I would just go where you want to live for the next four years. I don't think the quality of education would be much different
It depends on where you would want to live and how much more you need for living expenses (food, transportation, insurance, etc.). Rent varies a lot depending where you want to live. Around campus can be anywhere from 700 to 1500 a month if you want a 1 bedroom apartment on campus. I'll be commuting when we start going to campus in January, but I haven't done it yet so I can't really speak much on it. They don't really mention board prep until second year, but I've been doing an anki deck with all of the content we've done so far to help retain
I would just e-mail admissions
They determine who gets a call based on interview performance
... jk 😉