<p>i’m interested in the 8-yr program at brown, but i was wondering whether or not it was worth it.
everyone i’ve talked to who went to brown LOVED it, and i know it’s a good school. however, the medical school [warren alpert] is ranked #34 in the u.s. news rankings…</p>
<p>i would appreciate anyone’s opinion, thank you in advance :)</p>
<p>PLME is extremely hard to get into, but if you can it would be great for your future.
People who graduate from their medical school have the ability to go for the top residency programs in the country. It’s probably mostly due to prestige.</p>
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<p>Alright, I’ve heard this sentiment echoed a couple times already and it’s irked me enough that I feel I should respond (I don’t mean to single out the OP, but rather this general issue and the frequency of flippant associated remarks). I was not a PLME but I had friends who were in this program, and having gone through grad school, would like to believe I have a bit more of a grounded perspective in terms of grad/professional school realities.</p>
<p>First of all, PLME is an extremely selective program with only a 5.2% acceptance this past year (97 out of 1858). You are practically guaranteed a spot in Brown Medical School baring major disciplinary or academic infractions. You need not take the MCATs for this transition, a point of enormous stress and time consumption for any pre-med. You can still apply out to other medical schools if you desire. The guarantee means you can spend the 4 years of undergrad for the sake of learning and experiencing a more “normal” college lifestyle rather than living the pre-med lifestyle. If you decide at any point that medicine is not your calling, well, you’re still at Brown University, arguably the most prestigious college in the nation to offer this college-to-medical school program, and you will still graduate with a degree from this fine institution.</p>
<p>Next, I have heard advice, undoubtedly from high school students to other high school students choosing between Brown PLME or [insert higher USNWR university], where the advice was: “Go to over Brown PLME because they’re only the #34 ranked medical school, you can go to a better medical school from .” Complete and utterly fallacious advice. The same schools you are now turning your nose at, the ones offering you full-ride tuition into their honors programs, are the same one 4 years from now that you’ll be begging their medical schools to give you an interview, let alone send you a secondary. This after many years of sacrifice and hard work during your undergraduate years under the pre-med track and its associated mentality, MCAT classes, the MCAT itself, and tons of applications and $ spent.</p>
<p>Getting into ANY medical school is on par or more difficult then getting into a top Tier 1 undergraduate school. The playing field is different, the competition is fierce and from highly qualified students, and the spots per medical class year is limited. Just go to StudentDoctorNetwork and see for yourself the extremes people are willing to go through to get in anywhere. These include rigorous post-bac and masters programs to beef up GPA or shadowing/vol/research experience, going for osteopathic medical schools (D.O. versus M.D.), shipping out to Caribbean and international medical schools, etc.</p>
<p>Brown Medical School does very well in terms of residency placement for their medical students. Each rung up the career ladder you go the previous rung matters a little less. Hence, your residency (and later fellowship sub-specialty) shapes your competencies and practices more so than your medical school. There have been previous posts detailing the placement into highly desirable and competitive residencies from Brown Medical School, they may even still have the documents on their web page.</p>
<p>Well that’s my rant. I think for those considering PLME, whether deciding to apply or later to accept the offer or not, they should weigh all of these factors. Pay particular attention to the tangible and hidden personal costs I’ve tried to bring forth here and don’t take lightly the 4-year process of preparing to apply to medical school, a process that starts the day you step foot on campus if not in a guaranteed program such as PLME.</p>
<p>that really opened my eyes, thank you :)</p>
<p>how lucky you are that i was lurking this forum! :o </p>
<p>I was rejected from PLME in addition to brown itself last year.</p>
<p>SAT/ACT: 2390/35
SATII: Math II 800; Literature 730; Chem 700
HS GPA: 4.35/3.85 (Top 4%)
AP Scholar w/ Distinction
National Merit Scholarship Winner</p>
<p>As for my extracurriculars, I was big into music and I had 4 years of varsity waterpolo/swimming with awards in both, but I had very little in the field to offer along with PLME; I had done hospital volunteering and interned at a small clinic, but my profile just wasn’t compelling. </p>
<p>I had an incredible interview with my Brown representative [she later decided to recommend me to an assistant dean of admissions among many other candidates] but in the end, I suppose it didn’t matter; my same interviewer called me after I was rejected and said that it had been because I applied PLME. I later contacted the admissions office and they said that applying PLME did not hurt my chances of normal admission; I’m undecided who was right. In hindsight, I see that I was foolish to apply for PLME without having a perfect GPA, amazing SATIIs/APs and a huge connection to science in my resume; with my background in music/sports and nothing too substantial to show my interest in pre-med, I think applying PLME just made me look somewhat foolish on paper. [I used this same message to reply to the other related thread] As a previous poster said, the acceptance rate is very low to this program, and I suppose the point that I’m trying to get across is that if you’re not an amazing, compelling candidate, it’s not really worth applying - if not, it’s unlikely you’ll get in, and it’s not really worth the money nor the risk [even if there is none inherent].</p>
<p>I don’t mean to belittle jwarlick in any way, but I know a good amount of kids at Brown that were rejected from PLME but still accepted to the school. And I actually heard that kids with interests outside of the sciences have better chances at getting accepted, because it shows that they’ll use the 4 years they have to study whatever they want the best way possible for themselves. For jwarlick, all I have to say that admissions is a crapshoot- s/he was an amazing candidate and it just goes to show anything can happen.</p>