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<p>At least visit first before concluding this, if possible (I know, it’s hard to visit everywhere – in this case err on the side of caution and apply to some schools you’re not sure about, with the plan to visit if you get a tempting acceptance/offer.) When you visit a school, try to seek out the students you’d be interested in hanging out with – that is find out about clubs you’d be interested in joining etc. and see if you can meet people involved with them. Then you’re more likely to find “your crowd” and see if you’d be comfortable there.</p>
<p>I know you think all of us parents are just nagging at you, but really please try to keep looking until you can find at least one viable financial safety that you think you would be happy to attend if the money doesn’t work out elsewhere. </p>
<p>I’m on the parent side of the same situation you are in – wanting my son to be able to attend a top school that he will love, but dealing with the financial reality that we can’t afford to pay for them, and trying to help him find safe alternatives that he is likely to still have a great time and get a great education at. And it definitely isn’t easy! But it’s important because it will be extremely depressing if you get accepted to a bunch of schools and can’t afford to go to any of them! It’s very tempting to hide our heads in the sand and say you/he has great stats and somehow it will all work out, but looking at the realities of what your and my S’s top choice schools tend to offer, I have to say that we can hope for that but we can’t count on it! </p>
<p>So… what would your ideal school look like? Maybe someone here can help you find a financial safety school that would be close enough to your “dream” to make it a great place to spend 4 years. What do you like to do for fun? How far from home do you want (or are you willing) to travel?</p>
<p>Also if you are planning grad school, students in science/engineering fields can usually go for free by being teaching or research assistants (usually covers full tuition plus a stipend for living expenses). So that can be the time to go to the expensive private college of your dreams without going into crazy amounts of debt. 
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<p>Good luck finding the right balance of schools to apply to!</p>