Cornell Engineering Premed? Bad Idea?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cornell University
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<p>I was accepted into Cornell Engineering, but now im not too sure that I want to go there. My plan was to go to medical school after engineering but I'm hearing that Cornell engineering is ridiculously tough. With like the average GPA in the engineering school around 3.0 which is not good for med school. I am probably an average Cornell applicant and I wonder if i will be ruining my future by going to Cornell engineering. </p>

<p>[size=+2]I was wondering whether I could transfer into Cornell college of arts and science before attending the school as a freshmen is that possible does anyone know? How would I go about doing this?<a href="My%20most%20important%20question">/size</a> I don't want to do engineering anymore not because im scared of the curves but because i realized i don't have a passion in engineering id rather do something in cas like psychology, biology, or bio chem. </p>

<p>Or do I need to transfer into CAS after I stay in the college of engineering for one semester. Is it a good idea to go to COE with the plan to switch into CAS A semester later? </p>

<p>I understand that COE can be handled if you study a lot and very very hard and you can get about a 3.5 GPA but I don't know If I will be able to work that hard while trying to get good grades in premed courses and studying for my mcat and doing research and ecs..</p>

<p>What disadvantages would there be by transferring into CAS after my first semester? Would I be losing a lot of time on my new major? Will the engineering courses i took first semester be useless once transferred into CAS? </p>

<p>*What is the actual process of transferring (their website is pretty vague)
What courses are required by the engineering school your first semester? Like are there specific engineering courses that I need to take (I really don't want to because I plan on transferring to CAS) *</p>

<p>What can I do to smooth my transition into CAS? (What courses should I take my first semester in COE IF I plan to go to a bio or psych major in the CAS?)</p>

<p>How good are the medical schools that Cornell engineers get into? </p>

<p>What are the stats for medical acceptances by school? (I presume COE is lower since its harder to maintain a higher GPA)</p>

<p>So a summary of my options are:
1.Go to Cornell Engineering and stick it out- This could lead to a poor GPA and thus putting my medical future in peril.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>GO to Cornell Engineering and intend on transferring to CAS (Or transfer before going into COE IF THATS POSSIBLE (PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!!!) </p></li>
<li><p>Go to a different school that isnt as tough to maintain a good GPA in order to secure a possible medical future and a good graduate school.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Please help me out as much as you can! I greatly appreciate it!</p>

<p>-Red question very important
-Bold question -important after red question
-Normal Question- get to this if you have time</p>

<p>(Also I'd love to talk to a Cornell Engineer or a cornell premed (from any of the schools) through like instant messaging or something) Please PM me your info if your willing to help!</p>

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<p>So I found out that you cannot transfer schools before enrolling to Cornell, you do need to stay in the school you were accepted to for 1 semester.</p>

<p>I also found that Engineers need to take specific engineering courses like Chemistry for Engineers, Physics for Engineers, and Calculus for Engineers their first year. </p>

<p>And for premed students engineering science courses like the ones listed above help to fufill premed requirements.</p>

<p>Now the problem becomes, If I take take Chemistry 2090 For the required sequence: Chem 2090 (209) + Chem 2080(80) and then I switch into CAS. The required sequence changes for CAS you no longer need to take engineered based chemistry. So then what do I do then to fulfill premed requirements?? Do the credits i obtained in 2090 while i was in coe become useless? </p>

<p>Another question is… can I take CAS classes while in engineering and disregard engineering requirements for the first semester since I’ll be transferring the second semester? </p>

<p>Also how difficult is COE in comparison to CAS? I looked up median grade averages and it looks like COE is much more difficult. </p>

<p>Can anyone comment on the medical acceptance rates of CAS vs COE?</p>

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<p>in COE you can do an independent major. You may find that you can do this to meet your pre-med requirements and take the courses that also interest you. There is some overlap of the course work for pre-med and 1st year engineers at Cornell. </p>

<p>COE is very difficult so can be hard on your GPA but I doubt being a bio major in CALS is any different as there are lots of pre-meds there too.</p>

