Getting admitted to a top university is hard; it is made even more difficult if you don’t have the grades or test scores. Asking for admittance into an engineering program, with financial aid, with a 3.1 GPA is a waste of money.
Yes, being URM is a hook, but not having the GPA isn’t going to work.
Your “knowledgeable” GC didn’t advise you that you should have taken the SAT in fall of Junior year? I guess he/she didn’t know, or was unaware, that to be possibly eligible for a National Merit Scholarship, you needed to take the SAT in fall of junior year?
Joining a bunch of clubs and participating in activities will not get your grades up to be competitive for the top schools. You need to be “ahead” in GPA and “ahead” in test scores ESPECIALLY for engineering. Do you even know what engineers do?
I have an engineering husband, an engineering daughter and a soon to be engineering son. It is all about grades and test scores.