<p>
Can you afford to attend them without financial aid? An admission letter will do you no good if you cannot afford to go, or only have enough resources for a year or two. How would you feel to pack your stuff and go home after the second year due to financial constraints?</p>
<p>If you <em>can</em> afford to pay for the private universities, I suggest you also consider applying to the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. It has one of the best engineering departments in the country, above Harvard and Princeton and some of the other fancy-name universities on your list.</p>