Rural vs Urban College?

[ebno]

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I'm down to three (very different) colleges I'll be deciding from and I'm curious as to which one would give me the most opportunities as a pre-med student. College A is urban, and B and C are rural. College A has a medical school and two major hospitals nearby, including one that offers paid internships during the summer. However, I assume there must be many, many more pre-meds I would be competing against. Colleges B and C are in states with a physician shortage, and honestly a shortage of anything. I'm afraid of the lack of sheer number of opportunities at these two, but I do think the ones I could get might be more valuable. What interests me in this case would be experiencing primary care in a rural area without having to travel anywhere. Anyway, rural or urban? What do you all think?

 

[AttemptingScholar]

I went urban and I love the opportunities the city gives me--lots of large hospitals, but also many small clinics. However, you are right that rural service is greatly needed. Have you looked at the premed advising services of these schools? Does one obviously have more support for premeds than the others? Also, if these schools send above a certain number of students of certain groups to med school, you can see how many people they send to med school total. Do that here: Table A-2: Undergraduate Institutions Supplying Applicants to U.S. Medical Schools by Applicant Race and Ethnicity, 2017-2018 - Applicants and Matriculants Data - FACTS: Applicants, Matriculants, Enrollment, Graduates, MD/PhD, and Residency Applicants Data - Data and Analysis - AAMC

This will let you know how successful each school is in getting premeds to med school.