Am I crazy? Importance of family? (Another "should i go?" thread)

[Bounty]

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Hi guys

So to make a long story short, I found out yesterday that I have an interview scheudled for me at Columbia next week. I'm seriously considering not going and I was wondering if I am crazy for this? (Some people i have asked think I am.)

Anyways, putting aside all other stuff like "realistically, what are my chances at a school like Columbia?", etc etc...here's the deal...

So it had always been my dream to come back to California for medical school. I went to undergrad on the east coast with the intention of coming back (or at least trying to). In fact, the main reason i turned down one of those 7 year programs was so I could at least try to come back here. For the last four years, I had only seen my family about twice a year. Now that I am out of school and back in LA, I LOVE being able to see them whenever I want. Not that I am a homesick type because I am not, but is it crazy to let family be a HUGE factor in where you want to go? I know I want to settle in California and I just think I would rather spend my mid twenties here, enjoying the warm weather and sun (yes, i am a cold weather WUSS!)

So i have been accepted to two California schools - none of them are "oohh ohhh Columbia" status but does that mean I would regret not interviewing there?

Sorry for the ******ed rambling message. I am just wondering if any of you also place a lot of importance on location, family, etc.

 

[tBw]

whats the point of life? To go to Columbia? Or to be happy? Maybe neither, but I know which I would choose. It sounds to me like the trip to Columbia would be a waste of time and money. If you are in in Cali and are happy there, stay there!

 

[tBw]

btw for posting a "should I go" thread, you are now morally obliged to answer the next "what are my chances" post! 😉

 

[Mutterkuchen]

If I were in your shoes, I would have no problem turning the interview down. If you really want to live in CA and have acceptances already, what's the big deal. If the acceptances are at UC schools, then the decision is even easier, since your debt load should be much lower.

Columbia is a great school, it would be a honor to interview or be accepted, but I consider family to be important. Additionally, if you want to end up in CA, I would guess that CA schools match to more CA residencies.

So if you want to turn the interview down, I say do it--and do it with a peaceful heart.

 

[ez073323]

Bounty,

I don't think you crazy at all... I only applied to three schools, Western in Pomona, Touro In Vallejo and UCD. I only sent an application to Western because it is the only other DO school in Cali, but truthfull, becuase location/proximity to family is basically at the top of my list, Touro is my number one choice.

I think you should still go to your interview becuase who knows what you might encounter during your time interviewing.. you might be reassured that Cali is the only place for you, you might be accepted on the spot and accept it because you found something at Columbia that you didnt see before...


In the end I know you will pick the school that is right for you...

Brian

 

[opus03]

I agree with the boy wonder....ultimately you have to do what will make YOU happy and if being in cali and close to family is that thing, then you should seriously consider that...be happy that you are lucky enough to be able to do those things and still at the same time become a doctor!!! Congrats🙂

 

[tess]

It is important to consider where you will be happiest, also important to consider if you will wonder "what if" if you don't go to the interview.

Good Luck!

 

[lola]

i think you should turn down the interview and stay in cali. i decided to go to a prestigious school on the east coast for grad school primarily b/c it was prestigious, and i often wished i'd gone to ucla so i could have been closer to my friends and family. although it has some good qualities too, the east coast is cold and dreary and your family is not there and when it finally does get warm, it's hot and humid! come to think of it... i'd love it if you gave up those spots at the california schools 😉

 

[DW]

first point, i could have told you a long time ago you are crazy

ok, seriously doll, its perfectly fine for family and location to be a concern in your deciding a med school. contrary to the beliefs of some posters, you dont just look at usnews rankings and pick your school exclusively on that merit (i know, prestige is important to some, lets not start that debate......).

