<p>I went to Brown this summer for an intro to medicine program and it was amazing. It was a 3 week program and 3 months later I'm still talking to the people I met there. Providence is an okay place to be, and there are a lot of places walking distance from campus.
Our professor (Dr. Smith) was phenomenal. He was the former interim dean of Brown's medical school and had some really great insights on the medical career. Our class was 7 hours long(!) with 70 kids in it, held in one of the science center's lecture halls. Don't worry, most classes are 3 hours long with like, 10 kids. In the morning, Dr. Smith would lecture to us about med school, choosing a specialty, and modern issues in health care. In the afternoon, we would get together in smaller groups headed by a TA (current Brown med student) and we would discuss virtual patients and do a lab or something. I held a human brain, saw two cadavers and a book bound in human flesh, and did a spirometry lab. After that, we would all come together and listen to lectures from doctors and scientists in different specialties. We also had a one day physician shadowing experience at a local hospital, which was awesome and introduced me to the pulmonary field. There were too many incredible things to list all of them.</p>
<p>Unlike other programs, there is a lot of freedom. Nothing is required other than orientation and curfew. Other than that, everything is optional (including going to class). You could probably find a lot of things to do on your own because Brown has many resources on campus and is right next to the mall, movie theater, and Thayer St. However, the organized activities are pretty good, including trips to the beach, Boston, Newport, and colleges. They also have a college success series, which is basically common knowledge but most people went anyway. I almost never saw my RA but she was pretty nice when I did see her and organized fun floor activities. It's a real lesson in independence because no one is holding your hand and helping you make decisions. You live in a dorm either in a single or a double and really bond with your floormates. The dorms are coed but floors are single sex. You can go on the other floors (including opposite gender floors) up until curfew, when you need to remain on your floor.</p>
<p>Basically, our day was structured like this:
-Get up
-Get breakfast with some friends
-Go to class
-Hang out/do optional organized activities/explore Providence/do whatever
-Dinner
-Curfew at 11:30 on weekdays, 12:30 on weekends, hang out on your floor, go to sleep</p>
<p>People were nice, down to earth, brilliant, and not all that nerdy (although there were exceptions). Most people were from California, Massachusetts, or New York. I met a lot of international people from Hong Kong, Turkey (the guys were really cute, hahaha), England, Sweden, and Ghana. The majority of people were rising seniors, with some rising juniors, and very few rising sophomores (including me).</p>
<p>I had a friend who was in another biology class and they got to dissect a cat, a sheep brain, a tape worm, and probably something else. Their program was more science oriented while ours was more career oriented. As far as I could tell, almost every program was great. They have a wide variety of courses and can cater to almost any interest. </p>
<p>As far as being prestigious or a resume booster, I don't think it will be that much of a help, but it's better than sitting around the pool all summer. It's not the most prestigious program and they admit something like 60-70% of applicants. I got a pretty great letter of recommendation from my professor and hope to use that for other programs and college.</p>
<p>Sorry my post was so long, hahaha. Hope you go there next year.</p>