I’m a junior in high school with a 32 act and 3.96 gpa. I’m struggling to figure out my best options. I would like to go into the medical field. Right now, I am considering Bama (full tuition scholarship), Umich, and MSU. I would get some money from MSU also. I’m from Michigan by the way. Can someone help me find some other good options?
Consider one of the good liberal arts colleges in Michigan or surrounding states: Albion College, College of Wooster, etc. Rhodes College in Tennessee also is strong in traditional pre-med disciplines. You might look here from some further ideas: http://ctcl.org/.
Some colleges on this online list offer excellent need-based aid: “The Experts’ Choice: Colleges with Great Pre-med Programs.” In consultation with your parents, you can access their Net Price Calculators to determine their true costs.
Seconding Rhodes, Wooster, and Albion; adding St Olaf, Lawrence, Beloit, Ohio Wesleyan, Dickinson, Muhlenberg, Kenyon, Denison. Eckerd if warm weather is tempting. 
Run the NPCs.
Do you need merit aid (ie., your parents can’t/won’t pay their EFC) or need-based aid (your EFC is low so you need a college that meets need)?
I really don’t need much aid, however I would like to save my parents and myself money. They are already putting my brother through MSU and sister through U of M right now. So I guess now my question is, is the Michigan degree worth the extra $20000 or so a year compared to Alabama, for example?
@dflet1 There are some schools other than Alabama which have free tuition and/or free rides for the kind of stats you have. Other people may disagree, but a 32 on the ACT is the bare minimum that many of these colleges have for merit aid. I think a 33 or 34 would be better, and you have enough time to take it four more times before the Nov. 1 Early Action deadline that many colleges have for merit aid (early action doesn’t obligate you, but you have to apply early).
As for your last question, I certainly don’t think the Michigan degree is worth an additional $80,000. The top quartiles of both schools are now about the same, since Alabama is giving so much merit aid. The lowest quartile at Alabama is a lot lower, but the important thing is to have a group of highly talented students.
You did not mention your PSAT score. Be aware that all of the cutoff scores will be much lower next year since the test was recalibrated to a different scale. I’ve seen claims that the Michigan cutoff may drop to about 200, but nobody knows. If you were to make NMF you could go to Oklahoma and have your five free years include med school.
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As for your last question, I certainly don’t think the Michigan degree is worth an additional $80,000. The top quartiles of both schools are now about the same, since Alabama is giving so much merit aid. The lowest quartile at Alabama is a lot lower, but the important thing is to have a group of highly talented students.
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Yes, the lowest quartile is lower, but that’s not really relevant to a STEM student. The lowest quartile students won’t be in his classes.
@EarlVanDorn Yes, if he were NMF and went to Oklahoma AND was accepted into their med school (harder if OOS), then he’d have one year of his med school tuition covered.