Find schools where you will be towards the top of the applicant pool and qualify for Merit Aid. And schools that meet 100% of need are important to target as well. And as others shared run the calculators because some schools are way more generous than others.
So - publish your more realistic list now and people can help with that
looking at schools like Texas A&M, Notre Dame, UNC, any other ideas people? gonna be doing MechE and an economics minor
I’d say A&M is a safety, UNC a low match, and Notre Dame probably a high match. I reiterate, theres CalPoly State-SLO (match to safety), UT Austin (same), Rice, and Virginia Tech. Drexel also offers a good co-op program. My friend turned down Princeton and Brown for having the opportunity for a job during and immediately after college.
@codemachine damn i need to check out drexel, they help you get a job after graduation as well?
Yeah. The way the progrm works (I think) is that you go to school for 3 years, gain a year or two with hands on experience at a job in your field while finishing your degree. In most cases, the company that you complete your co-op with agrees to hire you full time when you finish your degree. My friend is a Computer Engineering major and will be looking for jobs with top companies in NYC and Silicon Valley.
@pearmetty Any word back from Rice yet?
The OP is a NJ resident and indicated that he will need some financial assistance. UT-Austin is probably not a great choice for him, because it is both highly competitive and expensive for non-Texans. Cal Poly is not as expensive as the UCs, but it is still pretty expensive from out-of-state. I would suggest McGill, although even it might be too expensive for the OP (no financial aid available for US students, but less expensive than most US colleges). The OP is highly qualified, and has an outside shot at any college, but he needs some affordable safeties if he wants options other than Rutgers. UNC-Chapel Hill is no safety for any out-of-state applicant.
Note to everyone (but especially students) here on CC: please familiarize yourself with the admissions scenario at UT-Austin before throwing its name around as a match or safety to any students from outside of Texas. If you aren’t aware of their “7%” policy, which guarantees admission to the top seven percent of students in any school in the state, then you are not qualified to discuss them on a thread. This statute severely limits the number of students UT can accept beyond those seven-percenters, and they still have to give some preference to other accomplished Texans.
Agree with @woogzmama - while the OPs SAT scores are above the middle 50% for UNC-CH, you have to take into consideration that state laws caps out of state enrollment at 18%. Which means the bar is set much higher for out-of-state students. UNC is regularly listed as one of the best value schools in the country, even for out of state. There are a lot of talented students from all across the country competing for that 18% of slots.
@codemachine no i got an email back with a somewhat generic response and then advised me to call for more info i called and got no response
Honestly, your unweighted GPA is really solid (that’s an A range, I’m pretty jealous haha!) and your test scores aren’t too bad either. You have a decent shot at your reaches. Your ECs seem good too (I went to Girls State woo) and if you work on your essays, I think you will definitely get into at least one of your top choices! Best of luck 
@shadyconcepts thank you very much! my emphasis is on the essays to make up for my crappy scores hopefully my main school Duke accepts me
Has anyone suggested the University of Rochester or Carnegie Mellon? Rochester offers good merit aid for high stats students.
@foobar1 do you believe my stats are high? i never got that impression
I’m a Duke alumni interviewer, and I’ll be honest with you. Your chances for Duke (esp Pratt engineering) are quite low. The main reason is that your SAT scores while good, are below the 25th percentile for accepted Pratt students.
See http://admissions.duke.edu/images/uploads/process/DukeClass2018Profile.pdf for last year’s profile at Duke.
As you can see your SAT I scores are 2160. The 25th percentile for Duke Pratt is 2180. The only way I see you getting into Pratt with a standardized score < 25th percentile is if you have a major hook. Since you are an unhooked ORM, I see this as being unlikely. Using your ED shot on Duke will likely result in an outright rejection, or a deferral to RD. Even in the RD round your chances aren’t much better.
I agree with other posters. Look at other schools where your SAT scores are at or above 50th percentile for a reasonable shot. Rice is a reasonable choice, and often seeks geographic diversity (which in your case would help you).
@sgopal2 would a 780+ on Math II make up for that or no?
Eyy Jersey Boy’s State! Harrison Represent. Did you happen to go to the college fair at boy’s state? The guy from the Merchant Marine Academy really impressed me; they have a solid marine engineering program (and marine engineers make bank). If money is really that much of a problem, maybe you should consider a service academy?
@Freeholder yeah i went there, it was very informative, i just dont have a solid idea on exactly what i want to do im stuck between engineering and finance and id rather go to a school where I have some time to decide exactly what i want to do