<p>Premed technically isn’t a major but judging by the 470 applicants to medical school Cornell generates each year, it’s certainly a popular career track.</p>
<p>Here are my 10 tips for getting the most out of your experience (in no particular order):</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Use Judy Jensvold, the health careers adviser, as a resource, early and often. She is fantastically knowledgeable and gives solid advice. </p></li>
<li><p>Take care of your freshman year GPA. Cornell’s upper div courses are curved quite generously but unfortunately many people’s GPA are already beyond repair by that point. Stay north of 3.3 as a freshman and you’ll only see that GPA rise as you progress.</p></li>
<li><p>Take advantage of Cornell’s externships to find shadowing opportunities. This saves you from having to cold call physicians you don’t know. That’s how I found both of the physicians I shadowed.</p></li>
<li><p>Physics 1010-1020 is a perfectly adequate premed physics class. I took this course without a lick of HS physics and did great on that section of the MCAT. Feel free to take the 2000 level physics course if you wish but just know that this one is just fine as well.</p></li>
<li><p>Don’t be ashamed to take time off after graduating. If your application is weak, take a year or two off and improve it. Don’t apply to med schools “just to see” because if you don’t get in the first time around, it is much more difficult to reapply. Apply only when you feel you can put your best foot forward. Heck, I took a year off with a 3.9+ GPA and a MCAT score in the top percentile. I improved my application and got some much needed respite.</p></li>
<li><p>Use your summers wisely. Internships are your friend. And many internship places love to take Ivy League students. Don’t spend your summers sitting around. Not a single one.</p></li>
<li><p>Make an effort to get good letters of recommendations. Simply getting an A in the class isn’t enough. Yes, the classes are big, but you need to find a way to standout. This is the same in medical school when you have to ask for LOR’s from physicians you’ve worked with for 2-4 weeks tops. </p></li>
<li><p>Get involved in research early. As a freshman if possible. If not, at least get a job as a beaker cleaner your freshman year. </p></li>
<li><p>Apply, apply, apply for awards. Medical schools love awards and unfortunately people don’t think of applying to them. These include Rhodes, Fulbright, Marshall, etc. </p></li>
<li><p>Do a broad range of extracurriculars. Cornell is a big school with a lot of opportunities from research to intramural sports to volunteer work to clubs. Take advantage of that. And don’t be afraid to venture out into the Ithaca community. I tutored local kids in the SAT’s and did statistical work for a cancer survivor support group in Syracuse. Not everything has to be campus-related.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>There you go. With a solid application you should have no problems going where you want including the very best med schools. On my interview day at Columbia, 4 out of the 10 students interviewing were from Cornell. 5 out of the 20 at my interview day at Penn Med were from Cornell. At my current med school, there’s 4 Cornell kids, more representation than any other undergrad with the exception of local undergrads. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>thanks for these great advices! =D
i’m going to be a sophomore transfer student next year but going in the premed track
unfortunately i didn’t apply to any internships this summer (or any of the summers before) because i spent a lot of time on the transfer application this year & didn’t really think about internships until I got in (bad thinking on my part…)
but this summer i’m volunteering at a local hospital doing clerical work (like putting patient information into medical records/computers & filling etc; this was the only work they allowed for volunteers), do you think it’s a waste of time? I didn’t want to sit at home doing nothing so I just went ahead with the clerical position.
once I get to campus in the fall I will try to find research positions at professor’s labs but sadly I have absolutely no lab experience…will this be hard? i’m not asking for pay and if I do find one, will the professors teach you or expect you to know all the techniques? I do have work study also, does that help me in finding a research lab position?</p>
<p>sorry for all these questions…(i just want to know whether I’m really behind on the premed track)! if you could offer some advice it would greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>Are extra-curriculars really that important for med school? Not that I am pre-med (nor do I ever see myself working in a medical field), but I’m just curious. I thought grad schools/law schools/med schools cared much more about GPA, standardized test scores, recs, awards, and research. Did I get this wrong?</p>
<p>where do you go to med school i always wanted to ask</p>
<p>What kind of internships do medical schools prefer? Like a special field? Do they prefer that the student does various different types of internships or really commits to a single field?</p>
<p>This is amazing! Thank you!</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Yes, EC’s are absolutely critical for medical school. In fact, you can’t get into med school without them. Research and clinical experience are necessary but not sufficient. You are given space for 15 EC’s on the application. Most people can fill all of the EC slots. And to get into the best med schools, you need quality EC’s. While interviewing and at my own school, I met people who wrote and published books, had PhD’s, published multiple research articles, did Teach for America/Peace Corps, were Olympic qualifiers, D1 athletes, won Rhodes/Marshall/Fulbright scholarships, founded their own biotech company. Even an investment banker who gave up a six-figure salary to go back to med school. </p></li>