Everyone's values are different, and what YOU specifically value in picking a med school is most important. If being close to your family or a geographical location is important to you, let it be a factor. If "rankings" or research dollars are very important to you, let it be a factor. If price tag is a huge issue to it, let it be a factor. If weather is a factor for all you sissy ass californians 😛, let it be a factor. The bottom line is you should to pick a school where YOU would be happiest at, and no person or ranking algorithm will be able to tell you whats best for YOU.

My personal anecdote, I've been through all my interviews already, and I've had the honor of interviewing at a top 3 school among other fine institutions. As wonderful an institution as it is, (in the event of being accepted at least) I think I would probably take cornell or sinai over wash u. why? Cause being on the East Coast is muy importante to MY personal happiness, its where I want to live, close to my family and friends in an environment I enjoy. To some, going to a school with infinite research dollars trumps the location factor. To me, it doesnt. Thats just me, nothing against St Louis or Wash U 🙂

if you can make the interview for a reasonable price, go if you're curious I guess. columbia is a damn good school. but if you feel like you really wouldnt come to the east coast in the long run for med school, I wouldnt feel bad about declining 😎

 

[Green912]

Not knowing you, and from only reading your post my advice it to go to one of the California schools. Anything that's important to you is worthy enough to be considered when making such a big decision, especially family. I doubt that CA has any schools with mediocre reputations plus it may help in getting a CA residency. It'll also be nice to have your support system so close. Good luck with your decision.

 

[INeedAdvice]

COLUMBIA ?!?

ARE YOU CRAZY ?!? They are one of the best schools in the country.

Don't pass up this chance. Hmmmm....I wonder if any students who say "don't go" have a personal interest in for you to pass up this chance so they have a better shot at getting accepted ? Is it me, or are there some of the same posters telling another poster to pass up the Cornell interview?

Go to the interview....do the best that you can and see what happens. At least you'll have the peace of mind that you didn't waste this magnificant opportunity. If you get rejected, then so be it (but don't go in with that attitude). If you get in, then you can ask if they allow students to spend their 3rd and 4th year of rotations at a local area (many schools do this...and they may work with you...).

Also, it's only four years. You can do your residency back in CA.

Think about it this way....even if you do four years of med school in CA, you're going to be so damn busy every waking second, that you won't get to go out and hang out with your family anyways. In fact, it may be a distraction...you'll feel like you want to go to every family party, etc....

 

[Jalby]

I was in your situation last year, and I happened to run into someone in Vegas who went to Umich. He said he had to work so much harder to get into a residency in Cali than he would have otherwise, that he wished he had gone to a cali school. (His only acceptance was Umich) That pretty much made up my mind.

 

[Mutterkuchen]

Originally posted by DW


My personal anecdote, I've been through all my interviews already, and I've had the honor of interviewing at a top 3 school among other fine institutions. As wonderful an institution as it is, (in the event of being accepted at least) I think I would probably take cornell or sinai over wash u. why? Cause being on the East Coast is muy importante to MY personal happiness, its where I want to live, close to my family and friends in an environment I enjoy. To some, going to a school with infinite research dollars trumps the location factor. To me, it doesnt. Thats just me, nothing against St Louis or Wash U 🙂

On the other hand, I would pick Wash U for the same reasons you mentioned!

 

[lola]

one more thing... my friend is in dental school in columbia and is REALLY wishing she had gotten into a california school. it used to annoy me how people were always like "california is so great" when i went away to the east coast for college. after coming back and leaving again to go to grad school and coming back again, i now completely agree!! the atmosphere on the west coast is totally different than in other parts of the country. it's hard to explain, but the air in other parts of the country is different -- heavy and cloudy! california just feels like home!
go to the interview if you're curious, but remember to factor in what's most important to you when making your final decidsion. columbia may be prestigious, but i doubt the name will help that much in getting a california residency compared to if you stayed in california for med school.

