<p>Thank you everyone for your comments…leaning towards Brown PLME because Brown undergrad still lets you take any concentration you want including Business, Entrepreneurship and Organization. Then after undergrad, will still have option to go onto to medical school with PLME program (no MCAT) or deferring a few years to go into business. THen again, its 2:30 pm and this decision could change by tonight! WHarton is unparalleled but extremely competitive…Brown is more laid back and may need a change from high school…still don’t know…shouldn’t really complain, but difficult decision!</p>
<p>meadow1234 Don’t throw away PLME for Wharton.</p>
<p>@meadow</p>
<p>Please sit back and think who you are getting advise from on this forum. Except a handful of grown ups [even the grown ups are not physicians except may be one or two] most are teenagers who are in the same boat as your son. </p>
<p>If money is important then Medicine is not the way to go. You should look at Wharton and go in to business or investment banking. You are looking at yearly bonuses alone in the 100,000s to millions of dollars. But it is a high stress job. I definitely will not recommend being a nurse for your son. He will be frustrated because he can not use his real talent and will be “under” [at least at this time, this is changing] a dumber doctor.</p>
<p>In my humble opinion, smart [really smart ones like your son] are wasting their lives becoming a doctor. Any mediocre student who is other wise hard working and has the mind set can become a great physician. But you sacrifice the middle part of your life to books, long hours of studying, residency. When you come out you wonder was it all worth it? You won’t even have the luxury of relaxing because you are in your 30s, have a wife and child, have to pay back college loans and have to slog it out to make money no matter what. But it is too late, so you plod along being a doctor [of course it is a cliche to boast my son is/I am a doctor]. </p>
<p>You keep wondering what if I had become an investment banker or gone in to business or invented something. Being a doctor you have a safe and stable life. Money will not be great going forwards, so if any of you are taking medicine thinking you are going to make a lot of money, rethink your strategy. </p>
<p>It is a dull, repetitive, boring, monotonous life.</p>
<p>It is up to him to decide, but they are too young to make the right decision at this age.</p>
<p>Can he go to Penn and just go to Wharton and ignore nursing and do premed requirements? Dual degree programs are not easy and if the goal is to go to med school, it is not worth it to spend 5 years getting two degrees. I suspect the Wharton degree by itself would be worth lot more than the nursing degree on the long run.</p>
<p>OTOH, if he goes to Brown, he will have a happier life sticking to PLME.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for your comments! @texaspg…do you know people in dual degree programs? Are they especially harder? Also, why do you think he will have a happier life with PLME? (he went back to leaning toward UPenn and most likely am putting a deposit on UPenn tonight). He did not feel 100% comfortable at Brown…very intellectual hipster type…although UPenn may mean same NE kids…but at the end hard to give up Wharton (although am concerned about competitiveness). I like Brown for him/less outwardly competitive/potentially less stress/but if don’t feel comfortable there, not worth it. Like the idea of NP/can even become NP anaesthesist/like tamtiger said…medicine is a long haul with a good portion of your 20’s in school/feel if decides on healthcare, pediatric NP could give similar satisfaction as doctor/who knows what is right or wrong???/just wish us luck!!! and good luck to all…college confidential this has been a real ride…reading all the years who gets in and not…unbelievable this is all coming to an end and the next stage of life is beginning!!! For all of those trying out next year, don’t fixate on SAT/GPA/need to be competitive but also need to differentiate yourself from the pack/what is your story that makes you different from others and that only you can contribute to school/do NOT cut and paste essays/make each one unique to the school/what can you offer/what do they have/and how can you take advantage of that/my S never did research yet got into many schools/show what makes you you!</p>
<p>@meadow, I’m an adult, in finance for many years, an a strong advocate for BS/MD program. Your S has demonstrated strong academics to get into these top program, and interests in business side (this alone shall make you/him pause in committing to bs/md). If he could demonstrate strong talent on business side as well (it’s a big if), then sky will be his limit. He needs to grind out with those “competitive” wharton kids, follow them into internship, try his hand in consulting (healthcare consulting is in high demand ). Not sure what dual degree stands for, I just don’t see PLME as a path to his goal as a Peds, or nurse.</p>
<p>meadow - I talked to someone who did Jerome Fisher but a while ago. From what I understood, they have to follow a very structured program with no room to try anything else if they wanted to complete both degrees but this is a 4 year program. Not sure why the nursing management is 5 years but I assume nursing requires lot more courses for graduation. The real question is whether your son needs nursing.</p>
