Why was it the right choice?
Many reasons. First of all, I loved my school, and fell in love with it the first time I visited. I'm a fan of nice campuses, and loved the look of the campus, the fact that i could walk across the whole thing in 15 minutes (key when you're late for class), how nice the library was, etc.
All my friends were from different parts of the country, and we had a ton of international students as well. The diversity really enriched my college experience a lot.
Given the size of the school, my classes were all pretty small except for like, intro bio and intro gen chem. Professors really made an effort to get to know all of us well, and I had some great opportunities for letters of rec by the end. Also, no TA's ever taught a class, there were plenty of office hours, etc. The professors were really there to teach.
We had a very good history of getting students into med school, but EVERYONE was supported by the school. I can't tell you how many places I visited where only people with a certain GPA got a letter from the school. And then they tell you they get 90% of the med school applicants in...sure, because you only allow 3.7's to apply. I get that med school cares a lot about numbers, but there should be more to an application than that, and I think that having your college not support your candidacy to med school because you dared to take a couple of classes that you thought were interesting but didn't get you an A really takes away from the whole "liberal arts" education concept. I wanted college to be its own journey, and to have its own meaning. College shouldn't just be the thing you do before med school, because that takes away from a lot of the joy of it.
I had a ton of extracurricular activities, and it was easy for me to get involved and have leadership roles because of the size of my school. They came up constantly on med school interviews, so I know this mattered.
My advising and support were top-notch. My premed advisor knew me by name within the first 6 months of college, and I had multiple people to lean on and to ask for advice. I was never lost in the crowd.
My classmates were pretty much all very smart and driven. There was barely a curve, ever, because no one was just there to get the Mrs degree or whatever- everyone had worked their butts off to get there, and they were all good students. This was a huge driving force for me, and it kept me from resting on my laurels. It was also inspiring, since I was surrounded by equally ambitious people.
Research opportunities were plentiful and professors were extremely welcoming. There wasn't a lab I couldn't access or professors who wouldn't answer an email in a matter of hours. As long as you were committed to the work, they were committed to mentoring you.
As I mentioned in another thread, to some extent prestige begets prestige. The vast majority of the people at my "top 10 med school" interviews were from top colleges. And I didn't have a 4.0, not even close. But still, I found it relatively easy to break into the ivory tower places. I would have needed some far more impressive stats to even attempt that had I gone to my state school- and still, I doubt I would have gotten the interviews I did. Oh and I got a merit scholarship for med school, so ultimately I'm in way less debt than if I'd gone to my state school and then to a private med school after without a scholarship.
These are just some of the reasons I think it was absolutely the right decision. Had I gone to my state school, would I be here to tell you that it was totally the right decision? Maybe. But it always bugs the hell out of me when people off-hand say "oh i'm going to the state school, college doesnt matter for med school anyway". Well, first of all, to say that is extremely myopic- is it a huge deal? No. Is it a non-issue? No. And plus college shouldn't just be about getting into med school- it should also be for its own sake.
Edit: another thought. I think there's always going to be a component of wanting to validate your own choice, so as I said I'm sure I'd feel good about choosing my state school too. But when I did make this choice, I was frequently told that I'd regret it when I realized how much debt I have, that I'd regret it come residency when I had to start paying off massive loans, that I'd regret it as an attending when I couldn't buy a big house yet etc...well, I'm about to start residency, and I'm still really comfortable with this decision. I'm in more debt than I would have been otherwise (not by a huge amount to be fair) but I wouldn't give up my college experience for anything, and the way loan repayment works at the moment I'll still be able to afford it just fine. I guess I'll check in after residency and see if I still feel the same way...but something tells me I will.
