First, you are looking at a career in ecology. That means that you should look at colleges which have a good reputation in the field, not at colleges which are “prestigious”.
Stanford is not such a great choice, and Princeton is great, but they have a strong theory direction.
What do you want to do with your degree? Do you want to get a government job, and have a career in state of federal government, like Fish and Wildlife, State Parks, etc, do you want to work in consulting, in the nonprofit world, or do you want to be in academia?
There are a couple of colleges that you should consider:
SUNY ESF - while you are OOS, there are a number of scholarships for OOS students, and they consider these for transfers as well.
In Texas - you should add Texas Tech as well.
Other recommendations would depend on what your plans are for th efuture.