<p>I just graduated UCLA and am going to Stanford for med school next year… From what I read on this thread I wanted to share my experience because I actually did partially base my college decision on some irrelevant factors.</p>
<p>In retrospect, I wish I had made my decision focused on: scholarships, programs the school offers (proximity of research centers, medical centers for premeds), unique student organizations (ie only UCLA offers a mobile clinic which is a great premed org), counseling for your student’s interested career (ie UCLA premed counseling is nonexistent), and other career related factors. I wish I had not factored in: campus aesthetics (how “good” the campus looks because when I was at UCLA on a daily basis… no matter how good the campus looked – I just didn’t care. Bottom line, the good campus aesthetics didn’t improve my day-to-day UCLA experience whatsoever), food quality, dorm quality, and greek life/party scene. Even if the food is bad (UCLA food is #1 though), dorm’s are shabby (UCLA is avg on this), and there’s nothing to do on Saturdays (UCLA’s party scene is great though the same can be said about other city located colleges like USC), I found from my experience and my friends experiences (attended USC, Princeton, Columbia, UCSD) that most college students can adapt or find ways around these things easily. Conversely, some student organizations, programs, or career opportunities can be highly unique to some schools and are invaluable for career development (ie UCLA has no premed counseling).</p>