Med school close to home vs. far away

[slimshady83]

I've narrowed down my choices to two schools and I need to decide where to send a deposit.

One is close to home and one is far away. Expenses and school reputation are about equal as far as I can tell. The main issue is that one school is about 30 miles away from my hometown in the midwest where my parents still live. The other school is in Florida over 1000 miles away.

Anyway, I strongly dislike cold weather which makes Florida seem like a great option. But I will also miss my family if I'm that far away. Granted med school won't leave me with much free time to spend with them. I really enjoy a new adventure though and going to school so close to my hometown is hardly all that exciting. Moving to a new part of the country is much more appealing in that regard. Still, I have a feeling that medical school will really take its toll on me at times and that I could benefit by being closer to my parents and siblings.

Part of me wants to go to Florida to establish my own identity and show myself that I can succeed on my own. Although I have lived outside the outside the midwest periodically without terribly missing my family and old friends.

I've considered going somewhere that is between the two distances, close to home but not too close, but haven't found one I liked there. I guess I'm asking about your experiences going to school close to home vs. far away and how you felt about them.

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[doinmybest5840]

I'm in a somewhat similar situation. I'm in Michigan, and I have yet to hear from MSU-COM, but I have been accepted and plan to attend (assuming things don't change with other schools) NSU. My family wants me to go to MSU if I am accepted there, but I really don't want to go. I know it's a good school, but some crazy amount of MSU students match into primary care residencies, and while I'm interested in some primary care specialties, I don't want to limit myself by going to a school that every program knows has a focus on primary care. I am also close to my family, but they all love Florida, so I know they'd be willing to come down 2 or 3 times a year to visit, plus I'll be home for Thanksgiving, winter break, spring break, and summer maybe. Plus there's always the phone/internet/mail. Also, the cold weather is awful, and I don't handle it well, even though I've been here my entire life. So my point is you have to consider a lot of things, such as:

Do the schools you're deciding between have differently focused curricula?
How is the weather different?
Would your family be able/willing to keep in touch or visit you if you go to the far away school?
Cost of living?
Could you see yourself learning better in one school's environment than the other?
Did you mesh well with the students/faculty?
Did you like the area?

Etc.

Good luck.

 

[Powdermonkey]

Heres an option for you to consider, Slim. Why not go through medical school near your support system, i.e., your family and stuff. Then once you get the really stressful part of med school over you can go and "prove" to yourself that you can do it during residency. Or even go and try to find some rotations at hospitals down in Florida during your 3rd and 4th year to see if you would like to have a residency down there. Even though it seems forever from now, residency will be here sooner than we know it, and though we have a bunch of really tough years of med school, it will be finished eventually.

Just a thought and my $0.02. 🙂

 

[TexasTriathlete]

I love my mom, but I can't think of anything that would suck more ass than going to medical school in a place where I am easily accessible to her.

 

[Powdermonkey]

I love my mom, but I can't think of anything that would suck more ass than going to medical school in a place where I am easily accessible to her.

I agree, but I guess some people have a bond that they dont want to break. I like being close enough that I could come home for a good meal everyonce in a while, but still far enough away that it cant be just on of the "oh, I was on this side of town" things and stop by. My parents are much cooler than to do that though. Plus I'll be too busy with my ninja training to have much time to do much else.

 

[Rotinaj]

If you're in med school, you probably won't have a lot of time to enjoy the town you moved to. Plus, if you're close to home you'll have a small support base there. If I were you, I would focus on which school you like more and compare it to the cost and make my decision based on that. They could put a med school in the middle of the world's largest nude beach and resort, but chances are I'd never get outside to see it during daylight hours🙂

 

[xTinaBna]

I've narrowed down my choices to two schools and I need to decide where to send a deposit.

One is close to home and one is far away. Expenses and school reputation are about equal as far as I can tell. The main issue is that one school is about 30 miles away from my hometown in the midwest where my parents still live. The other school is in Florida over 1000 miles away.

Anyway, I strongly dislike cold weather which makes Florida seem like a great option. But I will also miss my family if I'm that far away. Granted med school won't leave me with much free time to spend with them. I really enjoy a new adventure though and going to school so close to my hometown is hardly all that exciting. Moving to a new part of the country is much more appealing in that regard. Still, I have a feeling that medical school will really take its toll on me at times and that I could benefit by being closer to my parents and siblings.

Part of me wants to go to Florida to establish my own identity and show myself that I can succeed on my own. Although I have lived outside the outside the midwest periodically without terribly missing my family and old friends.

I've considered going somewhere that is between the two distances, close to home but not too close, but haven't found one I liked there. I guess I'm asking about your experiences going to school close to home vs. far away and how you felt about them.

Hi!

I made this decision last year... i chose to go to a school that was 25 miles from home versus all the way in california (i'm from the chicago area..chose ccom over touro). Let me tell you that it was the best decision for me at least. I too have gone to undergrad out of state and moved to the east coast for awhile...it was nice to explore life outside of my home area. But trust me when i say how much of a great convenience it is to just go home for dinner if i feel like it because I can. Or to just get away from campus and have my family's support whenever i feel like it. I just finished my first quarter at ccom and having that support so close made it all the more easier on me. I actually had unforeseen family circumstances this quarter and had to be with my mom in the hospital for a while....i remember thinking how lucky i was that I was able to just drive to the hospital and see her and couldnt even imagine what i would do if i had been on the other side of the country.

Also something to consider, if it matters about where u do your rotations/residency..if you want to stay near home it might be easier for you to attend that school close to home since they probably have established programs in the area.

Good luck with your decision 🙂