If you are OOS for UT Austin, your chances are very slim. Most spots (over 75%) go to Texas residents. Average ACT scores are irrelevant because the spots are filled by the top 7-8% of Texas high school graduates regardless of SAT or ACT scores.
Also, do NOT expect any merit or financial aid from UCLA. UT Austin is the same for OOS students.
Princeton gives only financial aid and NO merit aid. This is true of all Ivies.
You have really good stats. Just be realistic.
And consider technical schools. Did you even see my last reply?
Yeah I did. Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll check that school out but I believe that kansas state is a better backup for me just because I’d get a full scholarship there no matter what. The ivies aren’t too bad for stem by the way. They’re not the best but they’re still in the top 20.
@txstella Looking at HS naviance, only one person with those kinds of stats were rejected to UT Austin even though we were out of state. The graph only shows the last 2 years (so 2013-2015) and sample size was around 15. Maybe my HS is an anomaly but you might be overestimating its selectivity for out of state students.
Good GPA and ACT score, but I agree that you should try SAT. I assume you have taken SAT since you said you are a National Merit Scholar. Right?
If you are finishing up your junior year now, I assume you are not National Merit Scholar yet since you just received your PSAT results back in Jan and Feb, so you don’t even know you are a semifinalist. You will find out if you are a finalist next year around the same time.
I am also confused that you have listed all your AP results from Junior year, or they are your Freshman and Sophomore year AP results. Did you take any APs this year? Maybe I just don’t see it in your original post.
By the way, DD16 has similar Stats and she did take her SAT in March right after getting her PSAT results. She said that she liked taking SAT more than ACT.
Good luck, I think you will get into a lot of great schools, but all Ivy league schools are very difficult to get into.
And Ivy’s are expensive. Way too expensive.
@DerpyDodo Not all Ivy league schools are very expensive. It all depends on the family income and assets. HPY can be less expensive than instate public for some families.
I was thinking more like GTech, RPI, Purdue, Univ of Rochester, Bucknell etc. You should get acceptances to very good schools.
For an Ivy, look carefully at Cornell.
How do you know that you’re a National Merit Scholar already? Do you mean Semifinalist? If so, you really should take the SAT. You don’t have to get that high of a score for Finalist, 1960 I believe, and it could make selecting safety schools easier. I have no idea if you could get into Princeton, but you are a stellar student and I’m sure you’ll do well wherever you go!
Edit: Just noticed that you’re from Kansas. Please take National Merit stuff seriously - I’m happily heading for Wichita State University this fall on a full ride National Merit Finalist scholarship. I know you want Princeton and can probably get into some other great schools, but it would be nice to have some significant merit cash in your back pocket in case financials fall through.
2nd Edit: Actually, I just checked, and Kansas’s NMSF qualifying score was 213 for the 2015 NMSFs. So it is unlikely that a 209 would make it, though that is a very good score and you definitely be a Commended student. Unfortunately that won’t bring in too much merit money in and of itself, but you can probably get a lot of you apply the right places due to your high stats.
I may be wrong about UT but I know a boy with similar stats and same ACT (instate) who was wait listed. He got off the wait list but the major offerings were of no interest to him. Spots in the Cockrell School of Engineering are hard to get. The problem is that admission into UT Austin, especially business and engineering, is a complete crapshoot if you are not an auto-admit.
I am a junior right now. These are all just estimations but they are really accurate. I based my speculated AP scores off of what I’ve gotten on practice tests and how i did in the class. I got a 209 on the PSAT which means that I probably wont get the semifinalist award but definitely will get National Merit scholar. I made sure that the estimations are on the lower side as well.
Thank you! And yes…I will be taking the SAT in June
National Merit Scholar is the third phase of awards in the NMSC program. I believe you mean Commended?
If you are OOS for the California UC’s, you will receive little to no financial aid. Also a new UC budget is expected to be ratified with an expected increase in OOS tuition of 8% for the next few years. You are looking at around $55K-65K per year to attend UCLA/UCB. I would consider dropping these off your list if financial unfeasible.
@albert69 Yes, I think he means he will be a National Merit Commended.
@Gumbymom I agree California UC’s (public colleges) are very expensive for OOS. There are a few very selective LAC that may be good options for OOS, but I am not sure if they are good for engineering.
@helplessstudent Yes, I assumed you were estimating your results. Since your GPA is very high, you might be estimating those results very low. DD16 thought she will get 3-4 in her AP exams (sophomore year), and ended up getting 5s.
I agree with another post mentioning Colorado School of Mines. It will be a great match for you and probably less expensive than some of those schools in California.
I would also add U of alabama(main campus) as a safety. You are eligible for full OOS tuition plus 1250$/semester for 4 years engineering scholarship. UA has a very nice engineering department.
@DerpyDodo you have been talking as if every colleges besides technical schools are expensive for nothing. There is reason that people pay more for something.
These are not safety schools or backups at all. You NEED at least one or two real safety schools that you would be happy to attend. Think U of Alabama and/or an in-state school that you like. It’s also a great idea to apply to a few of the privates that have merit aid (Tulane, UMiami, etc.), because many, many kids with your stats find themselves in the position of being totally shut out of the Ivies, and having to pick a “lesser” school. If that happens to you (very high chance, sorry to say), having great “backup” choices is super important.
The reason I say that there is a very high chance of getting shut out of the Ivies, is because that is what happens to most kids with your stats. There are just far too many of you, literally tens of thousands more, than there are spots at these few schools. So do not expect to get into Princeton, Harvard, etc. Go ahead and roll the dice at the Ivies (be sure to write the very best essays you can), but you should PLAN on going somewhere else. If you win the lottery at HPYS, that will be great, but do not count on it.
Sorry if this sounds harsh, but I’m a parent who just went through this exact scenario with my son who had very similar stats to yours, and thank God we had applied to a number of other schools besides the Ivies. You must plan for that likelihood or you could end up at a safety school that you never wanted to go to in the first place. It happens to kids just like you every single year. Use your high intelligence to your advantage in this process (research, research, research) and don’t just get caught up with Ivy fever and Ivy dreams.
Best of luck! 
@chris17mom OP is applying to safeties–Kansas State University being one of them. The other schools listed were the other top choice schools that OP is looking at.
Ahhh, I misread the quote about Kansas State. Ok, that is a great safety, as long as the OP will be truly happy with it. With his/her good stats, they can also apply to a lot of other schools that offer merit aid, that are between Kansas State and HYPS. But this needs to be done strategically, since many similar kids are in competition for the merit aid. And then there are schools like Bama that will automatically award a great merit package…I’m not trying to be hard on the OP, just trying to make sure he/she gets some good, realistic options in there as well. 
Yes I did mean Nation Merit Commended. Good Call
Yes I do have other back up schools. KSU is one of them. My other ones include the University of Minnesota Minneapolis, Kansas University, and Ohio State.
My goal is to improve my ACT by 1 or 2 points. I believe I can because I screwed up on math the last time. I also aim to get a 2200+ on the SAT
I do know my limits and realize that no matter how qualified I am, HYPSM is always a reach. Thanks for your concern.