Nuclear engineering- need help with school selection!!

[PBD]

Hello-

I'm applying for programs (Phd or MS-to-PhD) in Nuclear Engineering. My school is a small science & engineering school that is generally well-regarded, especially by industry, but not very research oriented. I'm interested in computational science & modeling, but worry that the programs that have that area of research are out of my league. Here are my creds:

 

 

-GPA 3.9/4.0 in Engineering Physics.  I've been following the 5-year BS/MS program in nuclear engineering, so will have taken several upper-division nuclear engineering courses. But, since power generation is not my focus, I don't think my current school is a good fit & I feel weird asking them for advice about where to go.

 

-Several small undergrad scholarships in math & science, one big one from the school.

 

-TBP (engineering) KME (math) honor societies

 

-Awarded a competitive fellowship this past summer to study particle simulation in medical physics at a very well-known cancer center in Texas. However, we hit some snags in the project and the results probably won't be published.

 

-senior thesis in nuclear physics, working on a TRIGA reactor. Won't have anything published by the time I apply.

 

-GREs VQA of 165/170/4

 

-will have a strong rec. from my mentor in Texas & a couple people in nuclear physics here, but my current research adviser doesn't know me that well, yet. Should I send 4 letters just in case?

 

Applying to Michigan, Wisconsin, Oregon, New Mexico, Illinois, Texas A&M. I need a safety school, but can't find one that has high-performance computing. Any ideas? Would I be better off forgetting about grad school this year, beefing up my research experience and re-applying next year? 

 

Thanks!!!