<p>Thanks so much for the information 
it is very appreciated!</p>
<p>Yeah, I have </p>
<p>I will try and seek out some other schools - you are right, a lot of other colleges are really seeking out students like me. A local LAC’s admissions lady told me I could get a full-ride there (unfortunately I don’t really like this area so I don’t think I’d be too happy there). I am far from set-in-stone on those other choices; it is just that I had always wanted to go somewhere like that when I was young, and, at the time, it always seemed feasible (nobody wanted to crush my dreams haha). I don’t think that those are the only places worth going to or anything! ;-)</p>
<p>Having some help paying for college would, of course, really be nice; my parents have always told me that I can go wherever I want and they will pay for me (and they weren’t just saying that), but I’m not sure how med school figures into that. Could you give me an example of one of these step-lower schools? I’m sure there are loads of them but just so I get the general idea.</p>
<p>And as far as the SAT goes, yeah, I’ll be getting the writing up for sure. I had never done a timed essay prior to the test, and I didn’t time myself well. I ended up with a solid intro paragraph and a short choppy middle and end. I could definitely do better! And, yeah, I may take the ACT, just to see if I can get a better score on that. Thankfully, I don’t dislike taking standardized tests. For the PSAT, I had gathered that I would pretty much be a semifinalist, but then I wasn’t sure how big of a deal that was. I had never heard of the NMS stuff before this year, and my counselors at high school haven’t talked about it or anything :-/</p>
<p>And for ECs, I think I am going to start doing volunteer stuff at my local hospital, because I think that it would both help me figure out what exactly it is I want to do, also.</p>
<p>Thanks again for all of the help!</p>