<p>Wong, it is sad to hear your struggle in Cornell. Good or bad …, Being a premed, you need to think further. In Medical field, if you are interested in certain specialties, you need to prepare for it as early as possible. Here is a list of courses i would recommend you to take. (Talk to your school adviser or go to studentdoctor.net website to find out some more info). A lot of premed just failed, so it is not that easy to get into med school.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Radiology (Diagnosis, Oncology, Intervention) - Take more advanced physics, programming, and image processing class.</p></li>
<li><p>ophthalmology, neurology, Surgery, Anesthesiology - you need to take some neurology courses</p></li>
<li><p>Dermatology - may be a lot of biochem classes</p></li>
</ol>
<p>In the med school, you need to take USMLE tests, you need a lot of academic background in order to get high score, so you can match to a program you love. Anyway, be yourself, don’t let anyone stop you, or tell you what you must do or you can’t do. </p>
<p>At Cornell, there must have a lot of challenging classes/courses you can explorer. Get your GPA as high as possible. Participate some extra curriculum. In the summer, get some research positions. Try to get a position in a science magazine at your school, or publish some papers. There are tons of things you can do and prepare. Don’t underestimate there are plenty of gunners out there. BTW, you still have MCAT to take.</p>
<p>WongTongTong, you are complaining about premed and engineering, two professional fields that require specific knowledge and skill sets. These are not fields that lend themselves to philosophizing and intellectual curiosity. Medicine itself is a conservative profession that discourages out-of-the-box thinking. People who want to spend their time thinking of cures to cancer will get a PhD. People who spend their time memorizing how to treat community acquired pneumonia get MD’s. </p>
<p>And please don’t do anything BigFire just wrote above. Nothing you take in undergrad can help you in any specific field. As a future radiology resident, I will receive dedicated physics lectures during my residency, more than enough to pass the boards and be an excellent radiologist. Taking advanced physics in college and trying to remember it all through 4 years of med school is a waste of time.</p>
<p>Wong, if your intellectual curiosity is motivating you, go find research opportunities and use them to the fullest. Coursework is meant to teach a specific set of knowledge, especially within engineering (I don’t know whether you are engineering or premed), not to make you go further and beyond and explore the subject by yourself. You will find this to be the same everywhere, even at MIT/Harvard/etc. There are plenty of people at other schools who have the same mindset as the people you see here. If you are interested in learning about the subject and satiating your curiosity then pursue an MS/PhD.</p>
<p>Well now that I just finished my final I have some downtime for like an hour:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>There are some future possible quants who are beyond impressive in terms of critical thinking ability. </p>
<p>And guys chill out, I was referring as an EXAMPLE of premeds in ENGINEERING (BioE/ChemE, Idk about anyone outside engineering to the extent I can comment on the student atmosphere). Actually, if it helps at all, I’d like to strike the comment specifically referring to premeds from the record, and replace ‘premed’ with * general * engineer. I understand that the skill set of pursuing a medicinal doctorate is far different than that of an engineer- but, I was referring to the ones who specifically ** chose ** to do engineering. </p>
<p>Also, I am not considering premed anymore and have almost my mind set on another profession. (so I’m not too sure about the details of what norcalguy or BigFire said with regards to pursuing medicine since i dont know much about it). </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I agree: research is fantastic. But, I think i’ve been doing this. I’ve done research internships in quantitative chemistry/material science/environmental science/mathematics since I was 14 and currently am working on research with a professor. Next semester I plan to concurrently work with another professor (since at that point I will have more knowledge of the field). And, to address the MS/PhD, I have considered graduating in 2 years and pursuing a PhD afterwards, but as Colm had stated (and I felt the same way), I’m not sure if I’d be mature enough to handle that at the age of 18. So, I figured it would be better not to do that.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>…so that’s why all the future radiologists are in AEP, everything makes sense now ;)</p>
<p>Also, sorry for stealing this thread. It’d be best to stop discussion on this and return to the original point (if there was one) of this thread. </p>
<p>Thank you everyone for the advice/comments.</p>
<p>Actually, I’d rather talk about this than go back to the original “point” of this thread, even though it seems that there is nothing left TO discuss.</p>
<p>Also, I like how the thread regarding hotness of girls in Cornell got deleted. Shows how many trolls we get on this forum.</p>
<p>“please don’t do anything BigFire just wrote above” (Are you a little too personal?) </p>
<p>“Nothing you take in undergrad can help you in any specific field.” (At least, you have a feel, whether you like the subject or not, of course, the courses you take in undergraduate, won’t simply guarantee any field, we all know that )</p>
<p>“As a future radiology resident, I will receive dedicated physics lectures during my residency, more than enough to pass the boards and be an excellent radiologist” (But from some of your post i read, you may have some ego problem, how can a good radiologist be so ego???). If i were you, i will try to be humble and objective, you never know what will happen in the future on your Diagnosis radiology career. (job taken by computer/outsourcing …, become very un-competitive). </p>
<p>“Taking advanced physics in college and trying to remember it all through 4 years of med school is a waste of time.” (Who said you need to remember anything, at least, you can work on some research on the subject, if you have passion and talented at)</p>
<p>“please don’t do anything BigFire just wrote above” (Are you a little too personal?)</p>
<p>“Nothing you take in undergrad can help you in any specific field.” (At least, you have a feel, whether you like the subject or not, of course, the courses you take in undergraduate, won’t simply guarantee any field, we all know that )</p>
<p>Well, that I agree with.</p>
<p>“As a future radiology resident, I will receive dedicated physics lectures during my residency, more than enough to pass the boards and be an excellent radiologist” (But from some of your post i read, you may have some ego problem, how can a good radiologist be so ego???). If i were you, i will try to be humble and objective, you never know what will happen in the future on your Diagnosis radiology career. (job taken by computer/outsourcing …, become very un-competitive).</p>
<p>That is just plain low. Why are you making such underhanded personal attacks and statements? Norcal knows his own field better than you. America keeps it competitive on purpose. Your comment here is just completely off topic and pointless.</p>
<p>“Taking advanced physics in college and trying to remember it all through 4 years of med school is a waste of time.” (Who said you need to remember anything, at least, you can work on some research on the subject, if you have passion and talented at) </p>
<p>Pursue your passion if that’s your thing - but if you are a premed that’s not the easiest way to get into med school at all, and getting into med school is far from easy.</p>
<p><a href=“But%20from%20some%20of%20your%20post%20i%20read,%20you%20may%20have%20some%20ego%20problem,%20how%20can%20a%20good%20radiologist%20be%20so%20ego???”>quote</a>. If i were you, i will try to be humble and objective, you never know what will happen in the future on your Diagnosis radiology career. (job taken by computer/outsourcing …, become very un-competitive).
