<p>Thanks for the post Chris! I’m sure your post will be valuable not only to me but also to the other prefrosh out there.</p>
<p>I’ve already chosen to attend MIT because I believe it is the best place for me to grow personally and academically despite the potential IHTFP nights. </p>
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<p>Melis is a beast!</p>
<p>Hey guys! i was actually looking for some advice. I am currently debating between Northwestern HPME, MIT, and Duke. I am leaning towards HPME because of the med school guarantee. Feinberg is definitely a great medical school, but it seems kinda difficult to pass up on MIT and Duke as well. I feel that if i did go to MIT, I would eventually make my way to a good medical school as well–it just seems like the much more difficult route. Do you guys have any thoughts on this?</p>
<p>i narrowed down my choices to MIT and HPME, and visited MIT and northwestern. i have to say, before i visited mit i thought it would be the stereotypical nerdy place but once i went there, i saw that the students at MIT are VERY varied and i actually rlly liked the atmosphere there. MIT has a very distinct culture and the students there are so enthusiastic about their school! however, CPW is supposed to make you fall in love with MIT. i did not like the atmosphere at northwestern as much; however, I dont think i should judge northwestern based on the few people that i met during my visit. </p>
<p>I am actually having second thoughts on medicine as well, but I still feel that I should take HPME. having the med school guarantee will allow me to explore other interests and even career options during my undergrad years, and if i decide that medicine is not for me, I could possibly drop out of HPME (although hardly anyone ever does that). If i went to MIT, I would still enter wanting to be a pre-med, and would have to tailor my undergrad years to package myself to a med school (so I wouldnt get the opportunity to explore other options).</p>
<p>One more thought: even if I go through HPME and decide that I want to be a doctor, I think I should apply to Baylor College of Medicine either way. From what I know (I may be wrong), Baylor and Feinberg have similar rankings, but as a Texas resident, the tuition at Baylor would be around $6,500 for me, while Feinberg would be around $50,000. So if I took HPME, I would still be applying out (but my admission at Feinberg would still be saved, and that seems like a really good safety net). </p>
<p>What are your thoughts on this?</p>
<p>^ There’s a girl in my dorm actually (a '12) who turned down Northwestern HPME for MIT. I was interviewed by HPME but rejected.</p>
<p>You don’t need guaranteed acceptance to med school, because almost everyone who has above a 3.3 at MIT (considered pretty easy for premeds) and applies as an undergrad gets into med school. Northwestern is a pretty good medical school, so it might be different to guarantee a Northwestern acceptances, but I was looking at their numbers and as long as you try hard to set your sights on a good med school, you can arguably even get into schools better than NW.</p>
<p>I think the benefit of 7 year or 8 year programs is that it guarantees a med school and maybe one less year of tuition if you get in. However, I think you should be SURE that you want to be a doctor. One of the guys I met at Mathcamp in '04 (he graduated HS '05) went on to HPME, but had a change of heart during the middle of the program and he’s just going through HPME at this point to collect his MD (since he’s already this far in) and do something else after he finishes. </p>
<p>Personally, I didn’t feel like I wanted to be a doctor until my second year at MIT, and thus I might be a bit different from the premeds that have been prepping since elementary school to get into med school - but hey, I’m happy that I chose this path and although I was disappointed that PLME and HPME rejected me (looking back it makes perfect sense - the only “clinical experience” I had in high school was volunteering for like 20 hours in a hospital? haha), it’s all right in the end.</p>
<p>MIT to you might be an adventure, but I’m pretty sure that with the intellect that you’re coming in with, you probably don’t even need that guaranteed NW spot. Now it’s all about what you want out of your undergrad years.</p>