<p>Trying to decide between Cornell and Miami, was accepted to both. I would be in the Human Ecology (state tuition) school at cornell, and received a large scholarship at miami, so money is not the principal issue. I want to be pre-med... there are pros and cons to both... any input on social life, academics, etc. would be greatly appreciated. thanks</p>
<p>Wow that is wonderful! Well it all depends. Both UM and Cornell offer a human development major (although Cornell’s is older). Since money will not be a factor in your decision, I say you should visit both schools and try to get an overall feel of both. I live in Miami, never been to Ithaca, but I imagine that the two could not be more different. Ithaca seems to be a serene and natural environment, not to mention COLD! Miami of course is summer all year round. I don’t particularly like that, but you might! Personally I would choose Cornell for it’s serene environment, weather (I like the cold, but I’ve never seen snow so who knows how I’d react), major, research opportunities, and certain professors. I really don’t think you can go wrong with either though. I have been to UM several times and it is absolutely beautiful. My friends and I often describe it as looking like a resort. lol. The academics there are great too. I get the work hard, party hard kind of feeling from the students at UM. And of course UM is great for pre-med and the medical school gives their alumni a bit of a leg up in admissions, which is something to think about. Congratulations on such a great achievement!</p>
<p>Here are my thoughts:</p>
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<li><p>Odds are you won’t make it to med school. That’s just basic statistics. More than 50% of premed freshmen don’t make it to med school. This occurs at any college. So, it’s important not just to consider how good a college is as a premed school but also how good the overall academics are.</p></li>
<li><p>The rigor of a school should be such that it is enough to prepare you for med school but not so difficult as to make it an uphill battle. Cornell strikes this balance beautifully. A 3.4-3.5 GPA student at Cornell averages around a 30 on the MCAT. These, in my opinion, are the minimum numbers to succeed in med school. At many less rigorous schools, the student will coast with a 3.8 GPA until they take a standardized test like the MCAT and end up with a 27. This happens quite often with students at state schools. Their grades are artificially inflated by going to a less rigorous school and they don’t realize they aren’t cut out for med school until junior or senior year when they take the MCAT. That’s a disservice to the student. If you aren’t meant to be a doctor, you should find out early so you can spend your college time preparing for another career.</p></li>
<li><p>Don’t underestimate fit when it comes to being premed. Premed is difficult no matter where you go. So, you should go to a place you actually like. This includes thinking about the weather, the social life, etc. I imagine Cornell and UMiami are very different in that regard. You need to find the school that will make you happy.</p></li>
<li><p>Cornell will give you an advantage in med school admissions almost everywhere but especially if you want go to top med schools or top Northeast med schools (like Harvard, Columbia, Yale, etc.). Top 20 med schools fill 60-70% of their class from top 20 colleges and top 5 liberal arts colleges. This means there are only a handful of spots for the thousands of other colleges combined.</p></li>
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<p>^UMiami is a private school, not a state you, which you somewhat insinuated it was. Also, if someone has a high GPA and good MCAT, you really think it matters where they went to school? Schools care less about which school you go to and more about what you did at the school you went to.</p>
<p>Cornell is known as a top research institution and the academics are more rigorous. However if you pursue research at both, shadow at hospitals, get good grades, etc, it will look the same no matter which university you got it from. Basically, it is your personal motivation to take advantage of these opportunities that will effect your chances at med schools NOT which school you went to. </p>
<p>What it comes down to us where would you be happy? Happiness leads to less stress and better grades. I don’t know how the student body is at Cornell, so I cannot speak on its behalf, but I do know it is in a small town far from the major city and it gets VERY cold there.</p>
<p>Miami has a great, vibrant student body, which is one you’d have to experience to truly appreciate and understand. No matter what we say, nothing can compare to visiting the schools. Once you are on campus you will know which school you fit into best.</p>
<p>Here are my thoughts:</p>
<p>Miami is a fine school academically. It is well thought of and it has lovely climate. It has also improved its reputation tremendously in the past several years.</p>
<p>However … it is not in the same league (I mean this figuratively, though obviously it applies literally too) as Cornell academically. If you can get over the weather, there is no downside to Cornell for purposes of your future career goals. </p>
<p>If you absolutely hate Cornell – then Miami is a viable option. However, after visiting both schools, you’re still considering Cornell, it is the place you should go.</p>
