Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you, this is very helpful and promising. If the student decides to just do the 4 year undergrad program after a couple years in (decides to change major), is there a problem getting into other programs? In other words, what if they decide that they do not want to pursue medicine?

You can major in anything you want (as long as you take the required science classes). I went to brown, and my friends in the PLME program were less likely to major in biology than other pre med students.

If you must study medicine 4-7 years, why do bio? Do something insanely crazy you won’t have a chance to do as a med student - fine arts, music, etc.

For my kid it was a "keeping workloads manageable" thing (full disclosure: not in the Brown PLME student, just a regular premed). By doing bio, all of her classes that counted for the bio major also counted for the premed requirements. Having to take the premed classes AND entirely unrelated classes for a major is quite a lot to juggle, and she is a big believer in the Keep it Simply Silly acronym. Plus, she just likes biology. It's her favorite subject. why not study what you love AND what will make your life manageable AND what will check off boxes for the career you want?

Why all the rushing and pushing? Looking back, as an MD for the past almost 20 years, I am really glad I took time between college and med school to explore other interests, do other things. There is so much burnout in medicine that I am concerned about these young ones putting so much pressure on themselves in high school to get into X college to get into Y med school to get Z residency. Med school and residency were by far the most diverse educational experiences I had with students and residents from a really wide array of education, paths, geographic and ethnic backgrounds. Those who had taken a little time in between had more maturity and perspective and resilience to handle the intensity of med school and residency.

For a lot of reasons--some political--Brown's med school focuses on primary care. (Brown is the only med school in Rhode Island and gets a lot of state money. A generation ago, RI wanted to fix the situation in which anyone who needed a good hospital had to go to Boston. )

US News divides med school rankings into 2 groups: research and primary care. Brown is ranked at #19 for primary care, tied with UVa. Pitt is ranked at 34, tied with UChicago. Stanford is 22.

For research, Brown is ranked #36. Pitt is 13. So, I wouldn't say that Pitt is a "much better" med school than Brown.

Dartmouth ranks below Brown for both.

If I had a kid who was sure they wanted to end up with a MD/PhD, I would not recommend Brown. However, if I had a kid who wanted to be an internist, pediatrician, family practitioner, etc. Brown is a great place to go. The focus of the med school is most definitely primary care. That is a bit unusual.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid was lucky to get into both Brown PLME and Northwestern HPME before HPME was discontinued. Both programs were excellent. DC ended up choosing PLME because DC wanted to enjoy full undergrad experience.
Very happy with the choice. Great thing about PLME is the freedom the program provides to its students. Small difference in med school ranking doesn’t matter for residency and future opportunities. Success depends on how well students do in med school. Brown Alpert students do quite well. Current Stanford med school dean did both his undergraduate and med school at Brown. OP give it a try and consider applying. You never know.

Good to know. What were your kids stats?

My niece in the area is in HPME program in her 3 rd year. I have seen her very busy all her high school years. She did a lot of shadowing at Shady Grove hospital for clinical hours (I believe that is something they look for). She also did an NIH research internship in the junior or senior year. I think they look for demonstrated interest in medicine. I know another friend's daughter in a similar 7 year program who is training to be an EMT

what? Isn't an EMT like 6 months of training?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid was lucky to get into both Brown PLME and Northwestern HPME before HPME was discontinued. Both programs were excellent. DC ended up choosing PLME because DC wanted to enjoy full undergrad experience.
Very happy with the choice. Great thing about PLME is the freedom the program provides to its students. Small difference in med school ranking doesn’t matter for residency and future opportunities. Success depends on how well students do in med school. Brown Alpert students do quite well. Current Stanford med school dean did both his undergraduate and med school at Brown. OP give it a try and consider applying. You never know.

Good to know. What were your kids stats?

My niece in the area is in HPME program in her 3 rd year. I have seen her very busy all her high school years. She did a lot of shadowing at Shady Grove hospital for clinical hours (I believe that is something they look for). She also did an NIH research internship in the junior or senior year. I think they look for demonstrated interest in medicine. I know another friend's daughter in a similar 7 year program who is training to be an EMT

Anonymous wrote:My kid was lucky to get into both Brown PLME and Northwestern HPME before HPME was discontinued. Both programs were excellent. DC ended up choosing PLME because DC wanted to enjoy full undergrad experience.
Very happy with the choice. Great thing about PLME is the freedom the program provides to its students. Small difference in med school ranking doesn’t matter for residency and future opportunities. Success depends on how well students do in med school. Brown Alpert students do quite well. Current Stanford med school dean did both his undergraduate and med school at Brown. OP give it a try and consider applying. You never know.

Good to know. What were your kids stats?

My kid was lucky to get into both Brown PLME and Northwestern HPME before HPME was discontinued. Both programs were excellent. DC ended up choosing PLME because DC wanted to enjoy full undergrad experience.
Very happy with the choice. Great thing about PLME is the freedom the program provides to its students. Small difference in med school ranking doesn’t matter for residency and future opportunities. Success depends on how well students do in med school. Brown Alpert students do quite well. Current Stanford med school dean did both his undergraduate and med school at Brown. OP give it a try and consider applying. You never know.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you, this is very helpful and promising. If the student decides to just do the 4 year undergrad program after a couple years in (decides to change major), is there a problem getting into other programs? In other words, what if they decide that they do not want to pursue medicine?

