SO many students think that going to their flagship state U will be a continuation of high school, because many good students from their high school go to the flagship state U - because it’s the best educational value for the money!
But what they don’t realize is that there these schools are enormous, and you wind up meeting many, many new people there. Besides, more of the people from LI are probably going to choose Stony Brook over Binghamton.
If you get into a leading private school, and they give you enough money to make it the same as, or only a little bit more expensive than Binghamton, sure. And I DO think that you’re going to eventually get into at least one of the private schools on your list. Whether you get money from them is going to depend upon your family’s finances, and the school’s generosity. But I do think that you’ll get an offer from at least one, and probably several of those schools. I don’t think you’re going to get into Brown, Stanford, or Yale. But I do think you’ll get into Haverford and Vassar, and maybe some of the others. Whether a degree from Haverford or Vassar would be worth more to you than the degree and the medical research opportunities available to you at Binghamton is arguable. And you should definitely read about what went on at Haverford early this fall - I mean the strike.
The problem is that you want med school. Assuming similar GPA and MCAT, I don’t think that you would be considered a more attractive applicant coming from any of those schools vs Binghamton. However, I do think you would be considered a LESS attractive applicant coming from Queens College, or Geneseo.
Don’t be afraid of the size of a big university. You can easily make connections there by simply going to office hours, and volunteering to medical research, as well as through any clubs you might be interested in. Maybe there is a group for Hispanic kids interested in going into medicine. You’ll meet people through your floor. Did you get into the Binghamton University Scholars program? That should help make it feel smaller, too.
Wherever you wind up, you’re going to do extremely well - because you did so well in high school.