<p>I am deciding which college to go to and Im planning on doing premed. I heard from some friends from other schools that some of their colleges pre-health advisors are not very helpful or hard to get appointments with. I was wondering what the situation for premeds at Cornell is like? (this is not a major part of my decision but I just wanted to consider it). Thanks!</p>
<p>uh if you are really into pre med (like really really sure) then cornell may not be a good choice for you. you want that get that 4.0 and in cornell it’s much harder than other schools (like your state school). Though you can also go to cornell and be determined to get that high grade (which isn’t too hard). though most people who start out pre med change their mind later on…</p>
<p>Cornell’s premed advisor (Judy) is very good. Her advice is right on the money and she has actual statistics to back it up. Every year she holds a series of seminars for premeds on how to get rec letters, how to choose which med schools to apply to, what to do if you’re waitlisted, even how to fill out the AMCAS application PAGE BY PAGE.</p>
<p>this is a statistic though:</p>
<p>Cornellians with at least a 3.4 have an %80 acceptance rate in to medical school</p>
<p>can someone verify whether or not that statistic includes alumni? </p>
<p>even so going to cornell doesnt guarantee you’ll get into the med school of your choice…</p>
<p>i’m with anbuitachi on this one :)</p>
<p>save your money for MCAT preparation…</p>
<p>b/c all that counts is GPA + MCAT!</p>
<p>This may be useful in answering your question,</p>
<p>[Accepted/Applied</a> Charts for Health Careers](<a href=“Career Services | Student & Campus Life | Cornell University”>Career Services | Student & Campus Life | Cornell University)</p>
<p>I’m not a huge fan of medical school acceptance rates in general because they are easily manipulated. Cornell uses a pretty strict definition of medical school, only allopathic med schools, which would tend to depress their acceptance rates. Many other colleges include admissions to DO schools, Caribbean schools, Polish med schools, etc. in order to boost their med school acceptance rates. </p>
<p>Cornell also doesn’t include URM’s in its statistics. URMs in general have the same acceptance rate to med school as normal applicants although they have lower stats (this is due to affirmative action). So, including URM’s in the stats probably wouldn’t change the overall acceptance rate but would rather boost Cornell’s acceptance rate for applicants with 3.4+ GPA’s. </p>
<p>Lastly, there are no alumni’s being included in the stats. It’s hard to tell how that would change the data since people take time off for all sorts of reasons. For example, I took a year off despite having good stats. </p>
<p>In general, if you have a 35+ GPA and a 30+ MCAT from any school, you’re good to go. In deciding whether a school is a good premed school, look at the opportunities afforded by the school (the shadowing, volunteering, research opportunities), the quality of health careers advising, the rigor of the academic environment in preparing you for med school, etc. These are qualitative assessments, not quantitative. I’ve already commented on the advising. In general, I found opportunities at Cornell to be plentiful. There are a lot of clubs to get involved in. A ton of volunteering opportunities (both at Cayuga Medical Center and in the community). At least 2 programs that set you up with local doctors to shadow (I did them both). And of course, Cornell is a top tier research universities. I had no problems getting summer internships or the NIH fellowship I ended up doing during my year off. Everyone at the NIH was extremely impressed with the fact I graduated from Cornell. Lastly, the rigor of Cornell doesn’t come close to the rigor of med school but that’s okay. I don’t think any college rigor comes close. Cornell does the best it can to prepare you for med school but it’s hard to imagine the hell it will be until you actually start med school.</p>
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<p>Alumni’s, norcalguy? That’s a new one… ;)</p>
<p>good points norcal. I am always amazed how so many people worry about how rigorous Cornell may or may not be when they are planning to go on to med school. I mean if they can’t handle Cornell, what the heck will they do when they get to med school.</p>
<p>So much better to find out as an undergrad if you have what it takes, when there is time to change direction I would think.</p>
<p>I know. I know. I had was in a hurry to put the laundry in and proofread the post after I did the laundry but of course I couldn’t edit it anymore.</p>
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<p>That was another gem from my post.</p>
<p>so you would say that the premed advisers like Judy are easy to get appointments with? (like some of my friends at other schools complain about appointment times always filled up)</p>
<p>is 80% acceptance at Cornell a higher percentage compared to other schools? like compared to Tufts or Northwestern?</p>
<p>norcalguy - the 80% means you got into 1 of the many schools you applied to…how common is it to get waitlisted at schools before you get accepted? </p>
<p>my friend got waitlisted at 4 and then only got into 2 i think :(</p>
<p>The times I’ve seen Judy have always been on a walk-in basis. She’s not always available at that very moment but I have always been able to see her within an hour of walking in. Of course, you don’t have to sit there. You can simply sign your name and come back an hour later. She’s also great via email and responds very fast. Come on. How many health advisors are going to go through the application with you page by page, teaching you how to fill it out?</p>
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<p>It’s on par from the statistics I’ve seen at schools like Emory, etc. The students with 3.5+/30+ at these schools generally get into med school at a 80-90% clip. The 10-15% who don’t make it usually have some sort of red flag on their apps (cheating, not enough extracurriculars, really bad recs, etc.)</p>
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<p>Keep in mind most people applying to med school don’t get into a single one. I don’t care how you get your acceptance or how many acceptances you get, you should be thankful to get into any med school at all. Since the drop out rate from med school is tiny (less than 1%), the challenge is to get into med school.</p>
<p>Med schools rely on the waitlist extensively. For example, one of the schools I interviewed at, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, interview around 900 out of the 7000 applicants they get (that’s a 12% interview rate), accept 225 out of the 900 applicants they interviewed for an overall acceptance rate of around 3%. The 700 people they interviewed but did not get accepted will all be waitlisted.</p>
<p>In fact, many med schools do not reject anyone that they interview unless you punch the interviewer in the face or something. You either get accepted or you get waitlisted. The idea is that because interview rates are in the 10-20% range, everyone who gets interviewed are qualified for the school. So, the school is reluctant to reject any of them. </p>
<p>I interviewed at 13 med schools, got accepted to 5, withdrew from 2, and got waitlisted at 6 med schools. No outright rejections actually.</p>
<p>Edit: I meant no outright rejections post-interview. I got around 13 pre-interview rejections haha</p>