<p>I have heard from a student at cornell that premed students are disadvantaged....because cornell is so isolated and does not have many hospitals around to volunteer in. (and premed students need volunteer hours when applying to grad school). She told me how she had to go to UPenn to participate in a project because it was not easy finding a place near cornell and how she quickly had to return back to cornell when school started..</p>
<p>can any other cornell students tell me what they think about the situation? and if they felt the same way?</p>
<p>You can volunteer during your summers at hospitals. In all other areas of research that I can think of, Cornell is topnotch. Cornell also houses one of the best biology departments in the Ivy League.</p>
<p>I've done volunteering in the ER/OR at two diff hospitals including Cayuga Medical Center. Volunteering=overrated</p>
<p>The one disadvantage Cornell does have is that its med school is not close by so you won't be able to do research at a med school during the school year. However, there are TONS of research opps. on campus.</p>
<p>thank you norcalguy! are you a cornell student? just curious</p>
<p>so although berkeley may have many hospitals in a city nearby school, cornell can get just as many opportunities of volunteering or participating in projects?</p>
<p>(I ask this because the girl I was talking about wanted to volunteer in medical centers to get to know the doctors and maybe get their recs for applying to med school.. she told me recs from professors will be common.. so..) from who do med students usually get recs?</p>
<p>and what do you mean by volunteering=overrated</p>
<p>There are more than enough volunteer opportunities at Cayuga Medical Center if you want it. You really don't get to do much (this applies for most hospitals not just CMC). Shadowing, EMT, would be better EC's for getting clinical experience.</p>
<p>Most med schools will require at least 2 recs from science professors. So usually it's only your third rec that you will have flexibility with (it can be a supervisor, doctor, professor, whatever). But as have been noted, you can do stuff over the summer or winter breaks if you desperately want to do an activity that Cornell cannot provide.</p>
<p>You might want to consider a semester abroad as well. A classmate of mine had some flexability in her schedule for she studied in South America for semester and was allowed to perform a wide variety of medical practices that wouldn't be allowed in the States, plus was able to work daily with underprivliged patients and perfected her spanish at the same time.</p>