Work load at Cornell

<p>How difficult is say premed (biology) at Cornell? How hard is engineering at Cornell? Do you have to put an endless amount of hours in? What is the average GPA for these two?</p>

<p>college is hard work hard work hard work</p>

<p>Let's just say your blood, sweat, and tears go into your studies if you're a premed at Cornell... literally.</p>

<p>****...r u serious?</p>

<p>haha I think theslowclap might have exaggerated. The only blood I've ever poured into my premedical studies has been from the paper cuts sustained while flipping the pages of my textbook.</p>

<p>Why's pre-med so hard though? In my knowledge med schools only require bio, gen chem, org chem, physics, english, and math, which can quite easily be done in 2~3 years?</p>

<p>The material (outside of orgo) is not hard at all. It's the competition. When you squeeze 400 kids with avg. SAT scores of 1400 inside one room and tell them that only 16% of them are going to get A's, there's going to be a lot of competition.</p>

<p>you appreciate the standard deviation and strive to get the mean. but norcalguy is being a little nice. i didnt take bio here so i dont know about that, but general chemistry.. whew thats hard... i havent taken orgo yet but gen chem 2 is kicking my butt right now. the median grade for that class is a B- and is def a weed out class as well.</p>

<p>em could u elaborate a little more on why general chem is hard and how we might go about managing? Is it the concepts are easy but the tests have unheard of questions on it (as it seems to be the case with math192)?
Really.. I am starting to get freaked out as a premed in AEP. How much work does it take to bring As home for intro bio and general chem..?</p>

<p>this is one of the top things Im worried about Cornell. Is it true that pretty much everyone there wants to be pre-med?</p>

<p>lol im worried about chem too even though i have 800 sat ii and 5 on ap. but that class was definitely the hardest ap i ever took.</p>

<p>You should be. I had an 800 on SAT II Chem and a 5 on the AP test and I still got below the mean in Chem 216 haha Fun times.</p>

<p>i think you should take honors orgo, i heard its fun and med schools really like to see that youve challenged yourself...</p>

<p>lol u just made me so much more worried.. lol, but you said chem 216 isn't that honors? wont the regular be easier lol</p>

<p>I suppose Chem 208 would be easier. But Chem 216 has cool stuff that you won't learn in Chem 208 (quantum mechanics, transition-metal complexes, using calculus to derive and normalize wave functions, symmetry elements, SALCs-symmetry adapted linear combinations, having to memorize the first 15 or so molecular orbitals and how they split). It's fun stuff that I bet you didn't learn in your Chem AP class.</p>

<p>Well, Chem 208 has easier material, but I definitely think it's harder to get an A in there just because of the competition. You can know all the material for an exam and still get only the mean or within 1 SD of it, which only gets you from a B- to a B+. However, for honors chem, although the material is much harder and there are some pretty complicated concepts in there, with a much more intensive workload, the mean grade is an A-, so you can work your butt off and the dividends will be higher.</p>

<p>I dunno about the difficulty thing. I had a friend who was below average in Chem 215, dropped out of Chem 216, and ended up being one of those kids in 208 that everyone copied their problem set answers from (she ended up with an A "easily" in her words). The median in Chem 216 is a B+ by the way.</p>

<p>Chem 215 material is essentially Chem 207 and Chem 208 crammed into one semester. Typical ChemAP topics. Chem 216 is another world altogether. It holds a special place in my heart because, to this day, there has not been a class that I've been more clueless in. It was also where my lowest prelim score to date (a 51) took place. I also managed to miss 8 true/false questions in a row on a Bio432 prelim. That would be my other disachievement at Cornell to date. lol</p>

<p>Keep in mind, everyone in Chem 215-216 will have a 5 on the AP test, will either have Calc AP credit or will be enrolled in calculus (yes, you will need calc for the class), and just about everyone will be a chem major. If you're a non-chem major premed, you should take 207-208. If you're a chem major, you should take Chem 215-216. If you are someone who loves math and wants to challenge yourself, take Chem 215-216.</p>

<p>but for the info on mcat, honor stuff isn't required right</p>

<p>No. Nothing from Chem 216 will EVER appear on the MCAT.</p>

<p>I'm shocked... norcalguy missed a question?</p>

<p>norcalguy's tears cure cancer. Too bad he never cries.</p>