<p>i was just wondering how competitive are the pre-med students at Cornell because i heard that they are really competitive like they wont help you if you don't understand something? is cornell really good for pre med compared to otehr schools like johns hopkins, duke, brandeis, etc</p>
<p>competitve yea, wont help you.. im sure there'll be at least one person out of the pre meds who wont help you but i find people to be pretty helpful. if you go to tcornell to be pre med and take chem 207, you'll definitely see huge groups of people working together on the homework sets =D</p>
<p>I would say that the best aspects of Cornell premed are:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The students are driven but not cut throat. In fact, I've met more jerks from other schools on the med school interview trail than I did in four years at Cornell.</p></li>
<li><p>There are plenty of research opportunities. If you want to do research, you can find someone who'll take you.</p></li>
<li><p>There are plenty of clinical opportunities. The hospital is only a bus ride away. You can also volunteer at the student clinic on campus. Cornell also has at least two shadowing programs that'll pair you up with physicians to shadow.</p></li>
<li><p>The advising is very good. Judy, the health careers advisor, is very knowledgeable and only deals with medical/dental school applications. She is not a generic advisor. Her advice is usually spot on.</p></li>
<li><p>Unlike the premed committee at JHU, Cornell's premed committee does not screen. They will write an individualized committee letter for each and every applicant, highlighting your strongest features.</p></li>
<li><p>Unlike Stanford, which doesn't even have a premed committee, Cornell's singlular committee LOR is enough to bypass any individual LOR requirements med schools may have. So, whereas Stanford applicants must assemble a pool of LOR's to satisfy different med school's requirements (and those requirements can vary greatly b/w med schools), Cornell applicants only need to send the committee letter. In fact, most med schools will say that they prefer one committee letter rather than 5-6 individual LOR's from professors.</p></li>
<li><p>While the name of your undergrad doesn't matter in med school applications, it does in the scientific world. When you are trying to get research fellowships/internships, Cornell's name will carry you a long way. I've found this to be particularly true at the NIH, where I work right now. Many PI's are Asian/Indian and, whether it's fair or not, Cornell has a bigger name than some other peer institutions in Asia. In fact, despite the fact that Nobel Laureates and leading scientists speak at the NIH on a weekly basis, people here are still impressed with the fact that I, a lowly post-bac, went to Cornell.</p></li>
<li><p>Cornell's education is unquestionable. More than half of everyone who applied from Cornell with a 3.8+ GPA scored a 35 or above on the MCAT. 80% of everyone who applied from Cornell with a 3.8+ GPA (regardless of MCAT score) was accepted to at least one Top 20 medical school.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I will also add that if you are afraid of competition, then premed isn't for you. If you are not competing with the students of your own college, you will be competing with premeds of other colleges when you apply.</p>
<p>A med school I interviewed at last week told us they have already received 11,000 applications this year for 175 spots. The application season isn't even over yet! By the end of the application season, this school expects around 15,000 applications for those 175 seats. You can do the math on that.</p>
<p>This is happening at pretty much every medical school in the US. They are all reporting record numbers of applications (up 20-30% from last year). One school I was rejected from said that they receive 100 applications for every seat. </p>
<p>This is likely to get worse before it gets better. Because the number of college applications is expected to top out in 2009, the number of med school applicants is expected to top out in 2013ish (around the time YOU apply). </p>
<p>When med schools say they want people who are passionate about medicine, they mean it. They want people who are foolish enough to play these odds simply because they can't envision themselves in any other career field. They want people who are willing to go into debt (the average debt at the med school I interviewed at was $180,000 upon graduation), who are willing to sacrifice the best years of their lives, and who are willing to work their @$$ off in 4 years of college, 4 years of med school, and 4+ years of residency. Competition during your first years of college will be the least of your worries.</p>
<p>Wonderful Advice Norcalguy!</p>
<p>I know ;)</p>
<p>BTW: I saw your stats on SDN. You're not a braggart like I am so people here don't know the amazingness of your application. Good luck! I'm sure you'll have some wonderful options come May 15th.</p>
<p>thank you so much norcalguy! my parents want me to PROVE to them that cornell has an outstanding education and your list has so much in it already. thanks!</p>
<p>so lets say I have a work study as part of my financial aid, will i be able to work at one of those health clinics? More and more I read about cornell’s competitiveness in pre-med is kind of scaring me and at the same time, it makes me want to work harder.</p>