Interested in Nuclear Physics - How's my grad school list?

[Sats]

Hey guys, I've been asking around trying to see what schools on my list are 'reach', 'safety', or 'matches' for my profile. I was wondering if you guys could take a look and let me know if there's something that's too crazy or well within reach (or if I should just wait 'till next semester based on my PGRE haha). If you guys know any Nuclear schools that fit my profile, let me know!

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Undergrad Institution: Top 40 US World News (2014) - Big State School
Major(s): Physics, Mathematics, French
Minor(s): N/A
GPA in Major: 3.3 Physics, 3.5 Math, 4.0 French
Overall GPA: 3.6
Length of Degree: 4 years
Position in Class: Slightly above average
Type of Student: Domestic white male

GRE Scores :
Q: 164 (89%)
V: 159 (81%)
W: 4.5 (80%)
P: 640 (38%)

Research Experience: Studied CLS limit setting for a semester, then moved on to FIR filtering programming for the current semester. No publications, but total research time is around a year.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Deans list in a few semesters.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Software Engineering Intern for a summer learning Javascript, Node.js, and general large networking problems. Not super relevant to physics, but it adds credibility to my programming skills.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: N/A

Special Bonus Points: 3 majors in 4 years.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I've working fluency in french. Of my three letters, one comes from my experimental methods professor, whom I worked a lot with on an independent research topic, will be doing research with him the next semester. The other is from my Nuclear/Particle Physics course and the ~semester research, got along well with him. The last one comes from a french professor whom I've had for 3 courses, we get along very well. At least 2 of them will be very strong.

Also I have 2 anomalous C's, one in Proof Writing, and the other in Electromagnetism 2, the only sub-B grades I've gotten. I also have a W in independent research for this semester due to time constraints.

Applying to Where:
Will be considering PHD -> Nuclear Theory/Experiment in all areas

United States:

Michigan State
U Massachusetts Amherst
Notre Dame
Northeastern
U Connecticut
U Delaware
U William and Mary
Virginia Tech
George Washington U
Temple U
SUNY Buffalo
UC Riverside

Canada:
McGill
U British Columbia

France:
U Pierre-Marie Curie
U Joseph Fourier
École Polytechnique/ETH Zurich (Joint Masters)

 

[Vanadium 50]

A few things to consider:

• 3.3 is not a high GPA
• 38% is not a high PGRE
• "Best student this year" is an average letter of recommendation, not a strong one. (Except perhaps at MIT or other giant schools)
• Michigan State is the best school for nuclear physics in the country.

 

[Sats]

• I know that for sure
• That's the reason I'm asking around, because I really messed that one up
• Luckily I have the research side to help my letter on that one
• I'm aware of that, do you think it's too reach? Or is it worth a shot?

Basically I'm stuck at whether I should just take a year off to fix up my PGRE and maybe take some grad classes to up my GPA. I'd like to apply this semester, but it's not looking super good.