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<p>Did you even read what I posted?</p>

<p>Not be a jerk but your response was not helpful at all. I do appreciate you trying to help.</p>

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<p>Sorry, meant to say CAS in that last post. So basically you have to decide if you want to start in engineering and take the engineering classes that will meet your pre-med course work, then keep your GPA high enough so that you can transfer.</p>

<p>If you really want pre-med and not engineering and you cannot transfer before you get there, you may be better off somewhere else. I thought the independent major option within COE might serve you well until you transfer if you really want Cornell.</p>

<p>I’d call the engineering advising office and discuss this with them further before you make your decision.</p>

<p>and, your post had a ton of questions in it so forgive me for not remembering every single one of them. I am just a parent trying to help. I did make a typo when I said CALS and meant CAS. </p>

<p>I was just trying to help and answer your very long post with lots of questions. sheesh! cut me some slack!</p>

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<p>^ I appreciate your help. I dont expect anyone to answer all my questions. Do you happen to have a son or daughter that goes to cornell that i may be able to talk to?</p>

<p>Does anyone have any info on how I should handle this transferring process? Or even if I should do it at all? any cornell premed outs there? Thanks!!</p>

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<p>I know plenty of engineering pre-med kids that I wouldn’t exactly qualify as geniuses that are on their way to med school. I also think CAS is easier, but not by that much. That said, I know kids in CALS and such that don’t study that often, but are still on track to go to Med school. Also, I’m pretty sure your engineering equivalents will work for pre-med at any college, like your engineering chem would be equivalent to a normal chem.</p>

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<p>I think your “red question” was answered. </p>

<p>What is the actual process of transferring (their website is pretty vague)</p>

<p>------> You do an application at the end of your first semester. You’ll also have to attend an info session I believe. The key to successfully transferring is a good recommendation from a professor or advisor / good grades. </p>

<p>What courses are required by the engineering school your first semester? Like are there specific engineering courses that I need to take (I really don’t want to because I plan on transferring to CAS)</p>

<p>-----Are you <em>really</em> sure (i.e. 90+%) you want to leave engineering? If you enjoy math / science, you’ll do fine! If you do premed, You’ll probably take a math class (1920 if you did Calc BC or 1910 if you don’t have BC credit), definitely gen chem (2090), and probably some writing seminar, and a general bio class (1350 or 1440 or 1610). </p>

<p>What can I do to smooth my transition into CAS? (What courses should I take my first semester in COE IF I plan to go to a bio or psych major in the CAS?)</p>

<p>----The schedule I mentioned earlier. You do not have to follow engineering requirements strictly first semester, although it’ll probably tick off some of your engineering professors. </p>

<p>So a summary of my options are:
1.Go to Cornell Engineering and stick it out- This could lead to a poor GPA and thus putting my medical future in peril.</p>

<p>—If you’re good at math / science and study hard, it shouldn’t be too problematic. Most people who do bad in engineering are either lazy / are not passionate about math / science. </p>

<ol>
<li>GO to Cornell Engineering and intend on transferring to CAS (Or transfer before going into COE IF THATS POSSIBLE (PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!!)</li>
</ol>

<p>-----Yes, that’s completely possible. However, you will need good grades first semester to do so. You’d also need some credit relevant to arts / sciences (i.e. don’t take all engineering classes)</p>

<ol>
<li>Go to a different school that isnt as tough to maintain a good GPA in order to secure a possible medical future and a good graduate school.</li>
</ol>

<p>------ The hassle in doing this probably isn’t worth it. Many premeds here at Cornell end up being successful. The primary reason premeds fail here are because they realize they don’t like chem / bio / premed classes as much as they’d thought.</p>

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<p>Now the problem becomes, If I take take Chemistry 2090 For the required sequence: Chem 2090 (209) + Chem 2080(80) and then I switch into CAS. The required sequence changes for CAS you no longer need to take engineered based chemistry. So then what do I do then to fulfill premed requirements?? Do the credits i obtained in 2090 while i was in coe become useless?</p>

