<p>Based on what you stated about your parents’ willingness to contribute, your list is likely to have the following realistic choices:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Safeties with automatic full or near-full ride scholarships.</p></li>
<li><p>Other schools not prestigious enough for your parents but which have competitive full ride scholarships for you; these may be match or reach schools, where the match or reach assessment is based on the scholarship, not admission.</p></li>
<li><p>Schools prestigious enough for your parents, which would likely be reach schools based on your 3.5 GPA. Even then, it is possible for them not to be affordable, if you and your two siblings all get into prestigious-enough, but very expensive, schools.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Regarding ECs, their importance is magnified mainly when you get to the super-selective schools, where lots of applicants have extremely high GPAs (significantly higher than 3.5), ranks, and test scores. But at less selective schools, grades, rank, and/or test scores typically dominate the selection process, with ECs typically being smaller additions.</p>