You guys are awesome! I’m really looking towards an in-state school, especially since I have two older brothers going to college at the moment (Carnegie Mellon = a lot of $$$). Income wise, I would definitely consider my family middle-class (maybe upper-middlish), but all that tuition (with financial aid and scholarships) is really starting to rip at my family’s savings, like a lot. Of course, I’m not putting out of state colleges out of consideration, but in reality, I can really only afford tuition that is $25000 max. But the top colleges - Stanford, Harvard, UPenn - nevertheless, are still top priorities to get into (assuming they provide good FA, unlike CMU 
). I never considered that being big schools, many out of state universities also provide good FA (if not better than attending state schools).
@jkeil911
Yeah, the top-notch schools are more than simply numbers indeed. Not that I’m excluding out of state colleges though (if anything, I’m working to get into the top-tier schools, but financial costs are one of my top priorities). If it helps for you to better gauge my academics, my ECs include - 1st place JSHS research regional, Mu Alpha Theta founder, NHS treasurer, tennis varsity captain, Tri-M music honor society member, attended both state and nationals honor bands)
@TopTier
I live in Sterling, Virginia, and yes, the education is top notch. And after reading your message, I guess I’m too obsessed with in-state schools. I never considered the fact that bigger schools can also have huge grants. I’ve never put the bigger schools out of question however. If anything, I’m hoping they would provide more FA than in state schools (plus Stanford, UPenn, Harvard are sorta my dream schools). But being a newbie, I’m not that well informed about this stuff (I never considered that out of state could grant a lot of FA), great that you told me about this though - would’ve never known if you haven’t told me.
@mikeMac
You’re right - I’m still considering other professions. Not that I’m working in the Med field solely for the money (medicine is one of my interests), but I know financially, it would be ideal. Other fields just don’t seem to make do (not that I know of). If it helps, I’m basically a biology/environmental/medical/astrology fanatic (of those, only medicine seems to make a decent income).
@mom2collegekids
Yeah, did some researching and realized that premed programs are nothing more than a set of courses. Maybe would’ve been better if I asked which colleges provide the best classes for med school (I know Harvard, UPENN, John Hopkins provide good classes). My parents are really devoted - basically they said they’ll cover my tuition costs until I finish med school. But I know that would definitely be a financial burden on their part, which is why I have to also contribute in some way. Oh, and seems that some colleges guarantee admission to med school should you be attending their school - do you possibly know anything about it?
My SAT scores are R: 720 W: 780 M:760 if that helps. I gave jkeil911 my list of ECs too. My intent is to make it to one of the more competitive schools like Harvard or UPenn, since I’ve heard their classes/opportunities are good. And since I realized they could also give good FA, out of state universities are definitely not out of question.