I can definitely see how a policy background can be relevant to medicine, and I’m sure you can too. Medical schools like having a diversity of majors and backgrounds in their classes. I would even perhaps consider majoring in policy rather than biology if I was more passionate about the former. That’s one of the benefits of the US medical school admissions process.
South Carolina has a BSMD program and also offers generous oos merit
Another interesting avenue to research: Texas is the best state to be a resident of for medical school admissions purposes. Not only does Texas have a large number of public medical schools that favor Texans, but these schools are often significantly cheaper than private schools for the same quality of education. You should research if moving to Texas for undergrad makes you a Texas resident for medical school admissions. Even if there are other requirements like owning residential property, if you do the math you can feasibly come out ahead with the reduced cost of Texas public medical schools and the reduced cost of undergrad via scholarships.
UT Dallas is a good safety, as your national merit status will give you full tuition at the least. TCU and SMU have full tuition scholarships which are reaches but still more likely than TAMU’s Brown Foundation scholarship.
Ohio is another good state. OSU has the stamps and morril scholarships. What’s nice is that the morril scholarship has multiple levels, so it’s not an all or nothing shot in the dark. If you only get the national buckeye scholarship, that would leave you with $40k tuition+fees+housing per year.
Not necessarily - if you have interest in all and aren’t sure which one. In the end, you should apply at the schools that interest and excite you and that are affordable. The minimum # of those you need is one - but if you prefer safeties over reaches, that’s fine too - many do.
I’d say - just four year school wise - you’re a candidate for every school in America. I don’t know that you need a medical school aligned.
You should find the right school for you. UNLV is a fine school but if you have a robust budget, you’ll have great chances at many schools. Maybe another fits your need better (that’s a safety).
The schools that offer it would then charge 1.5x instate tuition. That might be a good deal but maybe not the best deal. Often the school will not combine WUE tuition with other (merit) financial aid. Some states have very low instate tuition (Wyo) so 1.5x is a good deal while others will be higher than the student’s home state tuition.
I think this student may be a NMF (Alabama, Tulsa, Dallas), so some of those schools might offer a lower tuition cost than WUE ( Wyo, Utah, Ore State) (Some WUE schools restrict majors eligible for WUE).