So - you stated this:
If merit can’t bring it below $35K it would be very hard to afford)
Therefore, while you may get into any school in the country, you need to run the NPC on schools that have no merit aid - that’s Princeton, Brown, Harvard, Swat, Williams, Amherst, Tufts, and MIT if you go that route. You hint that you’ve done that - but different schools will give you different #s so make sure you run for all.
If these schools are not giving you money to hit your price point, how will you afford them? If you can’t and I would follow up with a call to financial aid to ensure you filled out the NPC correctly, then they should be removed.
Schools like Vandy, Rice, WUSTL, Emory, USC and more are elite type schools with merit aid. Macalester amongst the LACs - and the Trinity, Connecticut College type.
And yes, you should add Rutgers - and if you want to go dirt cheap, schools like South Carolina, Arizona, Alabama, etc. “buy” kids in - it’s way more schools than this - but you can take advantage of their largesse, get in the Honors College and go for free.
Assuming your list will meet your needs, yes it’s top heavy - but adding a public not named Michigan, UNC, UVA, UCLA or UCB will cure that.
That said you said can afford the meets need schools - so I assume you’ve done that work and you are ok. A school like Lafayette is need aware so they may make a decision based on how much you need.
One last thing - you say you were accepted to Governor’s School - but did you go? If not, I don’t see the relevance to an app. I was accepted to Harvard but went to UMASS - guess what - I went to UMASS, etc…if that makes sense.
Great student - just ensure you add a 100% affordable safety - NJIT may be that, Stevens may come through as maybe will Lafayette - but if none are affordable - then get one that is - and we can help you develop that list as a just in case.
Good luck.