which is a better program
Whichever one offers you admission.
The one that accepts you
Both great programs. One significant difference is the undergraduate gpa requirements in order to matriculate to the medical school. For plme, you only need a B or better in biology courses. For hpme, 3.7 cumulative GPA and a 3.55 science GPA.
https://www.feinberg.northwestern.edu/sites/hpme/program-overview/
As others have rightly said, you can worry about that when you get there first :-). No pun intended, but both programs are extremely competitive.
However my personal assessment, NW program stands head over shoulders for
- It has a more reputed med school, worldwide, with lots of research grants. 2. It gives better chances of getting in for ORM candidates, as compared to the ivy league driven policies unfavorable to ORMs (there are a few ongoing law suits in that regard). 3. You have the option of completing the program in 7 years, especially if you have significant number of AP level courses completed by high school.
Having said that, they are making the program increasingly more challenging, raising the gpa requirements bar higher year after year and approaching WashU’s ridiculousness.
It has gotten extremely competitive to get into NU med school and I don’t know why. I guess the med school wants to make sure the HPME cohort is on par with those through regular admission.
Almost seems as if OP is asking whether it is better to win the Powerball lottery or the Mega Millions lottery.
@SimiAnil Congratulations if you are accepted to any of these two in advance. These two are very competitive BSMD programs. It seems you are an ORM (read Asian including Indian subcontinent) and it is a fierce competition among ORMs. Any accredited Medical School in US is good enough if you can get an admission.