I doubt anyone would be always revisiting such decision. Most likely, people move on to focus on other goals. Doctors, depending on their specialties, may often have to make more important decision in situations that make “getting into a higher med school” trivial. Anyone who’s “always questioning” past decisions may not be fit to become a doctor.</p>
<p>I read that over 20% of Stanford premeds there don’t get into <em>any</em> med school. If you don’t have at least 3.7 GPA along with other competitive intangibles, the odds is against you to get a med school higher than UCSD/Feinberg. If you end up at a much lower one, that’s when you really regret your decision.</p>
<p>BlueJacket11 - Congratulatrion!
ToughYear -“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.”</p>
<p>This is very true. I think if you are more than 80% sure in Medical career, then pick combined medical program.
Talking about Baylor, The average GPA is 3.85 and MCAT is ~35 for admitted medical student. Bayor is not even top 10. You have to be very very smart and work extremely hard to have GPA of 3.85 at Yale or Harvard. Yale average GPA for UG is between 3.5 and 3.6. You will be lucky if admitted to top medical schools even Baylor from Yale or Harvard 4 years later.
My D just turned down H/Y for Rice/Baylor. She wants to settle down in Houston(where we reside last 20 years) if possible. If she attends H/Y, then never knows where she will end up at all.</p>
<p>Nothrwestern HPME.
You can get out and switch to another major in any place. Actually maybe HPME allow any major, I do not know. My D’s combined program allowed any major.</p>
<p>My D. is graduating in 2 days from her UG. She is going to Med. School this summer. She stayed in a program while in UG, but applied out to other Med. Schools. Her program allows to do so while retaining your spot in a program. Ones she got accepted to other Med. Schools, she withdrew from Med. School in her program along with few others, one of them, ironically was Northwestern. At the end she was deciding between 2 Med. Schools, while she preferred Northwestern initially, her choice flipped later on. Again ironically, she is going to Med. School that rejected her from their combined program 4 years ago.</p>
<p>texaspg,
No, you misunderstood me. D. did not apply to HPME at NU. Too selective and expensive. She was in bs/md at state school on full tuition Merit scholarship. She applied out of her program to few other Med. Schools. She got accepted to few and had great choices. NU was her original preference, but later she has chosen to go to another Med. school. Tuition was not an issue at this point since we did not pay UG tuition.</p>
<p>HPME anyday. Harvard may rank higher as a school. But I think HPME program is more selective than a general admission to Harvard.
Typically BS/MD programs are tougher to get in than a freshman admission to Ivy leagues.</p>
<p>Cheers
(…For an average student, the school matters whereas for brilliant students, only the student matters…)</p>
<p>OP,
You have been accepted to both HPME and Harvard, correct? If so, visit, talk to pre-meds and medical students than decide. If you have not been accepted, then it is premature to raise this question.</p>
<p>MiamiDAP… well, to the contrary this question, for me, is actually overdue rather than premature… I, in fact, was accepted to both NU HPME and Harvard… I made my decision in April 2011 and am currently in my first year at Northwestern… It is amazing how the most difficult decision I have ever made was also the best decision I have ever made… I could not be happier with my HPME choice and my overall experience thus far at Northwestern… The issue is not overdue, however, for those fortunate students who will be faced with the same decision in a few short months. While I cannot speak for everyone as the decision ultimately depends on you are as an individual and what you feel would be the best opportunity for you to reach your full potential, I can say with complete sincerity and confidence that I would not have it any other way. </p>
<p>CollegePal, it’s extraordinary how less than a year ago I would have still been so unsure if you would have said NU HPME over Harvard (YSP) in a heartbeat but that today, in my second quarter at Northwestern, I could not agree with you more.</p>