These programs are targeted to kids who absolutely know it’s what they want to do. My child isn’t at Brown but is at another combined program. That would have been figured out in the two day interview process that there were doubts. Most of the kids coming in had already done research (in high school - how?).

Just from your posting, I’m not sure if you realize how incredibly difficult it is to get into the Brown program. Like insanely hard.

Getting into a med school, regardless which path your choose, is insanely hard.

No, you don't get it. I agree with the first PP who has a child in a similar program. The admission rate at Brown is 2.3%, Hopkins med school is 7%. I think at VCU is 3.5%. These are 18 year old kids, not mature people applying to med school.

+1
There is a lot of stupid information on this thread from people whose kids haven’t applied who don’t have a clue. Including the one who scoffs at Brown.

Yeah that asshat is always here, always scoffing. Maybe at least their little routine entertains them, let's hope so because I can see no other point in it.

Does Michigan still offer Interflex?

Also look into the Rice program with Baylor College of Medicine.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you, this is very helpful and promising. If the student decides to just do the 4 year undergrad program after a couple years in (decides to change major), is there a problem getting into other programs? In other words, what if they decide that they do not want to pursue medicine?

You can major in anything you want (as long as you take the required science classes). I went to brown, and my friends in the PLME program were less likely to major in biology than other pre med students.

If you must study medicine 4-7 years, why do bio? Do something insanely crazy you won’t have a chance to do as a med student - fine arts, music, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you, this is very helpful and promising. If the student decides to just do the 4 year undergrad program after a couple years in (decides to change major), is there a problem getting into other programs? In other words, what if they decide that they do not want to pursue medicine?

These programs are targeted to kids who absolutely know it’s what they want to do. My child isn’t at Brown but is at another combined program. That would have been figured out in the two day interview process that there were doubts. Most of the kids coming in had already done research (in high school - how?).

Just from your posting, I’m not sure if you realize how incredibly difficult it is to get into the Brown program. Like insanely hard.

Getting into a med school, regardless which path your choose, is insanely hard.

Sure. But Brown is the cream of the crop and especially for the limited PLME slots.
My kid is in a dual MD program but didn’t get into Brown. Consider looking at some of the lesser known schools unless your child has cured cancer so they actually stand a chance.

All med schools are good but Brown is not known as one of the better medical schools. I am not sure what you meant by "the cream of the crop". UCSF/Hopkins/Harvard/WashU/UCLA/UCSD/Pitt....etc. All ahead of Brown.

Which one of those has a dual program? Brown is the only Ivy with a joint program, which makes it highly sought after.

Pitt has joint program. Dartmouth is another Ivy that offers combined. Hope that answers your questions.

I’m not sure why you’re being so argumentative. Brown is an elite school and extremely difficult to get into their PLME IN MY OPINION, which hasn’t changed. If it’s not elite enough for you, oh well. You’re being silly.
Dartmouth doesn’t offer this type of program. They do have early assurance which you apply to in your junior year, at least according to our tour guide.

I am not being argumentative. Just because someone doesn't fully agree with you doesn't mean that person is being argumentative. Where did I say Brown is not "elite enough"? Darthmouth does.

DP but I believe "not agreeing" is the definition of "argumentative"

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MY DD is interested in the 7/8 year undergrad-med programs. Northwestern HPME does not exist any more. She is applying to several others with Brown PLME as her top choice. We were told that NW HPME was the best program in the country. However we do not know much about the Brown PLME program other than the fact that it is the only Ivy with the 8 year program. Any advice on these combined programs, which ones are good?

They take like 10 people a year. Good luck.

I'm the mom with the PMLE kid and DC has HS friends in the VCU program and it is wonderful. VCU placed 5 in dermatology, 2 in plastic surgery, and 13 in general surgery.

https://honors.vcu.edu/admissions/guaranteed-admission/

https://medschool.vcu.edu/news/stories/2021/matchday2021/

Anonymous wrote:We know one kid in the program and our DS went for a weekend in the Fall to meet her cohort. Pretty much all of the kids in PLME had some kind of hook. They were all qualified but were also the grand of donors, the child of media stars, the 12th or something in a row to go to Brown, was on an Olympic team at 16, etc. Hoping the parent of a current PLME kid will weigh in here.

DC1 is a double legacy, but we went to Brown in the regular program and we're donors but nothing like the Tisch family. DC will be the 4th generation in medicine in our family and has been volunteering in the hospitals since freshmen in high school, including at an international hospital in developing countries.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you, this is very helpful and promising. If the student decides to just do the 4 year undergrad program after a couple years in (decides to change major), is there a problem getting into other programs? In other words, what if they decide that they do not want to pursue medicine?

These programs are targeted to kids who absolutely know it’s what they want to do. My child isn’t at Brown but is at another combined program. That would have been figured out in the two day interview process that there were doubts. Most of the kids coming in had already done research (in high school - how?).

Just from your posting, I’m not sure if you realize how incredibly difficult it is to get into the Brown program. Like insanely hard.

Getting into a med school, regardless which path your choose, is insanely hard.

No, you don't get it. I agree with the first PP who has a child in a similar program. The admission rate at Brown is 2.3%, Hopkins med school is 7%. I think at VCU is 3.5%. These are 18 year old kids, not mature people applying to med school.

+1
There is a lot of stupid information on this thread from people whose kids haven’t applied who don’t have a clue. Including the one who scoffs at Brown.