Can someone chance me plz
Junior
Asian American
Go to an extremely competitive school where there is no class rank
Major: Psychology or Neuroscience
GPA: 3.65 unweighted
ACT: 35 composite
SAT Subject Tests: Biology-800
Don’t think I can take another subject test due to COVID
AP Exams taken: 12
Honors Classes: 5
Strong Letter of Recs
Extracurricular:
Captain of cross country team; 4 years
Basketball team; 4 years
Started my own club: MDJunior. We teach students the different opportunities the medical field offers. Using a unique service-learning methodology for empowering youth in health, MDJunior is able to address pressing community health problems. We engage middle school, high school, and college students collaboratively through social enterprise.
Member of the STEM Teen Board; Co-Chair of Finance Committee: Create different STEM events so that people can get involved in the field. Help people who are passionate about STEM find different opportunities and work to help people realize the importance of STEM in the education system.
I have my own medical blog which I started a year ago. I have 11k subscribers and over 500k site visits. My average views per article are 12k. I have an Instagram attached to the blog and it has 10k followers and 200 posts.
I am writing my own research paper on how damage to the amygdala can impair emotional processing and how damage to specific subcortical regions in the amygdala can lead to behavioral and neuropsychiatric problems. (A professor is helping me with this).
Conducting research at UCSC in a Psychology lab. Research is on the impact that different mediums have on our communication methods. I read old pieces of literatures, run the trials, and code the results.
I volunteer at my local hospital. I have over 200 hours. I am an Assistant Nurse. Basically finish all the basic tasks that a Nurse needs to do in order to make their job easier and the patients stay better.
Also, what is the acceptance rate for PLME? Specifically, how many people apply ED and how many RD separately? What is the ED acceptance rate and the RD acceptance rate?
I interviewed 10 PLME candidates this last season. If you had been my eleventh, you probably would have been the top one or two from the interviewing end of things (note that we don’t get into grades or test scores… or at least try to avoid those). So as long as you weren’t torturing cute animals during the interview, figure on getting about the best interviewer recommendation there is to be had.
So what does that buy you, given the 3.5% admit rate? Well, nine of my applicants (including one ED) were denied, and the tenth was waitlisted (apparently withdrawing their application at some point). BTW, with a 3.5% rate I would have needed to interview 29 applicants for the chance of at least one being admitted to rise above 50-50.
I won’t get into ED vs RD PLME numbers, both for (possible) confidentiality reasons and because I don’t see it as being of much significance: The most common ED decision over the years has been deferral to RD. So apply ED or don’t – it probably won’t affect your chances much.
General note to everyone re: “Don’t think I can take another subject test due to COVID”. Try not to worry too much over “boxes which can’t get checked” due to the pandemic. Even in a normal year, Brown Admissions is amazingly flexible/holistic as to how they pick a class, so trust that they will make sensible adjustments to their expectations in accordance with the realities of the current situation.
I can’t chance you, but all BS/MD programs should be considered reaches, further, your uwGPA is likely quite a bit below average for PLME admits.
There are specific BS/MD application threads each year so take a look at those for additional information. Make sure to cast a wide net in your applications, and remember that most med school students did not come through the BS/MD route.
I’m an incoming First-Year at Brown who applied ED, was deferred, and accepted RD. I can’t speak to the PLME program given that I was not admitted, but I can say that I highly recommend applying ED if the following are ALL true:
You LOVE Brown and would 110% attend, even if you weren't admitted to the PLME.
You're confident that you can not only present an extremely well thought out and crafted college application, but a medical school application as well by the ED deadline of November 1st.
You and your family could afford Brown if admitted (run the financial aid calculators if applicable.)
Multiple students applied from my school to Brown ED & RD, however, the only admitted students were me and another student admitted ED. This year in particular (from watching YouTube decision videos,) Brown admitted quite a few deferred students, likely because we had shown (by applying ED) that we LOVED Brown and would probably attend if admitted RD (look-up what a Letter of Continued Interest is for deferred/wait listed applicants.)
Applying to the PLME is SOOO much harder than applying to Brown in-general because you have to convince the admissions committee that you, as a high-school student, are confident that becoming a Doctor is the right career for you and that you will succeed at Brown. The Open Curriculum’s likely the most well-known feature of the school, and as the PLME is an extension of it, Admissions wants to see how you will be able to delve deep into a chosen subject (s) over 8 years while making progress towards becoming a Doctor and ALSO pursuing your other interests developed during high school.
Brown truly does look at the context of the school you’re at, while this doesn’t mean that you can fail every math course you’ve ever taken and write on your application that you intend to study math (sorry lol not the best example,) Brown’s looking to see that, FIRST AND FOREMOST, you can handle the rigors of Brown and medical school, and that most importantly, you’ll take advantage of its resources (as you did in high school: through your essays, interview, letters etc.) and make Brown proud as a graduate of the school.
