<p>DD has been accepted to all and is deciding between P and S and Penn for her final choice. She was also accepted at JHU as Hodson Scholar and Rice ( Century and Trustee Scholar). Socially all are a good fit for her - she appreciates their differences and is easily adaptable. She is very interested in becoming a physician, has done some cancer research at a local research hospital and has a keen interest in writing and journalism. Ideally she hoped to go east for undergraduate and then attend west coast for graduate school. Some questions she has posed about being pre-med at S): 1) Is it possible to travel abroad for a year with the rigors of being pre-med at S? She would really like to take the opportunity to do so. 2) She is very excited about Human Biology major, but she also likes the idea of Economics as second choice major while taking pre-med courses. How doable is this realistically ? 3) How much flexibility do the pre-meds have in taking humanities courses for interdisciplinary studies with science coursework? 4) Is the research for undergraduates at Stanford geared toward medical research? Would she be able to find research opportunities as a Freshman? 5) She is coming from a high school with rigorous prep program and is used to the grade deflated stress, but would welcome a break from this and enjoy her undergraduate experience. She is really quite impressed with S's Human Biology major which has an interdisciplinary approach. 6) Lastly, her ideal would be to attend an east coast college for undergraduate and S for graduate school since she would like to work in northern CA (of course that could change). Does Stanford Med School prefer cross representation in undergraduate colleges, i.e. Penn or Princetonge? Should she re-consider JHU's program (the Public Health Policy program is impressive) since she is very interested in this, but she likes the culture of S and P and Penn better, and in case she changes her major, she knows she will benefit from an exceptional education. Thanks in advance for your replies.</p>
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<p>With all due respect, I don’t think it’s wise to assume that your daughter (no matter how smart she is) will get into Stanford Medical School. Getting into a top ten med school is much, much more difficult than getting into a top ten college. </p>
<p>This is what I recommend for all prospective students. If you have the opportunity to attend one of HYPSM for college, go for it. There’s no guarantee that you’ll get into one of HYPSM for grad school. And chances are, you won’t. I find it troubling when HYPSM admittees are advised to “save” HYPSM for grad school, as it that were a given. If you want HYPSM on your resume, seize the day.</p>
<p>Thank you for your post-no, we are not making any assumptions and of course realize how difficult it would be to even consider the long road ahead if she does want to become a physician. Would you kindly comment on some of the other questions posted? If it is best she speak to advisors while at the visit, then perhaps it is not worthwhile to post of this forum. Just thought to get some perspectives here from Stanford students. Thank you.</p>
<p>I’m not sure about other things as I’m only a freshman, but as for research, I started research winter quarter in stanford med school, and have found the experience quite satisfying.</p>
<p>you should take her her to visit all the colleges and see which one feels right, for example, this made sound crazy but i choose UC Berkeley over Stanford, Columbia, Cornell, and UPenn. The reason why was during spring break me and my parents went to new york (We are from cali) and we toured those schools. i absolutely hated them i didnt like cold nor the environment. there is really nothing i can point out but it just didnt feel right to me. </p>
<p>so with it being down to UC Berkeley and Stanford. i went to go visit the campuses. i loved both campuses. UC Berkeley had Sather Tower, 3 amazing libraries, and those cool bear statues. As for Stanford i liked the Stanford memorial church, hoover tower, and the bronze statues. then i realized in all the excitement of getting accepted i forgot to consider that Berkeley has a semester system and Stanford has a quarter system. so there was another factor to consider. semester versus quarter. </p>
<p>so as a prospective Pre-med major i went to go visit the campuses and talk to the faculty. At Stanford they let me sit in on two lectures one on Intro bio. and the other on Biochemistry. all pretty standard and good. At Berkeley they let me sit on a genetics course and and the end of the lecture the professor had told the class why i was hear and for fiftenn minutes i had about 30 people tell me why i should go to Berkeley and then the Professor gave his opinion too. very unique experience for me. At this point i was clearly favoring Berkeley. something just “clicked” after that lecture and i knew after i walked out that door that i was going to UC Berkeley. </p>
<p>now up to this point my parents have withheld the financial aid packcages because they had insisted that i pick the school i love and money would not be a factor. so with my decision being final they revealed to me that Berkeley would cost 10k a year (Regents) and Stanford would cost 17k a year and UPenn and Columbia around 13k a year. So in the end, Berkeley was a great choice for me because i feel in love with it and a good one for my hardworking parents who have been supporting me for 18 long years.</p>
<p>Good Luck to your DD on making her decision i hope it is the best one</p>
<p>^Cal sucks :)</p>
<p>Seriously, though, it’s good that you chose a place based on personal fit and visited both. I’d recommend the OP’s daughter to likewise visit each school, or at the very least visit the one she is committing to. </p>
<p>1) For an entire year? I don’t know, but I’m sure she’d be able to fit in a quarter.
2) Double majoring is tough with almost every techy major. If she is motivated enough, has enough AP/placement credit, she could pull it off.<br>
3) Are you talking about courses for humbio credit that are interdisciplinary/more humanities focused? If so, humbio I think offers a lot of such courses compared to other techy majors.<br>
5) Stanford pre-med, with a possible economics/humbio major, is definitely not a walk in the park. Although the experience is still pretty fun and all.</p>
<p>I completely agree with IAMTBH.</p>
<p>“5) She is coming from a high school with rigorous prep program and is used to the grade deflated stress, but would welcome a break from this and enjoy her undergraduate experience.”</p>
<p>Don’t go to Princeton, in that case.</p>