<p>Ok I hate to bother people with this but I'm in such a bind so I'm looking for a little unbiased feedback. My interests lie in both International Relations and Healthcare. I attend on being pre-med wherever I end up so good med school placement is very important to me. At Georgetown I was accepted into an International Health program which to me is basically the perfect major, because it successfully combines my two areas of interest. The pro's to me at Georgetown my major notwithstanding include: perfect locale for internships with government agencies and NGO's, good student body size, smaller classes (especially within my very specialized major), mandatory study abroad in the healthcare field with an NGO, Gtown also has the superior IR program.</p>
<p>So now to Cornell, I was accepted into the College of Human Ecology as a Human Biology, Health and Society major which seemed to be the closest alignment to my interests. Cornell to me has the superior pre-med record and also probably the better reputation (debatable though) which comes with the better alumni network. The big turnoff for me with Cornell is its location, I've seen myself in a city for college, as well as its size (I prefer the smallest class sizes possible) and social life seems to revolve almost entirely around frats (I don't drink). With that being said I'm having a real tough time turning down an Ivy League school. Financial Aid is very similar at both schools, though only because I got a Cornell Tradition grant that replaced $4000 in loans, if that were not the case I probably would have chosen Gtown on Financial Aid alone. Any Feedback would be greatly appreciated</p>
First, the "top" BS/MD programs in terms of being associated with selective medical schools are probably Wash U and Rice.</p>
<hr>
<p>Second, look for a place where you believe you'll excel - not just as a student (although of course that too) but as a person. Where can you find room to grow? To learn to nurture others, to demand the most out of yourself? To understand how to work and inspire confidence and professionalism - all these things are less tangible aspects that I think you can feel when you walk onto a campus.</p>
<p>Fourth, reading through old posts on this forum may lead you to one of three conclusions: prestige helps you, grade inflation helps you, and your choices doesn't matter at all. All three of these hypotheses have grains of truth without being completely correct.</p>
<p>On prestige, notice we are discussing medical students competing for residencies, but the logic probably holds:
Quote:
Bluedevilmike: The general consensus is this: they have a list of "good schools" and list of "other schools"...</p>
<p>If you are from a "good" school, and your application has no glaring flaws, then you get an interview. If you are from an "other" school, and your application does not have any glaring HIGH points, you do not get an interview. Once you get an interview, that becomes the most important component of their decision, although other things still matter.</p>
<p>Special features - either good or bad - might be board scores, class rank, a second degree, etc.</p>
<p>On grade inflation:
Quote:
bluedevilmike:If undergrad GPA was all that mattered, and undergrad institution didn't matter at all, then you'd see that among undergraduate schools, all the kids admitted would have the same grades. After all, if school doesn't matter, then isn't a 3.65 the same, no matter where you get it from? A 3.65 from nowhere state should be the same as a 3.65 from Berkeley, a 3.65 from Duke, and a 3.65 from MIT.</p>
<p>On whether it matters at all:
Quote:
Bigredmed:[Don't] look at prestige as a deciding factor - that name recognition... But there are plenty of other factors that undergraduate institutions provide that vary from school to school... These are probably hard to quantify in a really meaningful way. And the schools that really do well in these categories may or may not line up with the prestige rankings...
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/...d.php?t=197765%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/...d.php?t=197765</a></p>
<p>At the end of the day, it seems like you should go to the college that is a better fit for you, and that school seems to be Georgetown from your post. It it makes you feel any better, Cornell isn't a real ivy :)</p>