Regret College?

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Dr_OneDay

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Does anyone else regret their undergrad institution? I attended a "top" college that I wasn't academically prepared for, and I always consoled myself that the rigor of the college would make up for a low GPA (which is so far from true).

What kills me inside is that after putting in more effort than some of my state school friends (I am in no way saying this for all state school applicants, as most of the other state school students I know are superstars), being so far from home when my parents were hospitalized, and using up all my parents' savings, I still might not be able to enter an allopathic program.

I guess this is more of a rant, but misery loves company. Feel free to share or comment with your own experiences.
 
I have the opposite regret. I wish I had not gone to a state school and had gone to the top 10 university that accepted me. There are so many opportunities that I've missed out on and I think I'm at an immense disadvantage from being from an unknown school. I saved my parents money, and I still might not be able to enter an allopathic program lol. YAY MISERY.
 
@gannicus89, believe me, top schools are over hyped. Almost everyone is premed, so (at least for my school), the premed classes had anywhere between 500 and 900 students. The curve is also almost impossible to beat since everyone either studies all the time or is naturally brilliant (though I suppose premed everywhere is like this).

There were extra opportunities, but if you aren't the aggressive type, you can never really get the benefits...
 
Dr_OneDay said:
@gannicus89, believe me, top schools are over hyped. Almost everyone is premed, so (at least for my school), the premed classes had anywhere between 500 and 900 students. The curve is also almost impossible to beat since everyone either studies all the time or is naturally brilliant (though I suppose premed everywhere is like this).

There were extra opportunities, but if you aren't the aggressive type, you can never really get the benefits...
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They might be overhyped, but people tend to make positive assumptions once they hear you went to College XYZ. Even if you didn't do that great while there, people just assume that you're smarter than someone who went to an unknown place- and most of the time, those assumptions can work in your favor lol.
 
I'm with @gannicus89 on this one. I chose a UC that's definitely not even that high up on the UC prestige list even though I was accepted into Cal+UCLA+UCSD. I thought it was the right choice for me at the time, but I ended up slacking off a lot more than I should have due to the decreased competition (probably attended like 40-50% of my lectures, never participated in discussions, barely studied--even for classes like biochem & pchem). I ended up with an okay GPA, but didn't nearly push myself to my potential.

We all make mistakes and hindisight is 20/20, but we are where we are and all you can do is buckle down and work harder, or in an extreme case, try to transfer out. Feel free to PM if you want/need to talk more!
 
I chose a better school and haven't looked back. In general, the curve is easier at top privates (a couple exceptions) than mediocre state flagships.


Sorry it didn't work out for you.
 
I regret my major choice, but I'm happy that I learned as much as I did with it.

As for regretting undergrad? Not at all. I picked a school that gave me $0 (I had offers of $40k, might have been $80k, and $10k, might have been $20k, from 2 other schools) because of the opportunities in the city this school was located in.
 
gannicus89 said:
I have the opposite regret. I wish I had not gone to a state school and had gone to the top 10 university that accepted me. There are so many opportunities that I've missed out on and I think I'm at an immense disadvantage from being from an unknown school. I saved my parents money, and I still might not be able to enter an allopathic program lol. YAY MISERY.
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You are not at much of a disadvantage. Plenty of ppl at top school interviews are from state schools
 
I want to say that I do regret my choice in institution. Although I do hate our academics, I have found so much opportunity here, I physically can't say I regret going here. I am constantly reminded about how incredibly lucky I have been.
 
If you haven't used up all the opportunities at your current school, there's no point in complaining about people at other schools having more opportunities.

xerei said:
Small liberal arts college with great sciences, best decision ever
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also, this. My only regret about going to one instead of a place like Ohio State or Michigan State is that I don't have a Saturday team to distract me from my putrid NFL team.
 
Dr_OneDay said:
Does anyone else regret their undergrad institution? I attended a "top" college that I wasn't academically prepared for, and I always consoled myself that the rigor of the college would make up for a low GPA (which is so far from true).

What kills me inside is that after putting in more effort than some of my state school friends (I am in no way saying this for all state school applicants, as most of the other state school students I know are superstars), being so far from home when my parents were hospitalized, and using up all my parents' savings, I still might not be able to enter an allopathic program.

I guess this is more of a rant, but misery loves company. Feel free to share or comment with your own experiences.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, this is a story that is all too common, and one of the side effects of chasing prestige over practicality. If you pursue a SMP, there's a good chance you could get into an allo school, depending on the rest of your app.
 
