I’d agree you should concentrate on your undergraduate education first. I think a high achieving Bangladeshi student would be a person of interest to many US colleges.
Getting into and financing medical school is extremely difficult; however, you are several years away from that point. You may change your mind about becoming a doctor, you may apply for US citizenship, you may decide to go back to Bangladesh or another Asian country.
You don’t need to go to the most prestigious college/university for undergraduate; you just need to find one that offers solid academics, has a reasonably good track record in med school admissions, and that you can afford.
Let’s start with the affordable part: many colleges offer need based and merit based aid to internationals. For the first category, you want to look for colleges that “guarantee to meet demonstrated aid.” This means if they admit you, they will give you grants (sometimes loans) to cover the difference between what your family can afford and what college costs. They determine what they think your family can afford by a formula. You can get an idea by using a net price calculator – though these are not 100% reliable for internationals.
What I’d suggest you do is contact the financial aid departments of a few colleges that guarantee to meet demonstrated aid and ask them how much NEED based aid you may be eligible for. To do this you will need to know your family’s financial details. They will help you figure out your estimated family contribution. If it’s close to $24K, then you should be okay financially at that college. This is a long process, but it’s the best way to get a somewhat clear idea of what may be affordable.
The second category is merit aid, which colleges give to high achieving students, no matter what their economic status. Not too many US colleges give merit aid to internationals.
Guarantee to meet demonstrated need: Amherst, Colby, Hamilton, Macalester, Middlebury, Vassar, Wesleyan, Williams
Guarantee to meet demonstrated need and offer merit aid: Carlton, Davidson, Dickinson, Emory, Grinnell, Kenyon, Rhodes
If you are female Mt. Holyoke, Smith
These are mostly smaller colleges that won’t have big name recognition in Bangladesh; however, they offer excellent academics and reliable medical school advising. Most importantly, need and merit aid can be good for internationals and don’t get too many applicants from South Asia and very few from Bangladesh.
You will need to work on your English skills, especially writing.
You will need good SAT scores, though personally I don’t think these are as important as your grades and life experience.
You will need good recommendations and essays that show what you could contribute to the college community. Islam is a hot button issue on campuses today, and colleges are interested in recruiting Muslims from all over the world.
You will need to develop some interested or extracurriculars that show commitment. You don’t have to be a superstar, just show that you have interests/talents outside of school.
If you live in Dhaka I’d suggest you take advantage of the US Embassy’s EducationUSA program. They will be able to answer many questions about US colleges.
http://dhaka.usembassy.gov/advising.html
Lastly, your best resource is your own high school. Have they sent students to US colleges before? Compare your grades and scores to theirs. Colleges are often more comfortable admitting international students from high schools that they are familiar with, so look to see what US colleges students from your high school have attended.