MIT or Brown PLME?

Colleges and Universities Massachusetts Institute of Technology
#1

<p>I can decide! Please help!</p>

<p>This past week, I visited both. (I'm actually typing this up in Providence, RI.)
I want to become a neurosurgeon someday and would like to concentrate on biochemistry or neuroscience. </p>

<p>I can't decide between MIT and Brown PLME. Brown PLME is a guaranteed admission to med school. However, I love the location Cambridge much more. ...but Brown has a real campus, which I love, whereas MIT does not. </p>

<p>I know Brown med school has a huge focus on primary care...but research wise, it's not so great. </p>

<p>How do they compare? ...how well does MIT prepare someone for med school...and how often do ppl get into the top med schools? I'm so freakin' confused.</p>

#2

<p>Firstly, congratulations on your acceptance to both MIT and Brown PLME. My recommendation is that you choose Brown PLME since you seem confident that medicine is the career path that you would like to take. If you aren't sure about if whether or not you'd like to become a doctor, I'd choose MIT if I was in your place.</p>

#3

<p>I STRONGLY recommend that you pick Brown PLME. Even though MIT is the superior school, you'll have to work your butt off to maintain a decent GPA to even have a chance at med school. any med school, not just top ones. With PLME, you are guaranteed and you can actually enjoy the next four years of your life.</p>

#4

<p>Ask and ye shall receive.</p>

<p><a href="http://web.mit.edu/career/www/infostats/preprof.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://web.mit.edu/career/www/infostats/preprof.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://web.mit.edu/career/www/preprof/04acceptancedata.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://web.mit.edu/career/www/preprof/04acceptancedata.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I would caution that the above MIT premed admit numbers are inflated (as they are for all premed admit numbers at any school) for the simple reason that they only deal with only those people who actually apply to med-school. Every school has plenty of students who would like to go to med-school but don't apply because they know they won't get in anywhere, either because they know that their grades are too low, or their MCAT score is too low, or whatever. Let's face it. The guy with straight C's on his transcript and a 20 on the MCAT is probably not going to go through the time and expense of applying to med-school, even if he wants to go. Hence, the 'true' premed success rate at MIT (and every other school) is substantially lower than it appears. </p>

<p>I am not sure about this, but I believe that the Brown PLME program doesn't "lock you in", meaning that you will get your bachelor's degree in the middle of the program, which thereby allows you to apply to other med-schools. So if while in PLME you think that you have a decent shot at getting into Harvard Medical or Johns Hopkins, you can apply and see. If you get rejected, you just continue along with PLME. For this reason, I find the Brown PLME (or any other guaranteed-admit med-school program) to be extremely powerful, because you have one med-school admit locked down, and you can still try to land something better. </p>

<p>The only possible issue I can see is an ethical one. If you go to PLME with no intention of actually completing the program, then one could say that you have unfairly taken a spot away from somebody who does intend to complete the whole program. However, I think that everybody has to make their own personal ethical judgment about that.</p>

#5

<p>thanks you guys for the great advice! </p>

<p>paulhomework: do med schools know that MIT is harder and take that into consideration? ..or don't they?</p>

#6

<p>Hey portlander, I probably was in the same room with you at the PLME thing. I'm in a similar situation. To be honest, I was not 100% impressed by the PLME. I think that in terms of research MIT will teach you alot more. It really depends on what you want. If you want to be assured entrance into medical school and be able to study art, then PLME is for you. If you want to learn to work at the Whitehead institute for Genomic research your freshman year, go to MIT. For me personally, I also have Yale in the mix so it's very confusing. I'm still deciding if I really want science or liberal arts.</p>

#7

<p>I also have Yale in the mix, but I (most likely) won't be going there because I haven't heard back from their fin. aid office. I applied for fin. aid really, really late, but that's my problem. =) Plus, my parents are against it because they heard that the area isn't so great. </p>

<p>I wasn't too impressed with the five current students at PLME either. Also, I don't really like the area. I love the campus, but I walked around "Downtown" Providence this morning, and it was so dead. My brother and I were looking for a McDonalds for some breakfast and we could find anything. Perhaps, I just didn't find the fun. </p>

<p>Bluto, you must keep me updated on what you decide to do...and I'll do the same!</p>

#8

<p>Portlander:</p>

<p>I'm a high school senior, so take my advice with a grain of salt. From what I have read and heard, even though MIT is harder compared to Brown, med school admission officers still don't adjust GPAs as much as they should. For example, it's better to have a 3.9 GPA at Brown than a 3.6 GPA at MIT, even though the 3.6 at MIT might be a lot harder.</p>

<p>Still, if you really don't like PLME, then pick Yale or MIT. You should never go somewhere that you hate. But keep in mind that four years from now when you apply to med school, you might regret not having one guaranteed spot.</p>

#9

<p>but Brown has a real campus, which I love, whereas MIT does not.</p>

<p>huh? <em>looks around</em> how is this not a campus?</p>

#10

<p>but Brown has a real campus, which I love, whereas MIT does not.</p>

<p>I've heard this said before also, and also don't understand it. What do people mean by "a real campus"? MIT has a couple quads/ovals, and lots of grouped buildings, and a string of dorms at a couple ends of the campus... what does "a real campus" mean? Something walled in and totally separate from its community? Perhaps that's it: because at the edges the campus mixes with the community buildings so it's not a stand-alone entity? Or is it the interconnected buildings that allow you to travel inside in crummy weather?</p>

<p>I like the MIT campus, myself.</p>

#11

<p>MIT does have a campus, it's just more sprawling (versus Harvard/Brown/etc which are more enclosed)
And while it certainly looks kind of gross in the winter, it looks really pretty in the spring when it starts to green and flowers bloom. It also looks really nice in the fall when the trees change color, especially along the charles.</p>

<p>With regard to Brown, the guaranteed med school is certainly a draw, but if you only feel lukewarm about it, then that's sort of important. If you're interested in neuroscience, MIT has a really good Brain and Cog department, and it's a really good choice for premed if you're interested in it, since it's very flexible. Everyone I know in it really likes it, and the grade thing is less of an issue than in say ChemE. Also, the research opportunities will definitely help you with MD/PhD if you're into that.</p>

<p>Most importantly, go where you're happy. The future takes care of itself :-)</p>

#12

<p>When I said "real campus" I was talking about, like asdf123 said, an enclosed campus with gates; the kind where you find people playing frisbee on the grass. =) I'm attracted to that for some reason. </p>

<p>Anyway, thanks for the inputs you guys! I'm starting to lean towards MIT more and more everyday.</p>

#13

<p>we play frisbee on our grass. even at midnight :)</p>

<p>gates are silly, they just get between where you are and where you want to be. and then they try to tear your clothes when you climb them. which is, of course, why you should always be carrying duct tape. and batteries, but that's a separate story.</p>

#14

<p>I chose between an accelerated program (PennSt/Jefferson 6 year) and MIT as well. My deciding factor was that I wanted to be able to explore during undergraduate years before heading off to med school. I'm interested in medical research and MIT offers me unbelievable research opportunities through UROP. MIT will prepare me extremely well for medical school due to its rigor. I am looking to major in either BE or Brain&Cog. PM me if you have questions.</p>