Ok, I'm pretty sure this topic was started in response to something I said earlier.
I said that I wanted to be challenged in med school, and I thought that a lower-tier school might not be as challenging as some other school.
First, I would like to apologize to anyone who was insulted by this comment. Next, let me explain myself. I can see how my statement may have been misinterpreted. That is, you may be thinking that I am just a really competitive person who wants to prove how smart I am. Trust me, this is not the case. I was just saying that I wanted a *personal* challenge, not that I wanted to compete with other students. I really do NOT want to go to a school with a competitive environment. I really don't want people to be worrying about who got pass and who got honors, etc. I think that is silly. If you got into med school, you have proven that you are dedicated, intelligent, etc. (This is not to say that people who don't get in are not these things - many very intelligent, driven, etc. people do not get accepted! You also need luck to get in.) Once you are in, you don't need to compete with those around you. I look forward to being helped by and, if I can, helping my fellow classmates in med school.
Ok, now back to the issue at hand. When I applied, I thought that higher-tier med schools would be more challenging than lower-tier med schools. I have changed my mind to just thinking that some med schools may be more challenging than others. I don't like the whole tier thing - it is based too much on us news rankings, which I think are a load of crap. I would still say that some med schools are more challenging than others, but I'm not sure how you would judge this. Ranking probably does not tell you.