<p>I’m considering it…but is it really that great getting a place a warren alpert? I mean, how good are the residency placements? Do you feel like you have a disadvantage after not preparing and having to take the MCAT and go through admissions? Did you ever want more options? Do professors look down upon students who apply out and go to higher ranking schools like jh and harvard? is it easier to just major in bio at brown and take advantage of its lack of requirements so you could have extra time to prepare for the MCAT?</p>
<p>I’ll let others with more experience with PLME go into the specifics, but if there is one thing that is NOT the purpose of the Open Curriculum, it would have to be “so that you could have extra time to prepare for the MCAT”. I don’t see how that would even work anyway. It’s not as though Brown students take fewer classes than everyone else, or our Biology concentration has fewer/less stringent requirements than anyone else’s.</p>
<p>lol obviously thats not my reason for wanting to go to brown. I have a lot of other interests outside of science, so i could really benefit with the open curriculum. I’m just saying hypothetically in my junior year I could have a lighter load then usual and spend time studying for the mcat instead of, for example, writing a 15 page history term paper (which take forever for me).</p>
<p>I see your point, but I’m not sure that opting to do a lighter course load one semester has anything much to do with the Open Curriculum. I’m sure you could just as easily schedule an easy semester in colleges with a core.</p>
<p>Also note that with a recent policy change, PLME students who apply out will lose that guaranteed spot at Alpert, though they can still choose to reapply in a subsequent year and be considered alongside other standard applicants.</p>
<p>I seem to be the only PLME student who currently posts relatively frequently on CC, so you’ll have to bear with mostly my opinion. Many of these questions are things I can’t answer, as I haven’t entered the med school portion of my time at PLME yet.</p>
<p>Residency match info:
[Match</a> List 2011](<a href=“http://med.brown.edu/about/match/]Match”>About | The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University)</p>
<p>I’ve never heard current PLME med students complain about not feeling prepared. It isn’t studying for the MCAT that prepares you for medical school; it’s the classes you take during your undergrad time.</p>
<p>I have considered applying out. I’m currently leaving my options open. However, I wouldn’t be leaving to go to a “better” medical school - I’d be leaving to go live somewhere else, probably closer to home.</p>
<p>Feel free to reply to this thread with any further questions - I’d prefer that to you PMing me, because this way other people can read the thread later.</p>
<p>I’m not a current PLME student, LOL, it was MANY years ago I went through Brown’s program, but I do have contact with current PLME and regular premeds.
“How good is PLME”: That is of course totally relative to what you want out of, and what you put into ANY program anywhere in the US. However, Brown’s undergraduate experience for a premed is tough (as it should be) and is excellent. The PLME students I believe have about 2 courses less to take that “premed” students have to for most med schools. (one chem, and one physics semesters) but many choose to take them anyway. (Maybe to keep the MCAT option open). They are mildly envied by their premed peers since they could take a bit lighter approach to studies, and they get a bit more (advising/study help if needed) but they tend to work just as hard, as like most Brown students they are self motivated. In general Brown is much less cutthroat than a lot of similar caliber college “premed” environments. (not easier!!, just I don’t hear the stories of people refusing to help others study, sabotaging others grades etc that I have heard from the medical students I teach from other undergrad schools.I think having the PLME students helps the undergrad experience that way for all the premeds.)
Bruno posted the match results above. Brown Med School Students go to excellent residencies. (and note the number matching in very hard to match such as ophthalmology etc also). Residency selection depends on many factors and Harvard etc is not the best place for everyone. (I’m probably considered one of the “unprestigious” grads, since I went to a mid range residency in Primary Care, but I knew it was the field and area of the country I wanted, and practice successfully and happily. If I had wanted to be the world’s foremost CVT surgeon, if I had that ambition, yes probably I would have still gotten there.) Brown like most of its similar med schools does have grads who are “tops in their field” but most MDs in the world really are just good working docs. Most high school students who start out thinking they are going to be premeds, never even “make it” to med school. (Many appropriately deciding that they really have a different passion, not just those who don’t “cut it” as a premed.)
