<p>I know the PLME program at Brown is very prestigious (I’ve heard people say that some people pass up Harvard for the PLME), but how does it compare to Rice’s Rice/Baylor program? R/B only accepts about 20 people each year, and Baylor College of Medicine is very highly ranked, so I wanted to know which one would be the better choice if someone were to get into both. Any ideas?</p>
<p>it's a priviledge to have an early acceptance to med school--the question of which program is better is moot</p>
<p>the sage advice is to choose the places you most want to be since you are signing on to them for the next 8 years of your life</p>
<p>some advantages to the Brown PLME that make it particularly attractive center around the idea of making those 8 years into a continuum in which you are encouraged to pursue wide interests both within and outside of medicine. PLME undergrads may take classes at the med school and med students may take classes at the college and grad schools. this approach tends to produce a very diverse and accomplished student body. in addition to becoming doctors, students may do field research in a third world country, writing novels, running non-profits, etc.</p>
<p>the whole essence of the PLME program is the ability to embrace a "liberal arts" education while getting your MD. (hence the name, program in liberal arts medical education)</p>
<p>i think that's the real reason someone would want to go there, not because its an ivy and u can get an MD, although that's an enticing part of the deal i suppose. but honestly, its the freedom: that's the beauty of the brown program, or so i imagine.</p>
<p>all in all, brown PLME = liberal arts education, open curriculum, etc</p>
<p>i'm sure you've heard all of that 1000x by now though, heh</p>
<p>"Baylor College of Medicine is very highly ranked"</p>
<p>If you are referring to the USNEWS ranking, you might want to consider that Brown and Baylor are ranked differently on the two scales. Brown is higher than Baylor in regards to primary care, while Baylor is higher than Brown in research. Which is more important to you?</p>
<p>i think he was referring to baylor's reputation in general, not referring to any specific ranking in USNWR...and yeah, amongst the general public, baylor does have a better rep, but i dont think that should factor too heavily when deciding where to go, esp. for these ba/md programs</p>
<p>yeah, sorry, what I meant was the reputation, not the USNWR rankings. However, I DID look at those rankings just now and Baylor is really high on that, though I'm sure both are excellent schools. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, I probably won't have the privilege of having to decide between these programs (I'm just hoping for admission into one of them, but even that is shooting for the stars), but I was just curious about which one is better, since I've heard such great things about both. I guess it's really a matter of opinion though. Good luck to everyone who has applied to either of these programs and thanks for the input!</p>
<p>Actually, the decision is pretty simple depending on who you are.</p>
<p>If you want to have a good undergrad experience and you are merely leaning towards medicine, then go PLME.</p>
<p>If you are certain you want to be a doctor and are willing to accept the fact that you will most likely not change your career, then go Baylor/Rice. (I know this one sounded a bit harsher, but I'm just saying this because someone going into BS/MD must be certain of their profession.)</p>
<p>And in terms of the primary care/research objective, it really doesn't mean that much in terms of prestige. While I agree that primary care med schools probably give better clinical experience, the fact is that people go to med schools to get a good residency, and in terms of the more prestigious school, research is the most respected criterion. In terms of research (and thus indirectly in terms of prestige), Baylor is way higher than Brown.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention, environment is a huge factor. Baylor is in Texas (hot and humid) but surrounded by Houston medical center (largest in world.)</p>
<p>Brown is in Providence, Rhode Island which is a medium-size town that is rather cold.</p>
<p>Best of luck with your decision.</p>
<p>BS/MD programs are very competitive. Two of my friends-former Rickoids were accepted to BS/MD programs and decided to go there instead of HYPS. </p>
<p>Choosing between Brown and Rice is more about what suits your tastes. Visit both of them and see for yourselves.</p>
<p>the bottom line for residencies in either program is the match list (where 4th year med students are accepted for residency)</p>
<p>brown's is one of the best around
<a href="http://bms.brown.edu/students/match/%5B/url%5D">http://bms.brown.edu/students/match/</a></p>
<p>Rice has very few distribution requiremenats and allows its rice/baylor students to major in anything they want, so it is comparable to Brown, freedomwise</p>