<p>------> Email this question to the CAS registrar. Chem 2090 is practically the same as “premed chemistry” i.e. Chem 2070, however. You should be fine most likely, however. </p>

<p>Another question is… can I take CAS classes while in engineering and disregard engineering requirements for the first semester since I’ll be transferring the second semester?</p>

<p>--------> Most likely. Classes like Chem 2090, Math 1910/1920/ your writing seminar are good for engineering and premeds. You’d just take a bio class instead of another engineering class. </p>

<p>Also how difficult is COE in comparison to CAS? I looked up median grade averages and it looks like COE is much more difficult.</p>

<p>It depends on your strengths - if you enjoy history / writing (CAS has a lot of liberal studies / misc. reqs) and want a liberal education, you’ll do fine in CAS. If you enjoy math / science / engineering, you’ll do fine in COE - there isn’t like some crazy curve system that’s out there to get you in COE</p>

<p>Can anyone comment on the medical acceptance rates of CAS vs COE? - There are not many engineering premeds, so I really can’t.</p>

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<p>I know a freshman pre-med that’s are transferring out of Engineering this year because of that very reason.</p>

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<p>My opinion:</p>

<p>If you have already decided for sure that you have no intention whatsoever of being an engineer, and virtually nothing is likely to change this view, then I would do #3, go to a different school. </p>

<p>If you do show up at Cornell engineering college anyway, you are just occupying space from someone who actually wants to be there, which is a shame for them, and taking several hard courses you wouldn’t otherwise take, which is a shame for you. But if that’s what you want to do, then I would just take the prescribed courses and try to do as well in them as I can, what other choice is there? Who knows you may find you like them. Then I would apply for intercollege transfer after whatever the minimum period is. And also apply for external transfer, since intercollege transfer is not guaranteed.</p>

<p>You can search for internal transfer procedures, maybe someplace here:
[Office</a> of Internal Transfer](<a href=“http://internaltransfer.cornell.edu/]Office”>http://internaltransfer.cornell.edu/)</p>

<p>A friend of mine attended medical school following Cornell EE, so this can be done. It is a tough road. But what you will do better in depends in part on what you personally are good at, and have the most interest in. Bio, and other science majors in CAS, are not particularly easy either. And great grades in humanities depends in part on if you are good at humanities. Lot of engineers would not do particularly great as humanities majors.</p>

<p>One suggestion, if you wind up going to the engineering college, you might not want to take Bio 101-102, or whatever they’ve numbered it now, from the outset along with the hard physics courses, etc they will mandate that you to take. Because it will be that much harder to do well in those important and difficult courses if you are taking every hard course in the university all at the same time.</p>

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<p>Also keep in mind that so many kids go into Cornell sure of wanting to be a doctor and change their mind…</p>

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<p>First off I’d like to thank all of you for your detailed responses (especially Equilibrium) I really appreciate it. </p>

<p>So what I’m understanding now is that it is possible to succeed in the college of engineering and the reason why a lot of premeds fail there is because they realize they don’t enjoy premed and science or that they are lazy. I had thought about this but, Cornell only accepts high caliber students and those students are usually students who aren’t lazy and who are very bright and motivated. </p>

<p>What troubles me more is that Cornell’s premed acceptance rate into medical schools is 67%. So 67% of premed applicants from Cornell (all of Cornell’s colleges) get accepted into a medical school. Now those students who were lazy and didn’t enjoy premed/science probably didn’t even end up applying and those students who did must have tried very hard and had a passion for science. Also on the table that provides this percentage, is a list of acceptances by GPA and MCAT scores. A lot of students with 30-35 mcat scores did not get into medical schools because they had low GPAS. The fact that they had mcats of 30-35 clearly shows that they are smart! But they were unfortunate enough to have gone through the Cornell’s rigorous curriculum.</p>

<p>The other schools that I have in mind to enroll in are Tufts and Carnegie Mellon (Mellon college of science). Tufts has a premed acceptance rate into medical school of 75% increasing to a 90% with gpas over 3.5 </p>

