I’m going to be a junior in high school and I’ve begun to look for colleges, and I’m actually really excited! I’m just not sure what kind of schools I should be aiming for academic wise. I’m from NY but there’s no way I’m staying in state, I’m either looking to go to Rhode Island or North/South Carolina, and I definitely want to be close to the beach. As of right now I have an 88 cumulative average in school (about a 3.3gpa I believe?), which suffered a lot due to some anxiety issues I had freshman year which affected my grades, so I’m expecting my cumulative GPA to go up a few points by the end of my senior year. I haven’t taken any SATS/PSATS/ACTS yet so I don’t have any scores, but I’ll be getting a tutor and taking some practice tests so hopefully I’ll do well. I’m looking to major in psychology or marine biology. By the end of HS I’ll have 4 or 5 AP courses, and about 6 honors classes.
I’ve been looking at URI, Salve Regina, Roger Williams U, UNC (Wilmington or maybe chapel hill) and USC (Beaufort). I visited URI and salve Regina and loved them both, but I was told by some friends in RI that URI isn’t a good school, which I was surprised by?
I was just wondering if anyone had some recommendations or advice as I begin to look for colleges 
Only the usual:
Check with your parents right now about how much they can afford and if they have any other issues or concerns about where you go to school. You want all this on the table, up front.
Your test scores are an important part of the equation as to whether a school is a reach, match or safety. Until you have them, you will have no idea if the schools you are looking at make sense.
Next, don’t listen to friends (or relatives) who say this school or that isn’t good. This kind of feedback is like gossip in the lunchroom. It is often based on 3d hand info or data not relevant to your situation. How can you tell if a school is good FOR YOU (which is what matters?). Read up on the school: check their retention rate, look at the coursework offered in your areas of interest and the background of the faculty teaching there, what kind of resources do they have for students (housing, clubs, academic advising), how rigorous are they (what do you have to do to graduate with a major in your area - compare it to what you’d have to do at a school you know to be really top notch in your field.) Check to see if you meet the admissions requirements -The Common Data Set for each school can be googled. Look at the academic qualifications of the students who are admitted from the applicant pool. How strong is the student body academically? And no school is ‘good’ if you can’t afford it without a lot of debt.
And, finally, love your safety. You need to find a school that you can definitely get into, can afford, and would be happy to attend. Just one (but two if you like a choice).
Oh, and maybe this list will be useful: http://marinebio.org/marinebio/careers/us-schools/
Note which ones have degrees for undergrads. But keep in mind that any place that gives you a strong bio background is good - you can specialize in marine bio later.