[davidxc]

Make sure you apply to more schools than the three you listed (MIT, Penn State, Stanford). Based on the information you provided in your post, you're definitely not guaranteed to be accepted to MIT or Stanford (there's a very significant chance that you'll be rejected). MIT and Stanford both reject many applicants with profiles similar to yours (or better than yours) each year.

I'm partly speaking from personal experience. I had similar stats to you (4.8 GPA weighted, 3.9+ GPA unweighted) in high school and a 2330 SAT (780 math / 780 reading / 770 writing). I also had very high standardized test scores in other areas and numerous extracurriculars / state and national level awards.

I ended up getting rejected from both Stanford and Princeton (though I did get into Yale). Basically, the top colleges are a crapshoot even with stellar stats, and you should really apply to 7-10 colleges with some backups mixed in.

As far as where to go, I'd just give the general advice of making sure you don't take on a significant amount of debt. If you're middle class, MIT, Stanford, and the Ivies should give a lot of financial assistance. It's debatable whether prestigious colleges actually provide better education than good state colleges, but the prestige associated with a top school will help you a lot in the future (like it or not, most of the world is not anywhere close to an approximate meritocracy, which means that prestige will play a significant role in the opportunities open to you after college).