<p>I have a few questions related to future medical school admissions after graduation from Cornell.</p>
<li><p>Cornell is reputed to be extremely tough on grading and not inflating their students marks. Do medical schools take this into account when comparing Cornell applicants with other applicants from grade-inflated schools? </p></li>
<li><p>As a result of this difficulty, does Cornell better prepare their students for the MCAT and medical school workload?</p></li>
<li><p>Will Cornell limit the numbers of med schools their students choose to apply to? Realitically, could I apply to the entire top 20 med schools on the USNWR list?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>1) SLIGHTLY. for example Cornell vs brooklyn community college. 3.9 in cornell prob > 4.0 in brooklyn cc.</p>
<p>2) yes
3) you can apply to 120 if you want i believe</p>
<ol>
<li>Cornell is reputed to be extremely tough on grading and not inflating their students marks. Do medical schools take this into account when comparing Cornell applicants with other applicants from grade-inflated schools?</li>
</ol>
<p>For one thing, Cornell is not grade deflated. Secondly, no, med schools do not take this into account because there are many applicants from schools just as tough as Cornell (any other Top 20 college).</p>
<ol>
<li>As a result of this difficulty, does Cornell better prepare their students for the MCAT and medical school workload?</li>
</ol>
<p>It does an adequate job. Same as any top college. Med schools are very selective and have graduation rates near 100%. If you get accepted, you can do the work.</p>
<ol>
<li>Will Cornell limit the numbers of med schools their students choose to apply to? Realitically, could I apply to the entire top 20 med schools on the USNWR list?</li>
</ol>
<p>You can apply to any amount of schools you want. I don’t know why you would want to apply to all top 20 med schools since they cost around $150 each to apply to and even more if you have to do interviews. Not to mention, it takes a lot of time to fill out those secondary essays. The average # of med schools a person applies to is 15.</p>
<p>Well I’m just thinking that applying to about 20 of them to secure my chances of being admitted to one of them.</p>
<p>you’ll be stressed</p>
<p>I applied to 20 schools (12 M.D. and 8 D.O.). I wanted to shoot myself.</p>
<p>^ And I thought applying to 12 colleges was crazy… do you recommend applying to a mix of M.D. and D.O. schools? What’s the main difference between the two (allopathic and osteopathic, is it? medicine)?</p>
<p>Osteopathic is more wholistic medicine AFAIK. It’s easier to get into a. D.O. school and therefore less respected, but still not easy. And a D.O. can do anything an M.D. can.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Woah there, Nelly! Many of the more established D.O. programs have stats that are on par with some of their M.D. counterparts (NYCOM, UNECOM, Western and PCOM are examples) and their grads command a great amount of respect in the medical community. I was surprised to learn that most of the D.O. schools I interviewed at had a mean MCAT score of 29 and mean GPA of 3.6. </p>
<p>Personally…I had more difficulty with my D.O. applications because their essay topics are very specific and want to know why you are applying to osteopathic program. The interviews I had were difficult as well…I think they were trying to weed out applicants who were applying to their program only as a backup to the M.D. For this reason, you should only apply to osteopathic medicine programs if you truly have an interest in the osteopathic medicine philosophy. </p>
<p>D.O. students have to take the same curriculum as M.D. students, plus classes on osteopathic manipulation. They take their own version of the 3-step licensing exam (COMLEX) and it’s the same thing as the USMLE but with osteopathic manipulation principles included, and many D.O. also take the USMLE exams so they can apply to allopathic and osteopathic medicine residencies. </p>
<p>I learned a great deal about osteopathic medicine in the last few years. I used to believe they were “below” M.D.'s, but now I know that nothing is further from the truth. I have a great deal of respect for them even though in the end I decided that osteopathic medicine is not the right route for me.</p>
<p>What about Canadian Med Schools? Are top ones like McGill, U of Toronto, Queens any easier to get into that top American ones?</p>
<p>From what I’ve heard, Canadian med school admission is ridiculously competitive. </p>
<p>You should check out [Student</a> Doctor Network|An educational community for students and doctors spanning all the health professions.](<a href=“http://www.studentdoctor.net%5DStudent”>http://www.studentdoctor.net) and [url=<a href=“http://www.valuemd.com%5DValueMD”>http://www.valuemd.com]ValueMD</a> - Best Caribbean Medical Schools, Top International Foreign Med School<a href=“a%20site%20geared%20more%20for%20foreign%20med%20school…but%20plenty%20of%20Canadians%20on%20it”>/url</a>.</p>
<p>What about state medical schools? Are those any easier for Ivy League matriculants to get into?</p>
<p>state med schools reserve a certain % for in-state…but all that you need to worry about right now is getting a high gpa and a high mcat for now…</p>
<p>plenty of cornell kids stop being pre med after some time</p>
<p>Some state medical schools are just as competitive as private medical schools (UC, SUNY and Texas school, for example). However, they will consider qualified competitive applicants.</p>
<p>Some state schools, like LSU, only accept applications from in-state residents. The only exception being the child of an alum who lives out of the state. </p>
<p>Right now, you should focus on achieving a high GPA and getting involved in EC activities to enhance your credentials. In my opinion, junior year is when you should start formulating your list of med schools to which you might like to apply.</p>
<p>dewdrop: What is osteopathic medicine? This might be me being really stupid, but does it have something to do with like… bonesetting or something?
My family friend’s son is a D.O. and he’s REALLY successful, but for some reason his dad (a Russian immigrant anesthesiologist) never mentioned that he was a D.O. and feels ashamed of it… which is just not accurate.</p>
<p>Also, another question. If you decide to take the regular level of Chemistry in your first year of college rather than the more advanced level, does that look bad for med school? The last time I took Chemistry was Honors Chem sophomore year of HS, and I don’t have a solid enough background in chem to confidently take a higher level until I have Intro down. And should I take Bio and Chem during the same semester? Or should I take them separately? This stuff is so confusing, but I want to have a solid idea of what to do premed-wise before I matriculate.
Thanks :)</p>
<p>^Most premeds take the regular level I believe if you didn’t take chem senior year, however, the advanced level does have its advantages such as a higher median. And taking chem and bio the same year is ideal because med schools want to see that you can handle 2 sciences. I’ve done it this year and its not that bad.</p>
<p>I also have some questions too…
- Does anyone remember when the prelims were for organic chem (chem 3570), evolutionary bio (bioee 2780), and neurobio and behavior I (bionb 2210)?
- Lets say that I didn’t have a stellar first semester at cornell, but my proceeding semesters rocked. Will med schools overlook that first semester bc we were freshman adjusting?</p>
<p>^ Okay, makes sense. I’ll definitely take Bio and Chem in my first year, but should I take them both together my first semester? I’ll definitely take the regular chem because I don’t have a solid enough background in chem to skip it, but I’m not sure about bio and chem first semester together. Could be really hairy.</p>
<p>Sorry, TurtleFever, I can’t answer your questions because I’m just a lowly prefrosh ;)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>In terms of calculating your GPA, AMCAS will weigh all years equally. However, AMCAS will also separate your cumulative GPA by year so that any application reviewer can easily see the trends in your GPA. Whether the reviewer will give a crap about positive trends is another issue.</p>