Should I bother with PLME

<p>Hi guys, applying to Brown this year and wondering if I should go for the PLME program. Here are stats:</p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2350 (800 M, 760 CR, 790 W)
SAT II: 800 Bio M, 800 Math II, 800 Chinese, 790 USH
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9-something
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/262
AP (place score in parenthesis): Biology (5), USH (5), Lang & Comp (5), Comp Sci (5), Enviro Sci (5), Chinese (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: Most rigorous available
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): USABO Semifinalist x2, USABO Honorable Mention x1 (23rd in nation…3 away from finalist), CONRAD spirit of innovation semi-finalist, various regional MUN awards (premier diplomat, etc.), a bunch of state Biology awards
Common Awards: NMSF, AP Scholars w/ Distinction, National Student Leader (top scorer in some nationwide biology exam, but it’s a really easy test so doesn’t mean much)</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
Committee chair for Y-MUN (one of my largest commitments, responsible for running the mid-atlantic conference, 1700 delegates, largest Y-MUN conference in the nation), also VP of school club for MUN
Co-President of Comp Sci League Club (placed @ nationals)
Vice President of research club (published some DNA sequences in NCBI database)
Columbia Science Honors Program (took courses in human anatomy, molecular bacteriology, and nanotechnology)
NJ Science League (state champ biology II, 2nd in state chemistry I, 5th in state biology I)
Merck State Science Day (merck scholar for biology…top 4 in state, got to tour merck’s r&d facility!)
NHS executive board (secretary, usual NHS duties)
Math team (travel for various region/state wide math competitions)
newspaper (editor and staff writer)
FBLA (first regional in technological concepts, didn’t advance to states b/c conflicts with science stuff)
Chinese honor society, Chinese culture club (prez)
JV track & field/XC</p>

<p>Job/Work Experience: Private tutor (3 years)
Volunteer/Community service: Chinese school TA (3 years), ASLAN youth ministries (tutor underprivileged youth every week), coordinator for MUN/YAG days of service projects
Summer Activities: 9th: internship at shantou medical university, 10th: biomedical research academy at uPenn, 11th: NJ Scholars Program, selective and prestigious seminar program in my state (think of TASP but not as insanely hard to get into)
Teacher Recommendation: Bio teacher, English teacher, Research mentor. Know them all very well. bio teacher talked about my passion for Biology, English teacher loved my writing, research mentor talked about how i took a leadership role in teaching other kids things about biotechnology/laboratory techniques. All should have been stellar.
Additional Rec: research mentor from my 11th grade seminar program, should have been excellent. </p>

<p>Also: asian male from competitive public high school in NJ</p>

<p>A bit worried because although I think I demonstrated strong interest in Biological sciences, and seminar program I attended demonstrates strong interest in non-science liberal arts, my track record with medicine and formalized research is somewhat lacking. Do you think I should even bother trying for PLME? (or brown in general) </p>

<p>There’s absolutely no harm in applying to PLME if you’re already applying to Brown, and I think you look like a strong candidate in general. If you’re interested in the program, fill out the few extra essays and go for it.</p>

<p>With your stats, I thought you were “bragging” :-*? Definitely go for PLME, things missing are hospital volunteer, doctor shadowing. You never know if you don’t apply. </p>

<p>

Those are pretty big things to be missing for PLME, but like bruno14 said, no harm in trying - everything else is certainly good enough for Brown.</p>

<p>Essays are a really important part of the PLME selection process, so there’s no harm if you have great stories to tell! </p>