<p>Given your preference for a large school and UT Austin’s high reputation in your prospective majors, it would be difficult to justify paying more than in-state UT Austin costs for any other school.</p>
<p>The large merit scholarships tend to be mostly at schools with lesser reputations; how price sensitive are you in relation to your desire for a high reputation school?</p>
<p>There is nothing wrong with having your first choice school be a safety (assuming affordability). Indeed, if that is the case, your college application process will be simple and stress free. (But make sure that UT Austin is a safety for you for civil engineering – check whether the engineering division has supplemental criteria to be admitted to an engineering major.)</p>