Chance me for UT Austin! (GPA: 3.5 UW, SAT: 1460, Major: Biology or Neuroscience) [TX resident, top 50% rank]

I think you know - without a competitive rank, UT highly unlikely.

Reach, target and safety don’t matter.

An affordable safety matters, preferably two. And you have that.

Your list - Vandy, Rice and Penn high reach. UT reach. Do your parents know the first three are near $400k. Can they afford that ? Or have they run the NPCs?

A&M - what’s your rank. If it’s 30%, 40% - unlikely.

Safe - Tech, Houston, UNT

Likely - UTD, Baylor

Target - SMU, TCU, Rutgers (why Rutgers??)

Since you say all are affordable the list is fine. But a Trinity (smaller) or schools like William & Mary, Lehigh, Rochester, Case Western would be more reasonable reaches than Rice, Vandy and Penn.

Pitt might be a great one to look at too (rolling admission so apply don) or Va Tech which has an entire school of Neuro.

Good luck.