Is UTA right for you? By that I mean if you are looking at Rice and Penn, they are much smaller. You have a chance of course at any top school but they are reaches for all. If you want cheaper, I’d suggest you look at schools with a lot of scholarships that are merit based…Washington & Lee has the Johnson Scholarship. Not sure your city but they also have a Dallas resident full tuition scholarship I believe. SMU has some great merit. Then there’s Vandy, WUSTL, and Emory that offers many scholarships.
Publics wise there is lots of money but mainly large schools although not as large as UT…but great aid….from an Arkansas, OU, Alabama, Arizona.
You’re off to a great start. If UT is too large, look at SMU, Rochester, Wake Forest, Tufts, etc as outstanding mid size choices as alternative to the top tier schools should you not get in.