<p>The University of Utah is one of the most underrated colleges in the country. They have very strong programs in most of the sciences and some awesome opportunities for undergrad research. The only real weakness with the U is a rather low-achieving student body, but it sounds like you are self-motivated and don’t need a horde of competitive peers to do well (I’m sure that there will be a few anyway).</p>
<p>I would go there if you get good scholarships, work really hard on both academics and research projects, and go to a great grad school.</p>