Congratulations on making yourself such a strong candidate! If you develop a well-balanced application list, I think you will have a number of acceptances to consider next year.
Most scholarships (and the biggest) come from the colleges themselves, rather than from outside organizations. And some of the schools on your list (like MIT) don’t offer any merit aid, only need-based aid. Has your family run the Net Price Calculator at the schools to see which ones provide a net price that would be affordable? If not, that’s definitely a step that should happen sooner rather than later.
Right now in your “Likely” bucket it seems that you only have one school that you seem to really like, as you suspect that UW (36k undergrads) and OSU (29k undergrads) are both too big. Finding the schools where you are extremely likely to be admitted, can afford, and would be happy to enroll in and attend for four years is the most important step in the college search process. That’s why I’ve focused most of my suggestions on that bucket, because it’s so crucial.
I’m unsure how small you’re really hoping for. You have Cornell which has about 16k undergrads as well as Olin (less than 400), so I definitely included a range of school sizes in my suggestions. Additionally, I veered away from tech-focused schools as you do have an interest in classics and other liberal arts subjects that typically don’t have much availability at the tech schools, unless they are part of a consortium that allows students to take classes at other area colleges (like Olin does with Babson, Brandeis, and Wellesley).
Extremely Likely (80-99+%)
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Benedictine (KS): About 2300 undergrads, with majors in mechanical engineering and classics.
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Marquette (WI): About 7500 undergrads. This is definitely a city, but it is a defined campus. Offers majors in ME and classics.
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Miami U. (OH): About 17k undergrads and many people report that the school has a very liberal arts college feel, but on a larger scale. Offers majors in ME and classics.
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North Central (IL): About 2400 undergrads. Offers mechanical engineering and classics.
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U. of California – Merced: About 8300 undergrads at this newest UC campus that is a part of WUE.
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U. of Dayton (OH): About 8400 undergrads. There’s strong links here to aerospace engineering and all-around academic offerings.
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U. of Idaho: About 8800 undergrads, a WUE school, and all-around academic offerings.
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U. of Kansas: About 19k undergrads, a popular aerospace major, and a strong classic program, too. I’ve heard really excellent things about Lawrence as a college town, too.
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U. of New Hampshire: About 12k undergrads. Offers majors in ME and classics.
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U. of North Dakota: About 9900 undergrads with majors in ME and classics.
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U. of St. Thomas (MN): About 5900 undergrads with majors in ME and classics. This is a city, but @fiftyfifty1 can hopefully chime in about whether it’s a self-contained campus like you’re hoping for.
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U. of Wyoming: About 8500 undergrads at this state flagship and WUE school.
Likely(60-79%)
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Santa Clara (CA): About 6100 undergrads and offers majors in ME and classics.
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Syracuse (NY): About 15k undergrads and offers majors in ME and classics.
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Union (NY): About 2100 undergrads and offers majors in ME and classics and has a liberal arts background.
Toss-Up (40-59%)
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Case Western (OH): About 6k undergrads. Cleveland is definitely a city, but I think that this could really be a strong contender for your interests. Popular majors in aerospace engineering and also offers a classics major. You will need to show a lot of demonstrated interest here if you want an acceptance.
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Lafayette (PA ): About 2700 undergrads with a strong liberal arts history.
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Lehigh (PA ): About 5600 undergrads with mechanical engineering, a classics major, and a strong liberal arts history.
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U. of Rochester (NY): About 6800 undergrads with majors in mechanical engineering and classics.
Lower Probability (20-39%)
Low Probability (less than 20%)