I had dinner the other night with a college friend (we went to the state college, so what do we know?). When her daughter was applying to colleges, they lived in a very upper class town in Mass, and while others had the pick of college without concern about money, this family had to watch the bottom line. I think they were probably full pay, but didn’t have enough to pay $60k per year. Daughter was at the top of the class in academics, but had to ‘settle’ for UMass. She later told her mother that she was so happy she did, as she had so many options for STEM courses, internships, and research. She graduated last year with a PhD in bio medical something and now has a job in international pharm.
Be happy with the many choices you do have and don’t worry about those schools you can’t have.