<p>As far as college experience/ personality, Cornell has me convinced. The academics, I like too, but that's just from what I've seen. The site doesn't really reveal much more than a basic description of classes, and I've heard that pre-med isn't exactly one of cornell's strengths (not the best sources, but still...). I love Cornell and really want to go, but please convince me that I should go, not only because of its personality, but also because of the actual college.</p>
<p>Who told u that ? Doing pre-med basically consists of taking a couple of classes which are required and then u take MCATs. The rigorous courses at cornell will only make u score higher on it. A lot of the people doing pre-med have already taken some of these classes in high school in the form of APs. So if u have a strong base from hs and work appropriately in college u should be fine. </p>
<p>I, personally, have already taken physics, bio and chem, and the only other major pre-med class I need is Orgo so I ll have enough time to focus on that…</p>
<p>I had a conversation with a man who interviewed me about this. He said, it is a personal thing. Cornell has the science courses to befuddle even the smartest country, so they are not lacking academics – and one must remember that Pre-Med is simply a track, not a major. So it truly comes down to whether or not you actually listen to your Pre-Med adviser, take the MCAT seriously, get a good GPA and apply to the appropriate medical schools. </p>
<p>He estimated that the Cornell graduates accepted into a medical school who wanted to go was around 70%, compared to the national average of around 40%. Mind you, if you get a graduate degree of some form (ie the combined 5 year Bach-Masters Engineering degree) will increases your chances quite significantly.</p>
<p>So to answer your question with another question, how seriously are you going to take Pre-Med and how badly do you want to become a doctor?</p>
<p>Majman, I dont understand what u mean by the combined grad degree and how does it improve ur chances in getting into med schools?</p>
<p>Places like Hopkins and Cornell have a program whereby you can obtain your Bachelors and Masters in Engineering in 5 years (as opposed to 6). This basically just means that you exemplify a person who dedicates themselves to their work as well as possessing a higher powered degree.</p>
<p>but how does that help to show that ur dedicated to medicine ?</p>
<p>Considering how you can’t get an undergraduate degree in medicine, I’d assume that most college would look upon a stern dedication to the sciences/math as a reflection on what they can expect from a given student in medical school</p>
<p>Cornell is just fine for premed. I’m currently interviewing for med school right now and see a lot of other Cornell students/alums interviewing at top med schools.</p>
<p>As for the issue with getting the Masters, do it if you really like engineering or something but I personally don’t think an advanced degree will help that much for med school admissions, certainly not worth the extra time/money invested. So, don’t get the extra degree if the only reason for doing so was to improve your med school app.</p>
<p>Thanks norcalguy, reading ur posts in different threads has helped me a lot man.
one more question, I have heard that it is very hard to obtain good grades in the pre-med req classes at Cornell…I don’t understand how so many people perform poorly in these classes even tho they are really basic.I have taken physics,bio and chem in hs at AP level and got As/A+and I am gonna retake them in college…I am sure many cornellians have done the same so why is it so hard to do well in the classes that u have already taken in hs? how are they different ?</p>
<p>Cornellians like to complain a lot. I honestly don’t think that the premed courses at Cornell are any easier or harder than the same courses in other top schools. The initial intro science courses do tend to be a little tough to weed out most of the premeds. But, that’s a good thing. Our health system would suffer if every freshman who wanted to become a doctor actually became a doctor.</p>
<p>Keep in mind, most college science courses are curved. No matter how smart or prepared the students are, professors can set it up so that only 50% of the students will receive a B or higher.</p>