I am not sure why your teacher dissuaded you from certain schools. My D is a freshman voice major at Carnegie Mellon and is absolutely thrilled with her choice. She is getting a conservatory style education and a top notch, very diverse University. Don’t get me wrong, they work their tails to the bone and stress levels get high, but the program is just the right size and they become “family” from day 1. There are a few students in the class from the NYC area. They do need based aid and have a new President’s scholarship (combo need and merit based) that your stats may very well be good for.
This link is the Fall Opera performance from this past weekend. Freshman are not cast in the show and take a production class for the two Operas during the year. They so pre-show work and work running crew during the show:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8NUBJhKEb4&feature=youtu.be#t=13m
Whatever your choice, I would recommend schools that do NOT have a graduate program as you will get more attention and more roles. We were advised to steer away from places like Juilliard, Curtis, Eastman because the focus is on grad students.