 

[Street Philosopher]

why not just go and decide later? this way you'll have may 15th to make sure you really don't want to leave CA. (or have them decide for you earlier hehehe)

 

[Ramoray]

hey there, im sure you know this as you are a well versed applicant, however as i am the opposite i wanna make my way out east, as you probably know you are alot more likely to land a residency in the area you graduate from. Of course this is not 100 percent true but after looking at tons of match lists, its no secret that if you go to school out east you are alot more likely to match out east.. if u go cal.. ur gonna match out in cal, so that means you are looking at probably picking where youa re gonna be for a long logn time, not jsut 4 years. And i would factor that in.. And eh i know how ya dont like the cold.. who are we tryin to kid here🙂 good luck either way, and you are in two great schools.sooo **** people with their oooos and ahhhhs. when it comes down to it.. it sooo doenst matter in the end. Good luck

 

[TeinVI]

cali sucks....east coast oWnZ Jooo

...where my flame visors at...

 

[Bounty]

Thank you all for your responses - you have been so helpful. I love SDN! 🙂

 

[tBw]

but you're not gonna tell us what you decided!??!?!

 

[Bounty]

dont worry, i definitely will when i make the final decision. 🙂

 

[TeinVI]

hey bounty, u should definitely go to the columbia interview. i'll take you out to the local hotdog stand 😎 😛

 

[tBw]

oh and heres one more thing to help you decide - today it's 14F in NY. Try sitting in your freezer for half an hour and then step outside to LA. Which do you prefer? 😉

 

[Bounty]

seriously! I went to the beach this past saturday in the gorgeous 78 degree weather. 😀

 

[The Chronic MD]

Alright, here is my 50 cent. You can go, you should go, you will go...he he he. Forget all of this nonsense about rationalizing your INTERVIEW decision on staying in California. It is an interview! For me, an interview is a chance to get admitted to a school, yes...However, it is also a chance to get a few days off of work, go to New York, and party like it was 1999. Consider it a little vacation to the capital of the world. If I am correct, your interview is on Friday...hmmm...Let's see:

THURSDAY

1 Depart LAX and arrive at LGA or JFK at 4:20 pm.
2 Meet your friends from college, have dinner, and grab a cocktail or ten.

FRIDAY

1 Stumble to your Columbia interview and tell them that its your tenth choice and that even if you were admitted, you wouldn't go there (I would love to do that sometime...)
2 Meet your friends, eat at Cipriani's and hit up the Sound Factory or Sapphire or something dank.

SATURDAY

1 Go home from the club and take a nap
2 Wake up and get after it again...go buy some bootleg Louis Vutton purses on Canal street to sell on ebay, chill at Wash Square Park and take it all in like you were starring in the movie KIDS, or just walk around chomping pizza slices and frequenting little taverns
3 Go out and ball...420 Bar, Karma, 357, whatever your pleasure

SUNDAY

1 Leave the club that you have been at all night and get your luggage to bail.
2 Make it to the airport, fall asleep on your plane, and you're off...

Now ask yourself:

"Should I go?"

 

[Scooby Doo]

Originally posted by lola
one more thing... my friend is in dental school in columbia and is REALLY wishing she had gotten into a california school. it used to annoy me how people were always like "california is so great" when i went away to the east coast for college. after coming back and leaving again to go to grad school and coming back again, i now completely agree!! the atmosphere on the west coast is totally different than in other parts of the country. it's hard to explain, but the air in other parts of the country is different -- heavy and cloudy! california just feels like home!
go to the interview if you're curious, but remember to factor in what's most important to you when making your final decidsion. columbia may be prestigious, but i doubt the name will help that much in getting a california residency compared to if you stayed in california for med school.

Ok...being an actual med student here AT Columbia and growing up in California I would like to respond to just your comments first. First off, the dental students share many of the same classes that the med students take. HOWEVER, dental students HAVE GRADES! (A, B, C, D, F)....Med students are PASS / FAIL!!!!! Hence, the dental students are going crazy, med students are partying 😉
Atmosphere is different but hey, it's a different way of life too. I am growing so much as a person getting out of California. And I will have no problems getting back into Cali for a residency as long as I don't **** around here.
I say she should come to the interview. At least check it out. I think she should make a trip to NYC out of it and have some fun.