<p>Carnegie Mellon has a premed acceptance rate of 85%.</p>

<p>Now here is what doesn’t make any sense. Cornell students are at a higher caliber than Tufts and Carnegie Mellon. They have better SATs, better GPAs, and more motivation (they have better Ec’s and are more well rounded) Of course this doesn’t apply to every individual but I am talking about the entire school in general. Cornell is probably the most selective among the three so I guess that it has the best students, but yet it sends the least percentage of students into medical school! </p>

<p>Is my data for tufts and CMU incorrect? I pulled it off their websites. </p>

<p>From looking at these three schools it looks like CMU would be the obvious choice since its percentage is so high, but yet I still have a hard time giving up Cornell because of its prestige, quality of its academics, resources, and its people.</p>

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<p>First of all, from what I’ve gleaned on CC, getting into med school is really hard, and isn’t based solely on stats alone. There are large numbers of qualified students who have sufficient stats, then the schools interview them, review their applications and recommendations in detail, and make semi- arbitrary distinctions among them just like with selective college admissions. Not all the qualified applcants get in because there simply arent enough places for them.</p>

<p>Secondly, as I understand the situation, it is essentially impossible to compare med school success rates between universities because there are different standards at play that effect what proportion of applicants are effectively weeded out prior to even applying to med school. At some universities the pre-med committee will not give enthusiastic recommendation letters to marginal or lower candidates, so those people do not even apply to later get rejected. </p>

<p>Finally, not all applicants from the same university are the same. The more diverse the university, the more “not the same” they are likely to be. Cornell is a highly diverse university. Within this diverse university there are people who have studied various subjects, in various majors, at various colleges. Some of them are smarter than others. Some got better grades than others. They have had varied personal and extracurricular life experiences.</p>

<p>Why should they all have the same result applying to a particular incredibly selective graduate program, when these people are all not the same, with equal qualifications at entry, from the time they even matriculate to college in the first place?</p>

<p>Cornell pre-med succes rate statistics are posted here:
[Accepted/Applied</a> Charts for Health Careers](<a href=“Career Services | Student & Campus Life | Cornell University”>Career Services | Student & Campus Life | Cornell University)</p>

<p>Note that these are segmented by GPA and MCAT scores. As I said previously those are not the only factors considered by med schools. But if you do not have even this same level of detail from other universities there is simply no way to compare at all. </p>

<p>Cornell is not some “magic school” where you can get into med school even if you are unqualified. Neither are these others, I’m guessing.</p>

<p>But all in all I think you should go to Tufts. Or Carnegie Mellon. Since you believe that attending those schools will help you with your future goals more, who can say that you are wrong. You are not matriculated to the right college at Cornell. There are people on Cornell COE waiting list that are eagerly yearning for a spot, and actually want to attend there. IMO you do not belong at Cornell’s engineering college, it is not a good match, and I sincerely hope you recognize this and act accordingly.</p>

<p>Cornell offers a wealth of diversity of learning, extracurricular and other opportunities, it is best appreciated by people looking for what it uniquely offers. And the unversity is most benefited by those who will contribute to that environment.</p>

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<p>It isn’t impossible, if anything I should think that Cornell is better at weeding out premeds than the other two with its rigorous curriculum. And while I agree that these statistics are somewhat skewed I don’t consider them unusable when comparing. </p>

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<p>Ok so what you are saying is true. But those students while diverse in their studies still are exceptionally smart and the majority of the premeds applying to med school are biology majors and so I’m not sure I believe that diversity has more to do with a lower percentage of premed getting accepted into medical school by Cornell. I think it is more of the fact that Cornell is more difficult and thus results in students getting a lower GPA and in turn being less competitive for med school. Also those other schools are fairly diverse in studies and ecs as well (tufts). </p>

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<p>So this is the conclusion? I was hoping that someone would make a better case for Cornell since I see a lot of CCers saying that Cornell is a good premed school (I still don’t get why and I’m still open to people proving that Cornell is a better premed school so I dont infact 100% believe that tufts and cmu is a better choice, it just seems so far that it is)</p>

