I haven’t taken the shift into test-optional into consideration, definitely something to think about, thanks! My school generally gets around 30 acceptances into UCLA and 40 acceptances into UC Berkeley yearly, but those have definitely dropped this admissions cycle. I know affirmative action is technically not in place in UCs, but it’s undeniable that the proposal has had some impact when over half of my school’s population is Asian-American and the acceptances into UCLA and UCB have been cut by over a half.
For the UC system, my family would be willing to pay full tuition into a mid or high tier UC (if absolutely necessary and that is my best acceptance overall for mid-tier; if I get into Berkeley or UCLA, I’ll probably end up committing). From this year’s results, UCSD is looking pretty nice but I do feel like it would be a waste of my effort in high school…
As for the other colleges you mentioned, I haven’t looked into them yet, but I definitely will.