<p>I know this question has been asked, pondered, dissected, and discussed repeatedly, but with merely a few days to make a decision regarding my college decision for next year, I am torn between Northwestern's Honors Program in Medical Education and Harvard. I am nearly certain (as sure as one can be at 18 years old) that I want to obtain a medical degree. I am also passionate about health policy and very interested in how the law ties in with health care and medicine. This has led me to strongly considering also pursuing a Masters in Public Health and/or a law degree. Obviously, both these opportunities are great, but they are quite different. HPME has a lot to offer, but at the same time it is extremely difficult to turn down a Harvard education. If you could provide any insight at all, it would be so greatly appreciated. Also, as I understand it, a large determination of "success" in the medical field is where one completes his or her residency. At this time, I am really interested in pathology, as well as pediatric thoracic surgery. I think I want to eventually live in Boston. Would attending Feinberg hurt my chances of landing a competitive residency (perhaps even in Boston)?</p>
<p>Don’t rely on advice from high school students on a forum to help you with a life decision. That’s the advice I will give you. This is your decision, your life, your opportunities, and your personal decision. </p>
<p>However, if you are completely torn, go with the cliche that has been used countless times - follow your heart.</p>
<p>Harvard students are reputed to be cut-throats. Northwestern UG is not too shabby. 7-yr curriculum makes the ordeal shorter. Feinberg is top 15 med sch, and out of reach of some Harvard graduates. The extra year, you can pursue MPH degree; or even JD or MBA. All these schools have outstanding reputation.
NU HPME is an easy call.</p>
<p>Harvard students are reputed to be cut-throats. Northwestern UG is not too shabby. 7-yr curriculum makes the ordeal shorter. Feinberg is top 15 med sch, and out of reach of some Harvard graduates. The extra year, you can pursue MPH degree; or even JD or MBA. All these schools have outstanding reputation.
NU HPME is an easy call.</p>
<p>@golfblackhole, sorry to digress, but wanted to ask you a question.</p>
<p>If Brown med is in middle tier and Feinberg in the top tier, where in your opinion do U.Rochester’s medschool, CWRU’s medschool, Jefferson, GWU and Albany Med Coolege fall? Do you think the following is about right?</p>
<p>CWRU’s med (top tier)
U.Rochester (bottom tier)
Jefferson (bottom tier)
GWU (bottom- tier)
AMC (bottom- tier)</p>
<p>I am asking this because they also are big in the combined programs.</p>
<p>HPME/RB/PMLE/CWRU
USC/Pitt/Rochester/BU
GWU/PSUJeff/Miami
UMKC</p>
<p>^ PLME is then top tier in your ranking? I thought you said it is middle tier.</p>
<p>Also, UPitt is ranked 13 or 14, well above NU, Baylor, and CWRU. Maybe Pitt and PMLE should switch places?</p>
<p>Agree with you in regard to PLME. Separately, Brown top tier UG and middle tier Alpert Med Sch. This is the rare case in which the UG program elevates the medical school.</p>
<p>a few years later, Brown med school will become tier one. So if students enter now enjoy top tier UG, when he graduate from Alpert Med 8 years from now, Brown Med will be top tier. Enjoy …</p>
<p>^ one can always hope. However, just as Brown UG hung around stuck in the mid teens for a long time, it won’t be that easy for Alpert med to move much higher than where they are right now given where they have been in the past. To build up a reputable med program, it takes a long time, especially the faculty, which precedes in importance the other elements ( student, facility/hospitals, grants, …), will be hard to come by. Yale, for instance, has move up in rank rather rapidly probably because of the general reputation of the university itself which is a big attractor for the med school faculty. Brown lacks that.</p>
<p>In 1993 Yale ranked 3, in 2011 Yale ranked 5. So actually Yale is not advance, it falls a few points. In 2005, it even falls back to 11th rank.</p>
<p>However, Brown is a relatively young Med school, from 2001 to 2011, it advances 15 points,<br>
from rank 44 to rank 29. If rank 20 is the cut-off point for tier 1 school, based on the resources it pours in, i bet Brown will soon climb up to the so-called tier 1 ladder. Let’s wait and see.</p>
<p>^I believe Alpert will sneak into the top 20 in 8 years too or at least hovering around that 20 mark.</p>
<p>Another vote for HPME.</p>
<p>As a HPME, you have a great med school in your bag and skip the whole med school admission process; you can divert your energy to pick courses that interest you the most or design a curriculum that is related/relevant to your future goals. You can even take a gap year to explore other areas or study abroad. </p>
<p>Also, keep in mind if you don’t have 3.7 or so at Harvard and >34 on MCAT, the odds would be against you to get into top-20 med schools like Feinberg.</p>
<p>Favor HPME</p>
<p>I’m going to be the devil’s advocate and say take Harvard. Take a look at Feinberg’s match list, if you’re satisfied by the residencies there, then by all means, take HPME. But, you’re always going to question whether you could have gotten into a higher med school from Harvard, and eventually into a more selective residency. I’m in a similar situation between Stanford and Caltech/UCSD BS/MD and I’m leaning towards Stanford.</p>
<p>^ a few years back a kid went stanford premed, don’t know how well he did gpa-wise and in mcat, but was lacrosse team captain, with quite a leadership skill, he applied around, waitlisted ucsd med and when he eventually was accepted he and his entire family were ecstatic. also, if you are accepted into ucsd med and stanford med, rank-wise it is stanford, but cost-wise, it is ucsd. location-wise, it is a draw, slightly in favor of ucsd. if you are interested in biology and related area, caltech and ucsd are two of the best. caltech’s economics almost equals stanford in rank. stanford is a great school, but you will have to work your rear off to be competitive for medschools in the top 20s.<br>
[Also, you grew up in norcal, coming to socal for school will be a nice change. for my three kids, i am encouraging 2nd and 3rd to go far away for college because i found that my 1st going to college close to home was a mistake.]</p>
<p>For the op, if my kid is in your situation, I would look at the cost first if it tilts the balance to one way clearly. Then I would look at the area, see if you will enjoy life in chicago-evanston area for the next 7-8 years and if you would be willing to live longer in the area if you are matched in the area. If yes, go for it. Else, take risk with harvard and plan on working your rear off for the next 3-4 years to place yourself in a competitive position because just attending harvard guarantees nothing. a kid we knew was solidly premed intent at highschool, chose harvard over a combined program, and is now computer science major, no premed. I am watching him what graduate program he ends up with – because even carnegie mellon is really tough to get in for the HYP graduates in cs. Of course, if you have any slightest doubt if you want to be in medicine, then go to harvard first, then figure out what you want to do really.</p>
<p>OP: My kid was in a similar situation, and chose HPME. No regrets. You can read my other post on a similar thread.</p>
<p>i’m currently deciding btween hpme and yale. it’s a tough dilemma</p>
<p>Accepted my offer to HPME this morning! And it feels SOOOO good.</p>
<p>Yes congratulations <3 welcome :)</p>