Princeton vs. UPenn - Premed

[aaj117]

You would also have to weigh whether you like living in philadelphia vs Princeton - a small New jersey town about two hours and a half from a major city (NY) for your social life..

Two and a half hours? ummmm definitely not. The train that goes right into campus is an hour fifteen minutes to penn station. On a rare occassion, an hour if you get an express. And it's a 40 minute drive to philly, an easy train ride there also. But your social life doesn't have to be in a major city, there's plenty of social there. I'm from ny so i went home fairly often, and spent a lot of weekends in manhattan with my best friends, and it never took more than an hour twenty to get there.

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[BrainBuff]

Thanks for clarifying that about the distance aaj117. When I visited last year, it took us forever. You can probably imagine how my family drives...

 

[IHeartNerds]

I know this may be hard to comprehend, but what you do in undergrad is way, way, way more important than WHICH ivy school you choose to go to.

There are no guarantees, wherever you go.

I'd choose Penn because orange is just a terrible school color.

 

[scarletgirl777]

Please do not make the mistake (as I did) of assuming that having a top medical school correlates with a top premed undergraduate program. The r value is most definitely somewhere near zero. Talk to real premeds at the school to find out what the score is.

However, the idea that there is neither a major hospital nor city near Princeton is I think a point worth considering, especially if you come from a place that also doesn't have major hospitals. You may find yourself applying to summer programs far away from any kind of social network you may have in order to get that kind of experience. Or you may simply never get the experience, which isn't necessarily the end of the world. I personally didn't apply to either school (being isolated from a city does not appeal to me and when I visited and saw all that forest and all the deer I freaked out, and in the case of Penn the application was too damn long), but I'm gonna have to agree with drogba and say that I couldn't see myself turning down Princeton for almost any school (which is exactly why I refused to apply).

As far as which is the least reputable Ivy...hard to say. Obviously Cornell is literally half a state school. I know people like to mock Brown and Dartmouth, but for that reason alone I'm gonna say Cornell wins. Cuz when you meet a member of the Big Red, for all you know they could be studying fabric or hotel administration.

 

[BrainBuff]

I'd choose Penn because orange is just a terrible school color.

Loved it..

 

[BrainBuff]

Please do not make the mistake (as I did) of assuming that having a top medical school correlates with a top premed undergraduate program. The r value is most definitely somewhere near zero. Talk to real premeds at the school to find out what the score is.

I do not believe that the quality of your premed or undergrad education is "most definitely near zero" . The advantage of attending one of the top insittutions (and the fact that they are so competitive) is precisely the access to resources, networking, faculty, internships , extracurriculars, etc. A student could only grow and reach his highest potential in such an environment.

Just like applying from a top national high school gets you noticed in your college application, coming from a top undergrad program does the same for med school.

 

[aaj117]

I know this may be hard to comprehend, but what you do in undergrad is way, way, way more important than WHICH ivy school you choose to go to.

There are no guarantees, wherever you go.

I'd choose Penn because orange is just a terrible school color.

110% agree with the what you do statement-- it's really true that school, like any opportunity, is what you make of it. I hated princeton my first two years because i didn't throw myself into it and i think part of me wanted to hate it. Once i decided to get involved and really experience princeton...well, from all of my posts, you can see how much i loved it. Both of these schools clearly have great reputations and opportunities. You just have to go in knowing that you will love it either way, and choose activities/research/a major that will help you rock it.

Oh, and I used to agree wtih the orange thing. I thought it was ridiculous to have orange and black as school colors. I was fairly goth when i started, and couldn't imagine being happy wiht such a bright in-your-face color that really couldn't translate outside of princeton life. Now, i LOVE it. I love that orange and black. My class ring has an orange stone and people comment on it alllllll the time. I look forward to opportunties to wear orange. the sea of orange at graduation made me happy. and you can spot other princetonians quite easily when they're wearing school colors. not so easy when your colors are blue and white, or crimson. And our colors correlate to our mascot without BEING our mascot. I mean.... the harvard crimson? seriously, your mascot is the crimson? its a COLOR. and brown bears? it just seems...obvious.

 

[Drogba]

Oh, and I used to agree wtih the orange thing. I thought it was ridiculous to have orange and black as school colors. I was fairly goth when i started, and couldn't imagine being happy wiht such a bright in-your-face color that really couldn't translate outside of princeton life. Now, i LOVE it. I love that orange and black. My class ring has an orange stone and people comment on it alllllll the time. I look forward to opportunties to wear orange. the sea of orange at graduation made me happy. and you can spot other princetonians quite easily when they're wearing school colors. not so easy when your colors are blue and white, or crimson. And our colors correlate to our mascot without BEING our mascot. I mean.... the harvard crimson? seriously, your mascot is the crimson? its a COLOR. and brown bears? it just seems...obvious.

