<p>I don’t know anything about Tulane, but I am familiar with the other schools because BC and UR were among my son’s top choices a few years ago. (He’s currently a junior at BC, which he chose for many of the same reasons you listed: he liked Boston WAY more than Rochester and felt there were more social and service opportunities at BC.)</p>
<p>Both BC and UR will give you a superior education and prepare you well for med schools. I don’t think either school has an “edge” in getting you into med school; both schools have high med school acceptance rates for their students (provided you have the GPA and MCAT scores needed).</p>
<p>Although UR has existing majors that seem to closely match your interests, I think you could also get the undergraduate background that you want from BC. However, there is a slight risk if you really want to do the International Studies major, since you can’t apply for it until the end of your freshman year; only 70 students are taken into IS each year and the competition for slots is stiff.</p>
<p>As for doing your “own” research, UR does have an edge there, because it has a whole administrative section with procedures set up specifically to encourage individual undergraduate research projects. My son was even offered a research grant – I believe it was around $2500 or $3000 – as an incoming freshman. He only had to submit a proposal for how he wanted to spend it. That is not to say that you won’t find research opportunities at BC, because there are many, but you would likely be assisting on a professor’s project. But don’t dismiss that out of hand – if you are as good as you seem to think you are, you could be doing meaningful research at BC as well and not just “running routine lab tests.”</p>
<p>Good luck, you have some great choices!</p>