<p>I am stuck between two schools. I visited both and I love both of them.</p>
<p>School 1:</p>
<p>In-state tuition, but in a rural kind of area. In other words, there are a lot of research opportunities and volunteering opportunities, but shadowing might be tough. Good advising, not many pre-meds.</p>
<p>School 2:</p>
<p>Out of state tuition, in a huge city. They have 6 hospitals around campus which would make volunteering/shadow pretty easy. Research opps should be abundant as well. Good advising, a lot of pre-meds.</p>
<p>To sum things up:</p>
<p>Should I choose a school because of its location near hospitals? I am leaning towards School 1 because I think I can seek out the shadowing opportunities.</p>
<p>You don't need 10 hospitals around the school. You just need one accessible hospital. As I always say, stapling papers is stapling papers no matter what hospital you volunteer at.</p>
<p>You should not base your decision on how many hospitals are around a school.</p>
<p>Undergrad is not just a "stepping stone" to med school. Pick a school based on other things, like how friendly the students are, the location, things to do for fun, the classes offered, proximity to a city, clubs, etc.</p>
<p>You only need one hospital to volunteer or shadow at; additional hospitals are not necessary.</p>
<p>You can make your own EC opportunities. Make your decision based on social and academic fit , advising and track record for pre-meds, where you feel you'll reach your highest potential, and $.</p>
<p>I'd go for the State school, since it does have a lot of opportunities; one just has to go look for it. At least that's what my pre-med friends there tell me.</p>
<p>I believe what they are trying to say could be expanded like this...</p>
<p>Undergraduate education isn't just a tool to get us into medical school. Of course, we should all try and use our resources as best as possible to help us achieve our goals, but college is much more than that.</p>
<p>Some of the posters in this thread have frequently offered up the following advice. Pick a school where you think you will be happiest, and do the best at academically. Someone around here once said that you should find a school at which you can be satisfied academically, socially, emotionally and physically.</p>
<p>In other words, make sure you factor in aspects of each university that have more to do with academic and social life, rather than just the resources that'll help you as a premed.</p>
<p>Keep in mind too that med school admissions is a radically different process for undergrad admissions. Med schools care far less about ECs per se than about experience and preparation for medicine, whether gained through ECs, classwork or whatever.</p>
<p>And, while others touched on it, it is admirable to have a goal such as medicine when starting out, but remember that most freshman pre-meds are not pre-med their senior year. The attrition rate is large.</p>
<p>Do you really want to be at a school you chose primarily for EC reasons to buff your pre-med credentials, only to find you later have different career goals and don't like the place? your call.</p>