I am currently a sophmore in highschool and have taken the act twice in this acedemic year. My current highest act score is a 28, but I’m taking the test multiple times and really believe I can raise my score the two points I need to be considered by Emory or Miami. From a pre med program strength oriented view, which school is the best? I know Emory is very prestigious, Miami’s medical center is amazing, and that the University of North Carolina has one of the best medical schools for graduate students. But, who is better? Emory and Miami come with a rather large sticker price unless I qualify for merit aid and a small amount of financial aid (parents are just above middle class so I don’t expect much financial aid).So are these schools worth it? Or would North Carolina have more to offer for less?
It doesn’t matter, those are all good schools. When the time comes you can apply and see where you get in. Only then will you be at a decision point. Medical schools don’t care about the ‘prestige’ of your undergraduate university. You want to go to a place where you will be taught well and have support for premeds and most of all where you can get very strong grades. Your med school admittance will be based on your grades and your mcat scores, not on your undergrad school. So who has a great med or grad school really shouldn’t matter at this point. Medical school is very expensive so take as little debt as possible. Stretch your parents as little as possible too, so they may be able to help you out when you need it.
And rather than taking and retaking the ACT, give the SAT a shot. Most kids do about the same on both - but some do much better on one vs. the other. (Example: ACT has more time pressure than the SAT. If running out of time was a problem for you on the ACT, you might find the SAT is better for you.)
And I agree completely with BrownParent’s comment as well.
What is your home state?
You should talk to your parents about how much they’ll pay for college. An ACT 30 isn’t going to get much/anything from Emory or Miami. that score would be low-average for those schools.
You should go to an undergrad where you will be a strong student…NOT one of the weaker students. Otherwise, your stronger classmates will grab the A’s and then you won’t have a med-school worthy GPA.
On the one hand, if you are a sophomore you do have more to learn and more time to study to raise your ACT score. On the other hand, general statistics on standardized tests show that the vast majority of students do not raise their score significantly after the second (and certainly not after the third) administration.
Otherwise, I agree that
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Neither of these schools is objectively better than the others - for premed or anything, really - but particularly for pre-med, since medical schools don’t really care where you went to undergrad.
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It’s too early to be making these decisions. Particularly since your current ACT score puts you in the bottom 25% of applicants, and even if you do raise it to a 30, you will be an average applicant in terms of test scores. Miami’s acceptance rate is higher than Emory’s but chances are decent that you won’t really have to make this choice (especially if you are OOS to UNC). There’s also financial aid packages to consider - so basically, you shouldn’t think that hard about this until April of 2017. Just apply to all three.
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Especially if med school is your goal, you do want to go somewhere you can get good grades. Now I don’t think that the weaker applicants always do the worst in the top schools - and you might not be an all-around weak applicant, since we don’t know your grades and such. But I do think that you increase your chances of doing well if you go to a university/college at which you are at least in the middle of the pack.
If you’re premed, you want to attend a college where you’ll be among the top 25% students (both for course rigor and test scores) and certainly above the middle 50%.
If your goal is ACT30 - and, with your current score, it’s a realistic goal, I commend you for that- , you probably shouldn’t attend Emory or UMiami, unless you’re not sure you want to become a doctor. (UNC OOS is impossible if you’re not an athlete, a legacy, or an Ivy-contender).
With a rigorous curriculum and ACT30* , you"d have a shot at universities like Eckerd, which has a strong biology program and would likely offer some financial + merit aid, St Olaf and Dickinson would be matches (both offer superb premed preparation), etc. Start exploring a bit 
- time to get a Fiske Guide, Princeton Review’s Best Colleges, or Insider’s Guide to the Colleges, and start reading!
- unless you attend a school where the average is 17 or 18, in which case your achievement would be duly recognized and would make you eligible for a lot of colleges.
Thank you everyone who replied. You guys gave me some great insight on choosing a school, and I'm happy to say that I have managed to raise my score. I have taken the ACT twice since this post. The second time I tested, I was very disappointed. My score actually dropped to a 27. I was devastated but more determined than ever to raise it. I took the test for a third time and finally got that 30. I was actually just one point away in the math section from getting a 31. So this information is even more relevant now. Also, I would just like to say that just because you've taken the test multiple times doesn't mean you can't do better Juillet. I guess I am an example of that. Although I know a 30 isn't amazing, it's still an improvement. So don't discourage people from retesting, even if it's not statistically likely for them to improve. It took me three times to get my score, and if I had given up it wouldn't have gotten any better.
You may want to ask @bernie12 about the biology and chemistry courses and curricula at Emory and other schools.
In any case, a pre-med should consider how expensive medical school is. A lower cost undergraduate school to avoid debt and/or save money for medical school may help reduce debt by the end of medical school.
That’s the question I just asked on another thread. Is it worth going to a smaller state school and acquiring next to no college debt, or is it a you get what you pay for situation? I was looking at the University of South Alabama to be specific. Would going there be better off in the long run, or would it put me at a disadvantage when I apply for medical school? Is it worth paying the cost to go to a out of state or private school?
South Alabama appears to have enough pre-med students to have some web pages dedicated to the subject:
http://www.southalabama.edu/healthprofessions/medicine.html
http://www.southalabama.edu/healthprofessions/curricula.html
There is also dedicated pre-med advising:
http://www.southalabama.edu/colleges/alliedhealth/prehealthadvisors.html