While this is a partially true statement, the faculty at your chosen institution will have a HUGE variance on both your education and connections down the road. For instance;
You can do a residency/rotation in pretty much any major hospital in the country coming from OSU Com. The reason? Poppie. (Dr. Goljan) Face it, DO schools still face a lot of punishment from high end allopathic institutions. Our students have a great opportunity to practice at those places due to the education you SHOULD have gotten from OSU. Like you said though, the student makes the ultimate difference. We just had a student (now a 3rd year) get a perfect Comlex score, followed by a near perfect USMLE score. Hes a GREAT student, but also a student that absorbs everything Poppie has to teach. Respect and reputation help a lot when it comes to residencies/location. I know this sounds like a gospel to Poppie due to his acclaim, but the other professors do a standup job as well in preparing us for our futures as physicians. One of my favorite t-shirts to wear to the gym says Self Taught Doctor. I picked it up in undergrad, but it does have meaning in medical school. The professors put the information in front of you, but with the vast amounts of info its up to YOU to ultimately learn the material. Most medical schools are pretty equal, but there are differences. Tour as many as you can, you'll probably pick up on them.
As far as instate ties, I've never even been to Oklahoma and none of my family's from there. However, most of my family are from Texas, so I'm hoping that'll pull some weight...especially because I really want to do rural medicine, in TX or OK or CO or wherever! 3.9 cGPA 29R MCAT
