I think you’re a great candidate.
Now budget ?
Applying to schools you can’t afford is pointless. Maybe you have no issues ?
So you need the affordable safety. You say Merced but why not UW or WSU. Oregon State. If even Merced is too much, how about Bama where your stats pull major $$. Miss State and UAH too - all excellent. And maybe a few Hail Mary apps ? Can you afford $50k? If not, why apply for Ga Tech - but they have the Stamps - so it’s a Hail Mary - meaning even if you get in you can’t go short of the full ride - so a fraction of 1% odds.
But we don’t know your budget - so we can’t assess.
You need to run NPCs everywhere except if you know - I’ll pay full, $100k a year.