Dr_OneDay said:
Does anyone else regret their undergrad institution? I attended a "top" college that I wasn't academically prepared for, and I always consoled myself that the rigor of the college would make up for a low GPA (which is so far from true).

What kills me inside is that after putting in more effort than some of my state school friends (I am in no way saying this for all state school applicants, as most of the other state school students I know are superstars), being so far from home when my parents were hospitalized, and using up all my parents' savings, I still might not be able to enter an allopathic program.

I guess this is more of a rant, but misery loves company. Feel free to share or comment with your own experiences.
Click to expand...
I agree 100% . I'm in the same situation.
 
I regret going to a college which didn't have dressage and show jumping teams.

🙁
 
Spinach Dip said:
<---jealous
Click to expand...

Yeah, despite my avatar, it wasn't my thing. It was also apparently insanely expensive to house your horse on the facility, but if you're a college and some rich alumni says "I'm going to donate a giant equestrian facility to you" you don't say no.
 
I don't, but I know many that do

The "grass always greener" effect is very real, too. My sister complains about her small LAC science classes being a step down in rigor from our high school
 
Dr_OneDay said:
Does anyone else regret their undergrad institution? I attended a "top" college that I wasn't academically prepared for, and I always consoled myself that the rigor of the college would make up for a low GPA (which is so far from true).

What kills me inside is that after putting in more effort than some of my state school friends (I am in no way saying this for all state school applicants, as most of the other state school students I know are superstars), being so far from home when my parents were hospitalized, and using up all my parents' savings, I still might not be able to enter an allopathic program.

I guess this is more of a rant, but misery loves company. Feel free to share or comment with your own experiences.
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more. My "prestigious" private school ate my GPA alive and the stress left me near borderline depressed at times. The only real benefit was that the MCAT was pretty easy by comparison. The top 10% at these kind of schools are super stars and go wherever they want. But the rest kinda get screwed
 
goldy490 said:
Couldn't agree more. My "prestigious" private school ate my GPA alive and the stress left me near borderline depressed at times. The only real benefit was that the MCAT was pretty easy by comparison. The top 10% at these kind of schools are super stars and go wherever they want. But the rest kinda get screwed
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Definitely. I thought that I was the only one who felt this way. My school was full of superstars, but I'm struggling to even be a competitive applicant at a lower tier allopathic school
 
I went to a fancy well known private school, they are known for soul crushing and no grade inflation. My GPA was pretty mediocre, the competition was very high, and the bar for As was also very high. However, it gave me the background to grind on, and my retention was good allowing me to get a very solid MCAT score. My high score with an OK GPA from my known beast of a school allowed me entry into my first choice for medical school. It gave me efficient study habits that let me have a very balanced experience and do well. I have no regrets. My friend that went to a top 50 school, around 50, was a 3.95 biochem and math major and got killed by the MCAT that I didn't have to study tremendously hard for. She had to study her ass off and did a research/post bac year and retook he MCAT twice before she got in. I'll take my 3.4 and thirty something MCAT from my top 10-20 school over her 3.95 twenty something from a good, but not great school.
 
IlDestriero said:
I went to a fancy well known private school, they are known for soul crushing and no grade inflation. My GPA was pretty mediocre, the competition was very high, and the bar for As was also very high. However, it gave me the background to grind on, and my retention was good allowing me to get a very solid MCAT score. My high score with an OK GPA from my known beast of a school allowed me entry into my first choice for medical school. It gave me efficient study habits that let me have a very balanced experience and do well. I have no regrets. My friend that went to a top 50 school, around 50, was a 3.95 biochem and math major and got killed by the MCAT that I didn't have to study tremendously hard for. She had to study her ass off and did a research/post bac year and retook he MCAT twice before she got in. I'll take my 3.4 and thirty something MCAT from my top 10-20 school over her 3.95 twenty something from a good, but not great school.
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Her mcat score is likely due to studying method, not the school she went to. I think too many people attribute success and failures to external things like the school rather than the individual

I am happy you got into your top choice 🙂
 
One other thing, I think a lot of people think that their school is a ball buster grade deflator, but it's probably just them.
I got secret joy knowing my GPA was 10th percentile range, yet I floated toward the top working out every day and going out all the time, while many former superstars and want to be gunners struggled to stay out of the bottom 1/3. I guess that makes me a bad person, and that's fine, it was certainly worth it.
If you can master efficient study habits and time management, you will be in the drivers seat, and unforgiving soul stomping undergrad schools full of perfect score SAT folks help develop that. Sink or swim, and the sharks are waiting for you just below the surface.
 
