<p>First, I recommend adding the University of Rochester to your list. It is a peer school to both Tulane and BU, and is excellent for all things bio. Plus, it has a medical school.</p>
<p>Second, yes, I agree that for merit aid you should lower your sights a little further (but not below LSU). The fact is that substantial merit aid generally goes to students with ACT/SAT scores in the upper 20% to 25% of the entering freshman class. You would not be in that category at MIT, for example, but would at LSU. Borderline with others on your list.</p>
<p>YES, go ahead and apply to all six of the schools you mention (then add Rochester), then also apply to at least three schools which are very likely to offer you merit aid. Want a surprise suggestion? The University of Alabama. Yep, they are almost guaranteed to offer you a FULL TUITION merit aid package. See this webpage: <a href=“http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out_of_state.html”>http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out_of_state.html</a></p>
<p>Naturally, you would need to keep any LSU football loyalties a secret. :-" </p>
<p>My sister and her husband are both doctors and got their undergraduate degrees from schools less regarded than either LSU or Alabama. Getting into med school is mostly about prerequisites, MCAT scores and grades. The college or university is almost irrelevant, except for the few medical schools which give preferential admissions to their own undergraduate students.</p>