 

[Scooby Doo]

Originally posted by Jalby
I was in your situation last year, and I happened to run into someone in Vegas who went to Umich. He said he had to work so much harder to get into a residency in Cali than he would have otherwise, that he wished he had gone to a cali school. (His only acceptance was Umich) That pretty much made up my mind.

Sorry Jalby, there will not be a problem for cali residents getting back into cali. If we either rotate a couple times in California, or go back to do research, or do decent in school, it will not be hard. People coming out of columbia are going to very good places everywhere. California being one of them.

 

[lola]

Originally posted by Scooby Doo

Atmosphere is different but hey, it's a different way of life too. I am growing so much as a person getting out of California.

i agree that it's good to get out and see new things, live in new places, etc... i think it really helped me grow as well. but since she's already lived on the east coast, if she prefers cali then she should stay put. good luck on your decision bounty! i'm always a firm believer of following your heart. go wherever it takes you. sounds cheesy, but i think my heart usually knows what's best 🙂

 

[galen]

Dear Bounty--I agree w Lola. Being from West Coast (OR), spending 4 yrs in NYC would for me be like being sentenced to h*ll froze over. I have spent 3 wks in an Eastern city, and that was enough 4 me.
Family IS important. Someone here said its only 4 yrs, but if you keep saying that and putting off life, youll someday realize what you've missed. Those older family members might not be around anymore and ur 'prestigeous' Columbia degree will not bring them back from the grave.

ps-Congrats on the acceptances & interview. You are soooo lucky to have a choice.

 

[zer0el]

Bounty, sounds like u really like Cali. Many premeds would kill to make it back to the greatest state in the nation =). Columbia has wow factor, but so what? If you ultimately want to stay in CA, Columbia won't really give u any advantage over a CA med school (since all 8 are great). It may help you match into a program in Boston, NY, etc., but that's not where you want to be.

I can relate to what ur saying. The moment I found out I got into USC, I cancelled my NYU interview. I, too, am in undergrad on the East coast, and if there is one thing I learned in my time here, it's that the West coast truly does rock.

Stay in Cali, pay less money for med school (I assume you got into a UC), enjoy the 70 degree year-round temp, and go to the beach often.

 

[All-Star14]

Originally posted by Bounty
seriously! I went to the beach this past saturday in the gorgeous 78 degree weather. 😀

Now I'm jealous...temps are in the 20s here. Plus, it's snowed here three times in the past two months! 🙁

 

[Scooby Doo]

Originally posted by zer0el


Stay in Cali, pay less money for med school (I assume you got into a UC), enjoy the 70 degree year-round temp, and go to the beach often.

Just so you know, The money thing is not always a factor. Columbia is very very generous with their financial aid. I am paying about the same to come here as I would have paid to go to a UC school. MAYBE even less!

 

[badassy]

I would go to the interview. Life is better with out thinking what if.

 

[DrBlueDevil]

Originally posted by Scooby Doo
Atmosphere is different but hey, it's a different way of life too. I am growing so much as a person getting out of California. And I will have no problems getting back into Cali for a residency as long as I don't **** around here.
I say she should come to the interview. At least check it out. I think she should make a trip to NYC out of it and have some fun.

What he said.

 

[fava]

hey--
it's a tough situation. i know. i struggled with the exact same issues over my stanford interview. in the end, i decided not to go, and i haven't regretted it. i'm sure i would've loved the school if i'd gone, but i look at it as having saved myself a potentially really difficult decision (if i were to get in). maybe i shouldn't have applied there in the first place -- i know that, for me, nomatter how wonderful a school is, it is not worth being in a situation where i'd have to buy a plane ticket every time i wanted to see my fam. that's just me. it's different for everyone. but for me, getting to see my family often (and even just knowing that they are close by if i need them) contributes immenselv to my happiness, and i have a feeling i'm gonna need all the support i can get in the next few years.
(that being said, if you have the money to pay for the flight to the interview -- i did not, really -- then it definitely couldn't hurt.)
good luck.

