Hopefully you’re aware of the College of Creative Studies and its Physics major, which could be an excellent option for you. You sound like you might really like their “grad school for undergrads” approach Physics | UCSB College of Creative Studies UCSB’s physics program (at the grad level) outranks all other UC’s except Berkeley; and CCS could elevate the quality of the undergrad experience above even UCB’s. CCS requires an additional application.
There’s an awful lot of variability in environment among “T30 for physics” schools. It’s hard to imagine a single student liking all or most of them. Plus, “most” of any 30 schools means 20+ applications which seems excessive. I expect you can narrow down more than that.
If you’re very focused on physics and looking to minimize distribution requirements, you might consider the top Canadian U’s, which would be safeties with your record, since admissions are less subjective there. Lots of great climbing near UBC. Cheaper than US private U’s, and potentially more appealing than CSU safeties.
Given the terrific public U’s in California, I don’t know whether a binding app to a no-merit, $80K+/year private U is worth foreclosing on more affordable but equally-strong options. (And I don’t think you’d need ED to get into NYU, tbh.) Why not a top REA school instead of ED? MIT, Stanford, Princeton…?
Any interest in playing VB in college? Maybe a D3 school would appeal for the academic/athletic balance. MIT, UChicago, Caltech, Harvey Mudd…?
I’m sure you will have great options; good luck!