<p>Hi, i am debating between cornell and northwestern, bio-chemistry, premed. I was wondering which one has a higher med school acceptance rate and better in general. Thanks!</p>
<p>Both are equally good schools. However, NW will provide you a far wider research opportunity than Cornell in Ithaca.
Ithaca Cornell is way too Agro oriented! You can check out their respective biochem depts to get an idea. You will notice just how many faculty members at Ithaca are involved in research with agro angle.</p>
<p>If you ultimately want to be an MD, you are better off having a wider range of research opportunities to select from possibly research that is disease oriented rather than with an agro angle. That’s something you can easily avail of at NW.</p>
<p>I would actually argue that Cornell offers a wider range of research opportunities. </p>
<p>Cornell has the world-renowned Boyce Thompson Institute so it’s obviously going to conduct a higher caliber of plant bio research than Northwestern. But, the other types of bio research is just as good as NU’s. You won’t be able to do research at a med school for both Cornell or NU since the med schools are separate from the undergrad campuses but Cornell has the country’s #1 vet school right on the Ithaca campus. So, if you want to work with rats or do mammalian cell cultures, you can do so to your heart’s content.</p>
<p>But, just for comparison’s sake, I did a search for biochem research on both Cornell and NU’s websites and here are the first 10 topics that come up:</p>
<p>Cornell:
- Roles for mismatch repair factors in regulating chromosome stability and genetic recombination
- Biosynthesis of thiamin, coenzyme A and nicotinamide in bacteria using a combination of chemical and biochemical strategies, biosynthetic pathways
- Lipase; proteoglycans; structure, function, molecular biology, and regulation of transcription and secretion.
- Molecular biophysics, Molecular dynamic simulations of proteins and carbohydrates, structure, dynamics, and hydration of carbohydrates
- Mass spectrometry; human nutrition. Role of Polyusaturated Fatty Acids in fetal development, especially neural formation, examining precursors to PUFAs
- Microfilament organization and function in vertebrates and yeast, mechanism of polarized growth and organelle segregation during the cell cycle.
- Mechanisms of receptor-coupled signal transduction; the actions of cellular polypeptide growth factor receptors
- understanding interactions among proteins, electrons, and photons
- Hormonal control of plant development; stem elongation, potato tuberization, fruit ripening, and senescence, hormones
- physical and chemical properties of biomembranes: nonrandom mixing of lipids in bilayer phases; role of cholesterol in bilayer phases; lipid physical chemistry studied by fluorescence spectroscopy, fluorescence microscopy, and other physical chemical techniques.</p>
<p>Northwestern:
- Molecular genetics of
organ morphogenesis - Cell biology of transcription
- Cell differentiation and morphogenesis of
Drosophila development - Uncovering the mechanisms
that govern morphogenesis - Establishment and
maintenance of cell polarity - Nutrient sensing and molecular chaperones
- Biochemistry and molecular biology of mammalian spermatogenesis
- Role of ubiquitin in regulating protein traffic
- Cell-fate specification during development
- Signal transduction and gene expression in cancer and immune responses</p>
<p>I don’t see an appreciable difference in the research focus. The fact is, when you’re doing basic science research, the clinical correlations are going to be tenuous at best. In the end, you are still using the same techniques and developing the same skills whether you are working with rat cells or frog cells or Arabidopsis cells. I work at the NIH and although my work might ultimately have relevance to cystic fibrosis, the words “cystic fibrosis” are never mentioned in our lab because ultimately our research is still just molecular bio research on an ion channel.</p>
<p>Thanks!
I read that cornell has a really good premed advising. What about NW?
