Having had the great pleasure of participating in four medical school interviews, it was my last one in Milwaukee that led me to this post.
For those of you that know (and those of you that don't), I went to college in New York.
I'm from California.
Upon telling people this, they all seem very impressed. Well, maybe not impressed, but they do tend to say, "wow you've been all over." I didn't realize that it was odd to go to university outside of your state. All of my friends from college did the same thing. One is from Wisconsin, the other is from North Carolina by way of Indiana, and the others are from nearby Pennsylvania. Of course, there's my one friend from New York state (you know who you are), and I actually found it odd that she stayed in New York. I suppose it's what you're used to.
Anyway, I feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to study in New York. It provided me opportunities abound that I certainly would not have had if I went to a state school (which my mother still laments).
It also, I find, made me much more willing to up-and-move to wherever. I kid you not, every single student and/or applicant I spoke to in Milwaukee told me they ended up attending this school (or applying/interviewing at this school) for the sheer fact that they wanted to get away from home and/or college. It would have been too much of the same and they all wanted to get away.
I realized, probably by the fourth person that told me this, that I'm not getting away from anything. Home is
always going to be California. If I seem especially willing to leave it, it doesn't mean I don't love it. I adore California. But I'll always come back. To see family and friends and whatnot. So, I don't feel a pressing need to stay because I know I'll always return. I think I just never realized how different it was of me to be so willing to move. Especially when I've never considered myself to be terribly nomadic or anything of the sort.
You really learn (or finally glean) something new (about yourself, in this case) everyday.
