As an Ohio resident, I have guaranteed admissions to OSU, and my high school has the highest main campus admission rate of the state. It’s a great school, I’m just unsure of how I’ll feel attending college in my parent’s backyard, and their MechE program isn’t the greatest, with 4-year graduation very rare.
I honestly don’t know much about finding a reasonable safety school but noticed my ACT is higher than the University of Washington’s mid-50 and falls within the mid-50 for Engineering.
Caltech is mostly because my dad wants to say his kid applied to Caltech, and I know I have a very slim chance of getting in.