<p>I would like some input on Cornell v. WashU for premed. I desperately need advice as I need to make my decision within a week. I visited both, enjoyed them and I can picture myself at either school. I value the idea of an ivy league education but I know WashU is right up there. Grade deflation/bell curve grading is a turn off for me (at Cornell). I don't know how they grade premed courses at WashU so input on that would be appreciated as well. Thanks!</p>
<p>I was between Cornell, Wash U, and Northwestern, and it was the visits that really sold Wash U for me. For me it came down to the size. Cornell is absolutely massive compared to Wash U, so the feel is different between the two. I would comment on cold Ithaca winters, but the weather in St. Louis has been a little crazy. For grading, most of my classes have been set percentages with tests being curved, but certain classes, i.e. bio and bme have grades set by curves. Its certainly possible to do well at either school, but you’ll have to work hard no matter what. Finally, in terms of pre-med prestige, you’ll be perfectly fine no matter what.</p>
<p>Thanks, I think I’ve decided that I’ll be attending Cornell during the fall. Both schools are pretty much equal in all aspects that a pre-med student has to consider (shadowing, interning, research etc.) so it basically comes down to the “extras” for me. Size wasn’t a major factor for me, but being closer to home was. I live in NY so that’s a plus. Cornell has solid acceptance rates into med school, and I kind of want the satisfaction of attending an ivy league school. Although WashU is definitely a fantastic college though. Thanks again for your help!</p>
<p>DocHopeful - congrats on both acceptances! I’m from the east coast and leaving the east coast for 4 years was the best decision I’ve ever made. I think there is tremendous value in leaving your immediate home region for a couple years. </p>
<p>I’m not sure where you live in NY, but a the trip to St Louis (just over 2 hours, add in maybe 2 more hours for driving and waiting at the airport) takes about the same amount of time as it takes driving from the NYC area to Cornell. I’m not sure how NY factors into it for you? Staying in-state is important for a lot of people, but again it likely won’t take you any longer to get to St Louis and you aren’t going to a school that gives you an in-state tuition discount. </p>
<p>I have friends at Cornell, most of whom generally like it (with a couple absolutely loving it), but the general consensus seems to be that if Ivy prestige is one of the reasons you are choosing Cornell, you are probably not going to like it in the end. You need to go in with a level head, realizing that you are going to be spending 4 years in the middle of nowhere at a fairly large school that isn’t really known for individualized attention. My friends there who are enjoying their experience are doing so because they found other factors that make up those factors that they consider to be negatives about the school; the Ivy name isn’t making those negatives better or go away. No amount of prestige will make up for factors that you are just shrugging off now- factors which many people, including many cornell students, find to be negative. I’m not saying that you will have a bad time there and you might end up loving it – it’s just that based on the limited information you’ve conveyed in your posts, you haven’t really said any real advantages that Cornell has over Wash U beside an Ivy status, and the impression is being conveyed that you’re not really considering how various opportunities manifest on a day-to-day basis at both schools, and are having the Ivy status somewhat interfering with an informed decision. </p>
<p>Also, you mentioned interning, researching, etc. That is going to be more limited at cornell for a couple of related reasons:
- Cornell’s med school isn’t in Ithaca
- So, your research will be conducted pretty much in on-campus departments, like the Bio department
- Bio department is probably the same size as Wash U in terms of amount of research scientists and professors (maybe slightly larger at Cornell because they have a veterinary school that is probably somehow intertwined with the Bio sciences)
- You’ll have 3x as many students competing for those research positions, as Cornell has more than 3x as many undergrads</p>
<p>Congrats on choosing Cornell, but flashmountain does make some good points. I was absolutely enamored with the school, but as I looked into it, things weren’t quite as good as they seemed, from how big the school was, to the lack of wifi and data limits in the dorms. It’s still a great school, but I feel you have to make a lot of sacrifices to experience that.</p>