<p>Hi! So I committed to the Faculty of Science at McGill University for undergraduate studies and was recently offered a transfer option to attend Cornell as a sophomore in 2015 in CALS (if I take certain prerequisite classes and maintain a certain GPA at McGill). Meanwhile, due to the APs I have taken, I am entering McGill as a second year student and have to ability to condense my undergrad to 3 years. I was wondering if you guys could give me advice on if transferring to Cornell will help my chances for grad school. I hope to someday study Veterinary Medicine and Cornell is my top choice for grad school. Will going to the more expensive Cornell make me a more competitive applicant for their Vet School? Do you guys think I should stick with McGill or pursue Cornell's transfer option?</p>
<p>I don’t have any experience with this situation so can only offer some comments to look at both options. First, did you read this blurb from a Cornell student who did the first year at McGill
<a href=“http://cornellsun.com/blog/2013/09/30/guest-room-inside-cornells-guarantee-transfer-system/”>http://cornellsun.com/blog/2013/09/30/guest-room-inside-cornells-guarantee-transfer-system/</a></p>
<p>About being a more competitive applicant. You can look into this more. Cornell says that 20 Cornell students out of 100 applicants are admitted to their Vet school every year. I don’t know but that seems good to me. They don’t keep stats on how many are accepted to other Vet schools. I don’t know the in’s and out’s of vet admissions but I have heard it is difficult.</p>
<p>However, if you are a competitive applicant, you will get in somewhere, and of course have a shot at Cornell. I’m not sure how competitive you will be using AP credits though. That’s something to look into. Perhaps it is fine if you flourish in advanced classes after that. But AP classes for the most part don’t equal Cornell level classes. Like at Brown, AP Chem is just a prereq for the first chem course. AP CS is worthless. You can take the next level up from Calc BC. Cornell wants applicants to have 6 units of English Comp, I don’t really know if you would look competitive if 3 units were from high school ap, for instance. So that is something to consider.
<a href=“Medical and Health Careers | Student & Campus Life | Cornell University”>Medical and Health Careers | Student & Campus Life | Cornell University;
<p>Cornell does have a ‘double registration’ program where you can save a year in the transition from pre vet to vet, and I suppose that gets you an admission, but I don’t know if that is possible for GTs–something to ask about. Overall, though I suppose you are going to save a huge amount doing McGill, did you work out the numbers? Unless your parents are happy to pay it all you’re better offf to stick with McGill I’m guessing. And you will have a big expense if you do go to grad school.</p>
<p>And I just realized that there is a vet forum where you can probably read and chat with ppl with more ideas
<a href=“Pre-Vet & Veterinary Medicine - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-vet-veterinary-medicine/</a></p>
<p>Thank you so much!! This was extremely helpful! I am going to have to work around the APs since McGill and Cornell have different AP policies with exemption, etc. Thank you for taking the time to help me :)</p>
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That’s an artificially high admit rate for OOS students. Cornell in general and CALS in particular has a very high percentage of NY residents, who get about 55% of the seats in the vet school. Because even private vet schools heavily favor students from their own states, it is significantly easier to get into vet school in one’s own state. Given that the OP seems to be from Maryland, that would be the Virginia Tech/Maryland program. </p>
<p>PeacockSpider, a high GPA, high test scores, and veterinary and animal handling experience are the most important factors for vet admissions. Much depends on how well you think you would do at McGill. Canadian universities have a reputation for grade deflation and being rather sink-or-swim, but I don’t know how true that is – and certainly top American universities are no walk in the park. </p>
<p>As for animal handling experience, I think it would be a bit easier and more convenient to be exposed to working with both small and large animals at Cornell, which has a vet school, large animal science program, and other facilities like the ornithology lab all on campus. That said, a large city like Montreal will have many vet clinics willing to take on a student, the University of Montreal (admittedly a hike from McGill) has an excellent veterinary hospital, and McGill itself offers resources like a farm. </p>
<p>warblersrule, that is a very good point! Now I am wondering which will make me a more competitive applicant since I am out of state. Would I be competing with more NY residents if I am applying internally from CALS or externally from McGill?</p>