How to balance numbers of schools vs casting a larger net for best outcome (admission/aid)?

@MomtoAndrew2018

not sure how much stock to put in US News rankings but I have always heard that Iowa State is great for engineering and has one of the largest if not THE largest engineering career fairs in the nation.

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-doctorate?_mode=table

i think both ISU and Iowa would offer great education for great value.