Exactly - even the safeties are solid. US News Rank is not a reason to choose a school. None of these are stalwarts - but all are solid - including the safeties. They’re all in the same league - although different type of schools - i.e. Muhlenberg an LAC vs. an SU or AU, etc.
To spend that much to go to SU is INSANE (and I’m an alum saying that) but you are not even studying what you want. And there’s no assurance you can be. And think of all the stress you have that first year trying to make it so you can. So the year is less enjoyable (trust me, I had to do this for Newhouse and wish I didn’t even though I made it) - and what if you don’t get in?
Because of the music minor (not sure if performance based), you should look into that at each school - how do you know, for those like Ithaca that require an audition, that you can even study music?