<li><p>They’d ideally prefer to see research internships (internships where you go to a university or a biotech company for a summer and do a research project). Even better if you can get a publication or poster out of the experience.</p></li>
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<p>As for where I go to school, that’s a secret 
It’s a research-oriented med school though.</p>
<p>Wait, so are extracurriculars not as critical for law schools and grad schools, then? Because honestly, I have no clue how I could pull off a double-major in math and computer science, hold a part-time job to pay for it, conduct research in my subject area, do well on GRE’s, hold some semblance of a social life, AND have 15 EC’s. At least I hope it isn’t as intense for grad school…</p>
<p>Yes, EC’s are practically useless for law schools. And the only EC that matters for grad school is research.</p>
<p>Med school, as I said, totally different story. With my GPA and MCAT score, I still only got into 5 out of the 25 schools I applied to. And I had all the standard EC’s (3 jobs, 3 years of research + a research internship, 1 year NIH fellowship, Phi beta Kappa, multiple volunteering gigs, hospital volunteering, shadowing, couple of clubs). That shows you that a spectacular GPA and MCAT score can’t get you into med school. Qualifying for the Olympics or writing a book really has nothing to do with being a good doctor. But, since medical schools routinely receive 100 applications for every seat, they can afford to be choosy.</p>
<p>That sounds slightly ridiculous… How did you fit in a social life? Or did you have to make some considerable cuts from “fun”?</p>
<p>Tip #11 would be to have fun and have friends. I think most med students had pretty happy undergrads and genuinely had fun. The ones who study day and night or tear pages out of books in order to sabotage others…those are the ones who usually burn out or get weeded out. If you want to party as much as your hotelie or AEM friend, it’s probably not going to happen. But, you can and should have a social life. Even in medical school, where some weeks I was at the hospital for 90 hours/week and studying for another 10-15 hours per week, I still managed to get out and have some fun (at the sacrifice of sleep).</p>
<p>you know I’m not pre-med, but I think I have some questions that might clarify some of your points. (I think they’re all ready good, for what it’s worth.)</p>
<p>5) What makes reapplying more difficult? Is it just the process of applying and interviewing again, or will schools actually see you differently?
8) Do you think people should start at the beginning of freshman year? (My personal opinion is that, in the interest of being careful with #2, it’s probably better for most people to start in the spring.)
Also, if you are actually doing research as freshman, how are you supposed to know what to do before you’ve taken classes and learned some lab techniques? Would you expect the professor to give you the research question and methods?</p>
<p>i knew u wouldnt tell me norcalguy, but ill find out :P</p>
<ol>
<li><p>When you apply to a medical school, you have to note if you’ve applied there before. Medical schools will often retain files from applicants dating back a few years. So, they’ll look through your old files and then at your new file and they’ll expect you to make SIGNIFICANT improvements. After all, they’ve already rejected you once, why should they look at your application another time? So, it’s better to apply once and just once.</p></li>
<li><p>I might as well answer kiwilemon’s question along with yours. I apologize, kiwilemon, I had missed your post earlier. You should start doing EC’s from your first semester on campus. It is never okay to not have any EC’s. So, while you have to make sure your GPA is okay, it’s perfectly fine to start research quickly. Most professors are more than happy to teach you the techniques. I really don’t think low level (undergrad) research takes much coursework. Most professors I’ve interviewed with have never asked about coursework. And one PI at the NIH even preferred I didn’t have any previous research experience so she could teach me to do things her way. I absolutely would NOT expect a professor to give you your own project immediately. You may start out washing beakers or helping out a grad student. Responsibility is earned. All the more reason to start as early as possible so you can do something substantiative by the time you apply your junior year.</p></li>
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<p>It’s better than nothing but you have to take some initiative while at the hospital and go talk to some patients or schmooze some docs into letting you shadow them. Hospitals are never going to let you do very much. So, you have to find ways to get the most out of your hospital experience. </p>
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<p>I graduate in a year so maybe I’ll reveal it then. My next secret will be what residency program I’m in.</p>
I know that this post is really old, but I wanteed to ask, which college is the best for pre-med?
College of Arts and Sciences vs College of agriculture and life sciences or human ecology?
@xxminchixx My suggestion would be to go through CALS because there are fewer requirements than CAS (i.e.: no language requirement, etc.)
It also depends on what your major is. I think being a Bio major in CALS is a little bit more convenient than being a Bio major in CAS because of the aforementioned requirements. But I know people who are premeds in ILR and I know English majors who are premed.
Wow, really old post. It really doesn’t matter (the major nor the school). You just need to satisfy the individual med school requirements.
Wow are you still alive? Or alive again? (I too am alive again, obviously).
There are a bunch of erstwhile pre-meds being fed opinions from various sources on CC as we speak, and I for one am in no position to address them. FWIW.