“LACs such as Haverford, Carleton et al tend to offer good pre-med support as well as notable early action programs for their top students”
The operative word is “TOP Students”, if you ARE the “top students”, it really dose not matter whether you go to a LAC or State Flag school. As long as you have the fit and affordable AND be top student, you can go to almost ANY top 200 or State flag schools in the USA and be able to go to med school upon graduation.
So the general advice is that if you can be the top 25%(10% is even better) of the entering class, you will most likely be the “top students” in that school.