 

[Jalby]

Originally posted by Scooby Doo
Sorry Jalby, there will not be a problem for cali residents getting back into cali. If we either rotate a couple times in California, or go back to do research, or do decent in school, it will not be hard. People coming out of columbia are going to very good places everywhere. California being one of them.

I'm saying it will be a lot easier for me to get an Ortho residency out here than it would for you. You are right, if you wanted IM or Fam Med or one of those residencies, it won't be hard, but about a third of the spots here at USC in the top residencies go to USC people.

 

[Scooby Doo]

I still gotta disagree with you man.

I could believe that many of the spots at USC go to USC students...but that's basically the inbreeding that occurs pretty much everywhere. Lots of people who head out East plan on staying on the east too. not everyone wants to stay in cali or go back to cali. We'll basically see what happens when we get to that stage....

 

[Bounty]

Thanks for all your help everyone! I thought about it a lot and i decided not to go so I told the admissions office that I would not be attending.

Now I can save my money for the giant east coast visiting trip i will be making this summer! 🙂

Scooby, I'm sorry you wont get to hang out with my awesomeness. 😉



PS Anyone wanna join me at the beach this weekend? 😉

 

[Jalby]

Originally posted by Bounty
Thanks for all your help everyone! I thought about it a lot and i decided not to go so I told the admissions office that I would not be attending.

Now I can save my money for the giant east coast visiting trip i will be making this summer! 🙂

Scooby, I'm sorry you wont get to hang out with my awesomeness. 😉



PS Anyone wanna join me at the beach this weekend? 😉

Supposed to be a great day for the beach. I would, but there is a minority health conference at UCLA I wanted to go to. And there is some stuff such as class I need to do.

 

[Jalby]

Originally posted by Scooby Doo

I could believe that many of the spots at USC go to USC students...

My point exactly. Those spots are basically out of compition for people not at USC. So therefore, we have a lot better chance of getting a great residency in Southern Cali.

 

[Scooby Doo]

Originally posted by Jalby
My point exactly. Those spots are basically out of compition for people not at USC. So therefore, we have a lot better chance of getting a great residency in Southern Cali.

My point is that those people will have an easier time getting into USC's affiliated hospitals....not all southern cali....
If I come back over one summer or do a rotation in that hospital, I think my chances are greatly increased...so oh well..

 

[Jalby]

Yeah, there is a USC inbreeding at USC, as it is the same with all schools.

2 points:

1. A school in southern California would prolly rank a student at USC over a student at Columbia if they had equal stats and everything because the person at USC is morelikely to rank their program higher because they are more likely to want to be in Southern California (They did choose it for Med school) Granted, this might not apply to you because of family ties, but on average this is prolly true.

2. There is only 42 Ortho spots (I might be thinking about a diff res, but that is close) in California. (9 Programs total) 8 of them are at USC. So I have a HUGE advantage of being able to stay in So Cal because I have the USC connection. I knew the residency director at Cedar Sinai, and he told me if someone rotated there, they would ask the people he rotated with if they liked him (even if he was applying to a different residency). So being in So Cal, it is a lot easier to do away rotations here than it would be coming from Columbia. Also, I'm not sure how easy it would be to find research here in LA coming from Columbia. I really doubt you would have access to our programs. (I'm looking for research in them right now)

All of that being said, there are tons of Internal Medicines, Family Practice, etc etc here in So Cal where I don't think I would have an advantage over Columbia.

(On the converse, I'm sure every UCLA and UCSF program would pick a Columbia over USC. But I'm not looking to be in the best programs. I still want to have a life.)