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Why talk about a subject you know nothing about? I can barely get a computer to read an EKG correctly, which are just lines on a page. We’re light years away from any computer being able to read images. </p>
<p>I’m personally interested in interventional radiology. We’ll see how they outsource that ;)</p>
<p>Nice trolling though. Biochem for derm? Advanced physics for radiology? Where did you even hear this stuff? Half of my classmates didn’t even know what they want to do entering the M3 year. Good way to ruin your college GPA though. Good advice.</p>
<p>And it’s not ego or assumptions. I actually matched in radiology and interviewed at 16 programs. I know exactly how much physics and what kind of physics we get as residents cuz, you know, it’s kinda my job.</p>
<p>“And it’s not ego or assumptions. I actually matched in radiology and interviewed at 16 programs.” Here you go again, … Believe or not, time and your future employer will tell. I would not make more comment here. </p>
<p>“Nice trolling though. Biochem for derm? Advanced physics for radiology? Where did you even hear this stuff?” Please google “What undergrad courses should i take to better prepare for certain med specialties”, do you think only you can answer? or dominate the answer.</p>
<p>“Half of my classmates didn’t even know what they want to do entering the M3 year.” That’s the reason you need to explore. Will it hurt GPA you need to take into consideration. When i post my comment, i am talking to Wong, it seems he is very talented, so i suggest him to take some challenging classes. What’s wrong?</p>
<p>Colene, the comment i made about Norcal, is not just about today his post, it is about other posts he has made months before. No intention to make any personal attack.</p>
<p>Here is the link — How do I Become a Radiologist?
[How</a> do I Become a Radiologist?](<a href=“How do I Become a Radiologist? (with pictures)”>How do I Become a Radiologist? (with pictures)), does it mention advanced-level Physics?
A person can go on to become a radiologist even if he doesn’t major in science, but majoring in science does provide good preparation for the next step in pursing a career in radiology.</p>
<p>@2DasWell- No. Only Harvard. Unfortunately I won’t have time as I’m going out of the country for a month and then coming back to do 20-30 hours of research a week. </p>
<p>@BigFire- Thanks for the comments, but like I previously stated, I am not looking or am interested in pursuing a career in medicine. </p>
<p>Also I believe norcalguy is simply trying to point out he’s been through all this recently, so it makes sense he would know more; unless, of course, you’re also doing your residency or something. </p>
<p>As far as taking advanced physics classes go, yes I’ll look into that- I noticed quite a bit of people looking to go into quant finance do tend to major in AEP/Physics. </p>
<p>This is true, and I’m sure there are people like this at Cornell too. However, the point that poster was trying to make, I believe, is that Wharton is even more “anti-intellectual” and goal-oriented than Cornell. If it helps, I don’t really know much about Cornell other than that my good friend goes there and loves it (and is certainly the intellectual type); three of my friends attended Wharton last year and two are attempting to transfer out (one is just going to Penn CAS, while the other wants ot leave Penn entirely) because of the exact same thing you described, only (according to them) magnified. The third, naturally a competitive type, is having the time of his life. Wharton, while an incredible program, is known for that overwhelmingly pre-professional atmosphere, and so it isn’t for everyone. By the sound of your posts, you sound like one of the people that it is not a good fit for. Princeton seemed to have a very intellectual atmosphere when I visited. Stanford is more focused around athletics but I’m sure is intellectual if you hang out with the right people. Harvard seemed mixed - some people were very intellectual types, while others seemed a little snobbish. I don’t know much about Yale.</p>
<p>A 4 paragraph article on WiseGeek filled with advertisements for radiology tech schools and DeVry vs. medical student who has published in the field of radiology and recently matched at a top academic program for residency. What do I know?</p>
<p>I don’t know about you, but I’m getting quite tired of this thread. If anything, it seems like you people are simply insecure when you keep using such kinds of support on a meaningless thread like this and bringing up a senseless debate. It hurts my pride as a cornellian to see insecure threads and posts like this - but thank God you people aren’t current students.</p>
<p>^ Maybe you are the most insecure one who wanted to stop others from expressing their thoughts.</p>
<p>Are you going to silent the other university officials (not their students) who establish the above links to express their academic point of view as well? </p>
<p>There are reasons for discussions of quality of education. There are too many rumors, mis-conceptions, and lack of information among high school students that official information would help them to be informed.</p>