Harvard vs Stanford for Biology/BME premed

Colleges and Universities A-Z Stanford University
1

Hey CCers,

I have been fortunate enough to be admitted to both schools so I have a tough decision to make by May 1. I initially applied for computer science, but I have now decided that I want to do a biology/BME premed. If I go to Harvard I will do bio but if I go to Stanford I have to choose between bio and BME. The following factors will have the greatest impact on my decision, so I would appreciate any and all input:

  1. How accessible are faculty, project/research funding, internships, and medical shadowing/volunteering opportunities?
  2. What advantages does one school have over the other for med school admissions and md-phd admissions?
  3. Does med school favor biomedical engineering majors over biology majors?
  4. How much time does premed at the school leave for other things like ECs, research, volunteering, etc?
  5. How chill/fun is the overall campus life?

Thanks for the advise!

2

Stanford has many biology options, check out human biology (probably the most popular pre-med major), which has areas of emphasis like immunology, public health, epidemiology, molecular genetics, and others; bioengineering (not biomedical engineering, bioengineering is more like applied molecular genetics), regular BME and biology are also popular, and other interesting interdisciplinary majors that can fit well for pre-meds, like science technology and society (with molecular genetics emphasis) or history of science (with medical emphasis). Those offer a nice balance of social sciences and pre-med requirements that meet major requirements. Many other pre-meds are in chemical engineering or computer sciences or humanities.

Your other questions about research, quality of life etc. are probably hard to answer because they depend a lot on you as an individual, your priorities, and your goals. pre MD is pretty different from pre MDPhD for example.

3

I’m not premed, but I have so many pre med friends who easily get to work with professors and doctors at the Medical school as undergrads. Of course I’m biased but it sounds like Stanford would give you more options. Lots of people change their mind about pre med. Also, you would have the option of exploring BME, or even changing back to CS, or something completely different.

4

Since you mentioned an interest in CS, I’ll take this opportunity to tell you that the Stanford CS department has made it much easier to major in CS and still fulfill the premed requirements by creating a Biocomputation Track within the CS major. Should you choose that track, then many of your Chem, Physics, and Bio classes would count toward the CS major.

5

For those planning to be “premed” should seriously consider majoring in something outside of biology…since so many cookie-cutter premeds are in some form of biology majors…and you do not want to appear like a cookie-cutter typical biology major…

…the top med schools in particular like Stanford, Harvard, UCSF are looking for “outside of the box” med school applicants who have the potential to bring unique insights into the world of medicine…either in the practice of medicine or new cutting-edge research for the academic-research inclined students…

…those majors that are particularly intriguing/compelling in recent years have been some form of CS or engineering (chemical, mechanical, electrical, materials science, etc) since so much of medical advances have close ties to computational biology that incorporates big data analysis to solve complex medical treatment options or new avenues of drug development (big Pharma) or biomedical engineering products which can improve the lives of patients and help physicians diagnose quicker a particular problem…

…one example: chemical engineering can lead to becoming a physician or creating companies like Theranos (biotechnology company founded by a Stanford dropout) that will impact the medical/laboratory world…
http://fortune.com/2014/06/12/theranos-blood-holmes/
http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2014/07/08/change-agents-elizabeth-holmes-theranos-blood-testing-revolution/12183437/
http://www.businessinsider.com/theranos-founder-elizabeth-holmes-is-a-billionaire-2014-9

…for those interested in the practice and “art” of medicine…should seriously consider majors in English literature, art, music, classics, drama, history, political science, psychology, etc…and even economics is considered interesting…
because medical schools want to create a class of interesting and diverging opinions that bring different ideas to the approach of understanding and incorporating the practice and art of medicine…

…as long as you take the prerequisite classes for most med schools (which is pretty minimal) to prepare you for the MCATs…those interested in medicine should seriously consider majoring in areas that they are truly passionate about in college…because once you get to med school…it will be like plumbing school (you no longer will be able to taste or try different areas of study) where everyone is required to learn the same things like biochemistry, physiology, anatomy, pharmacology, infectious diseases, etc…

…and, even though you may think you may want to go into medicine NOW…you may discover other more creative/inventive exciting ways to make a bigger impact in the world…

…so, keep an open mind!