I am currently deciding between Stanford undergrad and Brown PLME (guaranteed medical school acceptance), but Stanford offers $30k more FA. Any feedback on the Stanford pre-med scene would be greatly appreciated!
Some questions:
Although I’ve heard that Stanford generally has grade inflation, how hard is it to maintain a high pre-med GPA (3.8+) there? Are there certain weeder/required courses that I should beware of?
How good is the Community Health and Prevention Research major? I was thinking of majoring in public health, but Stanford doesn’t seem to offer that.
Does the name help somewhat for med school apps, especially for schools in CA? I’m interested in staying in-state if I choose to attend.
What are some of the common medical schools Stanford students get into? Is there much competition?
Are there some students who start out as pre-med but instead head into medical start-ups? I’m considering the slim possibility that I don’t want to be a physician in the future…
How is the pre-med advising, and how important is it in the scheme of applying to medical school?
I was a Stanford pre-med, and currently at my top choice medical school. Choosing Stanford or PLME depends a bit on how confident you are in your academic ability. Even though some will take PLME “in a heartbeat” as the above poster mentioned, I also know many who turned down these combined BS/MD 6-, 7-, and 8-year programs for Stanford and similar schools, and they never regretted it.
-PLME is nice for the obvious reason that you will have peace of mind that you’ll be admitted to an awesome medical school at the end of your two years. If you think you can do well at Stanford, this won’t matter much in the end as it sounds like you would go to a CA med school over Brown Med; if you’re not sure, having an Ivy Med as a “safety” is certainly a luxurious option.
I personally did not find it a problem to maintain a high pre-med GPA there, but it will depend on how much work you’re willing to put into /how much high school exposure you have/whether you naturally understand chem, physics, and bio.
CHEM 31x and CHEM 31a/b, or CHEM 33 and CHEM 35 were generally considered the hardest pre-med courses. It depended on if you like numbers (genchem/pchem, 31) or liked visual puzzles and memorization (ochem, 33/35). The old biochem and last in the ochem sequence was replaced this year with two classes taught by much better profs in collaboration with the bio dept, so I hear those are much better now.
The Stanford name helps SO much with med school admissions, especially in CA. Just look at admissions data from schools that release it (such as UMich, which is very transparent), and you’ll see there is a huge bias towards Stanford students. I volunteer with my institution’s admissions departments, and it was very surprisingly to me how much weight the Stanford/Ivy/Hopkins name carries.
Stanford pre-med is NOT competitive, which was one of my favorite things about being there. Comparing notes to my current med school classmates, the competitive atmosphere that many of them experienced elsewhere was nowhere to be found at Stanford. You’ll see we send a large contingent of our graduates to CA schools–since anyone who lives in CA finds it hard to leave sunny, beautiful CA–followed by Ivies, and then a smattering of schools all over the country, as you’d expect.
I’m not aware of two many start-up pre-meds, but I am aware of students involved in med start-ups who were never pre-med to begin with. Considering it’s Stanford and Silicon Valley, you’ll be in a better place to explore this path if you decide you want to.
Interestingly enough, I did not find the pre-med advising to be terribly helpful, especially for the later stages. You will want to rely on advice from upperclassmen going through the same thing as you, who have that direct experience.
I’m a Stanford trained MD. Here’s my advice: keep your options open. You will get into a good med school if you attend Stanford, and you will also appreciate not being locked in as you are exposed to other career options. (You said there’s a slim chance you might not want to be a physician). But even more significantly to me, your financial aid package at Stanford is very compelling. Whether you go to med school or not, minimizing your education debt will provide the most flexibility in the future. It will affect all your choices, from selection of specialty to where you want to live.
Admission to your typical medical school is more difficult than getting into Stanford Biz school which is far and away the most selective and competitive biz school to gain admission to in the country.
Is this guaranteed program at Brown a combined program like Stony Brook where you graduate in 7 years for undergrad + med school?
If so you’re going to save a bundle on med school+undergrad and graduate earlier. This would be a no brainer decision. Go with Brown, save money, graduate earlier and tell everyone at cocktail parties you got into the most selective university in the US and turned them down:)
Disagree with the above poster, who appears to be unfamiliar with PLME (an 8y program). The only situation in which this is a “no brainer” is if you somehow know that WAMS will be your top choice SOM, which almost no high school senior could possibly actually “know” at that age. As I mentioned, I know several friends who turned down PLME, HPME, and similar combined programs for Stanford, and they never regretted it. Many of them are currently at or graduated from the nation’s top medical schools, some of them with merit scholarships covering up to full tuition + living stipend. If your goal is to stay in CA, I can assure you based on first-hand experience that CA SOMs have a long tradition of favoring Stanford graduates.
Also, please be mindful of appropriately representing your potential profession, and do not “tell everyone at cocktail parties you got into the most selective university in the US and turned them down,” which I’m sure was only said in jest
if it’s an 8 year program than you’re not graduating early as with Stony Brook
however you do go in knowing that you’re in med school and instead of stressing over organic chem and other pre-med weed out classes, you can instead focus on advancing your Community Health and Prevention interests including research.
Residency programs, which are far more important than which medical school you went to, are going to focus on your clinical grades during medical school and your research.
Knowing you’re in medical school from day 1 is still a significant advantage and something I would consider very carefully.
and btw I’m a physician who has been around the block… a couple of times:)
