As an aside - it depends also on the college. On one hand, my wife attended a specialized math and science boarding school in the USSR, and, >35 years later, she’s still close with many of them, while she has only a couple of friends from university (large public in Israel). On the other hand, a good friend who attended U Chicago has many close friend from there, though it’s been even longer, and has no friends from high school.
I attended a small boys school, and, while I have a couple of people with whom I am still in touch from there, none of them are more than casual friends. My longest term friendships are from the army, undergraduate, and grad school.
So you never know.
However, I don’t think that you are trying to impress your friends, but I do think that their preferences may be affecting your choices.
Do try and find at least one safety which does excite you. I understand about UConn, it’s an East Coast thing - kids at “elite” or otherwise competitive East Coast high schools do not like their state school. Kids from New Jersey hate Rutgers too.
Since you are interested in majoring in English, you may want to look at Iowa. Its English program is one of the top in the country.