Out of general interest, you may want to read through the list of recent Goldwater Scholars. You will note that students from Tufts and NESCAC-like schools such as Swarthmore and Vassar were recipients in the field of Life Sciences. Though I wouldn’t suggest you choose your college based on a one-year sample, the inclusion of many schools of this type in the general sample should be encouraging to you in terms of what you could achieve from any of them.
https://goldwater.scholarsapply.org/2019-goldwater-scholars-by-institution-state/