I am not completely basing this off of my “tribe” at UChicago. While they are a significant foundation to have, I understand that I will have the opportunity to make friends more here as I would at Harvard.
More of the conflict for me has come in the pursuit of “pure” knowledge vs the pursuit of opportunity. I know that both places will prepare me for pre-med. If I am not going to make it into medical school, I don’t think it will reflect on the nature of the school, but more so on my own individual time-management and studying skills if anything.
In the end, with all the different schools/programs that I will attend on my path towards becoming a doctor, will one choice to go to a prestigious school like Harvard (not to say UChicago is not) for undergrad really have that much of an impact down the line? UChicago pre-meds end up at top medical schools like HMS, and Harvard pre-meds end up at state school programs (again, not to undermine the education of a state medical school), and vice versa. After all of this, the end result is practicing medicine for the right reasons and with the right passion. I want to choose a college that will do that for me, which is why I personally am leaning towards UChicago.
My only obstacle now is trying to counter my parents forcing me towards Harvard…
Thank you all tremendously for the advice thus far though! It has been great to consider many of these additional factors and to see other individuals and their opinions 