To save some money and increase your chances of acceptance, I would recommend taking your core courses at a local community college.
Keep your grades as high as possible - UVA, UMD, VT are not easy schools to get into and the Engineering schools are pretty tough as well.
Apply to the schools you are thinking about attending.
Find out what kind of financial aid you can get.
Know what courses transfer to your potential schools.
Know what courses you should be taking as pre-requisites to those schools.
Make sure you keep in constant contact with your advisors.
HTH
