@co88dad, I am sure your daughter is highly motivated and she will do well in Rice. But from my daughter’s experience of Brown University, she found that the pre med competition is fierce[ I am glad though that she is in their PLME program so no worries there] . You are competing with people like yourself. I am not sure about Rice, but at Brown your A can easily become a B, if the class average is high.
This semester my daughter is taking organic chemistry and in her first exam she got a B, just because most of the students are taking this class the second time[ she found it out later], making the class’ average higher. She had to worked twice as hard for the second exam to be able to get an above average score in order to secure a solid A.
We visited Bulldog days at Yale this week. Administration tries very hard to get student commitment. Overall great program. Daughter now is leaning towards Case PPSP for a couple of reasons. She is pretty sure she wants to do medicine even she goes to Yale. General comments from premeds or students from other majors at Yale are premed students will have to work extremely hard to prepare themselves for med school. One senior we spoke to applied to 25 schools, got 9 interviews and accepted at 4 med schools, the best is Cornell med school. Although the social scene is better at Yale than Case (she felt Case kids were more nerdy and socially awkward), she may not be able to enjoy as much. On the other hand, if she goes to Case, she can get all requirements completed by year 3. Year 4 she can study abroad and do all the fun things before matriculation to medical school.
One question she has is that whether it matters for residency or future job or patients if she gets her undergraduate degree from a more reputable college like Yale? Although no one in our family or extended family is a doctor, my quick distinct tells me no, but she points out how doctors always display all their diplomas on their office walls. She will have both diplomas from Case : Would that be important to patients? What do you think?
@Iz48880 the undergraduate school does not matter, for residency or for a future job. Good recommendations from medical school and good USMLE scores are most important for residency. As for future jobs, most doctors put up their diplomas because they show pride in their achievements, not to attract patients. Patients will not know where the doctor went to medical school or undergrad especially when selecting a doctor, or getting referred to one by their internist. Honestly, it does not matter too much where the student goes to medical school either because they are all pretty rigorous and residencies care more about recommendations and USMLE scores anyways, but that’s a conversation for another day. I know doctors from UConn, University of New Hampshire, and other state schools for undergrad that got into UPenn and Harvard medical school. They are just as successful, if not more, than those who graduated from ivy league institutions and attended the same medical school. Plus, Case’s medical school in particular is very reputable (although all MD schools in the US pretty much are) and it’s undergraduate program is good, too. Case is also the type of school a Yale graduate might attend anyways if he or she went the normal route
In short, go to Case PPSP over Yale, no one cares about undergrad after you’re in medical school
@texaspg Almost all combined programs have students who have also received acceptance into HYPS each year.
@lz48880 My vote is for PPSP, I know many students from Harvard/Brown/JHU/UChicago/Cornell ended up at mid-tier, low-tier or Caribbean medical schools. If one turns down PPSP, he/she must accept this fact. Most students make mistake in assumption that he/she will end up in top/mid-tier med school if one strives hard. But most pre-meds in each college goes in with that mind set. Case med is an excellent school, near world-renowned Cleveland Clinic.
I don’t believe that since I know some instate programs won’t have any students who get into HYPS. The yield for HYPS does reflect that.
It would be an interesting exercise to see if students who join the different programs come back and post the schools others in their class have given up to go the joint programs.
@texaspg Let me start:
In 2013 a student gave up Stanford/Penn/Dartmouth/Brown to attend RPI/AMC.
In 2014 a student gave up Harvard for RPI/AMC.
In 2012 a student gave up RPI/AMC to transfer to Yale.
Hello all! Congratulations on everyone’s acceptances. I have been following this thread since August and am very happy to announce that I was accepted into the Rice/Baylor 8 year BS/MD program. I was also selected for the Stamps Leadership Scholarship at Georgia Tech (completely full ride with $15k stipend). I am torn between these two schools and would like some insight as to which program to choose. I have posted a much more detailed description of my situation on the “Multiple Degree Programs” forum, if you guys would like to check it out. I would like to express my gratitude to all those members on this thread for the help thus far and wish everyone the best of luck in the future!
Help please. A few more days to decide: Tcnj/njms or Rpi/albany or VCU/MCV. Decided not to go to Stony Brook- as not in a urban area. Would prefer 7 years but VCU medical school is really nice with good facilities and happy Gmeds. How would you guys rate albany or njms in terms of reputation, match list and overall happiness of students. Thanks.
@Laidback For match lists Stony Brook > NJMS > Albany ~ VCU. Can’t comment too much on happiness but students from RPI and TCNJ I talked to seemed satisfied with their choices - neither undergrad is ‘easy’ but certainly manageable. If rep is the main criteria, NJMS (if not stony brook) is the best option.
i think Stonybrook is a good option. If not stonybrook then maybe NJMS if the MCAT req is low or unnecessary, then VCU (since the MCAT req is easy). Albany is super expensive and if you got into other med schools idk if albany is worth the cost so I’d put it last.
Congrats to everyone who has been accepted to their goal programs! I’m going to be applying next year, and I was wondering if anyone would be willing to message me with some pointers on their application experience.
Just curious, but would anyone turn down Brown PLME/ NU HPME / Pitt GAP / top BSMD program for Harvard or Stanford? My friend was accepted into PLME and HPME and declined both to attend Harvard.
@burningred - I don’t know about turning down PLME/HPME/Pitt GAP for “HYPS”, but I have seen quite a few cases who turned down the top schools for the BS/MD programs. The best case that comes to mind is someone turning down Princeton to go to NW HPME.
I know you weren’t asking about this, but wanted to throw it out there.
@burningred Last year my friend’s daughter turned down Harvard, UPenn, and Stanford to attend NW HPME. Another friend’s son turned down MIT and Rice undergrad admission to attend Brown PLME.
Would that be important to patients? What do you think?