Is being poor (but smart) in my favor in college admissions?

At least some Virginia publics have good reputations for financial aid. Try the net price calculators on their web sites to check affordability. You may be able to find some that can be safety or likely for both admission and affordability. Put them on your list.

@hyunjino In comparision to 2008, selective colleges in 2016 were admitting almost twice as many students with incomes just below the Pell threshold, while they were admitting far fewer (still needy) students with incomes above the Pell threshold.
Hence, if you are Pell Grant eligible it will ceteris paribus help you, if your parent’s income is just slightly above the threshold it would unfortunately work against you, again everything else being equal.

It is a real pity you missed the Questbridge opportunity, which might have worked very well for you, given your stats. Best of luck and success, lots of opportunities remaining!

In addition to in-state options, your stat’s at least put you in the ballpark for some top schools with very generous financial aid, some of which would be 0 cost to your family at the income level you describe (HYPS for sure). Your low family income status would be a “hook” for them. I would also look at some of the better endowed LAC’s which are need blind and 100% need met, where being low income is a hook. Also for some of those schools, being Asian is not an anti-hook as it might be for HYPS.

The way I see it, it probably won’t swing them in either direction, but it’s definitely illustrative of a barrier you have overcome, which is never a bad thing for admissions officers to see.