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<p>Even if you have high MCAT/GPA, it STILL matters where you go for med school. I’m a 4th year student on the admissions committee for my med school (a top 20 med school). I can tell you that a 3.8/35 Cornell student with average EC’s, average essays, and average LOR’s will get heavy consideration from us. A 3.8/35 UMiami student will not be accepted unless they have a “hook” in addition to their great numbers. We have students in our medical school who were D1 athletes, pro football players, played at Carnegie Hall, PhD’s, JD’s, Fulbright/Rhodes Scholarships, etc. That’s what a “hook” is. In my opinion, it is easier to get a 3.8 GPA at Cornell than it is to be an Olympic Qualifier (one of my classmates).</p>
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<p>See above. Students from top colleges with excellent stats but average everything else will still squeak into a top med school. Students from mid-tier schools with excellent stats and average everything else will likely not get into a top med school. If your goal is to get into your state med school, then it won’t matter. If your goal is to get into Harvard or Johns Hopkins, it will matter. A lot. </p>
<p>70% of our class are filled from colleges like Harvard or Hopkins or Cornell or Northwestern. Another 10% from local good colleges (for Northwestern medical school, it would be University of Illinois-UC, for UCSF med, it would be UC Davis, for UMich, it would be Wayne State, Michigan St.). Throw in a few spots for URM’s and non-traditionals. It doesn’t leave many spots for everyone else.</p>
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<p>Absolutely true. Happiness is important.</p>
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<p>Agreed.</p>
<p>Choose Miami if you want to go to med school. It DOES NOT matter what school you go to undergrad when applying to medical school. Go to the school where you can get the best GPA, and that won’t be Cornell (grade deflation).</p>
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<p>I don’t know why people continually spout this on the forums. I take it as a personal insult because it implies adcoms don’t know the difference between MIT vs. Harvard vs. Cornell vs. Berkeley vs. Podunk University vs. community college.</p>
<p>Med schools receive thousands upon thousands of applications a year. We have a lot of GPA/MCAT correlation data. If 3.6 GPA students from school A continually get a 35 on the MCAT while 3.8 GPA students from school B continually get a 35 on the MCAT, we know that a 3.6 from school A is approx. equal to a 3.8 from school B. </p>
<p>Give us a little more credit than that ;)</p>
<p>This is all I will post on this matter. My goal is not to reveal what goes on in adcom meetings at top med schools but rather to provide the OP with some things to think about when picking his college. I’ve probably said a bit too much already for my boss’ liking.</p>
<p>^I just couldn’t imagine that if you got two students with similar GPAs and MCATS and both had outstanding ECs that the school that they went to mattered. A lot of students don’t go to top schools because of financial difficulties. So should they suffer in debt because med schools are curved to favor the elite?</p>
<p>“Outstanding EC’s,” outstanding" recs, “outstanding” essays are all subjective. Look at the various chance threads. EVERYONE thinks they have outstanding essays or EC’s. In reality, they’re just average. NHS, a couple of sports, 5 clubs, and 100 hours of hospital volunteering do not constitute outstanding EC’s for college applications. That’s average/mediocre for top colleges. Similarly, 200 hours of hospital volunteering, a premed club, a club sport, 3 years of research without pubs are not outanding EC’s. That’s average.</p>
<p>You can’t control how the adcom will view your subjective factors. The only objective things you have in your application are your stats. The beauty of attending a top college is that you can focus on getting good numbers while making sure everything else is merely adequate and you will probably go to a top med school. But, if you don’t go to a top college, you better make yourself stand out. Publish a book. Start a biomed company. One of my classmates did both. </p>
<p>What you say about finances is true. Medicine is largely a profession for the elite and the wealthy. Unfortunately, that’s reality with the system we have in place.</p>
<p>my sibling went to a state school, and currently attends UMich’s med school (a top 10 school). I highly doubt the system is curved to favor the elite, but okay sure… </p>
<p>I suggest you do your own research OP and take these forums with a grain of salt.</p>
<p>Honestly, as already stated, and not to disrespect your interests, but half of incoming pre-meds do change their minds, so don’t go to a university just because your prospects for med school look better. Go where you will be happy. Don’t let this forum cloud your judgement.</p>
<p>It’s ironic you mention University of Michigan, concretepencil94. UM Med School grants automatic interviews to applicants from certain schools as long as they have the requisite GPA/MCAT (roughly 3.7/35 for in-state applicants and 3.8/36 for OOS). No questions asked. You come from an elite school with good numbers, you are automatically granted an interview to this elite med school. It is one of the few med schools that transparently admits they will favor students who attend certain colleges.</p>
<p>BTW: Cornell is on that list because I received an automatic interview to UM roughly a week after I applied. I don’t know about UMiami.</p>