 

[scarletgirl777]

I do not believe that the quality of your premed or undergrad education is "most definitely near zero" . The advantage of attending one of the top insittutions (and the fact that they are so competitive) is precisely the access to resources, networking, faculty, internships , extracurriculars, etc. A student could only grow and reach his highest potential in such an environment.

Just like applying from a top national high school gets you noticed in your college application, coming from a top undergrad program does the same for med school.

Uh, that's DEFINITELY not what I was trying to say, I think you skimmed over what I was saying a bit too quickly--obviously ADCOMS care about where you went to school, and I've posted on this forum about how that can matter a lot (in my school's case, we've shown that ADCOMS consciously or unconsciously add another .2 or .3 to the GPA), and rich universities can afford to have good resources. I was really thinking more about the support system--quality of advising. And I think people overinflate the chances of getting to a med school based on going to the corresponding undergrad. Med school classes are looking for school diversity too--the entire Penn class can't be Penn premeds.

What I was trying to say is that the top notch researchers at the top notch med schools are not going to be teaching your premed classes...try not to overestimate the connection between the the undergrad and the med school. I do maintain, though that the quality of a MED SCHOOL does not have a CAUSATIVE relationship with the PREMED PROGRAM. Again, schools with great med schools can also afford to have great premed programs, but the resources of the med school are often not being used directly to improve the premed program.

 

[surfstarj]

As far as which is the least reputable Ivy...hard to say. Obviously Cornell is literally half a state school. I know people like to mock Brown and Dartmouth, but for that reason alone I'm gonna say Cornell wins. Cuz when you meet a member of the Big Red, for all you know they could be studying fabric or hotel administration.

I went to another ivy and i have to say that there are idiots and *****s at every single ivy. They were prepared well and are riding inertia through college...being 100% private has nothing to do with it. My fiance went to Cornell and it's definitely not a picnic there. Those guys earn every grade they get (except maybe the fashion majors or whatever they call it...lol). He's always saying that he SHOULD have been a hotelie since they make the most dough after graduation...so anyway...Brown is the lowest ranked. let's just leave it to that. Brown is icky, right? And they don't even HAVE majors there.

 

[ORTHO4ME]

ummmm.....why is columbia getting no mention on this thread???it does have the coolest school color, coolest mascot and....it is in the best city of the world......... annnnnd...the commencement ceremonies are the coolest.

 

[surfstarj]

ummmm.....why is columbia getting no mention on this thread???it does have the coolest school color, coolest mascot and....it is in the best city of the world......... annnnnd...the commencement ceremonies are the coolest.

Good point. Props to Columbia because it's almost Carolina blue.

 

[smq123]

This is kind of a stupid thread.

* No, your undergrad school doesn't make a big difference. We have people from Harvard, and we have people from No-Name Univ., located in Nowhere, USA.

No matter where you are, if you work hard, do well on the MCAT, and develop yourself as a person, you will be noticed in the application process. Your undergrad school may or may not add something - but in any case, the reputation of your undergrad school is easily overshadowed by YOUR personal achievements.

* OP - the probability that you will STAY a pre-med is fairly low. You may hate o. chem and fail the course. You may realize that, actually, you dislike sick people. (It happens.) After three years of undergrad, the idea of an additional 4 years of school, and 3-7 years of training may make you want to puke. Banking on the fact that you'll want to be a doctor 4 years from now isn't such a wise choice.

Go to the school that you think will help you thrive as a PERSON, and not just as a "pre-med." Both Penn and Princeton have excellent reputations, and I have met med students/residents/attendings from both.

Neither one will "hold you back" when it comes to med school apps.

To a med school admissions committee, Penn basically = Princeton (the difference in "reputation" is pretty tiny - after all, we're not arguing about Princeton vs. your local community college here! For all you people arguing about the "reputation" of Penn vs the "reputation" of Princeton - you need to get a little perspective here.)

So, figure out which one appeals to you more as a student. Then go there. It's a fairly simple answer.

 

[Ella Shepherd]

Tuition, room and board runs about $45,000 a year...Free tuition is only for students from families that make less than $60k, and this is only for Harvard and Yale.

That's good news. lol Sorry...just had to say it.

 

[taponthecloud]

That's good news. lol Sorry...just had to say it.

i'm sure once i've decoded your puzzling remark, i'll be thoroughly offended.

 

[shindotp]

Thank you all for being so incredibly helpful, especially you aaaj.