<p>As far as I know, undergraduate part of Brown’s PMLE program is very flexible in terms of course work and time. I would take it over UPenn, any day. Yes, it is an expensive program but so is UPenn. He can always go to Brown and see how things go. If later he decides not to continue to MD, he can always finish undergrad and go to a different major (Business, NP, etc.). NP is not the same as MD. I know someone who decided to go to med school after getting NP. Compensation is not everything. He seems like a very smart kid and will probably feel much more accomplished and happy being a doctor than a nurse (nothing against nurses, it is also a very noble profession).</p>
<p>Midhelper, my friend who is also in late mid fifties was a nurse for 8 years and couldn’t get into med school in America -period. Went to the Philippines for Med School and was head of a Dept in a large hospital in Manhattan. It took her a while but she kept her goal in focus.</p>
<p>Since my D got her organic chemistry gene from my wife, she got into Med school while I did not. Re: that Wharton/Brown BS/MD decision -that Brown program required only 30 credits a year compared to Yales 33 credits and let you customize your own program as long as you had the core courses. While they did not give as much tuition assistance as HYP , they gave a very large chunk off their med school tuition.</p>
<p>As to what may be more valuable in the future a MBA or MD with the way managed health care is going an MD in the family is becoming worth it’s weight in gold.</p>
<p>Notice how Medicare patients can not get into Oncology practices lately and get needed oncology drugs due to shortages ( real or not)? Wait until you are over 70 or as I suspect the age will eventually made lower lower even more as private insurers bow out and the government consolidates its control. To have at least one doctor in the family will be a blessing.</p>
<p>Today my D got into NEOMED! 6 year BS/MD program!!!</p>
<p>We already paid deposit to UM pre-med with 100% free ride including room/board.</p>
<p>WashU also offered free ride Tuition (44K) and extended the deadline. We though of picking WashU today. #1 Pre-med. </p>
<p>NEOMED just called us and offered 6 year program! </p>
<p>Not sure which one to choose</p>
<p>Anyone got any opinions?</p>
<p>KLM - Congratulations! Not going back several pages, your D was the one who did not make any of the programs?</p>
<p>If she is sure about Medicine, take NEOMED or else WashU. WashU is really great for undergrad in case she is not sure about medicine. Nothing to beat free tuition.</p>
<p>@KLM, congratulations. Your D deserves it with her very impressive stats. It appears that she has been trying very hard to get into one of the combined programs. So, now that she has been offered a place, she should really take it. WUStL is an excellent school but a lot of variables can get into the equation in the four years of UG. I would encourage her to take up the NEOMED offer. Again, congratulations!!!</p>
<p>Which school through NEOMED? Does she prefer the pressure of 6 years or the competition of all of the other premeds at WashU? For curiosity, which merit scholarship did she get?</p>
<p>@TheBombingRange, through Youngstown. </p>
<p>Anyone got any feedback on NEOMED?</p>
<p>Wow KLM. This sounds really familiar. D had a very difficult time trying to decide between NEOMED and a full tuition scholarship to UMiami. The advantage to NEOMED is the bar is very low with the MCAT and GPA requirements. It is about as can’t miss a pathway to the MD degree as possible. The disadvantage is that it is low rated and the residency matches are somewhat weak, though ortho was unusually high at 10% this past cycle. Youngstown is the least desired of the three UGs and the city is pretty much abandoned.</p>
<p>@READYTORETIRE, Which one your D picked?</p>
<p>KLM - are you from Ohio?</p>
<p>It is two years of undergrad and so not sure that makes a whole lot of difference.</p>
<p>KLM, your D is very smart and will do well whichever she chooses. I would not be put off by the “low rating” of the NEOMED program. If your D is good, she will get good USMLE scores and be competitive for the highly sought-after residency program. The question you and your D need to ask is whether or not you are willing to take the risk of introducing more variables into the equation and this will arise if she goes to an UG program. I have seen enough of my female classmates to know that it is always very difficult being a female. You may meet someone and decide to get married and settle down to be a mom (not that there is anything wrong being a mom and making raising a family your priority!) or you may loose “steam” in UG schools. I have seen enough unfilled ambitions to want to make sure I keep the equation as simple as I can with as little variables as possible!</p>
<p>@KLM - pick neomed. Opportunity knocks once! Grab it</p>
<p>@KLM123- That is a tough choice. I too am a big fan of BS MD. Free college especially WashU 14th overall in the country. She needs to decide if she wants to be at the college for undergrad associated with that program and then make a risk-benefit assessment of guaranteed med school vs. better med school. Its a tough call.</p>