It would be better to change your thread title to say “engineering” (or a specific kind of engineering) instead of “STEM”, since “STEM” includes a large number of majors that are dissimilar in both admissions and curricula.
Your chosen recommenders suggested biology or pre-med, but then you later mention engineering.
In reality, it has to matter. Admission without affordability = rejection. Talk to your parents about college budget, and run the net price calculators on your colleges of interest.
Any college where you need a merit scholarship for it to be affordable must have reach/match/likely/safety based on the scholarship, not admission.