<p>I will start filling out my college applications in the Fall and would like some advice from those more experienced.</p>
<p>For a while now, I’ve been wanting to apply to Brown’s PLME. But, the more I read about how incredibly difficult it is to get in and how people with higher qualifications than my own aren’t getting accepted, I’m feeling like it’s unlikely I’ll be let in.
I was hoping to apply early decision to the program and even if I didn’t make it, I would attend the college for four years (The school highly appeals to me–open curriculum, Ivy league, financial aid, general atmosphere, etc.) and then try to figure out what to do for med school when it comes to that, but I’m not so sure that’s the best course of action.</p>
<p>I’ve also been considering Dartmouth, which is somewhat similar in its appeal, but instead of an 8-year Premed/Med Program, they have the D-Plan, which I think will give me plenty of opportunities to get experience and build up my transcript for med school.</p>
<p>Brown PLME is still my first choice, and I would still like to apply early decision, but since I’m doubting the possibility of getting accepted into the program, I’m trying to decide what would be the best fallback.</p>
<p>The “D-Plan” is one of the most hilarious things I have ever heard of a university marketing. Seriously, who were they bouncing that name off of?</p>
<p>The D-plan isn’t worth going to Dartmouth, nor is any pre-med program a good enough excuse to go to a school. Almost every university has a D-plan in some form. You like Brown, focus on Brown.</p>
<p>^^With all due respect, the D-Plan DOES offer advantages for obtaining extremely competitive internships, such as on Wall Street or with the federal government, including NIH research. 90% of all college kids are seeking internships during the summer, so looking off season is a BIG plus. In addition, the fact that Sophomores are essentially the only ones on campus for summer, and the campus is fully functioning during summer, means that Sophomores immediately become leaders: editors of the newspaper, leader of the band, house manager, theater director, etc. For I-banker wannabes, Dartmouth’s D plan is great. But, for professional schools, it really doesn’t much matter, since gpa is the first cutoff.</p>
<p>If you are considering combined bs/md route, why you are not considering other combined programs? PLME is one of the hardest to get it (if not the hardest), there are others that are somewhat easier, although they all require superior stats, EC’s, essays, interviews…and you will be competing against very best students for a spot at any of them. However, some of them are less known, particularly the ones at state schools.</p>
<p>Umm, Dartmouth! (It was originally called the Dartmouth Plan but got shortened over time.)</p>
<p>The calendar was changed when D admitted women in 1972. The College mandated Sophomore Summer to enable it to absorb more students (girls) without having to expand college size or reduce the number of guys admitted. But the calendar is not a traditional quarter system in that Dartmouth’s courses are compacted. For example, instead of all year like at most colleges – either semester or quarter, Frosh Chem at Dartmouth is covered in only two quarters. As a result, students only take three courses per quarter term.</p>
<p>Yes, the med school is on the main campus in Hanover.</p>
I’m not familiar with the Pre-Med track, but the D-Plan does wonders for Wall Street/IB/Finance aspirants in finding strong internships. Also virtually every university has a semester system, not a form of the D-Plan.</p>