Also, because Cornell is in Ithaca, is there some volunteer (for like actual clinical experience) around the area or is it really far? I know that NW is close to Chicago so there’s probably quite a few there.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Cornell has a student-run EMS service right on campus. They take mostly EMT-B licensed students but will allow you to volunteer if you are in the process of getting your EMT license.</p></li>
<li><p>Cayuga Medical Center is a short 10 minute bus ride away. The volunteer director there is a really cool guy who will try to assign you to whatever department you want to volunteer in. </p></li>
<li><p>Cornell has a Mentorship and an Externship Program that pairs you with local physicians to shadow. These physicians volunteered for the programs so they are actually happy to mentor a premed. Neither program is selective and just about 100% of applicants receive a physician to shadow. This beats cold calling random physicians.</p></li>
<li><p>As you noted, Cornell premed advising is very very very good. Judy, who is the head health careers adviser, is always attending seminars to keep abreast of what’s happening in med school admissions. She holds 10 or so talks a year for Cornell students on various topics like “Getting Recommendation Letters” or “What to do if you are waitlisted.” A month before the AMCAS application came out, she went through it page by page with us to show us how to fill it out.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>is it true that there is a pretty high grade inflation at Cornell and a pretty low grade inflation at NU? Does that mean that I’ll probably get a higher GPA at cornell than Northwestern?</p>
<p>I think most of the top schools are about the same in difficulty.</p>
<p>I don’t know why Northwestern isn’t known for grade deflation, but I can tell you it is very difficult to maintain a high GPA here, especially counting your science classes.</p>
<p>Orgo is graded on an absolute scale and the average is known to be about a C.
First year chemistry, the average on the curve was a B- the past two quarters.</p>
<p>If you will ever take econ classes here, the intro level classes also have a B- average.</p>
<p>Sounds harsh… can i do anything to prepare for the science classes?</p>
<p>Relax and don’t worry about them, so that you have the energy to hit them full swing once the semester starts.</p>
<p>ok. Thanks!</p>
<p>what do you guys think abut premed at Cornell vs Northwestern vs Dartmouth vs Duke</p>
<p>The whole thing about research in undergrad is really overrated in my opinion. Personally, I would not choose a school for my undergrad on the basis of how wide the range of research really is. Let’s face it. You won’t be doing much of the really sophisticated stuff until med school (if at all!)</p>
<p>From Cornell and Northwestern, I would tend to go Northwestern just because of the location and the overall fit. I particularly dislike Ithaca no matter how “gorges” it is.</p>
<p>Now, if you throw Dartmouth and Duke into the mix, Dartmouth wins hands down. Great reputation, awesome campus and great network and resources for whatever you want to do later on. Some of the most loyal and proud alumni anywhere !</p>
<p>Dartmouth> Northwestern>Cornell>Duke</p>
<p>Care to explain why the highest-ranked school and the one that sends the most of its students to medical school is ranked lowest on your list? And, for that matter, what makes Dartmouth’s isolated location so much better than Cornell’s… isolated location?</p>
<p>You’ll notice I haven’t provided a ranking, but if you’re going to do so, you need a better explanation.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You seem to be referring to Duke, (which apparently you seem to have a soft spot for…) First of all, Duke is NOT “the one that send most of its students to medical school”…where did you get that from?? Duke claims to place over 80% of their premeds into med school. The top five schools that place over 93 % of their premeds into med school are Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Brown and Dartmouth. They are the top five. Duke may do well, but it is not even in the top five.</p>
<p>As far as Dartmouth’s and Cornell’s, it is a matter of preference. Dartmouth’s offers a better undergraduate education than Cornell’s. Most people recognize that. It is not just the location. I would not even go into an argument about that.</p>
<p>JHU is one of the top players as well I think. Their numbers are something like 90-95 percent of their applicants get in.</p>
<p>i think bluedevilmike meant that Duke was “the highest-ranked school and the one that sends the most of its students to medical school” out of Duke, Cornell, Northwestern, and Dartmouth</p>
<p>1.) “Soft spot for” – yes.
2.) “Of its students” – meaning my claim was as a proportion of the student body.
3.) “Top five are…” – citation please.
4.) “Out of Duke, Cornell, Northwestern, and Dartmouth” – yes, exactly.</p>
<p>Looking forward to that citation.</p>
<p>^^ That is the information released by the individual schools. They state that they are “the top five” and their respective percentages are above 93%. Duke boasts over 80 (84%?) acceptance rate and …it does not state that is in the top anything. You can find it in their website and promotional materials.</p>
<p>Don’t feel bad though. MIT was around 73.5% (for 2006).</p>
<p>
Show me .</p>