Hey Tara,
The best colleges for you to go to based on iSchoolConnect's search recommendation are:

University of Berkley University of California Los Angeles University of South California University of Scripps
If you could provide me with a little more information about your profile i could give you better recommendations through iSchoolConnect.

Thanks, Christine this is so useful.

The basic documents required for Bachelors in USA are:

High school degree Your previous transcript A scan of your passport Your CV Test scores (SAT or IELTS/TOEFL) Scholarship or funding details Letters of recommendation Statement of Purpose

While every university might have an extra set of documents that they require, these are the basic docs you should know about for studying bachelors abroad

The student profile is the most important part of the admission process. Your profile will decide whether you will get the admission or not. Student profiles are evaluated based on different criteria. Your Score (GPA, entrance test scores, School grades), Resume, Statement of Purpose, Letter of recommendation, Research work (if any), work experience (if any), this is the basic method of profile evaluation.
For a bachelor's in mechanical engineering MIT, Stanford University, UCB, California Institute of Technology are some of the best universities you can choose from. The tuition fees for these universities are,

MIT- $53,450 Stanford University- $55,473 UCB- $43,938 California Institute of Technology- $52,506

There is a standard procedure for most profile evaluations. The admissions officer will evaluate your profile based on your academic scores, social profile, past achievements, work experience, if any. NYU is one of the best colleges in the US with its QS world ranking at 39. The average tuition fees for undergrad at NYU is 51,828 USD.

Also, networking
The way you communicate and present yourself is also important

There are universities which allow you to explore several disciplines during the first year of your undergrad program
After that, you can choose to specialize in one subject
The University of Melbourne is one of them
So, if you don't want to take a gap year, you can look for these kinds of programs

You can also volunteer at NGOs and work with different communities
Here are some of the NGOs you can check out

You can also choose to travel, if you want
Go to different countries and experience different people...different cultures