USC or Columbia? (potentially pre-med)

I was admitted to both colleges and each are both schools are going to be close to free considering the scholarships I have received. I am torn on choosing where to go. I am from LA and know that I will adjust to USC quickly and will be happy. For Columbia, I do not know if I will be happy, the stress culture is intimidating, and it’s a love/hate relationship with the core. However, I want to be able to grow academically and as a person, so I do not know what college would be best for that overall. I am considering to go into pre-health and I want to potentially go to med school(I am not 100% sure).Any advice would be helpful!

If you go to med school, the prestige of your undergraduate school does not matter at all. Getting a high GPA does matter, though, and if you feel that you could more easily accomplish that at USC, I would go for it. It seems to me that you really want to go to USC, and the only thing holding you back is Columbia’s prestige factor. But that doesn’t really come into play for medicine

columbia is a long way to go if you aren’t even sure it’s a good fit for you.
you will grow plenty at USC even though it’s close to home.

go where you will be happy. USC has plenty of prestige and connections.

Take the fact that even before attending your first class you’d describe your view of Columbia as “love/hate” as a sign that USC is your school.

@natty2020: Seems as though your love/hate feelings are focused just on the required core courses at Columbia University. As your major seems uncertain at this time, the core may help to develop your area of interest.

If you want to be able to grow academically & as a person, you will need to learn how to handle stress in a healthy & productive manner.

Since both are almost free due to scholarship awards, you need to evaluate how much you are willing to challenge yourself at this stage of your life in order to grow.

There is no clearly right or wrong answer in your situation, just self evaluation as to your readiness.

I would agree with previous posters. Don’t go to a school based just on prestige, go because it is a good fit and affordable. In this case, USC seems to be a better fit.

Everyone thinks prestige matters with med school. As someone else said, it’s based more on your GPA and MCAT scores.

Go where you are most comfortable.

Sometimes the opposite of “comfort” is “growth”.

We all experience “growing pains”. Not easy, but often necessary & beneficial.

Because both are outstanding schools & because both are almost free, this is a personal decision. In this case, it may not be wise to let fear dominate your thought process.