So, the end reply is that PLME is excellent because if accepted (the BIG if) you will get to med school. (unless you find that other passion.) AND, Brown undergrad is a great place to be. (and if you eventually decide you want to be at Harvard etc for residency, yes, you have a better chance than at many other schools). PLME should be (and admissions really seem to be looking for) the students who have been able to decide that they are able to make the decision at this point that they really are ready to decide they ARE going into medicine, really want to do that through the PLME route, and really want to be at Brown. (and of course are incredible stand out students at this early point in the long road to that MD/specialty credential.)</p>
<p>thank you so much for that post! But I just have a few more lingering questions. When you and the other fellow PLMEs were in med school, did you ever feel at a disadvantage or in any way unprepared compared to the new students who got accepted into warren alpert?</p>
<p>also, i’m really interested in dermatology because of its great balance of procedures and patient care. i also talked to some and they thoroughly enjoy it. however, the problem is that it’s SO competitive and incredibly difficult to match into. I checked the match list and only 1% went into the field. It was a little unnerving to me because I don’t want to take that chance. And I don’t expect to be the absolute BEST in my class. so what do you think?</p>
<p>Whether or not you are plme/go to brown will not make or break your path to derm.</p>
<p>And fwiw, almost every student goes into medical school thinking one speciality but graduates going into another.</p>
<p>Vs other students “added” to med school class at Brown:
(many years ago, but suspect it is still the same): the answer is just the opposite. As I said, the undergrad experience pre med at Brown is rigorous, so very well prepared. (as are other Brown undergrad students who go to other med schools. And in addition, you already know a lot of your classmates, so it’s easy to get study groups, ask for notes etc. And it took a bit for the new students to get used to the idea that studying was not about competition, but helping each other out. </p>
<p>Look at other year’s match lists. Plenty into derm (and I don’t know now, but Brown used to have a good derm residency also.) also second Iwannabe re you’re far from the decision point of what you might go into.</p>
<p>Brown alum parent, there are def kids from other undergrads who feel the plmes are less prepared, but it is most likely the ones who strayed as far from the typical pre-med path as possible (which would be the case at any medical school)</p>
<p>Thanks for all the posts, guys. I’ve been thinking about it a lot, but I’m pretty sure I’m just going to apply for general admission. In the future, I think I’ll want many options at my disposal. I understand that you can apply out, but from what I’ve heard most people don’t. And if you do, you lose your spot at WA and jeopardize your relations with the faculty, which is probably not the best way to get good recommendations!</p>
<p>I got a link on another forum, and I read about it, but I’m still a little confused. I know PLME is Program in Liberal Medical Education, but does that mean that in order to be in PLME you can’t get a bachelor’s degree in science? I also don’t really understand the difference between going on the regular premed track, and PLME…</p>
<p>PLME allows you to bypass the whole medical school admissions process by guaranteeing you a spot at Brown’s medical school when you are a senior in high school. You can spend your 4 years at Brown doing whatever any undergrad at Brown wants to do. You can have an experience as close or as different to a typical pre-med as you like.</p>
<p>@i<em>wanna</em>be_Brown: Thank you so much. Your post really cleared things up!! :)</p>
<p>Aside from being pre-admitted to Brown Medical School, what are the advantages of being PLME at Brown vs. just being regular pre-med at Brown? Is the advising better? Is it helpful to be part of the community of PLME students?</p>
<p>The advising is more personalized, with a ratio of about 10 students per advisor per class versus many more for the typical pre-med advising. You also really get to know your PLME class well, and the community is great - we have our own student senate and set of events, and we often form study groups for tough classes.</p>
<p>There are also extra research opportunities for PLME students - this summer I received a stipend from PLME that allowed me to do research in one of the hospitals in Providence. PLMEs are also allowed to sign up for certain preclinical electives in the med school.</p>
<p>I’m addressing this question to bruno14, but if any other PLME has any insight, that’d be great too.</p>
<p>Regarding your summer experience at a hospital in Providence…when/how did you first learn about this opportunity? Would a first-year PLME be able to participate in something like that after his/her first year?</p>
<p>Also, is The Medicine in Action Program something that usually occurs during the summer, or during the academic year? I’d imagine that participation in the program would be pretty time-consuming, and considering that most of the listed locations are somewhat far from campus, I’m a little curious as to how that would work.</p>
<p>You’ll find out about that opportunity (it’s called an SRA) sometime this spring and you’ll be able to apply then. I know a few people who did it after their first year.</p>
<p>I don’t know anyone who’s participated. Maybe ask your Meik?</p>
<p>If you apply ED to PLME but not binding to brown and get accepted to brown but not plme early (deferred), what does brown the do to your app? Does it get sent back again through the RD Brown apps (even though you were already accepted) or does it just get sent through the RD PLME apps?</p>
<p>Sorry if it doesn’t make that much sense. I can clarify if needed.</p>
<p>"PLME Candidates and Early Decision</p>
<p>An early decision applicant who indicates a desire to be considered for entry into the PLME may be admitted in December to both the College and the PLME. However, some students may be selected for admission to the College but not the PLME. The Office of College Admission realizes that these students may not wish to be admitted to the College under a binding early decision program if they are not also admitted to the PLME. Hence, the office asks all PLME applicants to indicate whether they wish to be considered under a binding early decision plan if they are not admitted to the PLME.</p>
<p>Those who answer “yes” that they want to be considered as an applicant to the College under its binding Early Decision program but are not admitted to the PLME, may be admitted, deferred or denied by the College. Those who are admitted to the College are bound under the early decision agreement; they may or may not be admitted to the PLME in April. Those who are deferred from the College may be admitted into the PLME in April under a nonbinding program. Those who are denied will not be considered again.</p>
<p>Those who answer “no” that they do not want to be considered as an applicant to the College under its binding Early Decision program and are not admitted to PLME, may be deferred or denied by the College. Those who are deferred by the College may be admitted into the PLME in April under a nonbinding program. Those who are denied will not be considered again."</p>
<p>[Admission</a> | Program in Liberal Medical Education](<a href=“http://www.brown.edu/academics/medical/plme/information-prospective-students/admission#early]Admission”>http://www.brown.edu/academics/medical/plme/information-prospective-students/admission#early)</p>
<p>The last paragraph reads to me that if you don’t want to be bound be the ED agreement, then there is no way that you will deferred/rejected by PLME, yet admitted to Brown during the ED stage. In other words, the scenario you describe will never happen.</p>