I will add one more element to Pikachu’s fine post- I no longer interview for Brown (live in a place with many active alums) although when I lived in a small city in a region which didn’t get a lot of applicants I interviewed for many years. And I knew a lot of kids in the accelerated med school program when I was at Brown (before it was renamed PLME) including a roommate.
Do NOT overlook kindness and humanity in your application. The academics need to clear the bar; the ability to spread your wings intellectually even out of your comfort zone needs to be there; having teachers who can comment on your intellectual curiosity is really important. But don’t overlook the human stuff- particularly for PLME. My roommate— and the other kids I knew in the program- were not necessarily genius level students. Smart, curious, exceptionally hard-working for sure. But not geniuses. However- there were very few situations where they were not outstanding in terms of how they related to other people. And not in a Mother Theresa “I’m so holy” way. Just kind and generous and thoughtful and active listeners who always had time to volunteer, to be a friend, to stay late to clean up, whatever.
I think that’s an X factor when it comes to being a credible med student at the age of 17… not “I want to be a surgeon because it looks so cool on TV” or “I want to be a cardiologist because my grandpa had open heart surgery last year and it was inspiring”. But someone whose application sings with “this is someone who will embody the values of a physician in word and deed”.
I don’t think you need as much of it if you apply to regular med school- you’ve got so many other accomplishments and boxes that you’ve ticked by then. But as a HS kid, I think your overall humanity needs to shine. So for the OP-- writing about a single patient that you’ve helped is going to do more for you than highlighting the number of hours you’ve spent in a hospital. It’s less about the quantity and more about the human impact.
I definitely agree with @blossom 's words of wisdom above, given medicine’s inherently social nature, it’s necessary that you show, not tell, the admissions committee that you are a human, are compassionate, and that you have the potential to be a Doctor whose patients trust enough to confide in. Medical schools don’t want robots but people, and are more likely to choose an applicant with weaker grades/test scores/courses who is kind and relates well to people versus an an academically stronger applicant who has no interest in helping patients as a Doctor but is in it for the fame/prestige.
Agree about the compassionate attributes. This has to be demonstrated and it’s not all about research, or unilateral stem strengths. Nor about clubs or what you do under your own steam, when you have little real world experience. How you choose to donate time and energy- and to what- matters. A combo of the med related experiences (with patients) and others (some community, not med specific.)
I’d say it’s hard to convey. Face that most kids don’t know what a doctor’s work truly entails. They think of it as the obvious tasks and the successes, aren’t aware of the rest.
I disagree somewhat that you can slide into plme with lower academics. They have the opportunity to select the very best. And those who can show (again, show, not just tell,) they will make smart and broad use of the open curriculum.
I completely agree with @lookingforward just want to clarify by weaker academics I meant more along the lines of an applicant with a 33 or 34 would be chosen over the 36 ACT student if the 33/34 student is a better fit for the profession than the perfect 36 student. PLME, and Brown in general, is still difficult to get into, and medical school is 10x harder: PLME wants to know that you are both academically qualified and human (compassionate, understand that no profession is without its ups and downs etc.)
I probably should have reworded my sentence to “slightly weaker” academics rather than just “weaker academics.”
Also as a student who just completed applying to BS/MD programs and chose to go to Brown/the traditional route over one, it’s necessary to both apply broadly (traditional applicants to medical school will apply to 10+ schools) and also know when you’re out of your league. The direct medical school programs associated with already selective undergrads (Northwestern HPME, Brown PLME, Rice/Baylor etc.) are much, much, much more competitive than your state school’s BS/MD might be (this is more for other applicants reading this, as I believe UCSD ended their program a few years back.) If you’re set on becoming a doctor, only ~5% (or even less) of doctors become doctors via the direct entry route, so it is important that you apply to a variety of undergraduate schools (safeties, matches, and reaches) that you would enjoy spending the next four years at.
Also see the 2020-2021 BS/MD Applicants thread with any questions about the application process, as the people posting there are much, much more knowledgeable about applying to these types of programs given that they’ve been involved with the process for so long (kids applied to the programs or they have family friends who have applied etc.)
not “I want to be a surgeon because it looks so cool on TV” or “I want to be a cardiologist because my grandpa had open heart surgery last year and it was inspiring”. <
[/QUOTE]
And definitely not what I heard from one aspiring MD when she said “neonatal cardiology” in the interview so I asked her “Why neonatal cardiology?”
For the most competitive bsmd programs, you need a lot more real experience with real health situations and the real issues and challenges in healthcare delivery than assisting nurses.
It’s not about forming a hs club or number of blog followers. High school kids have yet to go to med school (not even college) or practice medicine.
Research with an existing organization is good. Being in the milieu, guided by adult professionals. But it’s something much of the competition will bring.
And you need to understand the real intent behind plme, in particular. It’s not just about you being granted a seat in med school.
Things have changed in med education. We can’t go on the past.