I agree with that. I don't mean to question or criticize the various approaches that have been suggested to keep college costs down, but almost two decades out of college (and despite two postgraduate degrees) I realize that my time in college really contributed a huge amount to who I am as a person. To this day, the majority of my best friends are people I met in college (as opposed to the one friend I still see from high school and the one person I'm in touch with from my graduate programs), and my college alumni association is one of my primary social outlets. I can't imagine how things would be different for me if I had gone somewhere else, or if college's primary impact on me had simply been a credential to put on my resume rather than the personal growth, social relationships, etc. that evolved. I got a very generous financial aid package in college, without which I wouldn't have been able to attend, but I'm really glad that (with the financial aid taken care of) I was able to find a college that was really a good fit for me, and that attracted other students that I was able to get along with so well.fsperling wrote:It's a shame to think about college as only a means to an end, in this case admission to medical school. The four years of college can be truly transformative.
Again, I think it makes sense to do what you can to minimize college costs, but after a point I think that certain strategies may be counterproductive or otherwise too costly, in personal terms, in the long run.