Grad School Problems

Pacstorm

Hey,

So I was posting here just looking for some advice / help on what my moves should be. I am currently a physics / math double major graduating a year early (trying to save money) from a small liberal arts school with a, barely, 3.0 cumulative GPA. My major(s) GPA is around a 3.2 if not a little higher. I am looking into going on to do Fire Protection Engineering or Mechanical Engineering for my masters. Putting FPE on the side (I have already looked into all that information), what are some schools in my range for mechanical engineering? I am a math / physics peer tutor at my school, have been rowing, am going to be volunteering as an EMT and will be doing my thesis next year on something FPE related. Not entirely sure what yet as I need to talk to my adviser. I was looking into Cal Poly, SJSU, TAMU, VCU, VTech, and a few others. Where I would really want to go is USC, but I don't believe I could get in with my GPA. I am studying for GRE's right now and plan to take them in August. What are my chances at some of these / where should I be looking? I know I'm just above the cut-off GPA for graduate admissions at almost every school for engineering, but is there hope? Almost all of the courses bringing down my GPA are distribution, if that matters.

Thanks in advance.