Darmouth vs. Brown

[Premed Mom]

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I am in the extremely fortunate position to be deciding between Dartmouth and Brown. My baby will be 14 months old when I start in the fall. I'm looking for insight and advice from Dartmouth or Brown students or grads on any of the following issues:

- Day-to-day schedule in preclinical years: how much time is there for fun/family/life outside of school? What are the hours you are in lecture? How much is "required" attendance and how much can I stream from home?

- Problem-based learning: how is this integrated into the cirriculum? Are the PBL sessions effective? Is there enough PBL?

- Time off: how accomodating is the administration to taking time off or "decelerating" for study/work abroad, family emergencies or pregnancy/birth/postpartum?

- $ for international study/rotations: do most students get funded? Do you know anyone who has been turned down for funding?

- Clinical teaching: how much pimping have you seen/expericed? how would you rate your instructors on the nice guy-******* continuim? how much opportunity do you have to actually learn-by-doing/seeing vs. doing scut?

- Location: how do you like living there?

- Dartmouth clinical years: if you've done all or most of your rotations at DHMC, how do you feel about your training? did you see and do enough to be prepared for residency? was the lack of diversity a hinderance?

Any and all comments are appreciated.
THANK YOU!

 

[CincyMed]

Having spent time in Hanover and Providence, I can say they are both very nice but Providence will probably be an easier place to raise a young child. There are more things to do for kids and parents and more babysitting/child care possibilities. Hanover can also be a bit lonely.

From my research I would also say that Brown Med does an especially good job of bringing in older medical students (including parents) to balance out their young PLME students. It also puts all its lectures online and encourages independent projects and rotations elsewhere and travel abroad. Don't know where Dartmouth stands on those matters. Brown is on a strong upward trajectory in terms of fundraising, recruiting, and popularity. Thanks in part to the PLME program --but also just to interest from regular applicants-- it has become one of the hardest, if not THE hardest, school to get into. So big congrats if you did!

Good luck with the decision. Not a bad one to have to make!

 

[flip26]

For quality of life for someone (parent of a small child, say) who doesn't care about bars and nightlife, Hanover>>>>Providence.

What you really need to find out is about 3rd and 4th year rotation locations. For lots of schools, rotations are done "around the state" or region and I recall reading that is very common for DMS, not so sure about Brown.

 

[Retsage]

Brown seems like it would have far, far more options for parents when it comes to daycare, support systems, et al. I mean, it's a city. Not a huge city, mind you (population of what, 200,000), but compared to Hanover, it's gigantic. Hanover is in the middle of nowhere and built, primarily, for 18-22 year-old students. I doubt you would find a lot of help for raising kids when most of the people there aren't going to be in your situation, as opposed to a minor city.

The other thing about DMS is that they seem to put you in far away locations for your clinical years (my host was telling me that some people get stuck having to drive 40 minutes each way to their hospital). Lots of people end up in the affiliated hospitals all over the country as well (there were a few in California, I can't remember the other location). I'm not sure if Brown does the same. Probably not though, again, based on the population (they'll have more hospitals and doctors nearby).

 

[CincyMed]

Re: "For quality of life for someone (parent of a small child, say) who doesn't care about bars and nightlife, Hanover>>>>Providence."

Couldn't disagree more. Unless you're all about skiing, in which case you probably want to be out west anyway.

Hanover is a beautiful, quiet town with a nice 4000' hikes within a half-hour's drive. But it's very limited in other categories. Providence has great outdoor stuff nearby, too --some surprisingly pristine and beautiful. And it's got infinitely more culture, museums, stores, schools, food, and things to do. Also right on NY Boston train/car line.

As the parent of 2 kids, I can say with authority you'll have a generally easier time in Rhody.

 

[Calistoga]

Congrats to you, Premed Mom!!!!!!!!!!👍

Brown and Dartmouth are probably similar in terms of time off, $ for travel (thought I'd guess Brown has edge). Brown rotations will expose you to much more variety (not just ailments but cultures, languages, socio groups). Brown has better rep but Dartmouth good too. If you are gung-ho outdoors or ski family you might go Dartmouth but the thing is Brown has kayaking, biking, hiking nearby and salt water and waves. If you like to surf, Newport is as good as the northeast gets. If $ issues are same and you are not a huge skier Brown will probably be better fit.

 

[pietachok]

I did my undergrad at Brown, and I have always told people that I think Providence is one of the ideal places to raise a family. I had a car while I lived there and was dating someone from Providence, so I got to know the area really well.

One of the great aspects of Providence is that on any given day, you can wake up and (seasonally): go to the beach, go apple/pumpkin/strawberry picking, take a day trip to go skiing, drive to Boston for the day, go to NYC for the weekend, eat at some incredible restaurants including diverse ethnic foods (Federal Hill pizza, old fashioned donuts, Quahog Stuffies, Niem Chow, Pho, fresh portuguese bread...), go to the zoo, cliff "jumping" in an old quarry, appreciate public arts and go to the RISD museum...

I don't think many small cities have such a diverse array of activities within such reach. And there are areas that are still safe and walkable (not all of them...but they do exist). In contrast, my close friend went to Dartmouth, and Hanover is comparatively dead after like 7pm. You have to go to White River Junction. I realize you have a kid, and so you imagine you'll be busy...but I also imagine that when you do have free time, you will want to use it when you have it--if it happens at 8pm, and you happen to feel awake, you'll feel bummed if there's nothing to do.

My whole current enclave of friends in Manhattan went to Dartmouth--many for Grad school, too...there's just not much of an older, grad school aged population. I am not sure how old you are, but it's something to consider. I'll be 28 when I enter med school, and this is the reason I didn't apply there. Although I'm sure there'd be camraderie within your program, if you're a single mother, or the only couple with a child, Dartmouth doesn't have a huge grad school, and then Hanover itself is pretty small. I might feel more confident at Brown--but then again, be aware that their class has a disparity--half of the class is younger PLME's, a chunk is "non-traditional" post-bacc's who are a little older, and the rest are regular applicants. So long as you felt ok with the med school population at Brown, I can honestly say I have heard pretty "lonely" things about being in grad school at Dartmouth/Hanover and expect Brown would be a much more supportive & positive place for a mom/med student. It's definitely not as stereotypically immature in regards to its undergraduate behavior b/c of the lack of Greek life.

Additionally--Brown will offer far more diversity in your patient exposures from the very beginning b/c of Providence's diversity. If you like kids, you've got Hasbro children's hospital which is a top children's hospital, right there. Also good Psychiatry and orthopedics if those interest you. Lots of people with quirky public health interests/research.

Feel free to ask me any questions you have about the areas (more so than about the med schools) since I know them both quite intimately!

 

[M. furfur]

as others have pointed out, there are three main advantages of brown

1. brown does not require you to travel

unlike dartmouth, you will not be required to do any of your third year rotations at a far off location (though you have the option to if you want it)

2. brown offers much more flexibility in your clinical schedule

the hospitals at brown are much larger than those at dartmouth, and therefore there are thousands of faculty members and only a few hundred medical students. because of this excess capacity, you usually have a lot of latitude in arranging your clinical rotations compared to most other schools.

3.the brown administration is very accomodating

culturally, brown is known for letting people chart their own path, including people that need to make special arrangements for personal reasons