You can’t afford to build a list of vanity schools in “hip” cities that are tremendously expensive and seriously competitive. Your dream shouldn’t be bright lights big city.
It should be those schools that give you the best chance for your dream career. Those schools where you can dominate and get stellar grades and have the highest chance of a medical school acceptance. And be a place where the cost of living is reasonable, the travel costs low and net price affordable so you are not saddled with debt for the first leg of a marathon race of education.
Where can you get merit aid? Where can you get your need met? Where will you be in the top quarter of the applicant pool so you can earn merit aid and get a lot of financial aid as well.
Will this be “lower ranked” schools? Probably. But they will be the right schools to ensure your path to your dream career. No one asks a doctor where they went to school for undergrad.