I love the UG school I go to. Originally it was a tough decision b/c I had offers with better financial aid and perhaps more prestige, and offers from IS schools. But I wanted to be in this city and actually made the decision based mostly on location. Had to go barely part time for the first year to get state residency, and it turned out to be so worth it.

My school is great for non-trads, which made a big difference, and had lots of cool opportunities like our A&P labs have cadavers that we got to learn from. I've enjoyed most of the profs and the students aren't gunnerish at all. I've learned so much, studied so hard, had a lot of fun, and met people who will be in my life for a long time to come.
 
I regret not going with the major I actually worked so hard to apply into. I regret not having lived on campus much earlier and suffering for it. But I will not regret going to my college because of how amazing it is, and I feel so lucky that someone up there first got me in and then my parents who believed in me.
Op it is OK with what is said and done. I had a really hard time accessing and going to a prestigious institute too. There were times my parents had bad health too including myself. But honestly, even if u were there, there isn't much you could do for them with the schedule of a student. Certainly you could pick up a Starbucks job and start paying their rent but then you would probably be better off working full time if that is your support. I may have regretted not going to the state school where professors were approachable, where I was probably the top student asking amazing questions, but all that did for me was vindicate my intelligence and humble me of my actual position in this world rather than think that my position in my uni is not the highest so I must not be that smart or contributable in society. What these institutes do is create leaders and despite your gpa, you may still be a top dog at another place. Everyday at work, I am reminded of this and this is what pulls me from the roots and onto the leaves for sunlight.
 
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Went to CC first. Was a training ground for me, kicked some ass academically once I transferred, so absolutely worth it.
My gpa would've been massacred had I went straight to uni at 18...
 
The greatest choice in my life was going to CC first. Got my GPA to a 3.95 and I got into UC Berkeley and all the UC schools. But I did not attend the school that was most prestigious. I made my decision based on which school would give me a scholarship/especially priority registration, shortest time to graduation, and completion of all the med school recommended courses ASAP. That happened to be UCI, which is nowhere near Cal or UCLA in prestige.......but whatever. Sometimes I regret turning down Berkeley. You cant blame yourself because at the time, going to that prestigious school really seemed to be the right choice based on whatever your logic was
 
You should technically make up for the low GPA with a high MCAT....
 
I wish I had gone to a smaller, liberal arts school. The state school I'm finishing now has around 50,000 students and more than once I've felt like I'm on a conveyor belt and they're just waiting for me to get to the end so they can stamp a B.S. on my forehead and send me off as an alum
 
I really enjoyed my undergraduate school (Ivy). Lots of opportunities, great learning environment (for me at least), lots of collaborative competition and people pushing me to do my best, great friends, and got me where I wanted to go for medical school. So far, medical school is the same.
 
I don't regret going to a small university that no one has heard of. I had many opportunities that I capitalized on, which I feel not only make me a better applicant but also a better human being. The smaller class sizes made it easier to get to know my professors, and many of them served as mentors for me. During one of my internships at a very prestigious institution (won't name for privacy reasons), most of the students were from smaller state universities. There were some Ivy students, but they were not held in more esteem than anyone else. I was also a ~90+ percentile scorer on my MCAT hard science sections, and I attribute that mostly to the quality of my education than from working extra hard during MCAT prep.

There is a large degree of standardization among American universities, especially in research, and I fail to see a huge advantage in going to an institution based on its "brand name" alone. You should go somewhere because you considered factors such as what the institution has to offer and how much it costs.

Also, if you feel your "no name" university has no opportunities, I would advise you to look harder.
 
I think there's a misconception about "prestigious research internships" and their effect on medical school admissions.

Here's the truth: they don't mean jack. It's just another research position. No one cares whether it's at Harvard or at Southern Arizona Methodist College. If you're productive and learn about the scientific process and how to critically evaluate your own and other people's research, you're great. A strong paper in a good journal from a no-name state school is infinitely better than jack **** from a "top" lab at MIT.

You're an undergraduate, get over yourself.
 
DrHart said:
I wish I had gone to a smaller, liberal arts school. The state school I'm finishing now has around 50,000 students and more than once I've felt like I'm on a conveyor belt and they're just waiting for me to get to the end so they can stamp a B.S. on my forehead and send me off as an alum
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The small school wouldn't have made you feel any different. It's all a game. You learn to play.
 
Engineering at a top school. I am misery but I don't love company.
 
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