college list right now (not final by any means) and I included all the schools I'm interested in. I need to cut down on the list a bit, and would appreciate any advice. I would prefer schools with good food, high teaching quality + industry connections, and weather that is not terrible (not snowing/wet all the time), but I'd be willing to compensate if the school has a very strong engineering/physics background (such as Cornell).

• All UCs except UC Merced
• Some CSU schools (safety; except cal poly slo which is target)
• ASU (Safety)
• Reed College (Target)
• Purdue (Target)
• UIUC (Target)
• UMD (Target)
• Cooper Union (High Target)

Reaches/High Reaches:

• Harvey Mudd
• Georgia Tech
• NU
• Cornell
• Rice
• Northwestern
• Stanford
• Caltech
• UPenn