HPME vs. other top schools

Bala
Sun, 05 Apr 2009 00:50:17 +0000

Go to HPME if you think you’ll be happy at Northwestern these next 7-8 years. DO NOT if your sole interest is guaranteed admission to medical school and your heart calls you to go elsewhere. Prestige is not an issue.

While there are certainly medical schools at the level of Northwestern, only possibly Hopkins and Harvard will carry any meaningful reputational advantage. The school is extraordinally well respected with a cutting edge, brand new hospital campus in the heart of downtown Chicago adjoining the lakefront offering some of the best clinical care to be found anywhere in the world. If you haven’t visited and can, you should.

Arbiter’s comment is right on (well, maybe except for the “wayyyy cooler” touch of bias). HPME will be a much less stressful and generally much more enjoyable undergrad experience than you’d face pre-med on a competitive campus. Beyond this is the opportunity to spend a fourth year before starting downtown doing something else - travel, research, another degree. One of Northwestern’s 5 Gates-Cambridge Scholars this year is an HPME grad. You’ll notice his “extra” bachelor’s degree is in Poli Sci. HPME will offer these types of opportunities - ones I doubt would be as available pre-med elsewhere.

[Five Northwestern Students Awarded Gates Scholarships](Five Northwestern Students Awarded Gates Scholarships: Northwestern University News)

“Victor Roy of Bridgewater, N.J., graduated from Northwestern with a bachelor’s degree in political science as a student in the Honors Program in Medical Education. For the past three years, he has served as the executive director of GlobeMed, a national organization that enables students and communities to work together and improve the health of the poor around the world. Roy has led GlobeMed’s growth to 16 university chapters across the country and has worked with grassroots organizations in India, Guatemala, Rwanda, Ghana and Uganda. His interest in global health began in the summer of 2006 when he conducted research on the social networks of street children in Kolkata, India. Since age 10, he has performed the tabla, an Indian percussion instrument. Roy will pursue an MPhil in Modern Societies and Global Transformations, researching the impact of neoliberal economic policies on the public health of low and middle-income nations. He hopes to shape and advocate for policies aimed at realizing equity in global health.”

PS I’m an HPME grad on faculty elsewhere