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<p>Ok my choice in going to cornell has nothing to do with other people wanting a spot at Cornell. I still have a chance at doing engineering (although It does seem low given my current mindset) and I still have an option to transfer into CAS and pursue a major that I really enjoy there. The fact of the matter is that I was accepted by Cornell and my decision to go or not go there has nothing to do with other people wanting a spot or other people deserving it. Quite frankly that is the world of college acceptances.</p>

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<p>@Johny1.
Based on your own numbers, why on earth would you not pick CMU or Tufts?
My opinion, do what you think is best. However, your own numbers, as you indicate are not “unusable” and provide a measure. Cornell is a very good school. So is CMU and Tufts. Yeah, they all skew numbers one way or another. However, your own research indicates that for you it is an easy decision - you should pick CMU or Tufts.<br>
You are getting the real numbers - not from cc - which is a good start.
Relying on cc to convince you - as you say “make a better case for cornell” is unnecessary and again, relying on cc is not the best thing to do. Your own research, using the numbers from the schools, not cc, indicate that for you there would be no reason for you to pick cornell, not even a hard decision based upon the data you provide.
Just do what you think is best. If you want med school and you have been accepted at CMU or Tufts - you are very lucky to have the ability to pick between those 2 schools.
P.S. I think you said that CMU is around 85%. I believe someone who took a tour of the school was told that it is closer to 90% - with no screening. CMU could be a better pick for you over Tufts. It is your personal decision. Good luck.</p>

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<p>Thanks a lot englandern, but I’d still like to hear other reasoning in order to be fully confident in my decision.</p>

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<p>My other reasoning is people who should go to Cornell are people who are convinced that it is a great place and there is no better place for them to be, by virtue of the totality of what it offers and how they fit. They should be excited about it.</p>

<p>You aren’t. You don’t even want to study what you’ll have to study there. You haven’t even mentioned any feature or criteria related to the school besides one particular thing.</p>

<p>Go to Tufts. It is will be far better for you to be there, I’m sure of it.</p>

<p>IIRC at Tufts you don’t even have to study, or take any courses, if you simply show up there you are automatically accepted to medical school, irrespective of your own individual merits. The school there is just that powerful. Or it might well be, based on your irrefutable analysis, so how can you pass up that chance? It’s no coincidence that “Tufts” and “med” have the same number of syllables. I’m confidant that that’s your school.</p>

<p>Or Carnegie Mellon, if you don’t like Tufts.</p>

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<p>This is why I am on this forum to get information that will make me excited about it. So far I am excited that it has renowned faculty, brilliant students, endless research opportunities and resources for students, and great premed advising. I also like how there are so many people at Cornell and its immense diversity which leads to a more cultured social life. There are many things that I like about Cornell but what I don’t like is the rigorous curriculum affecting my chance of a successful medical career. And Monydad did your son/daughter not get into cornell and got waitlisted and your on this forum trying to convince other kids to not go to cornell to increase the chance for your kids? (other topics you’ve posted on all dissuade accepted applicants from going to Cornell) I’d appreciate it if you stop posting on this topic. I’ve heard what you’ve had to say and you keep repeating yourself. I’m looking for new information regarding Cornell’s strengths in respect to a future health career in order to make a proper decision.</p>

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<p>“…other topics you’ve posted on all dissuade accepted applicants from going to Cornell”</p>

<p>I don’t know anyone on the wait list.</p>

<p>I try to help by dissuading people who don’t belong at a college/ university from matriculating to it, I think that’s a better result for everybody. And by suggesting that people who I think do belong someplace go there.</p>

<p>In particular I think it’s better for people at Cornell to be among other people at Cornell who really belong there. And better for those people who don’t belong there to go elsewhere. Like for example people who applied to the wrong college there.</p>

<p>"This is why I am on this forum to get information that will make me excited about it. "</p>

<p>If you’ve already read up, and have already visited, and still need this forum to get you excited, then you are simply not sufficiently excited by it, and are better off elsewhere IMO.</p>