<p>You sound a lot like my daughter. We are also from the NW and she liked the cloudy weather. She wound up at Pomona because she loved the school. At first she did not like the sunny hot days, especially in the early fall when it was hot, but she changed over the four years and grew to love the weather. Stanford is a great school, don’t dismiss it based on the weather. The summer/fall in CA will be hot but for most of the school year it will be comfortable.
It is easier to get used to warmer weather than to get used to the harsh winters of the east (I am from the east coast). Seattle has mild winters in comparison and the travel between home and school is much nicer when you stay in the same time zone and travel is not delayed due to weather conditions around the holidays.
UW is a great school and unless you can get decent aid for your undergrad school, will also be the most practical for someone wanting to go to med school.
A LAC is also a nice option for undergrad (if you can get decent needs based or merit aid), you will get a good education (many will have the intellectual vibe you want with intimate learning environments in the classroom) and then you can concentrate on the big universities for med school. There is a lot of learning/growing you will do in four years and you will be a different person with different perspectives. Enjoy!</p>
I would be overjoyed to go to stanford haha