<p>Where are students happier as premeds? And where are students offered the most opportunities? I really am having a hard time picking between the two. Is Cornell really as cutthroat as people make it out to be? I have a slight preference for Cornell due to its campus and beautiful location, but that isn't to say I'd be unhappy at Wash U. Any advice?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>This is a tough choice and don’t believe the hype about cutthroat competition pre-med is competitive anywhere but its about the friends you keep. I would opt for Cornell in your shoes, but you’re golden either way. If money is not in play then go with your comfort level.</p>
<p>I go to Cornell, and although I’m not premed I did take a couple of intro science courses with a lot of premed students in them (General Chemistry and Calc II).</p>
<p>Sometimes the line between “competitive” and “cutthroat” can be a little blurry, but I’m going to define cutthroat as an extreme level of competitiveness that extends itself into social matters, i.e. the way students relate to each other. So yes, premed courses are competitive: they contain a lot of very smart, motivated students, and the classes are curved such that the median is pretty low (usually B or B-). But despite, or even as a result of, this kind of competitiveness my impression is that premed students really aren’t that cutthroat at all. People make a handful of friends in their premed courses, and because nearly everyone is going to need help at some point people like to work on problem sets and study for exams together. There’s this communal bond shared amongst premed students that results from the fact that they’re all in it together. They’re aware of the fact that they’re all being graded on the same curve, but at the same time there’s a sense that who they’re really competing with is the class as a whole, an abstract group of students who they have nothing to do with. No one acts as if they’re competing against their friends or anyone else they know. (I kind of miss that sense of community actually. No one works on anything together in my English classes)</p>
<p>With that said, all of this is made possible by the fact that Cornell premed classes, especially the intro bio and chem courses, are very large (roughly 400 per section, 800 total, for General Chemistry if I remember correctly). So if you think you’re going to have a problem with that, you might want to consider WashU a bit more heavily since it is smaller.</p>
<p>Tips for doing well: make friends in your premed classes (which isn’t hard, there are so many premed students), work on problem sets with them. Go to office hours when you need it (that may very well be every week) and don’t fall behind.</p>
<p>this is not even a close call. My wife was a bio major at Cornell and ultimately got her Ph.D. in Psychology.</p>
<p>Cornell premed courses are like those at any large university… very large classes, and a very rough forced curve. Then there is the lake effect snow that gives winter a endless feel… even more than St. Louis.</p>
<p>WashU will offer smaller classes, a premium reputation in pre-med preparation, more accessible professors, more personal attention, better Professorial recommendations to med school, better med school advising, equivalent or better research opportunities, and the likelihood of a slightly higher gpa. A general recommendation for premed is to find the smallest top 50 school you can that is connected to a good med school and teaching hospital.</p>
<p>any more help? :/</p>