On Being Conservative

School, and medical school in particular, should be a time of growth, and growth does not come from being comfortable. WUSM is like many other universities in that the conservative voice tends to be in the minority. At times this can be challenging, but that challenge is a good thing. Being surrounded solely by people who agree with you tends to foster group polarization without necessarily grounding ideas any further. There is nothing inherently wrong with leaning right (or left) as long as you have a strong enough foundation to support your beliefs. Being a conservative at WUSM means that you will frequently meet people who come from a completely different point of view and so have arrived at quite different conclusions. If you are careful to be respectful of others, then I think you will find your experience here to be enjoyable and transformative.