There was not a single school in the United States that sounded less enticing to me than Michigan State University. Being raised 15 minutes from Ann Arbor and having a parent who attended MSU, all I heard about growing up were the two rival schools. Although, I suppose the only school that would be worse was Ohio State University.
Being far from home and getting to be on my own were No. 1 requirements of any college.
Most schools I considered were in the Midwest with some outliers throughout the eastern US. I looked at small private universities like the Loyola University of Chicago and other Big Ten schools like Indiana University. Obviously U-M was out, but somehow, MSU slipped onto the list…